“Why pray? What is the point of prayer when God knows the future and is already in control of everything? If we cannot change God’s mind, why should we pray?” For the Christian, praying is supposed to be like breathing, easier to do than to not do. We pray for many reasons. For one thing, we pray because God commands us to pray. We also pray to follow the example of our Lord. If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we…

Do you like to wait? I didn’t think so. Nobody actually likes to wait. Yet everyday we’re forced to wait – sometimes for things we need and sometimes for things we just want. Statistics show that the average person spends close to an hour everyday waiting for something – elevators, traffic lights, your turn at the intersection, your turn to pay at the grocery store, a cup of coffee, a table or your food at a restaurant, the computer to load, and…

Planning is a wonderful thing. There are a lot of things in life that don’t happen without planning. Stadiums aren’t built, sewer systems aren’t installed, power grids aren’t maintained, children aren’t educated, and sometimes prayer doesn’t happen without a plan. Yet if you study the life of Jesus you’ll find that some of the most powerful ministry encounters recorded, seemed to take place during unexpected, informal, unprogrammed moments. Read through the gospel of John and you’ll discover that most of what John…

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires…? James 4:1 “I want what I want when I want it.” According to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, this is a central driving force within every single human being. We want what we want when we want it, and we get upset when we can’t have what we want—or we envy others who have what we want. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have to learn to ask God what he…

It’s brush fire season here in Southern California. We received an early reminder of that a few weeks ago through the 5-Acre brush fire that burned along the 134 freeway between Glendale and Eagle Rock. But do you know what can be even more dangerous than a tiny spark in a great forest? According to the book of James which we’ve been studying together, it’s our tongue. James writes… “A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all…

Have you ever handed a cashier money as payment for a purchase, only to see them swipe the bill that you’re giving them with a special pen? As counterfeiting has grown more sophisticated, so have the ways to detect it. But what about counterfeit Christianity? How can you tell the genuine article, from an almost perfect imitation? That’s one of the issues we’ll be examining in this sermon as we continue our study through the book of James and consider the question,…

The evil queen walked to the mirror, looked, and said, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” If you are a Disney fan, you have probably watched this scene in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs many times. While we don’t have a talking mirror on our wall that tells us the quality of our looks, we have something better that tells us who we are: the Word of God. A glass mirror can only project back the…

Oscar Wilde knew what he was talking about when he wrote: “I can resist everything except temptation.” We are all tempted by something! A person … possession … power… No one is immune – even Jesus wasn’t! And for most of us, temptation leaves us feeling guilty and defenseless. But the Bible is clear that there is no temptation that we face that God won’t help us avoid and overcome (read it for yourself here). Join us this weekend as we continue our…

When it’s time to make a decision, what do you base your decision on? Do you ever worry you’ll make the wrong decision? Some of you may follow the advice of that old theologian, Yogi Berra who once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Others can spend so much time weighing their options and comparing the pros and cons of any decision that they become victims of paralysis by analysis. What biblical truths can guide us…