Walking The Walk

"We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check"  ~James 3:2 I have a Bible study that I lead on Wednesday mornings at a local coffee shop.  This week, it just so happened that the verses that came up in our study are the same verses I’m preaching on this Sunday morning.  I wrote the sermon two or three months ago, and the Bible study we just started a few weeks ago, so it’s a pretty remarkable coincidence.  And I couldn’t guess how many times I’ve told the congregation to pay close attention to “coincidences” because I’ve learned throughout my life, that often what we call a “coincidence” is God working in our life. I can’t think of a better time to talk about the power of words.  The importance of how we speak to each other.  Our culture is out of control, especially with our speech.  The hate we spew.  The foul language that’s everywhere.  The awful things...

Just about everyone has at least one difficult relationship in their life. As Scooter would tell you siblings can be especially challenging at times. All of us encounter situations that test our patience and ignite our emotions. The book of James offers us profound wisdom in chapter 1, verses 19-20: "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." These words cut straight to the heart of how our anger can derail both our spiritual journey and our personal well-being. James makes a direct connection between our anger and our righteousness before God. When we allow anger to take root in our hearts, it creates a spiritual barrier. Ephesians 4:26-27 further warns us, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." Unchecked anger grows.  It becomes resentment and unforgive...

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ~James 4:14 This verse may sound depressing to some people--a reminder that eventually we all die. But you could also look at this verse as a reminder that we're still alive.  We're still here!  What we do today matters!  How we live matters!  We have a very limited amount of time here on Earth and we should value every minute of it.  Stop fretting over what happened yesterday, and stop worrying so much about what you've got going on tomorrow, and live in the moment.  Live in the right now. We think we're in charge of our life, but we're not.  We can't change yesterday, and there's no promises about tomorrow.  What is real, and what is important is the moment you're in.   God has a plan for us.  Put God in the middle of your life.  Let Him guide you in every decision big and small...

You're focusing on the stump. Somebody said that to me once. I had no idea what he was talking about. As it turned out, it was very wise advise, and something I think of a few times a week to this day. You're focusing on the stump. We all do it.  We look past the forest, and focus on that one dead stump in the middle. We miss seeing all the different trees. We miss seeing the sunlight streaming down through the branches. We miss seeing the squirrels playing in the leaves. We don't see the little white flowers blooming in the open spots where the sunlight gets through. We don't smell the fresh air, or enjoy the cool breeze. We don't hear the sounds of the birds.  We see that one ugly dead stump, and that's all we think about. We think about how that dead stump is messing up the forest. It's easy to think like that. To obsess on that one thing that's bothering us, that one thing that's not quite right with us, and fail to see the entire pictu...