Podcasts about james chapter

Most of us have heard sermon after sermon, message after message, telling us that we shouldn't sin. That instead, we should repent and live a godly, holy life. That's great – but the real question is HOW?   STIFF-NECKED GENERATION I was never much of an accountant but I do remember learning about double-entry book keeping systems. They were really important back in manual accounting systems because they provided a double check to make sure that the accounts balanced. Basically, here's how it worked. Every financial transaction in the accounts had two entries – hence the name double entry. A credit entry and a debit entry. And the whole point of that was the double entry provided a double check. And it's not just in accounting that you find this approach. You find it in physics too. Newton's third law says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In other words – whenever a body exerts a force on a second body, that second body exerts an equal and opposite force on the first body. Maybe that's something we should have learned at school. And it's not just in accounting and physics that we see this two sided approach to life, we also find it in the spiritual dimension. Absolutely we do. Every spiritual transaction has two sides to it. Every spiritual action in one direction creates an equal and opposite action in the other direction. So what's the point? Well in this double-sided mystery lies our rubber-hits-the-road solution to overcoming stubborn sin – which is the thing that we're talking about in this series, "Eliminating Stubborn Sin Once and For All". And it's a powerful solution indeed. Last week on the program we saw that each one of us finds ourselves with at least one stubborn sin in life that we can't seem to overcome. Now it's different for each one of us – anger, temper, sexuality, greed, self esteem, pride … the list goes on. And somehow that one particular sine comes back again and again to defeat us. But whilst sin is all too common, it's not normal – and God's intention is to set us free from that sin. Not only His intention – it's His plan, it's His will and it's something that He has the power, the divine power to do. Last week on the program we looked at this particular passage, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5: For the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Every proud obstacle in our hearts that sets itself up against the knowledge of God – and that's what the strongholds are that the Apostle Paul's talking about here – can be destroyed by the weapons of warfare which are not human, they're divine. God's divine power. And it's a power that God delights in exerting right in the moment our of our weakness – so that it's His power and not our strength that overcomes sin. Here's Paul again. We looked at this last week too, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9: To keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Don't you just love this. Instead of just taking the messenger of Satan that was tormenting Paul away – God instead gives Paul the opportunity to discover God's perfect power – the power of Jesus Himself – in His own experience in overcoming Satan. But it's one thing to know that whilst we all have a stubborn sin and even though it's God's plan to wield His divine power to overcome that sin in our lives – well, all that's one thing. But what you and I really need to know, beyond that wonderful liberating truth – is how! HOW to lay hold of God's power and how to overcome the stubborn sin that's been wracking our bodies for a lifetime. Well today, right now, I want to take you deep into God's Word and show you God's how. Not my how. Not the world's how. But God's HOW! Now I've heard this Scripture we're about to go to have a look at quoted often – but only half of it, only one side of the transaction, and not the other side. And a half truth is as good as an untruth because a half truth can easily be made into a lie. It's something the devil does all the time. The half truth – the part of this Scripture that's most often quoted – goes like this, James Chapter 4 verse 7: Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And so a whole bunch of people set about resisting the devil. Problem is that the old enemy's been around much longer than you and I have, and he's seen it all. He's wily, crafty and deceptive and he'll go to any length to catch us in his snare. He'll wait to till the most opportune moment, until we're tired or weak or distracted or frustrated or all of the above – and then he'll pounce. 1 Peter Chapter 5:8: Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Lions wait in the long grass until they see a weak animal or a young animal or a slow animal separated from the pack – and then they pounce on their prey. The devil's the exactly the same. And what we discover when we set about resisting the devil – is that working hard just doesn't work. We don't need human weapons in this spiritual battle, we need weapons full of divine power. And it turns out that the way to access and wield those weapons involves a double-sided transaction. The half truth from the Scriptures that I gave you before – let me give the whole thing to you now – and you'll see what I mean. James Chapter 4:7-8 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Do you see the two sides of the transaction involved in defeating the devil – in overcoming stubborn sin? The first is, submit yourself to God and then resist the devil – two sides – and the result of that is that he will flee from you. When we submit ourselves to God, we rebel against the devil. When we submit to the devil – we rebel against God. It's a double sided entry, it's a double sided transaction. But some people have a foot in both camps – they want to honour God but they want to go with the devil and they're the ones who are double-minded, the ones who have to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts. We're going to look at some intensely practical examples of this after the break – but just for now think back to Adam and Eve in the garden. When they were living that perfect life prior to the fall – they were submitting to God (and getting all the benefits) – but on the other side of the ledger, they were resisting the devil. The tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it was there all the time, they just didn't eat of it – and so they lived in the benefit of God's blessing. BUT – the moment they submitted to the devil – on the other side of the ledger, they were resisting God, they were rebelling against God – in that very first, terrible, double-sided act of rebellion. Submission to God = rejecting the devil. Submission to the devil = rejection God. And in this double-sided transaction lies the practical truth of overcoming stubborn sin. If we try to do it by resisting the devil, as we've already seen – that's a half truth and it doesn't work. The answer is first to submit to God, to draw near to Him, because in so doing, He will draw near to us. And since He's the one with the power – He's the one with the weapons of warfare that have the divine power, the first thing that we need to do, is to submit our selves to Him. Resisting the devil is what flows out of that.   