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Next week is holy communion.
I will be dresses robe stoles.
You are invited to a Town Hall –at the Christian Life Center at Jackson Christ.
Next Sunday, Jan 30, 2022
4:00 – 5:00 P.M.
OPEN to community members, friends, and church family.
Refreshments of cookies and punch will be provided.
1. Explanation relevant to the Feed My Starving Children, Mobile Pack Mission – Pack 101,088 meals, raise $25,000.00
@ .25 cents per meal, and seek approximately 500 volunteers.
Funds generated to date approximately $16,000.00
Take your Bibles.
Lift them high and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
It is word of God.
I will hind its words in my heart, that I might not sin against God.
Good morning Wesley church.
I am so excited about being here this morning because we are going to have an opportunity to look at one of the most discussed and challenging passages in all of Scripture.
But, before we do I would like to do a quick review from last week.
I suggested last week that there were three traps that we can find herself in if we show partiality to anyone for any reason.
Can anyone here remember what those three traps were?
Trap of putting our self in the PLACE OF GOD.
Trap of working AGAINST GOD.
Trap of DISHONORING GOD.
This morning we are back in the book of ... What book do you think we are going to be in this morning.
James.
In the last few weeks we have discovered that James has a lot to say about the issues we are facing today.
First he taught us about trials and temptations, last week he opened our eyes to partiality.
This morning, he shifts gears again.
This time he moves into a topic that has divided the church, how does Real Faith work.
It is a question we still struggle with today.
You probably heard the story of a man who was probably the Evel Kneivel of his day.
He was known as the Great Blondin.
A man who would do incredible feats for people.
Death defying acts to dazzle the crowds.
One day the Great Blondin strung a tightrope across the Niagara Falls.
Hundreds of people gathered to see this event where he was going to walk across this tightrope in this life threatening situation.
As the crowds gathered, the Great Blondin stood before them and said, “How many of you believe that I the Great Blondin can walk across this tightrope to the other side.”
They all said, “We believe.
We believe.”
He walked across the tightrope.
He came back again.
The people were applauding.
They were so thrilled.
Then he said, “How many of you believe that I the Great Blondin cannot only walk back across that tightrope, but this time do it while I push a wheelbarrow.”
They said, “We really believe.”
They yelled even louder because they wanted to see him do this.
Then he said, “How many of you really believe it.”
“Oh we really believe it.”
One guy was yelling a little bit louder than all the others.
Blondin pointed to him and said, “Then get in the wheelbarrow.”
That guy disappeared quickly into the crowd.
In the same way that is how a lot of people are today.
A lot of us will say, “I believe.
I believe.”
But how many of us are willing to get into God’s wheelbarrow so to speak.
A flurry of survey research has found that contrary to the secularism of modern culture Americans believe in God and identify themselves as strongly religious.
Recent surveys have shown that 9 out of every 10 Americans say they have never doubted the existence of God.
96% of Americans believe in God. 9 in 10 say they still pray.
7 in 10 believe in life after death.
8 in 10 believe God still works miracles.
And this to me is the most interesting statistic of all.
7 out of every 8 Americans identify themselves with a Christian denomination.
And even among teenagers those numbers are incredibly high.
95% of teenagers believe in God.
93% believe that God loves them.
75% say they pray when they are alone, and most of them frequently.
But analysts have said that after studying this data they have found a paradox.
That is that the faith of Americans, so called seems to be only skin deep.
As one historian pointed out, and I quote, “The paradox is that the United States is at once the most religious and also the most secular society in the Western world.”
I suggest it is because we have divorced faith from action.
Have Belief
He says James knows the way he’s putting what he’s saying sounds outrageous.
That’s the way he puts it.
Paul is telling us that salvation is by faith alone and not by works; while James is insisting that a faith that is genuine will result in good works.
Luther rashly said that James contradicted Paul, and as Paul was right, James was wrong, and his Epistle “an epistle of straw”—that is, worthless.
But what is really going on here.
Here James is talking to a hypothetical person.
He says what if someone comes up and says I have faith, and I believe, but then James says it doesn't change how the person lives, is that real faith?
James would say no!
Because real faith will change how you live.
Now don't get me wrong our life with Christ begins in faith.
We have to have faith in Jesus Christ as our first step, but it's not our last step is JI Packard put it in his book concise theology...
In the New Testament, faith (believing trust, or trustful belief, based on testimony received as from God) is crucially important, for it is the means or instrumental cause of salvation.
The way to salvation is always through faith.
Our walk with Jesus Christ begins with believing in him as the only son of God, The savior of the world, and the long awaited Messiah.
You cannot be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, or saved from your sins, without faith in Jesus.
Knowing Jesus is important.
It is the most important decision you will ever make.
Is the beginning of a whole new life.
But it's just the beginning.
After we get to know Jesus we need to get to know the word of God.
And knowing the word of God is important for us, it will strengthen us, encourage us, and empower us.
But James would remind us that knowing Jesus and knowing God's word is still not enough.
You have to have believe, but you also have to act on that belief.
How many of you drove in here this morning?
How many of you started your car?
You're like the Duh... Of course I started my car how else could I have gotten here.
When you started your car this morning, whether used a key or a pushbutton you had faith that the car would start.
But it wasn't until you acted on that faith that the car started.
I remember when I was younger that I had some cars that improve my prayer life.
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