Recent Sermons

James 5:1-6 (NASB)

1 Come now, you rich people, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will serve as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of armies. 5 You have lived for pleasure on the earth and lived luxuriously; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous person; he offers you no resistance.

Eternal judgment is coming upon those who store up riches for themselves while abusing the needy on earth.

1) Pronouncement of God’s Judgment (5:1)

2) Description of God’s Judgment (5:2-3)

3) Charges for God’s Judgment (5:4-6)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

James 4:13-17 (NASB)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.

Two big problems with making plans & decisions apart from seeking God’s will:

1) It is foolish to act like you are in control of the future (4:13-14)

2) It is arrogance and evil to neglect God’s will (4:16-17)

How to make plans & decisions in honor of Christ:

3) Seek the Lord’s will in everything you do (4:15)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

James 4:11-12 (NASB)

11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. The one who speaks against a brother or sister, or judges his brother or sister, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you, judging your neighbor?

It is serious sin against God to speak against or stand in judgement over others.

1) The Command(s) – 4:11a (& b)

2) The Reasons for the Command(s) – 4:11b-12

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

John 14:19 (NASB)

19 After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

James 4:7-10 (NASB)

7 Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Being in close(r) relationship with God involves dealing with your pride and sin in much humility.

1) Some Pointers for closer closeness to God (4:7)

2) The Importance of real repentance (4:8-9)

3) A Promise to the wholly humble (4:10)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Romans 8:18-27 (NASB)

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only that, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

26 Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I. Believers are called to suffer and struggle (8:18)
II. Creation suffers (8:19-22)
III. The believer longs for deliverance (8:23-27)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

James 4:4-6 (NASB)

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

God calls us to be faithful to follow Him and His Word above the ways of the world.

1) The Rebuke of Worldliness (4:4)

2) The Reference to the Word (4:5)

3) The Reminder of the Way Forward (4:6)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

James 4:1-3 (NASB)

1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts? 2 You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

James 3:13-18 (NASB)

13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, free of hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

To foster harmonious relationships in life, put on true godly wisdom and put off false earthly wisdom.

1) You must behave with godly wisdom for peaceful relationships (3:13, 17)

2) If you act with worldly “wisdom”, conflict will be the result (3:14-16)

3) Peaceful relationships require hard/heart work (3:18)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NASB)

24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

__+__

Podcast: Play in new window | Download