Senior Pastor Mark Stafford The writers of the Bible and Jesus Himself considered money to be both extremely valuable and extremely dangerous. Money can bring with it God’s blessing and incredible joy when it is used in the way that God instructs us to use it. But… it [...]
Senior Pastor Mark Stafford “Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” This verse is a warning that demands our most urgent attention because you and I are in danger of being lured in by the false promises of pleasure from a God-ignoring, fallen [...]
Jericho had been standing there for hundreds of years. It was fully fortified. Its inhabitants thought that it was invincible. But Rahab heard God’s word through those who had been traveling through town. One theologian commented, “The people in Rahab’s time who most frequently used such houses of prostitution were traveling merchants. From them she [...]
When I was a kid, I had a friend who had an obnoxious little brother. When he didn’t get his way, he started to scream. When I say scream, it wasn’t your typical little kid throwing a fit, but he would scream so loud and so hard that he would literally [...]
Sr. Pastor Mark Stafford Rahab is a story of scandalous grace. I don’t mean God’s grace was immoral. I mean it was radical beyond measure! With the grace God extended to Rahab, He reached down into a situation that was so immoral and He poured out so much mercy on Rahab that [...]
Everyone wants to be loved unconditionally, but pure, unselfish love is really pretty rare. We live in a self-promoting society. It is unusual for the average person in America to show love and concern for another person and really expect nothing back from that person in return. Most people in our society are concerned with [...]
Words mattered to James a lot! He mentioned the tongue in every chapter of his letter because there is a relationship between a person’s faith and their speech. Most people speak between 13,000-20,000 words per day and the sheer volume of a person’s words provides a window into the spiritual condition of a person’s [...]
There is a huge difference between outward religion and what James calls “pure religion.” When the book of James was written, the Greeks had come up with an elaborate system of religious rituals that supposedly appeased their false, man-made gods. (Gods like Zeus, Hermes, Apollo and Artemis) The word James uses here for “religion” [...]
James 1:13 says, “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” No one can blame God for their actions. Consider Adam and Eve in the garden. Adam tried to blame God for his action. He argued [...]
Every Christian I know has at least a couple of areas where they struggle. We are all double-minded in one way or another. In my life there have always been a few places where the pull of this fallen world is very strong. Sometimes I find that my affections are divided. The struggle with [...]