RULES DON'T WORK Stubborn sin – that sin that we just can't shift, sin that keeps on keeping on long after we'd hoped that we would have defeated it – is a fact in many, many people's lives. And over the last couple of weeks on the program, we've seen that not only does God understand that, but He wants to give us His weapons full of His divine power, right in the middle of our weaknesses defeat the sin. Jesus died and rose again to give us victory, to give us a new life – and so whilst stubborn sin is commonplace, it's not normal and it's not what God means for our lives. In fact, this is something that God takes so seriously – that He sends not only His Son just to die to pay for all our sin on the cross, but to rise again to give us a new life. 2 Corinthians 5:17: that if anyone believes in this Jesus, then that person is a new creation – old things have passed away and look all things are new. So, whilst many a Christ-follower is convinced that their particular brand of stubborn sin is just a fact of life, just something that they have to live with for the rest of their lives here on Earth, that's a luxury that the Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't afford us. Jesus came to set us free from every sin. And right now we're going to continue our look at this practical "how to" – how do we lay hold of God's divine power to allow ourselves to be set free, by God – of this sin and, and it's painful consequences. Now this is something that frankly puzzled me for a long time. First, I thought I had to do it all. And so I fought against the devil and I tried and I tried and I tried to resits him and overcome these temptations … but as strong willed an individual as I am, that just didn't work. I ended up lying bloodied and beaten and discouraged and dejected and defeated on the battlefield. OK ... OK ... OK that didn't work. So, what I'll do is I'll leave it all up to God. I'll sit back and let God do it all. But let me tell you – the old "spiritual couch potato" model didn't work either. And it wouldn't amaze me at all to know that you've been there too – right? So the question is, how do we make it work? What's God's part, what's our part? Come on – how do we break free from the power of stubborn sin?? Well, before the break we discovered that not only do accountants have double entry book keeping, not only did Isaac Newton discover that in physics and in nature, every action has an equal and opposite reaction – but when it comes to defeating sin, this spiritual transaction too is double-sided. And, it's in the double-sidedness of the transaction that we discover our role and God's role. If you were with us before the break you'll have heard this Scripture, James 4:7-8: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Do you see its double sidedness? This is really important – that's why we're covering this ground again briefly. It's not just about racing on and resisting the devil – that's something we can't win on our own. First, first submit yourselves to God – that's the God side of the ledger, and then, on the devil's side – resist him and he will flee. That's because when we submit to God, we lay hold of His power, and we have the power to resist the devil – and once he sees that power at work – he's on his bike and out of there because he and all his demons have to submit to the name that is above all names – the name of Jesus Christ. Now the danger is that we leave it there and we don't get down and practical enough to give us something to take away to implement. So I want to go deeper into the "how to" so that each one of us knows how to live out this submission to God AND resist the devil, so that the devil will flee from us. That's how you overcome stubborn sin. This first example is one that jumped out at me in a Bible study group. Have a careful listen, it's the Apostle Paul on death row, writing to his friends in Philippi – telling them how not to worry: now listen and see if you can pick up the double-sidedness of God's solution to worrying, Philippians chapter 4:6-7: Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I remember sitting in this Bible study group and we talked about worry and people hedged around this and they were prepared to move on from it without taking God at His Word. Worry is a sin – people with their trust in God needn't worry. Worry falls a long way short of living the life of abundant peace that God purchased for us on that cross. What this passage says is – look, here's the solution to overcoming this sin of worry. Instead of worrying – instead of spending your time doing that, replace that with praying and giving thanks to God and telling Him your needs. First submit to God – see that's what's going on here. This is God's way of dealing with the problem, the sin of worry. First submit to Him, do it his way. Pray and give thanks. Let your needs be known to God. If we take the time that we would have spent worrying … and instead we used it to do it God's way – to pray. The devil loves throwing doubt in our minds. He loves it when we're discouraged. How to deal with him?? We submit to God, we do it God's way – and the promise is that when we do that, "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". What's just happened here? God's weapons of divine power have been brought into play – we have a confidence that comes from God, because we did it His way in faith – and so the devil ceases to have any power over us to make us worry. Now, now stand in this newfound power from God … and watch the devil flee. The secret is