The emptying of our nest of 4 beautiful children has allowed us to reset our lives by living light for the sake of spreading the Light through the local gospel ministry of the Stillwater Community Chapel. (https://stillwater-chapel.org/) This blog is the musings and ministry of the Wolfgangs as we have gone wherever God leads. May we always live light and in the Light, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Finishing up chapter 1 with another great James' illustration...sermon post
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I thought this might be an eye catcher. This is Jacob B. Wolfgang, my great, great grandfather who served in the 138th Indiana Infantry in the Civil War. Do you see any resemblance to me? I keep looking at how much hair he has! Maybe I will share soon about my recent search on the Wolfgang side to 1583.
I love it when I can make charts and pictures of what the passage is speaking about. We have been building some chains. God's chain has a trial that leads greater spiritual maturity because we are calling on Him for wisdom from above who gives every good and every perfect gift. Man's chain has a trial that leads to sin because we are looking within ourselves for another answer other than His and we suffer the consequences of it.
James gives us that beautiful definition of salvation in v.18 and then he gives us another picture of what that salvation looks like lived out. Here are the charts I created.
Looking at these now I realize that I should have switched the chains and put God's way on the right and man's way on the left to line up with the two charts that followed. I am always amazed how the authors of the Scriptures, carried along by the Holy Spirit, put together for their original audiences their communication of God's word to them. We are so blessed to have God's word in its present form before us.
The challenge this week was to see how the salvation provided and given to us by God is manifested in our lives as His children. We do not just "do" the Word but we are "doers" of the Word and the same is true of not just "hearing" the Word but being "hearers" of the Word. It goes beyond identifying a one time action, do and hear, to proclaim a transformation that has happened so we are called doers and hearers.
When we are "hearers" of God's word we are fulfilling the first great command to love God. We are quick to hear, to grasp more of, God's very words. This is a keeping or guarding of ourselves to be unstained by the world.
When we are "doers" of God's word we are we are fulfilling the second great command to love others. We are slow to speak and anger, a proper time and way to respond, with God's words to others. This is a visiting or giving physical attention to those God has brought around us who are in need.
May we see that these two concepts need to be married together if we are to participate in what God calls religion that is pure and undefiled. Otherwise, we go with what we think is religious and religion which leads us down a worthless path.
Below is posted the video of the sermon but for some reason the audio and video get off toward the end. Here is also the link to the church website and the full service.
I heard this phrase today along with another that if you connect a bit of Scripture with a bit of life, it will end up effecting all of your life. This came up in my study of the book of James and specifically the verses dealing with not just being a hearer of the Word but also be a doer of the Word. It is all about application. I can't look at preaching the Word without giving steps of applying the Word. It really is an incomplete sermon if I don't. Many times I think it has to be big and many points and given cute aliteration that makes it snappy and I think easy to remember and fun to write down. Reality is, if I would make it a bit of Scripture connected to a bit of life and just that it would probably accomplish much more. How much time I spend on the opening statement and lame joke and research and introductions and how many points and the closing statement and so little time on connecting the bit of Scripture to the bit of life. So I guess I ha
Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs. I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... " I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition. Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia. He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region. The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone. Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins. The summary statement of the letter is found in Galatians 6:15 (LSB) . " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. " Translated another way earlier in Ga
James 4 has brought up some interesting study. First, "the quarrels and fights among you." Those are usually worse than you think even though we try to minimize them. The source is simpler than you think because it is coming from within you. The solution is easier than you think because the solution that James gives is that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord. Any sincere resolution is specific and brief. Beware of lengthy resolutions that usually include explaining it away or excusing some of the behavior. As I have seen before, the words are a sign of the heart. I read this week that if we have a critical heart we usually start by speaking evil of another to ourselves. Then we progress to speaking evil of another to that person with a running tally in our heads of all their wrongs. Finally, we speak evil of another to others and broadcast in a way that we are thinking that we are helping. Giving judgment is always easier than giving mercy. I
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