STUDY SHEETS for FFC for Sunday – February 7, 2016

investment heaven or hell

No good news in this text. None. All condemnation.

So what do we (I) do? What is a preacher to do? 🙂

God has given me a sense of adventure when it comes to regularly preaching his word. Adventure and perspective. I love God’s word. I love preaching through a book of the Bible. And when I am confronted with a text such as we have this week, I understand this method of exposition more and more. God is leading the way. God challenges me to trust him and believe him.

There is no explicit good news in our text this week. It is scathing condemnation against a class of people who exalt themselves above anyone and everyone else. And for that God will judge them in all severity.

So what do we do with James this week? Withering condemnation to the oppressive rich. But no peace offered. No resolution. No call to repentance of sin or confession of sin. Only the fiery blast of judgment.

What do we do? What do I do? I preach the word. I trust God with the harvest. Amen.

Message Title: The Coming Miseries of the Oppressive Rich!

Message Text: James 5:1-6

treasure location location etc

 

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AUDIO for FFC for Sunday – January 31, 2016

“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

gears man woman planning you ought to say

What if …

What if we allowed God to set the agenda and determine our priorities? What if we didn’t push and shove for our ideas? What if we sincerely sought the will of the Lord with all of our decisions on the church board, as a congregation … Get the point? If we sincerely desire the agenda of God (aka the will of the Lord), then we will not fight for our agendas. So easy.

No more church fights now, right?

I was in a church several years ago where I would beg the guys on our board to seek the Lord first in our decisions. I don’t know that this ever happened. We always had in mind how certain individuals in the church–three women especially–would react to our decisions. Make the wrong decision, which it seems we did often per our three women, and there would be “hell to pay.” And I don’t mean that as slang or rhetoric but as the spiritual dynamic that occurs when we speak against each other in our pride and hand the keys of the church to the devil.

Back to James … 

What if we genuinely brought everything before God? Will we do this perfectly? No. Do we have the ability to do this well? Yes. Do it faithfully? Yes. Will God bless? Yes.

Message Title: “If the Lord Wills!”

Message Text: James 4:13-17

AUDIO:

 

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STUDY SHEETS for FFC for Sunday January 31, 2016

man gears woman run will Lord abstract

The connection …

How does this section connect with the previous? That was my initial question. I am very familiar with this week’s text. Our lives are compared to a vapor or mist, making sure we look to the Lord’s will, the sin of omission, etc.

But how does it connect in the flow of the context? And, then, when I saw the link, I couldn’t believe how plain and powerful it was.

Earlier in the letter, James compared earthly wisdom to wisdom from above. He very pointedly spoke to the reasons that we as believers in Jesus Christ sometimes fight and quarrel.

And that is where we find the connection with this week’s text. Underlying much of our fighting and quarreling are our wrong desires. We want the wrong things and fight over the wrong things.

What if …

But what if we allowed God to set the agenda and determine our priorities? What if we didn’t push and shove for our ideas? What if we sincerely sought the will of the Lord with all of our decisions on the church board, as a congregation … Get the point? If we sincerely desire the agenda of God (aka the will of the Lord), then we will not fight for our agendas.

So easy. No more church fights now.

This is not ruling out application of this principle to our lives as individuals. Of course, each person needs to seek God’s will. How far we take that into our day-to-day routine, I am not sure. As in … Do I have cereal or bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning?

Here is a very realistic application: Do I pray with my wife or husband as to how we spend our money? Guys, do we just go out and buy new tools or hunting equipment with no regard for the wishes of our wives? Ladies, do we go on a shopping binge because we can?

Back to the church …

I was in a church several years ago where I would beg the guys on our board to seek the Lord first in our decisions. I don’t know if that ever happened. We always had in mind how certain individuals in the church–three women especially–would react to our decisions. Make the wrong decision, which it seems we did often per our three women, and there would be “hell to pay.” And I don’t mean that as slang or rhetoric but as the spiritual dynamic that occurs when we speak against each other in our pride and hand the keys to the church to the devil. He does stalk about looking for church people to recruit and devour for his purposes.

