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Sep 16, 2018

Everyday faith thinks well of God

Everyday faith thinks well of God

Passage: James 1:13-18

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Everyday Faith: A study in the book of James

If God is God we can never fully comprehend His being. But we dare not become confused by those parts of Him He has made more clear to us. Thinking rightly of Him has everything to do with loving Him properly.

Order of Worship

Pre-Service Text: James 1:13-14
Call To Worship: Psalm 93:1-4
Confession of Sin
Assurance of Pardon: 1 John 1:9
Sermon Title: Everyday faith thinks well of God
Central Text: James 1:13-18
Benediction: Ephesians 3:20-21
Post-Service Text: James 1:16-17

09.16.18 Sermon Slides

Readings & Scripture

Call To Worship: Psalm 93:1-4
LEADER: 1 The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
2 Your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.

ALL: 3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!

Confession of Sin
ALL: Holy and merciful God, in your presence we confess
our sinfulness, our shortcomings, and our offenses against you.
You alone know how often we have sinned
In wandering from your ways, in wasting your gifts,
In forgetting your love.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we are ashamed and sorry
For all we have done to displease you.
Forgive our sins, and help us to live in your light
And walk in your ways,
For the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

Central Text: James 1:13-18
James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Benediction: Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Related Scriptures

  • Genesis 3:1-12
  • Psalm 7:14
  • Matthew 4:1-11
  • Luke 11:5-13
  • John 10:10
  • Romans 7:14-25
  • 1 Cor 10:13
  • 1 John 1:5

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. How has your view of God changed over time? What changed it?
  2. Why do we sin? What’s in it for us? What’s the bait and switch in it?
  3. How are temptation and sin related? How are they distinct?
  4. With James extolling God as the Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift comes, do those gifts come with expectations from God? Why or why not?
  5. Why might the gift announced in the Gospel be the most pure and perfect gift? What might happen in a soul when it is seen as a gift--free to us but costly to God?

Quotes

  • . . .God is a sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. Marilynne Robinson
  • God is the most obvious thing of all. David Bentley Hart
  • For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison. C.S. Lewis
  • Invite your friend, but not your enemy,
    to dine; especially be cordial to
    your neighbour ... Love your friends,
    visit those who visit you, and give
    to him who gives, but not, if he does not.
    We give to a generous person, but no-one gives
    to someone who is stingy … Hesiod, Works and Days
  • Will not a due apprehension of this inconceivable greatness of God and that infinite distance wherein we stand from him, fill the soul with a holy and awful fear of him so as to keep it in a frame unsuited to the thriving and flourishing of any lust whatever. John Owen