in proactively replacing the bad with the Good, proactively stepping into this space and saying – No, no – no, no! This worry is from the devil. My only answer is to submit to God. Now I discover His divine power in my weakness. Now I can resist, now the devil must flee. Let's have another quick look at another practical example. It has to do with the things that we say that hurt other people. So many of us have a problem with that don't we – always grumbling, always pulling other people down. Have a listen again to the double-sided solution, Ephesians chapter 4:29: Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. How do I stop this addiction of evil talk coming out of my mouth. Do I just sit there and try to hold my tongue. No! – God's saying – instead of doing that, proactively replace it with my way – instead of speaking the things that are only going to hurt people, speak only what is useful for building other people up as there is need. Replace the bad with the Good. Deliberately step out with God and do it God's way and not our way. So when we feel like cursing people with our words instead we go "No! God's way is to bless them". The devil's got nowhere to go. He's lost his power. Then, having submitted to God, then we simply stand and resist the devil in the power of God because we've done it God's way. And let me tell you – they way I've learned this is simple. I sat down and thought about my weaknesses. I identified them. And I had more than my fair share. And I looked through the Bible and found a simple verse to tell me - when I'm in a situation where I'm prone to live out this particular stubborn sin – what is it that I CAN DO, to submit to God in my actions and my thoughts and my words, right there and then how can I submit to God. And so when I found myself in that place, I knew God's word, I knew how to submit to God. And you know what happened, little by little – God changed me. And the devil, well, he had no choice. He just had to flee. And when you think about it – this isn't rocket science. This is something that we can apply to any sin in any situation. It'd be just like God to make it that simple, wouldn't it? In fact next week on the program, we're going to look at some more specific details – common stubborn sins that people have in their lives, – to help each one of us stop sin dead in its tracks.   THE POWER TO CHANGE Over the next couple of weeks on the program, we're going to be looking at some very common stubborn sins that people deal with – anger, sexual immorality, selfishness, low self esteem – and how to overcome each of those. But as we come towards the end of our time together, I want to share with you perhaps the most important thing that I know about overcoming stubborn sin in my life. In fact – there's no maybe about it. It is the most important thing that I know. And it's this – that prayer works. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says very simply that we should: Pray without ceasing. Can I tell you something – that verse has stuck with me over and over and over again as God's done His work in me to overcome the stubborn sin in my life – and let me tell you, I had more than my fair share – and this is what I've found. When I was in that time of overcoming anger or overcoming selfishness – God dealt with them one at a time in me – I discovered that on those days when I specifically and deliberately prayed about that sin in my life first up in the morning – and got focussed on those handful of scriptures that God gave me – perhaps only a five minute investment each day – but when I made that investment I didn't sin. But somehow when I didn't quite get around to it, didn't have time, you know what it's like– those sins just got the better of me – time and time and time again. And still today, if I don't spend that time with the Lord each morning in prayer and reading His Word and letting Him have sway in my heart – I tell you - those stubborn sins will find their way back into my life. To put it very succinctly – PRAYER IS THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS. I can't make it any simpler than that. And even through the day, when I was in a situation where that sin was prone to come out of me – just a quick prayer under my breath – LORD HELP ME – that's all It takes. Pray without ceasing – because prayer works. I'm always taken by the time that the disciples were trying to cast a demon out of a boy while Jesus was up on the mount of the transfiguration – they couldn't do it. And Jesus came down – cast the demon out no problem and later the disciples went to Him and said, "So Lord, how come you could do it but we couldn't?" And Jesus said the most surprising thing to them, Mark 9:29: He replied to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting. Now just stop and think a minute – He's been up on the mountain, He's walked down into this farce where there's a crowd and the disciples are trying to cast out a demon and the demon's not going and instantly Jesus casts out the demon. Let me ask you – did Jesus have time for prayer and fasting right at that moment? Not at all – He was talking about his normal, every day prayer life, He was talking about the fasting He'd been doing before that. And when I scratch around looking at the original text of what Jesus said – recorded in Greek not English – the deep sense of what He's saying here is this – nothing but prayer and fasting has the power to cast out the stubborn demons such as these. – The stubborn demons. The sort that wont go – like our stubborn sins. The power is in the prayer – Jesus was incredulous when He saw what was going on – He said "How long must I bear with you, you faithless and perverse generation?" Pretty strong language. He was expressing His frustration - why is it that you people still don't get it? My friend if you would defeat the stubborn sin in your life – it will only happen by prayer. And the odd bit of fasting isn't going to hurt either I have to tell you. Pray without ceasing. Pray every day. And little by little that stubborn sin will be gone – so out there in the heat of the battle, with the crowds looking on – that hidden prayer life will bring its rewards. That hidden prayer life will bear the fruit that others see in your life. That hidden prayer life will bring the power of God to bear in overcoming the most stubborn sin in our lives that we could ever imagine.

