I am loving watching the Olympic athletes this week.  Such hard work and dedication to reach one goal.  They train every day for hours at a time to be victorious.  It gets me thinking about our goal, which hopefully for every Christian is to hear the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.  Enter into your rest.” (Matt 25). But that too takes hard work and dedication.  We need to daily live our lives in such a way that we will be victorious.  So be and athlete in training for God.

I could have said much more about our tongues on Sunday but I only have so much time.  One verse that I definitely could have included is Psalm 19:14, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”  This is a prayer that we need to pray and pray often because it deals with the two main sources of our tongue.  Not just the words that come out of our mouth but also the things we put into our minds.  What we put inside our minds/hearts is what will eventually come out of our mouth.  It is that whole garbage in, garbage out that mentioned Sunday.  So let’s all try to pray this prayer throughout the remainder of this week.

I wondered what, if anything, I would say yesterday about the assassination attempt that took place Saturday afternoon.  I elected not to bring it up either in my announcements or message.  But I just want to repeat what I said a week ago before this event took place.  And it is just as true this week as it was last week.  The book of James (as well as many other places in the Bible) tells us that if we want to live according to the royal law in scripture, we need to Love our neighbor as ourselves.  This means not spewing hatred and vitriol toward others.  Many people on both sides of the aisle are treating this election as the end of the world depending on who gets elected as our next president.  Loving each other is farthest from our mind.  As Christians, this should never be the case.  Love and respect other opinions and do not demonize someone because they disagree with you.  Honor them as you would want to be honored.  Love them as you would want to be loved.  And show them that Christ lives in you!

James lays it all on the line and does not pull any punches.  Showing favoritism and judging other based on their appearances is wrong and we need to show God’s love to all who are seeking him, no matter who they are, where they come from, or what their situation may be.  Just as God accepted us and sent Jesus to die for us, he sent Jesus to die for them too.  And how will they know about this greatest gift if they are turned away at the door.  I know I have been convicted by this sermon this morning and I hope that Jesus opens my eyes to the ways in which favoritism has crept into my life.  My prayer this week is, “Help us see through your eyes Lord, those whom you love and let us show them that love.”

This week we are celebrating our freedom here in America.  And I thank God for being born in such a great country.  But I am also glad that I know Jesus and that I was born again.  Now I have an even greater country to look forward to.  If you have not experienced the true freedom that Christ gives, please contact me at the church and I would be more than happy to introduce you to the one who will change your life and set you free!

The youth had a great time at summer camp this last week.  Make sure to ask them about it.  I too came away refreshed and enlightened and ready to go back next year with even more kids.

Pray for all the boys and girls that are up at church camp this week.  Pray God will speak to hearts and change their lives.

I might not have done a great job of explaining the differences and similarities of trials and temptations.  I think James is focusing on desires when he uses the same word for both.  The main difference is the desire behind the trial or temptation.  God’s desire for all of his trials is for us to grow not to be tempted away from him.  So it this way we can say that God tries us but does not tempt us.  His desire is for the trials to draw us closer to him not away through temptation.  Our desire is what changes a trial into a temptation.  Temptations come when we see trials and uses those trials to lead us away from God.  Our evil desires turn trials into temptation.  Hopefully that clears things up a bit more.

Happy birthday to my youngest Son Caleb!