Edgewood Bible Church

Patience

There is trouble with patience. We all say we want patience for our lives, but we seldom want to go through the trouble of growing it in our lives. James warns us against impatience in these five verses. He warns us against a controlling behavior when we are wronged and then becoming a grumbling Christian. Patience correlates with our understanding of the second coming of Jesus, so when we grumble, we forget that Jesus is coming back. This passage in James 5 teaches us that we are men and women in moment-by-moment need of the rescuing grace of our Redeemer.

Materialism

Riches are a blessing of the Lord, as Solomon writes: “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (Proverbs 10:22). But when wealth and the seeking of wealth is missing the Lord’s blessing, trouble will come in forms of envy, injustice, oppression, theft, murder, abuse and misuse. The love of money leads to all sorts of trouble (1 Timothy 6:10). We should seek to serve the Lord, not our bank account or bottom line.

Pride and Humility

Frank Sinatra was known for singing “I did it my way”; even though the song is beautiful, the philosophy of life behind it is foolish and ungodly. James warns us of our pride and its effects on our speech and our lives. He challenges us to consider our proud way of thinking, and our independent spirit that pulls us away from true submission of our wills to God.

Two Pictures of Friendship

When we follow the wisdom of the world (3:15), we will have fights and quarrels that James teaches us about in 4:1-3. To be a Christian, means we have left the world’s way of doing things behind, and we seek to follow God’s way of living. Being a Christian isn’t just adopting a new set of beliefs; it is taking the truths of the Gospel and allowing them to change our lives.

Tools to Go With God Against the Odds

War

We sometimes think that conflict is the result of other people or circumstances that we face, but James says that conflict has a specific origin and it’s not outside of ourselves. When we understand our conflict from God’s point of view, we will live in harmony with one another and with God.
Outline:
(1) Conflict is deeper than you think
(2) Cravings need to be understood
(3) Confession will help our prayers

Wisdom in Life

James wants us to become wiser, and he wants us to understand, to discern the difference between False wisdom (the world’s wisdom) and True Wisdom (that which comes down from God). We will look at the nature, source, and fruit of both kinds of wisdom in this passage.

The Mighty Tongue

In this message, we will look at the longest section in the Bible that is clearly and directly talking about the tongue. When you go to the doctor’s office, what is one of the things that ask to see? Your tongue, right? You can learn a lot from your tongue. A good doctor doesn’t tell you what you want to hear. A good doctor tells you what you need to hear. Our doctor this morning is James and he is going to tell us what we need to hear.
Outline
(1) The Power of the Tongue - v.1-5
(2) The Danger of the Tongue - v.6-8
(3) The Abuse from the Tongue - v.9-12

New Year, New Life

The Purpose of Christmas