What is the balance between works and faith?  Welcome to the 167!Connect with usWebsite: https://www.newlifegardner.comFacebook:  https://www.facebook.com/NewLifeGardner/Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/newlifegardner

This week we kick off our series from the Book of James. Welcome to the 167!Connect with usWebsite: https://www.newlifegardner.comFacebook:  https://www.facebook.com/NewLifeGardner/Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/newlifegardner

Naomi looks at James Chapter 4

James confronts the arrogance of self-sufficient planning among early believers, warning that confident declarations about the future—such as traveling, establishing businesses, and making profits—reveal a dangerous disregard for God's sovereignty and the fragility of life, which he likens to a fleeting vapor. He calls for a humble recalibration of attitude, urging believers to say, 'If the Lord wills,' acknowledging that life and outcomes are ultimately in God's hands, not their own. This humility is not passive resignation but a posture of faith that aligns with God's sovereign and moral will, which includes both the recognition of divine control and the moral obligation to act when one knows what is good. The sermon emphasizes that failing to do good when one knows how to do it is itself sin, underscoring the necessity of faith that produces action, while also affirming that the gospel provides certainty in the most vital matters—forgiveness, eternal life, and God's ultimate purpose—thereby offering peace amid life's unavoidable uncertainties.

The sermon centers on James 4:11–12, emphasizing that believers must refrain from slandering or judging one another, as such actions not only violate the royal law of loving one's neighbor but also implicitly judge and undermine God's law, which only one lawgiver and judge—God—has the authority to uphold. The preacher clarifies that while Christians are not to pass judgment on matters of conscience or gray areas where Scripture is silent, they are biblically obligated to confront sin within the church, as seen in Paul's instructions to discipline unrepentant believers in 1 Corinthians 5 and to avoid divisive false teachers in Romans 16. The key distinction lies in discerning between personal opinions, cultural traditions, and clear biblical commands, with the ultimate standard being Scripture's sufficiency and God's sole authority as lawgiver and judge. The tone is pastoral and instructive, urging humility, self-examination, and love, while warning against the misuse of Jesus' command not to judge, which is often misapplied to excuse sin or avoid accountability.

James 4 calls believers to radical self-examination and spiritual renewal, confronting the pervasive danger of double-mindedness—simultaneously seeking friendship with the world and with God, which James identifies as incompatible and spiritually fatal. The passage urges a profound humility, rooted in the recognition that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and calls for concrete actions: submitting to God's authority, resisting the devil, drawing near to God, cleansing hands and purifying hearts, lamenting over sin, turning laughter to mourning, and humbling oneself before the Lord. These exhortations, drawn from Old Testament imagery and prophetic calls to repentance, are not merely moralistic but deeply theological, reflecting a worldview where true devotion to God requires total allegiance and the rejection of compromise. Real repentance and humility is not despairing but hopeful, grounded in God's mercy and the promise that He will lift up the humble, all while affirming the sufficiency and divine inspiration of Scripture as the foundation for spiritual transformation.

Jim starts a new series by looking at James Chapter 1

James Chapter five concludes the Apostles letter with a practical call to authentic faith. He warns the rich who oppress others, urges suffering believers to patient endurance as they await Christ's return, and highlights the power of prayer and confession in every circumstance of life.

This centers on James 4, emphasizing the spiritual warfare between the believer's fleshly desires and God's holy will, rooted in the irreconcilable conflict between loyalty to God and friendship with the world. It calls for radical humility, exposing how pride resists God's grace while humility invites it, illustrated through the call to submit to God, resist the devil, and draw near to Him in repentance and faith. The passage underscores that true spiritual maturity arises not from self-effort but from divine grace, which empowers believers to overcome temptation, endure suffering, and remain faithful, grounded in the gospel and the indwelling Holy Spirit. The exhortations are not mere moral commands but expressions of a living relationship with a faithful God who draws near to the contrite and defeats evil through His greater power.

James confronts the spiritual danger of worldly allegiance, warning that friendship with the world is enmity against God, a radical antithesis rooted in the biblical concept of God's jealous covenant love. He connects internal conflicts—lust, envy, and unmet desires—not merely to personal failings but to a deeper spiritual alignment with the world's values, which are fundamentally opposed to God's kingdom. Drawing from Old Testament imagery of marital fidelity and the second commandment, James underscores that true devotion to God demands exclusive loyalty, rejecting compromise with cultural or moral systems that contradict divine truth. The passage calls believers to repentance, humility, and self-examination, emphasizing that genuine faith is evidenced by a life marked by resistance to worldly passions and a pursuit of God's grace. Ultimately, the sermon affirms that perseverance in faith, marked by godly discipline and the Holy Spirit's conviction, is the hallmark of true discipleship, not a mere profession of belief.

