From the desk of Pastor Edd

  Scripture: James 4:7 Chose to serve God. Stand against the offerings of the devil and the pleasures of this world and they will no longer be a temptation. Title: Living in The Humble Way   J ames One, Living in The God Way All life is in God's hand and He k nows what He is doing. We need to let Him teach us how to live and live b y His agenda and not our own.   James Two, Living in The Good Way, All people as God’s children.  Any sin is breaking the whole Law, so we need to l ive instead by the Law of Liberty. And live with a faith that does good deeds for others. James Three, Living The Quiet Way. Gaining control over our speech, l earning to bless others rather than curse them, Talking in ways that please God, a nd then finding ways to rid ourselves of  selfishness, bitterness, jealousy, etc. so,  when we speak, we speak God's truth Today, I want us to focus on The Humble Way to live. This comes when we submit to God and accept His...

  Scripture: James 3: 10 How can we do this, speak blessing and cursing from the same mouth? Title: Living the Quiet Way Two weeks ago, I began teaching from the book of James. I titled James One, Living in The God Way and talked about James’ wisdom that God knew what He was doing, and we should turn to Him and let Him teach us how to live through the maze of our lives. I titled James Two, Living in The Good Way, which consists of seeing all people as God’s children, all sin as breaking the whole Law, and all faith as being complete only when we act according to what we believe. Today I am titling James Three as Living The Quiet Way. In this chapter James talks about getting control over our speech, learning to bless others rather than curse them, seeking to talk in ways that please God, and then finding ways to rid ourselves of selfishness, bitterness, and jealousy so that it does not impact the words we speak. It would be fair to say that the things we say are the bigge...

  Scripture: James 2:12 We have a new law to live by, which is the law of liberty, and we should make our life decisions accordingly.   Title: Living in the Good Way   Last week, in my teaching from chapter one of James I titled the content as The God Way. In summary, James was encouraging his readers to accept their lack of control over the experiences of this life and turn their attention to learning to react to this life with the joy and wisdom that God provides to those who will ask. When we choose to respond with the wisdom of God rather than the reaction of human emotion, we find a happier life in the long run. God knows best what will come our way and He is ready and willing to teach us how to best respond. Life with Jesus becomes a series of choices, do I choose according to my human desires or according to my newfound wisdom which Jesus is teaching me.   Now, in chapter two, James encourages all followers of Jesus to walk in The Good Way, which c...

  Scripture: James 1:5 When we have one of those days where we do not know how to live according to God’s will, we can ask Him, and He will generously supply us with the wisdom we need to make the right choice.   Title: The Source of True Happiness is Up to Us   Today I begin a five-week study of the book of James, who I believe was the brother of Jesus and head of the church in Jerusalem for up to thirty years. He would have been the head of the church when Paul made his journey to Jerusalem from Galatia to discuss the grace of Jesus versus continuing to live by the Law of the Old Testament. He would have also been the head of the church when Paul came back to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey. It was James who suggested that Paul take four men into the Temple for the rite of purification and that led to the accusation by some against Paul that he took Gentiles into the Temple with him.   A simple outline of James goes by the five chap...