Month: August 2016

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

Our sermon for this Lord’s Day will come from James 1:26-27.  And it may surprise you to discover that verse 26 is the only place where the word “religious” appears in the whole New Testament.   In these final two verses of the first chapter, James is concerned to make a distinction between two kinds of “religion.”  The first is a “religion” that is “worthless” in the eyes of God” (v. 26). The second is the “religion” that is “pure and undefiled before God, the Father” (v. 27). One “religion” is very deceptive and does not lead to salvation. The other is the real thing. It pleases God and saves the soul.

But how do you distinguish the false from the authentic?  In these simple verses James proposes three tests that one may apply in order to reveal whether one’s faith is “worthless” or “pure and undefiled” in the eyes of God: 1) The test of a bridled tongue (v. 26); 2) The test of a compassionate heart (v. 27a); 3) The test of a pure life (v. 27b).

For the next four Sundays we are going to slowly and carefully explore this most critical passage from James.  We might even see these two verses as the key to the whole letter, as James takes the three practical tests and expands them in later sections.  As you study and pray in preparation for our messages, let me encourage you to reflect upon the following passages:

A bridled tongue—3:1-12; 4:11-16; 5:9-12

A compassionate heart—2:1-12, 15-16

A pure life—4:1-10

Sunday School Starts September 11^th at 9:15 AM

We are anxiously looking forward to the resumption of Sunday School!  As always, we will offer classes for each age group, from our littlest ones all the way up to our Adults.  Our Adult class will be a study of the book Presbytopia: What It Means to Be Presbyterian, by Ken Golden (Christian Focus, 2016).  This study will help us to better understand who we are and why we exist as that branch of the Lord’s Church known as ‘Presbyterians.’  The book is divided into thee sections: Christian Essentials, Reformed Distinctives, and Means of Grace. If you would like to read along with us, here is the Amazon link where you may secure your personal copy:

https://www.amazon.com/Presbytopia-What-means-be-Presbyterian/dp/1781917434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472214638&sr=8-1&keywords=presbytopia

May our Lord bless you with His joy and peace until we gather in His glorious presence this Sunday!

I love you all,

Mike

Parents,

Church Family,

Would you like to be part of a SUPPER / FELLOWSHIP GROUP beginning in September and lasting for about 4 months? The purpose is simply for us to get together in small groups, share a meal, enjoy fellowship, and get to know one another better – so that we can love one another better. You might be with people you don’t know very well. That’s great! That’s the point! It is suggested that each group get together 3 or 4 times during this 4 month period – more if your group chooses to do so.

This is intended to be very informal. Each group will plan their own get-togethers. Just come up with a time that suits everyone and decide what you want to do. You might get together in different homes and let everyone contribute something to each meal, or you can go out to a restaurant, have a picnic… you name it! The more creative, the better. Just have a good time.

To get things started, we will have signups on Sunday August 28th and September 4th. On either one of these Sundays, you will be able to sign up in the lobby before or after the worship service. If you forget to sign up at church, that is not a problem. You can send us an e-mail at ndeaniv@gmail.com with your names, phone number, and e-mail address and we will add you to the list. After signup is complete, we will compile the signup list, group everyone together, and send out final assignments sometime before September 11. That’s when you all take over, make dinner plans, and enjoy fellowship together!

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Acts 2:46-47,

Norman and Amanda Dean
ndeaniv@gmail.com
334-313-1298

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Back in 1966 when our family first moved here to the ‘Rocket City,’ you could spot them from a mile away. The ‘NASA men’ were easily identified.  White dress shirt, skinny black tie, black dress pants, black shoes, and pocket protector in place full of pens, mechanical pencils, and a slide rule. To be honest with you, they were very intimidating for an eight-year-old boy to encounter.  That was the way they dressed every day for work as they engaged in the mission to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade (remember the challenge from President John F. Kennedy in 1961?).  These guys were anything but casual. The business they were in was deadly serious, as would be horribly illustrated in 1967 with the fiery deaths of Apollo astronauts Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee.  ‘Casual’ would get someone killed.

Of course, these days the ‘NASA men’ don’t look the same. While they are still seriously involved in the risky business of space, fashion has changed significantly for them as it has for virtually everyone.  ‘Casual Friday,’ once a novel idea, has been expanded to all the days of the workweek and to every profession under the sun.  Nowadays it’s not just the rocket boys, but even the bankers, lawyers, and doctors have ‘gone casual’ (my apologies to any unnamed family members and Church Officers!). Now whether or not this is a good thing will have to be determined by someone much more astute than I am. But what I do know—what is irrefutable—is the fact that the ‘casual’ revolution has conquered the Church as well.

