Grace Church Teaching

Matt Williams continues our series in the book of James. We are called not to be hearers of the word, but doers. Our faith in Christ necessitates actions and obedience.

Though God allows us to be tested, He is not the source of our temptations. Rather, as James says, "temptation comes from our own desires." Christians are warned of the seriousness of giving in to the temptations of the flesh.

Circumstance is volatile and unpredictable, giving people both poverty and prosperity in unequal measures. Can real satisfaction and security be found in something that is ever-changing? James calls Christians to consider instead their future hope in the Gospel, and to lay hold of it by faith in the midst of trials.

What is your first reaction when life presents you with new trials and hardship? As an inevitable and purposeful part of the Christian's life, James challenges us to consider trials to be an opportunity for worship and growth in godly endurance.

We have hope because ultimately life swallows up death for those who believe in Christ and are judged according to His deed on the cross. We in response must live our lives in light of the future.

When our lives supersede the mission, the mission is lost. Our relationship with Jesus requires effort on our part. Our righteousness requires faith in the effort already made by Jesus.

When our lives supersede the mission, the mission is lost. Our relationship with Jesus requires effort on our part. Our righteousness requires faith in the effort already made by Jesus.

It’s difficult to grieve and mourn the deaths of loved ones in the midst of a culture that tells us the goal is to “move on” or “get over it.” Thankfully we see in the Scriptures that there is a distinct, hope-filled form of grieving that Christians can enter into because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. We do not grieve as those who have no hope, but we engage in living a lifestyle of grieving as we anticipate the day death’s sting is finally vanquished when Christ returns.

It’s difficult to grieve and mourn the deaths of loved ones in the midst of a culture that tells us the goal is to “move on” or “get over it.” Thankfully we see in the Scriptures that there is a distinct, hope-filled form of grieving that Christians can enter into because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross. We do not grieve as those who have no hope, but we engage in living a lifestyle of grieving as we anticipate the day death’s sting is finally vanquished when Christ returns.

There is an embracing of physical brokenness in suffering and aging that shapes your soul and shifts your hope away from yourself and toward the Lord.

There is an embracing of physical brokenness in suffering and aging that shapes your soul and shifts your hope away from yourself and toward the Lord.

Staring down the sobering possibility of the approach of his own death in a prison in Rome, the apostle Paul declares that for him, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Widely known and recited, this statement presents Christians with great comfort but confronts them first with a hard challenge. Death is only gain for those who love Christ and spend their lives for Him.

Peace, confidence, and power are present in the life that exists to serve and glorify Christ (to live is Christ) and not the "self." When life--resources, time, and energy--is spent for family, money, admiration or anything other than Christ, death will bring only loss. Conversely, when life--resources, time and energy--is spent serving Jesus death will bring gain because death will mean Jesus.

In order to begin to view and understand death with a biblical lens, we must first cut through what our culture says about it. Matt Williams traces death back to its root cause, the Fall, and contrasts our culture's aversion to this subject with a biblical understanding of it as both groaning and glory.

Matt begins the series by explaining how spiritual death--long ago as a consequence of Adam's sin--necessitated our eventual and inevitable physical death.