So back to James … back to our context … 

What if we genuinely brought everything before God? Will we do this perfectly? No. Do we have the ability to do this well? Yes. Do it faithfully? Yes. Will God bless? Yes.

Message Title: “If the Lord Wills!”

Message Text: James 4:13-17

banner instead you ought to say

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MP3 for FFC for Sunday January 24, 2016

SUNDAY SCHOOL:

LESSON 3: God’s Word: Learn It, Live It, Love It!

Preface continued->Chapter 1

MP3: 

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MORNING WORSHIP:

Message Title: Draw Near to God, You Sinners!

Message Text: James 4:7-12

MP3: 

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MP3s for FFC for Sunday January 17, 2016

Running late. Here is last week’s stuff. 🙂

SUNDAY SCHOOL:

LESSON 2: God’s Word Study

MP3: 

————————

MORNING WORSHIP:

Message Title: When I Am Weak!

Message Text: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

MP3: 

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STUDY SHEETS for FFC for Sunday January 24, 2016

humility submission bookends

Message Title: Draw Near to God, You Sinners!

Message Text: James 4:6-12

 

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God’s Word: Learn It, Live It, Love It! FREE DOWNLOAD LINK

Gods Word BACK COVER REDUCE SIZE BLOG UPLOAD

Hopefully, everything is now finalized. I received the first order of 15 books; did another intense proofread; everything complete. Looks very good. Happy with the final result. Download a copy and let me know. Or better yet go to my storefront and buy a hard copy. 🙂

Dave Lulu Storefront

Dave

FREE DOWNLOAD: REVISION 2 God’s Word- Learn It, Live It, Love It 011216 REDUCE SIZE BLOG UPLOAD

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MP3s for FFC for Sunday January 3, 2016

man woman arm wrestling

I have begun teaching through my recently finished book–God’s Word: Learn It, Live It, Love It!–so I think I am going to try to record those classes in case someone may be interested in following the study online.

So here are the MP3s for Sunday School and Morning Worship.

MP3 for Sunday School

MP3 for Morning Worship

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God’s Word: Learn It, Live It, Love It! FREE PDF DOWNLOAD

God's Word FRONT COVER

Hello All,

I have received my proof copy back and have reviewed and revised. Am waiting for my first batch of the print copies. I will begin teaching through this in our Sunday School on January 3, 2016.

Here is a link for a free download if you are interested. I would appreciate your feedback if you do download. Thanks.

dave

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STUDY SHEETS for FFC for Sunday January 3, 2016

man woman arm wrestling

Fighting, Quarreling & the Pursuit of Happiness!

“Who peed in your Wheaties?”

You’ve heard that expression I am sure. So what does it mean?

Someone has ruined your day, blocked your path to a good day. Thwarted your quest for happiness.

Some people it seems get their Wheaties peed in every day. Why? They do not know where true happiness is. They do not know where to find joy and pleasure that God gives and no one on this earth can spoil.

Too much friendship with and hope in this world. Too little friendship with and hope in God and the truth of God’s word.

In our text this week, James breaks down the reason that we fight and quarrel with each other. So simple, so profound. And … so ignored. The person who fights and quarrels has a war raging inside. That person is conflicted, torn between friendship with God and friendship with the world. And just as with the double-minded person in chapter one, this person should expect nothing from God.

This person is leaning heavily on his or her own wisdom and the earthly wisdom of the times. They may profess the wisdom of God, but their discontented life tells a far more compelling story.

God promises joy and pleasure and peace and contentment. God delivers on his promises. I am not saying we will not have great conflict. We still live on a dark planet. What I am saying is that ultimately our delight has to be in God, or we will struggle with life.

If you get your Wheaties peed in every day of your life, then maybe you need to rethink your happiness strategy and what you truly value, because the things God teaches us that are truly valuable are out of reach for the whiz kids. 🙂

Message Title: Fighting, Quarreling & the Pursuit of Happiness!

Message Text: James 4:1-7

 

man woman back to conflict

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