Quick thought from Seth

James 1:21  - Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly receive the word planted in you, which can save you. We need to always remember that every instruction/command from God is for our benefit as well as those around us.    Our obedience benefits us on several levels. ·        I can’t think of a more certain path to intimacy with God than obedience to his word.    When we know his word and obey it we experience the peace that comes with that and our trust in him grows. ·        Every sin is detrimental to us.    Its pleasure is short lived and the consequences endure. ·        Many sins involve someone else, either directly or indirectly.    That results in either hurt to the other person or draws the other person into sin with us.    So when we obey God we do good to others. ·  ...

I have been reading through the book of Acts recently and found something I found to be both inspiring and convicting. The last 7 or 8 chapters of Acts deal with Paul being under arrest and basically moving from place to place, put on trial after trial for a number years. The first thing that is intriguing here is that Paul knew he would be arrested and yet he walked right into it.  In Acts 20:22-23 Paul tells the Ephesian elders,  “I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.”  The Holy Spirit Himself assures Paul that if he keeps going the route, he is going he will be put in prison and face hardship. What would you do if you had that assurance from the Holy Spirit? Paul continues on.  Then in Acts 21:4 disciples in Tyre  “Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.”  What you do if you had Christian friends tell you tha...

I love the Christmas film “Jingle All the Way” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a dad who is too preoccupied with his career. He forgets to pick up the famous Turbo Man toy for his son for Christmas. So, the whole film centers around how Arnold has to go out on Christmas Eve and search for this toy that has been sold out everywhere. In the final scene, through a series of events, Arnold has to dress up like Turbo Man and saves the day. Jamie is thrilled that his dad is Turbo Man! Finally, Arnold gives Jamie a Turbo Man toy, only to have Jamie turn around and give the doll to someone else. Arnold says, “ But Jamie, I thought you wanted this doll more than anything!”  and Jamie replied, “ What do I need the doll for? I got the real Turbo Man at home!”  In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a series of parables and in verses 44-46 He tells two brief and similar ones. They go like this,  “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again...

A few days ago, I read a story about man, Gregg Garfield, who was “patient zero” or the first COVID patient to be admitted at Provence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA back in February. He spent more than 2 months in that hospital and spent 31 days of that time in a medically induced coma. One detail that really jumped out at me int his story was that the doctors told Mr. Garfield that he  only had 1% chance of survival . Nevertheless, on Friday May 8 th , after spending over 2 months in the hospital Mr. Garfield overcame the odds and walked out to great applause a healed man.  Have you ever been in a “1%” kind of situation? Maybe in your marriage? Or job? Or financial situation? Maybe in dealing with parenting a certain child (young or old)-maybe when dealing with a sin in your life you have had for years and simply know you can never defeat? Whatever the situation is you simply know it is an impossible one, you look at all the evidence and you listen to your wel...

It happened again this morning! One of our boys had to go to the corner because he was acting out, he was acting out because of a silly argument over a toy. In summary, a whole lot of trouble came because this child didn’t get his way . Please don’t be fooled into thinking that this is only a problem for children. It is not. I have seen friendships, marriages, and entire congregations ripped apart because of human beings not getting their way. I deal with this personally every day of my life – ask Leah… on second thought don’t ask Leah. And if you’re reading this and thinking, “I don’t have that problem.” Chances are you are not as self-aware as you might think. So, we have been talking about a different spiritual discipline every Tuesday. And in his book  Celebration of Discipline , which we reference very Tuesday, Foster makes the point that  “Every Discipline has its corresponding freedom. The purpose of the Disciplines is freedom. ” In truth, exercising spiritual disc...

Today we going to be looking at Psalms 7:8-17 and going a little deeper into a topic we addressed yesterday in the sermon – that is the topic of God being the Judge. How do we interact with this truth? What does it mean for our every day lives? We are going to use this Psalm to help us answer, at least in part, some of these questions.  We begin in verse 8 with this statement:  “The   Lord   judges the peoples;” It is God’s job to judge people’s souls, that is, their status – not ours. Now it is our place to “judge” other Christians  behavior . Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 5:12 that we are not to judge the non-Christian, but we are to judge the fellow Christian. He is specifically talking about calling a brother or sister in Christ out of sin – confronting them when they go the wrong way. So, our judgement has nothing to do with delivering justice, or punishment and everything to do with intercession. Vengeance, condemnation, and salvation belon...

In James 1:19, Jimmy says, “ Know this, my beloved brothers: ” as we will see, James isn’t going to pull any punches in the next few verses. He is going to tell it like it is. So, from the outset, he uses very affectionate terms (beloved brothers) so they know he’s speaking out of his love for them. “…let every person be quick to hear,”  Have you ever reacted before you understood the situation? Boy I have! Sometimes with worry, sometimes with anger, sometimes with just trying to help but doing so in the wrong way because I didn’t listen long enough to know what was really going on. In any and every situation  we ought to patiently seek to understand the reality of what’s being said or what’s going on .  One of the best ways to be quick to perceive is to be  “slow to speak, ”. This will come as a shock to some, but this can be a problem for me. I am way too quick to speak. I have a mentor who is known for being slow to speak and quick to hear. I have asked h...