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 1 Peter 1 - Reverent Fear and Sincere Love Let us live today with great expectation that Jesus, the Great Lion, is on the move in our community and across the globe.  Peter’s letter reminds us that God will protect us today and give us all we need to live productive and holy lives.           God gives us the freedom and authority to build.  So let’s create and build well today.  Dream big.  Put your faith into action.  As Peter encourages us, let’s live with a reverent fear of God - for what the Father’s done for us and what He’s going to do - while we sincerely love each other in every situation. God indeed authorizes His people to be builders.  We are value investors.  We invest in what will not depreciate (1:4). And just like James (and Ezekiel), Peter preaches faith and good deeds.  We are warned to think clearly and to exercise self-control as we look forward to God’s gracious salvation (1:13).           Peter writes, “And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray
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 1 Peter 1:1-7 - Resilience We can learn a lot from Winston Churchill.  He suffered tremendous setbacks.  Many times after hearing horrible news of the losses of hundreds of men at sea and terrible defeats (personal and professional) he went into deep depression.  He would spend hours in bed.  But duty called.  He had to get up and out of despair and lead by example.  Many times he delivered speeches to the House of Commons in such a state.  Winston showed us that despite our flaws and serious mistakes we must get back up and fight for our King.  We must not be defeated.           We will fight.  There is victory in Jesus for those who continue to believe and trust in God’s victory on the Cross. We love and serve the Sovereign LORD.  God is our Good Shepherd.  Yes, He knows we’ve strayed away.  But He searches for us anyway.  God will do anything to find us and bring us safely home (Ezekiel 34:16). We must get our priorities straight.  Our inheritance and our trust are not in thi
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 James 5 - The Watchman’s Message - A Warning to the Rich Thank God that the Bible tells the Christian how to live.  It’s much more than advice.  It is the command of our King.  To know the Way of Jesus Christ we are to know and do what we are told in the New Testament.  God does not leave us hanging.           Yes, we have a solemn responsibility to live in this evil world with godly wisdom and righteous behavior.  We will mess up.  That's obvious.  And that’s why we are told to continue to confess our sins to each other and to pray.  But God shows us how to live and for that we give thanks.           The Christian is a person of patience and great endurance.  We have God's explosive power to sprint, charge, and fight, but the Christian is always a good long-distance runner.  Eternity is the long game. Worldly standards and oaths are not our way.  We seek truth, wisdom, discipline, and good judgment from the perspective of eternity, from the Day of Judgment forth.  That’s
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 James 5 - Men of God, Be Courageous God’s way is better.  Much better.  God is at work in every epoch, nay, in every situation.  He is not the ambivalent watchmaker.  On the contrary, He makes His purpose, mercy, and might known daily.  As sure as the sun rises God reigns. Many, like the Egyptians described in Ezekiel 30, find out their way (the hard way) that the Great I am is the LORD. Others (like you) hear God’s call and what God has done for them (sending the Son of God to bring glory to God and raising the Son from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit) and have faith in the Great I am.  Through faith in Jesus Christ believers “are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people” (Romans 1:7). Pray for today's opportunity to encourage believers and share God’s promised Good News.  The King’s return is near.  The power of God is at work saving everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). God never stops working.  In this short life neither shall we.  Press on.  Pra
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 James 5 - The Player Coach The best kind of coaches are those that the entire team knows that they have experienced the ups and downs of the game.  The players know for certain that the coach is willing to fight for them, for their benefit.  In my hockey career, as unremarkable as it was, I had all sorts of coaches, from the horrendous (seriously) to the grossly incompetent self-promoter.  The best coaches love not just the game, but selflessly love the players.  The Reggie Dunlops and the Ted Lassos - they are a rare breed.  It’s much more common to find coaches who talk a good game, but by their actions, you can see that it is all about them, their salary, their record, etc.  For them, the players are a commodity to be used.  The players know it.  So does God. Our Lord God, and I don’t mean any irreverence here, is the ultimate player-coach.  Jesus leads by example.  He always has.  The reason James tells us to show our faith by our actions is because Jesus taught James (as He t
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 James 4 - Draw Close to God So the bad news is our evil desires are strong and stubborn.  There is often a short distance (like the trenches in war) between what is a good friendship, fellowship, camaraderie, and genuine sharing and caring for each other) and what is evil (jealousy, lust, gossip, telling lies, scheming, favoritism, desiring only pleasure).  As Paul says in Romans 7, people know without confusion what is good, right, sinful, and wrong.  The trouble isn’t identifying the bad conduct, the problem is in winning the spiritual war that rages within us. Let’s not pretend the spiritual realities of James 4 don’t exist and that our conduct doesn’t matter.  It does.  James 4 and Romans 7 and 8 are both true.  Scripture is always aligned.  That is, the Lord’s way is good and practical.  There is indeed no condemnation for those who belong to God (Romans 8:1).  And yet we must live a blameless life, do what is right, speak the truth from sincere hearts, refuse to gossip or ha
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  James 4:1-10 - Battling Evil Desires         God is known in war.  That’s true for nations (Ezekiel 25) and for the spiritual battles, every believer fights daily.  Our motives and the level of our friendship with the world are shown by what we fight for, how we fight, and the results of the battle.  Don’t let your temptation and sin grow.  Instead, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  God gives us grace so that we can fight the good fight today, and win.  That is God’s promise. What issue of sin are you facing?  What are you doing to resist those evil desires?  Are you feeding and allowing that sin to grow?  If it is arrogance and pride or sexual sin or gluttony or selfish ambition and jealousy of others, acknowledge that sin today.  Right now.  When sin is allowed to grow.  It gives birth to death (James 1:15). God is with us in our battles.  But God expects us to fight.  It is God that gives us even more grace to stand against evil desires.  We all have them.  In fact,
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