I love to write. I love the actual art of writing. I can spend hours carefully considering a paragraph or a sentence or even a word....

30 April, 2015

1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. 3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s...

30 April, 2015

1 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables....

29 April, 2015

This weekend Matt Williams continued in leading us through the book of James. The Bible is a fascinating book because it constantly leverages the dichotomy of judgment and grace. It is both the knife that cuts into us as well as the medicine that heals...

28 April, 2015

1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2...

28 April, 2015

One of the greatest challenges many Christians will face as they begin to grow in godliness and maturity of faith will be what to do with their words as they relate to other believers. As one grows in his faith, it becomes easier to recognize...

27 April, 2015

11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. 12 God alone,...

27 April, 2015

I still remember the first day I heard his story. As I read, I sat at my desk and cried. His story and photos stirred something in me, and I found myself longing to somehow help him....

23 April, 2015

As we drove towards the village where the Bible school was to be held, I saw a road paved across a flat, wide plot of land with Mount Kenya towering over us on the right and the Aberdare mountain range running like hills to the...

23 April, 2015

7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived...

22 April, 2015

In just a few short weeks, thousands of volunteers from across the Upstate will join together to serve their communities. As a church, we want the individuals and groups of our body to be key contributors to this community event....

21 April, 2015

This past week, Bill White taught on James 3:13-4:3. In this passage, James challenges believers to walk in wisdom and to recognize leadership that does the same. He contrasts true, heavenly wisdom with false, earthly wisdom. They may seem similar on the exterior, but they can...

21 April, 2015

1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned...

21 April, 2015

Throughout our study in James’ letter to the early church, we have seen a constant reminder of our fickle, double-minded nature. While God is true, steadfast, and enduring in his devotion to us, we are easily led astray by our sinful desires to pursue those...

20 April, 2015

4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have...

20 April, 2015

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what...

16 April, 2015

1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For...

15 April, 2015

This weekend we took a look at what James has to say on taming the tongue. James begins chapter 3 by addressing teachers and reminding readers that those who teach are judged with a greater strictness. James doesn’t say this to scare people away from...

14 April, 2015

1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. 2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. 3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what...

14 April, 2015

When you think of the word wisdom, what comes to mind first? Is there someone in your life that you consider to be wise and understanding? In this section of his letter, James distinguishes the wisdom that comes from God from the wisdom the world...

13 April, 2015

13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the...

13 April, 2015

“A whole world of wickedness” — that’s how James describes the tongue in his infamous section on our trouble with words. But what does that mean practically? For the Bible here to claim the tongue to be a whole world of wickedness, certainly it would...

12 April, 2015

33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right?...

09 April, 2015

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship...

08 April, 2015

This past weekend we as a church celebrated Easter, a holiday that celebrates Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. Resurrection Sunday is the most significant day in our Christian faith. It’s a day that marks the destruction of both death and the curse of sin. But...

07 April, 2015