Do Not Be Deceived

James 1:12-18

About the Sermon

Each of us has a love/hate relationship with temptation. On the one hand, we have been down this road before, reaping the consequences of the sins we willingly commit. On the other hand, we are going down this road again because somehow we actually believe the promise of sin over the reality of sin's consequences. This is no way to stability, to completeness, to wholeness. Sin is inherently destabilizing and disintegrating. Where do we begin in our fight against temptation? We begin with God. Not because he is the tempter, but because temptation gets its power by lying to us about him in order that we might believe lies about everything else. Are you a sinner? You need this sermon.

About the Series

The book of James is beloved of Christians for its famously practical wisdom and instruction. But James is no less painful as it is practical, addressing our many problems with a simple diagnosis: double-mindedness. Our fractured relationships, James says, are symptoms of our fractured souls, souls in a fractured relationship with our Father. But James offers more than this searing diagnosis but a program and prescription for wholeness: “draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” The message of James is this: God offers double-minded people the possibility of wholeness through repentance and faith. Our God “yearns jealously” over us and “he gives more grace.”
The book of James is beloved of Christians for its famously practical wisdom and instruction. But James is no less painful as it is practical, addressing our many problems with a simple diagnosis: double-mindedness. Our fractured relationships, James says, are symptoms of our fractured souls, souls in a fractured relationship with our Father. But James offers more than this searing diagnosis but a program and prescription for wholeness: “draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” The message of James is this: God offers double-minded people the possibility of wholeness through repentance and faith. Our God “yearns jealously” over us and “he gives more grace.”

Sermons in the Series