This Sunday's Worship Materials can be found in the "Featured Sermon" below. We meet in person at Harper Park Middle School, and the service is also livestreamed on our YouTube channel.

Heart Prep for Sunday, June 10th

This Sunday, we're starting our new series on The Book of James, which I've entitled "We Walk in Wisdom."  I think coming off our series on "The Time of Trouble," it will be good to look at James since he puts such great emphasis on living wisely in all areas of our life.  Now, of course, that's easier said than done.  We all tend to think we're wise (most of the time, anyway), but as we've seen for the last six weeks, things show up in our lives that can knock us off balance.  And when that happens, we don't need to just get tougher or stronger, but rather, we need to get wiser.  So, we're going to spend the summer looking at what the brother of Jesus has to say about wisdom.

This week we're starting at the very beginning (what a very good place to start!) and we'll be going through James 1:1-12.  James starts off by teaching us about wise people compared to foolish (or double-minded) people, he compares the rich with the poor, and he talks about the importance of faith based on the past, and the importance of faith looking forward into the future.  Wow.  That's a lot for 12 verses.  And that's because, as one theologian recently wrote, "It’s amazing how much theology the New Testament writers get done in a short space.   And not just “theology” in general, but theology proper -– teaching on the nature, existence, and character of God.  James is an excellent example of this that I only noticed recently.  Consider how much we learn of God in the first chapter alone.  First, we are told that, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).  We very quickly learn, then, that God is generous in giving wisdom.  Indeed, He is the source of wisdom.  One must have perfect wisdom to be the all-wise source."

So we're going to see what it means to walk in the wisdom that one gets from God, and then see how that effects our everyday, ordinary lives.  Should be interesting.  Probably will be challenging.  Definitely will be worthwhile.  See you Sunday, Dr. Dave

P.S. -  It will also be my privilege this Sunday to baptize Dayna Weitz.   I hope you'll be there to rejoice with Dayna's parents and her whole church family on this special occasion.