In this episode of Healing Conversations, hosts Dave Roberts and Eric McClenahan explore the question of purpose and what it means to live a life of meaning and fulfillment. They dive into James Chapter 5, discussing the importance of stewardship, creation, service, and building, and how these principles can help us avoid complacency and oppression. The conversation touches on the dangers of systemic complacency, the importance of community, and the need to build bridges across differences. With personal anecdotes and biblical insights, Dave and Eric encourage listeners to reflect on their own purpose and how they can live out their values in a way that makes a positive impact in the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

www.tswrightspeaks.comwww.godcenteredconcept.comwww.jesussaid.tvIn this episode of TS Wright Speaks, we take a deep dive into James Chapter 1 and uncover what can be understood as the 12 steps of spiritual growth revealed through trials, faith, endurance, wisdom, and obedience.The book of James provides one of the most practical guides for Christian living in the entire New Testament. Trials are not obstacles to faith—they are God's training ground for spiritual maturity. Through testing, endurance, and reliance on God's wisdom, believers are shaped into people of faith who reflect the character of Christ.In this teaching, we walk step-by-step through James 1 and examine how spiritual growth develops through:• Trials that initiate faith • Testing that produces patience • Endurance that builds character • Wisdom that comes from God • Faith that creates stability • A kingdom perspective on wealth • Eternal rewards for endurance • Understanding the origin of sin • Recognizing God's unchanging character • Receiving God's Word with humility • Living out the Word in obedience • Demonstrating true religion through righteousnessJames reminds us that spiritual maturity is not simply hearing God's Word—but doing it.If you want to understand how God uses life's trials to refine your faith and produce lasting spiritual growth, this study of James Chapter 1 will give you a powerful biblical framework for your journey.Episode Summary (Show Notes Version)The 12 Steps of Spiritual Growth (James 1)Trials initiate spiritual growth – Faith begins to grow through testing.Trials test our faith – Testing produces patience.Endurance builds character – God walks us through the fire, not around it.Maturity seeks wisdom from God – We depend on God, not our own understanding.Faith creates stability – Believers must avoid being double-minded.Kingdom perspective on wealth – Wealth is a tool, not an identity.Endurance leads to eternal reward – The faithful receive the crown of life.Understanding the origin of sin – Desire → temptation → sin → death.Recognizing God's character – God is the giver of every good gift.Receiving the Word properly – Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.Hearing and doing the Word – Spiritual alignment requires obedience.Evidence of true religion – Practical righteousness, compassion, and holiness.These steps show how God forms believers through trials, wisdom, humility, and obedience.Call To ActionIf this teaching blesses you:• Follow TS Wright Speaks on your favorite podcast platform • Share this episode with someone who wants to grow spiritually • Leave a review to help others discover biblical teachingJames 1 Bible Study, Spiritual Growth, Christian Spiritual Growth, Book of James Study, Trials and Faith, Christian Maturity, Biblical Wisdom, Faith and Endurance, Bible Teaching Podcast, Christian Theology Podcast, Christian Discipleship, Kingdom Perspective, Christian Spiritual Formation, Faith Development, Bible Study Podcast, New Testament Teaching, Christian Living, Biblical Character Development, Christian Podcast#BibleStudy #James1 #ChristianPodcast #SpiritualGrowth #FaithInTrials #BiblicalWisdom #ChristianDiscipleship #NewTestamentStudy

Week four of our Book of James series. This week we look at what James tells the church on subjects like friendship with the world, repentance and resisting the enemy, drawing close to God, a warning of judging, and the uncertainty of life. 

Week three of our Book of James series. This week we look at the two main themes of James chapter 3 - Power of the tongue & Godly Wisdom (wise people do wise things).

We are in week 2 of The Book of James. This week we look at the two main points in the chapter - As we believers we should show no favoritism and the application of faith and works.

Week one of our series "James", as we go chapter by chapter looking at what James has to teach us. This week is chapter 1, as James encourages us that God uses pressure to produce a mature, wholehearted faith that is lived out - not just talked about. 

Nahla Aldali • James 3:6 • Arabic Women's Discipleship

Hey, friends! While we might have met through my wardrobe styling career or music video sets, long before that, I was in seminary classrooms learning how to teach scripture with care, conviction, and more than anything, joy.   My name is Lanie Beth Sinclair, and since graduating, I've had the privilege of teaching the Bible with women across the country, in churches, large events, and in living room Bible studies that felt holy before anyone spoke a word. And truthfully, I loved all of it. What you're about to hear is a live teaching recorded in real time with real women, wrestling honestly with the Word of God, for His glory and our good.   I'd love to teach at your event. If you'd like to book me for your event or explore more of my creative work, visit my website: https://laniebethsinclair.com   You can also keep up with my series, Want, Need, Wear, Read: four things you didn't know you needed until now, on Substack.   Let's keep learning about the goodness of God side by side. 

