Testing of the Tongue

Grace Bible Church

Media App

Testing of the Tongue

July 17, 2022 • Mike Burt • James 3:1–12

Give

If the eyes are the windows to the soul then the mouth is the door to the heart! What comes out in moments of unguarded passion are the often the worst and most vile expressions of thought and mind. The tongue can be employed to hurt and cut and even crush. Yet by God’s grace it can also be the tool of expression used for praise, worship, prayer and encouragements. With such a wide swing of outcomes the tongue must be a well taught and carefully controlled instrument of our life.

Remember what the tongue cost Zacharias! 40 weeks of silence for the doubting of his heart about God’s promises for his son (Luke 1). Such stories in the Bible should remind us of the serious consequences brought on by our words. Everything we say in life will eventually be tested by our life. James begins with warning to teachers and goes through a series of examples of how dangerous the tongue can be – comparing it to literal HELL. The truest tests in life are not how we speak but rather how we control our speech. Since the tongue can only reflect the heart and mind of the speaker it becomes the measure of what is real in our life – good and bad!

Be Careful! The speech made angry may very well be your best ever … and most regretted.

Remember – whoever gossips to you will gossip about you!

See you Sunday - John 7:46, “No man ever spoke like this Man.” Jesus!

Pastor Mike

What do you expect?

August 28, 2022 • Mike Burt • James 5:13–20

Pray for one another! “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.” J. Sidlow Baxter Prayer should be seeking the face of God and asking His will in our world. Too often, prayer is asking God to look in on us and get His blessing. World events, COVID, racial tensions, poverty, natural disasters, political uncertainties. All these cause us stress, concern and too often worry. However, God tell us that we have a divine outlet – prayer! As the final short message in James, the brother of Jesus encourages us to turn our heart toward heaven in prayer. Sunday we will focus on prayer – the expectations, the expressions and even a few errors. I know many of you will be at our Family Retreat so we will have the message recorded and available by the time you get back – check our website to wrap up this last chapter in James. “Pray and let God worry!” Martin Luther

Identity of a true Missionary

August 21, 2022 • Mike Burt • James 2:14–20

Home from Liberia, West Africa – God is Good! Sunday, I want to share what God is doing in the Churches of Liberia. What a great group of men and so many wonderful Church Families. I want to talk about missions from the perspective of James, the brother of Jesus. Missions of outreach and love going beyond boundaries, borders and comforts. I wanted to spend some time talking about what unites us as a Church. What brings us together as a Church. So, for that reason I wanted to jump all the way to the end of Romans, where we see Paul repeating to the church in Rome his reasons for writing them this long letter in the first place. Sunday morning, we are going to look at Romans 15:14-21 together. James told us that words or faith alone is not enough – deeds, obedience and action are called for! Paul gives us the three key elements to Mission – folks who are fruitful, faithful and focused. You prayed and God blessed – let me share some of that Sunday and let us all hear God’s call to the Great Commission! See you Sunday, Pastor Mike

Truly Rich

August 14, 2022 • Josh Burt • James 5:1–12

This Sunday we look at the first part of James, Chapter 5. James describes two extremes and their impacts. Here we see the James points out two things… First that this world can distract us from God, and second NOTHING this world can do is worth distracting us from God. We see God’s protection, provision, and purpose in these verses. We are continually reminded of His love and leading for what is truly most important. I hope, the same, as every Sunday, that we leave seeking Him together! We will take a look at the lessons that James wrote about here and will seek to apply them in our life as well. Patience is so hard! It is not just a hard lesson “learned” - it is hard to see the “purpose” of learning this lesson. Suffering is the same! But we are reminded of Christ in these times. Hebrews 5:8 "Although He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.” - We can not look at suffering simply in terms of lacking, losing, or loathsome - We need to see it as LEARNING to walk as He did. See you this Sunday! Pastor Josh