All around town we see those signs that advertise ‘Casual Worship’ services (I would suppose that this is in opposition to ‘Serious Worship’ services). And this trend is represented in every denomination, even ours.  Pulpits, once a universal symbol of the authority of God’s Word, have been replaced with barstools, the transcendent emblem of ‘cool.’ Sermons (the very word is said to be way too authoritarian, too ‘preachy’ for our casual culture) have been replaced by ‘talks’ or ‘teachings.’ Suits and ties once worn by serious Ministers of the Word and Sacraments have been replaced with jeans, hoodies, custom tees, and tatted-up biceps. And apparently, all of this—which is done ostensibly in the name of evangelism and cultural relevance—is propelled by the (idolatrous?) desire to make people feel comfortable.  But is this good? Is it helpful? Does it please the Lord? Has the casual revolution served the interests of the Gospel and the glory of God, or will it eventually give way to disaster for the Church?

I bring all of this up today because this is the subject James, the brother of Jesus, broaches in his Epistle—James 1:22-25. His immediate concern is with those believers who take a ‘casual’ approach to the Word and to the things of the Kingdom of God. Embedded within his sobering exhortation to “be doers of the Word” (v. 22) is the simple illustration of the man who “looks intently at his natural face in a mirror” (v. 23).  But his intense looking at himself in the glass is not really all that serious after all. For he soon “forgets” what he saw reflected back at him in the mirror. He only took a ‘casual’ glance at himself, and then promptly went about his business unaffected, unchanged, and unmoved.  James says that if we are like that when we hear the Word of God, then we are simply “deceiving ourselves” about our Christianity, about our love for Christ, and about our commitment to His eternal Kingdom (v. 22).  A ‘casual approach’ to the Word will do great harm indeed.  It could very easily kill your soul.

This coming Lord’s Day we will take a careful and deliberate look at this passage. To the degree that we approach it in humility and with spiritual sobriety, the Lord will teach us all about putting the Word into action.  And oddly enough, we will even discover a certain blessedness and joy in our ‘serious’ approach the things of His Church and Kingdom.

Let us now prepare our hearts to come before the Lord, not casually, but with the blessedly sobering expectation that our King will actually be there to meet with us.  And as we find ourselves in His majestic and awesome presence, He will sound His Holy Word—“the perfect law, the law of liberty” (v. 25)— that brings light and life to all who believe!

I love you all, and can’t wait to worship our Savior and Lord with you this Sunday!

Seriously His and yours,

Mike

Announcements

Youth Bible Study for all of our Middle and High School students and guests resumes this Sunday from 4:30-6:30 at the Church House. Contact Mr. Ken Burnett for more information.

Our next New Members and Inquirers Classes will be held on Sunday September 11, and Sunday September 18, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM at the Church. Both classes are required for membership.  Registration is available in the Narthex.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

So far in our study of the Epistle of James we have learned that we owe our birth into the Kingdom of God—our salvation in Christ our Lord—to the sovereign grace of God and the power of the Word.  And, having been born again to new life in Christ by the “will” of the Father and by the “word of truth” (v. 18), we are then to live out our Christian lives under the command of that very Word of God.

James has taught us that the Word of the Lord, then, must be the controlling force in our lives. And this is why he exhorted his “brothers” in the faith to always “be quick to hear” this Word, and “slow to speak” and to “slow to anger” in order that the Word that empowered our salvation may come to govern our lives, even down to the practical details of every-day living (v. 19). The Christian life as James pictures it is one that is ever being exposed to the life-giving, life-transforming Word of the Lord that never returns empty!

But what does it mean to “hear” the Word of God? What is involved in hearing it or in listening to it?  This is the subject to which James now turns as we arrive at James 1:21.  As we will see, hearing requires first that we take some things off and put some things on (v. 21).  Then, true hearing is doing (v. 22).

On Sunday we will consider James 1:21-22 and discover the true meaning of hearing the “implanted word which is able to save your souls” (v. 21).

Have a blessed and restful weekend, and I’ll see you all on Sunday morning!

All my love for you in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Mike