In 1991, McDonald's launched the "McLean"—a healthy burger that people said they wanted, but no one actually bought. This phenomenon, known by psychologists as the "intention-action gap," doesn't just apply to fast food; it is the primary reason many Christians feel distant from God. In this opening message of the relationSHIFT series, Ryan Kramer explores James Chapter 4 to diagnose the root cause of spiritual drift. Using the powerful imagery of a campfire, he explains that God never moves away from us; we simply step back until the cold makes us numb. If you are tired of a casual faith and ready to reignite your relationship with God, this message offers the practical path back to the heat of His presence. -- The "Intention-Action Gap" explains why we often fail to do what we know is good for us, creating a disconnect between our beliefs and our daily lives. -- James Chapter 4 serves as a wake-up call to believers who have developed a casual faith, highlighting how unchecked desires create conflict and distance from God. -- Spiritual drift is rarely caused by a sudden rejection of God; instead, it is a slow accumulation of small steps away from Him caused by the busyness of life. -- God is like a fire: He does not change or move. Our experience of His warmth is entirely dependent on our proximity to Him. -- "Paradoxical heat sensation" is a physical condition where freezing to death feels like burning up; similarly, spiritual drift eventually numbs us to the reality of our distance from God. -- The solution to a cold spiritual life isn't a massive overhaul, but a single intentional step back toward the fire. Scriptures for Further Study -- James 4:1-10 +++++++ Join us for church this Sunday. For service times and meeting location please visit https://transformtlh.com/

