“Elijah is a model of earnest prayer that was answered by God. His effectiveness in prayer extended even to the weather! Yet this shows that Elijah’s heart was in tune with God’s. He prayed for the rain to stop and start only because… it was in the heart of God…” -David Guzik
Patience, Power and Prayer | 5-7-23 | James 5: 7-20
May 7, 2023 • Pastor Stephen • James 5:7–20
During (difficult) times, we grow spiritually, the fullness of time grows and Jesus will come. The key is to submit expectantly to His hidden timetable, trusting wholeheartedly in His goodness. - R. Kent Hughes
Woe, Wealth and Worship | 3-19-23 | James 5:1-6
March 19, 2023 • Pastor Stephen • James 5:1–6
The one who loves money is never satisfied with money and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with (their) income. This is meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 5:10
2-26-23 | James 4:7-17
February 26, 2023 • Pastor Stephen • James 4:7–17
“ I desire to whisper one truth in your ear, and I pray that it may startle you: You are submitting even now. You say, ‘Not I; am lord of myself.’ I know you think so, but all the while you are submitting to the devil. The verse before us hints to this. ‘Submit yourselves unto God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’ If you do not submit to God you never will resist the devil, and you will remain constantly under his tyrannical power. Which shall be your master, God or devil, for one of these must? No man is without a master.”
Charles Spurgeon - Pastor Stephen
January 1, 2023 | 𝕁𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝟜:𝟙-𝟞
January 1, 2023 • Pastor Stephen • James 4:1–6
Many people don’t receive what they want from God either because they do not ask or they ask with the wrong motives. The kingdom of God and the needs of others don’t factor into the equation. A helpful question to pose when we pray about something for ourselves is this: How will God’s program be advanced through the granting of my request? Tony Evans
“What good is a faith that has no works? What good is a church service where worshipers casually mistreat people whom God has commanded them to love? What is the benefit if someone claims to live by faith in God, but refuses the way of life that God requires of the faithful? What is the benefit is someone says — I’ve been baptized, catechized, and sanitized from most major sins. So please let me live as I please? There is NO benefit, James says.”
Daniel Doriani
𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟰❟ 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 | 𝕁𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝟚:𝟙-𝟙𝟛
April 24, 2022 • Pastor Stephen • James 2:1–13
The unity and openness of the early church was shocking to the ancient world. But this unity didn’t come automatically. As this command from James shows, the apostles had to teach the early church to never ”http://...hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.”(David Guzik) - Pastor Stephen
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? James 1:19-27
February 13, 2022 • Pastor Stephen • James 1:19–27
A school teacher lost her life savings in a business scheme that had been elaborately explained by a swindler. When her investment disappeared and her dream was shattered, she went to the Better Business Bureau.
"Why on earth didn't you come to us first?" the official asked. "Didn't you know about the Better Business Bureau?"
"Oh, yes," said the lady sadly. "I've always known about you. But I didn't come because I was afraid you'd tell me not to do it."
The folly of human nature is that even though we know where the answers lie--God's Word--we don't turn there for fear of what it will say. (Jerry Lambert). - Pastor Stephen
James 1:13-18
September 12, 2021
”… if we think of God as our Father, we know that no good earthly father would deliberately seduce his child into sin, by trying to make him or her fall. However, every good father will deliberately allow his child to enter situations in life in which the child must make moral choices. We realize that sending a child to school or into the community, at the proper age, is good for a child because it matures him or her. Likewise, God grows us up by allowing certain experiences (including temptations) to assail us, though He Himself only gives "good gifts" to His children.”
Dr. Constable - Pastor Stephen
James 1:5-11
July 11, 2021 • Pastor Stephen
Wisdom is available to handle all of life’s trials - we just need to know where to get it!
“We are all so ready to go to books, to go to men, to go to ceremonies, to anything except to God… Consequently, the text does not say, ‘Let him ask books,’ nor ‘ask priests,’ but, ‘let him ask of God.’” (Spurgeon) Pastor Stephen
James 1:1-4
May 2, 2021 • Pastor Stephen
“One of the most practical books in the New Testament, James,is a call to action. This epistle focuses on the outworking of the Christian life, pointing us to the necessary relationship between faith and works. In a world of trials, temptations, conflict and conceit James urges us to demonstrate our faith through the way we live”. - R Kent Hughs
Pastor Stephen