The following is an AI-generated rough transcript of the Equipping Hour. It may contain inaccuracies.  Opening and Introduction Smedly Yates: Well, good morning. Happy Sunday. Welcome to Grace Bible Church this morning and to Equipping Hour. This morning, we’re going to be doing a follow-up from an equipping hour that Jake taught on January 11th on dementia. And that was, Jake, that was riveting and encouraging. And I thought you taught us everything we needed to know, but apparently you didn’t. Because the numbers of follow-up questions from that equipping hour broke all records. So we’ve sort of accumulated those questions. And let me just encourage you, if you didn’t get a chance to listen to that equipping hour from January 11th, pull it up on the website, go back and listen to that. And this morning, what we’re going to do is just put the questions that many of you asked in person and submitted. Or just get to ask those of Jake in front of all of us. And so Jake really is going to give most of the answers here. I don’t know if I have a whole lot to say. Other than these are the questions we got, Jake, help us. So with that, let me open us in a word of prayer and we’ll get started. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your kindness to us. We don’t deserve to have physical ability endure in this life. We don’t deserve to have mental capacity sustained in this life. We truly only deserve condemnation under your wrath for our sins. And so anything that you give to us, we pray to use as a gift, as a stewardship, to use well and for your glory, and to be content and to trust you as things diminish. And we thank you for the preparation, for mental decline. You’ve already given us from principles from your word. We pray even now as we discuss caring for one another and seeking to glorify you in personal worship in our physical existence that you would be honored as we listen and apply and are strengthened and sharpened to help others. We ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen. I’m going to start with kind of a personal question that came in, Jake, and it goes like this. If I try not to get dementia, you gave us a lot of helps, dietary exercise, sleep, some of those things that were really helpful, practical things. So if I’m doing those things, if I’m trying not to get dementia, am I expressing distrust and dissatisfaction in God and his sovereignty? Stewardship, Planning, and God’s Sovereignty Jacob Hantla: Maybe. So, yeah, we spend a lot of time talking about the practical ways that you might want to steward this life and this body that God’s given you. The big hitters were exercise, right? We said if there’s one that you can do, it’s that. But there’s a lot more. There’s a, but if you’re doing those things, is that sinful? It might be. There’s a way to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Planning, though, is not unbelief. Planning like God doesn’t exist is unbelief. or planning like God’s way isn’t best in your selfishly, arrogantly grabbing after your own desires. That’s unbelief. That’s sin. So the issue isn’t whether you should steward, but it’s whether an action that you’re saying is stewardship is actually a mask for control, pride, and fear. Proverbs 27:12 says the prudent sees danger and hides himself. There’s a way to see that. Where you see danger, you hide yourself from it. You take planned steps in order to avoid it that actually roots itself from fear of the Lord. And that would be right. And in contrast, it says the simple go on as if that danger isn’t there and they suffer for it. So there’s nothing inherently righteous or right and just saying, I’m going to trust the Lord and use that as a mask for just lazy thoughtlessness. Similarly, there’s nothing righteous at all in saying, I don’t want what I fear is coming and I’m going to grasp after what I want. But James 4, you guys might want to open there. This is, a really, really helpful section of scripture for planning. And it reveals why we actually have to, at the heart of all of this, guard our hearts, not merely do the right thing. James Chapter 4. And this is in the context of the warning, or the command to humble yourself from verse 10, humble yourselves before the Lord because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. And now, he says, come now, verse 13, you who say today or tomorrow, we’re going to go into such and such a town, spend a year there trade, and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You’re a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or that. So the take home from that is not don’t plan, don’t run a business, but rather as you run it, run it as one who actually embraces and recognizes your temporalness, your weakness, your dependence, and God’s sovereignty. Smedly Yates: If we zoom out from the topic of dementia, and we just think about the principle underlying that, we’re dealing with the realities of God using human means in his sovereign plans. If we rephrase the question, we might say, is it sin and distrust of the Lord to study for your chemistry exam? No, of course not. Can you sin by studying for your chemistry exam without thought toward God and exalt your own pride and intellect and your hard work? Yeah, that’d be wrong. A godless, practical, atheistic approach to effort would be sin. But a laziness that says, well, I’m just trusting in the Lord, but I’m not going to go apply for a job, study from my exam, practice for the athletic endeavor, or whatever is sin the other way. And I love the example of evangelism. We know that God will save people, but we know that God uses means to do it. So is it a failure to trust God when I go out and share the gospel with people? No, it’s actually the obedience that God uses as a means to accomplish his ends. Now, I can’t control the results. So you can be faithful, worshiping the Lord, telling others how great Jesus is all day long and nobody gets saved and God is honored and we trust him. Jacob Hantla: Yeah. There’s two biblical, I love the illustration. It’s throughout the Bible of horses and chariots. You can write down Proverbs 21:31 and Psalm 20:7. In Proverbs 21:31, it says, the horse is made ready for the day of battle. Who does that? We do that. The people do that, and they go, battle, but it says, but victory belongs to Yahweh. And similarly, in Psalm 20:7, this, this was actually one of my favorite passages in fighting cancer. I stole it from Piper in his book, Don’t Waste Your Cancer. He says, some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God, which doesn’t mean go to battle with slow horses and broken down chariots, it’s wise to get the best you can. If you know that you might be facing a future with dementia or anything else you might face, chemistry test or other health problem, be diligent to plan, but do it in a way that when you don’t get dementia, it wasn’t your effort that gets the glory. It was Yahweh’s. And if you get dementia anyway, you say, it was the Lord’s will. It’s best, I trust. Reverse Sanctification and Dementia Smedly Yates: A question came through, and really there were several facets that sort of get at the same kind of question. But people wondered, and this comes obviously from people who have worked hard to care for people with various forms of dementia. But it seems like Christians at times can experience what looks like reverse sanctification. Is that what’s going on there? Have people been abandoned by the Holy Spirit when behaviors change in mental decline. Jacob Hantla: Yeah, I think probably about five, six of you asked that question with very particular circumstances in mind. And the question doesn’t overstate the reality of what occurs. So reverse sanctification. Sanctification is the process of progressively being conformed to the image of Christ from the point of salvation, usually, and normally for a Christian, until the point when they finish well, die, and are taken home, and then glory. But that doesn’t always happen for Christians. The reality is sometimes in dementia, some Christians become more childlike in their faith. It’s not inevitable that your sanctification will reverse. And I don’t think that’s the right term. It’s the observed reality that we see. But sometimes their faith becomes more simple, but not less godly. They might tell the same stories over and over again. Or if you imagine sometimes what happens in dementia, your existence in the moment is separated from what’s gone before it. So you’re always disoriented. That’s terrifying. And so you see the Christian in those moments having a childlike trust questions that you feel bad for them, but they are trusting the Lord in a real way. But sometimes, and this is the words of Dr. John Dunlop, wrote a book on the Christian and dementia. He goes, dementia can indeed change personalities. It has transformed wonderful, loving, godly people into tyrants. And that happens. I’ve seen, you see somebody who was self-controlled loving. and as they progress into dementia, they curse. They use language that’s not befitting a Christian at all. There’s inappropriateness in all kinds of ways. And so what’s going on there? I think it’s helpful. I’m going to do another physiology lesson. Bear with me, I promise it’s worth it. It helps me. So there’s some types of dementia, especially that there’s one we talked about called frontotemporal. What does that mean? It’s the area of the brain in which it happens. And it changes the way that your brain physically works. So there’s an, I’m going to oversimplify a little bit. So, but this is, this is helpful. If you think of your prefrontal cortex, you might have heard that word because we joke. Teenagers, their prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed. And that’s true. It’s why you don’t trust your kids to make life-altering decisions. But the prefrontal cortex is, you could think of it as the executive control center of your brain. It houses the part of your brain for abstract thought, concentration, working memory, and most critically, inhibition of inappropriate thoughts and actions. You and I do it all the time you think it’s like the breaks. There’s a filter on, thank God there’s a filter, right? Something comes to your mind and it doesn’t come out your mouth. Because of the prefrontal cortex, it overrides automatic impulsive thoughts. It helps you consider the consequences in the future before acting. It connects your current behaviors to the past experiences and your goals. And when that area is damaged, somebody has a really hard time choosing the appropriate behavior for the situation. The damage, it sort of removes the filter. There’s another thing, orbital frontal cortex. It’s just another area of your brain. You don’t need to know the big word. But what that is is that’s particularly critical for regulating social behavior. When that area of the brain gets damaged, like if you get a cancer to that area or a surgery that affects, that area instantly, that person can explain what appropriate social behavior is, but they don’t recognize when their behavior violates that. So it’s manifested by like just a list from a textbook that I looked up on this. It’s greeting strangers in an overly familiar manner, standing too close to others, inappropriate touching, being aware of social norms, like I said, but unaware that your behavior violates that, and that can go to extremes, sexual inappropriateness, language inappropriateness, and they’re just unaware. You and I, if we were to be saying that, it would be sin. In this case, it actually may represent a physical inability. So what’s going on there? I want to think about the brain and the believer. When the Holy Spirit expresses self-control in a believer. So, right, the fruit of the spirit is self-control. And I just said, well, self-control comes from the prefrontal cortex. So are we just our brains? No. When the Holy Spirit makes a believer new. And when the Holy Spirit controls that believer, he does it in a way through the working of our physiologic brain that enables us to submit to him, which means that he’s actually using our prefrontal cortex in a renewed way. I think it’s helpful. Open your Bible’s to Ephesians 5:18. I think this is really helpful. And there is an inner working between the way our brains and our most inner us, your soul, your mind, you’re who you are. There’s a working there that we, don’t truly understand, but that we can get glimpses into here. And I think that that, if we think of the way our brains in the working of the Holy Spirit to accomplish things like self-control, I think this is a helpful verse. Ephesians 5:18, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. And what’s that contrasted with? But be filled with the Holy Spirit, with the Spirit. So what does alcohol physically do? Alcohol in a person, it actually, you’re going to now see why I did this physiology lesson, it actually dramatically reduces prefrontal cortex activity. It takes the break off. It takes the filter off. You may still have the Holy Spirit, but the physiologic means that he uses to exercise control of, you would use to minimize your expressions of sin while in this body that’s falling apart, you’ve now chemically altered that. And so you have a lack of self-control, an impaired moral reasoning, increased risk-taking. Similarly, your orbital frontal cortex goes dysfunctional. That’s why I mentioned those two things. That happens with alcohol and anything that stimulates GABA receptors. That would be like benzodiazepines, some sleeping pills, some anti-enactylase, some anti-enactylase. anxiety meds, it can lead to social inappropriateness for those same reasons. Opioids. Research shows that chronic amphetamine and opioid use alters decision-making by ways that are very similar to focal damage to that orbital frontal cortex. You can see now chemicals interacting with your brain in a way that we’re used to seeing those people don’t act right. THC from marijuana, same thing, decreased brain volumes in chronic use, especially in the orbital frontal cortex. Sleep deprivation. Tons of breakdown, temporary, and the connection between amygdala, which is like your fighter flight, your stress area, and your prefrontal cortex connectivity. So sleep deprivation triggers this. You basically don’t have a brain. on your emotional regulation. So why am I going through all that? If we have the ability, it’s right for us to keep ourselves from breaking our brain intentionally. Don’t be drunk. Avoid chemicals that would alter those areas and make the expression of self-control more difficult or less likely. and you can actually, you see it in your kids when they’re unslept, more prone to sin. You see it in yourself. So imagine yourself with 48 hours without sleep, then drink a little bit of alcohol. You will become disinhibited, irritable, and be much more prone to sin. Don’t do that to yourself. But now what happens if that’s actually happening physically because areas of your brain are dying, they’re tangled up with proteins, or they’re otherwise that they can’t access the energy stores to function? That’s effectively what they’re, but they can’t sleep it off or sober up. It helps you be probably a little more understanding and maybe see that it’s not actually a reversing of sanctification, but rather, I think it’s a, well, let’s just turn to 2 Corinthians 4, and I think we’ll see what it is. You see that dementia can change behavior by damaging the brain’s physiologic instruments of restraint and judgment, but it’s not the same thing as the Holy Spirit moving out. sanctification isn’t stored in a lobe of the brain. You are more than your brain. It’s actually our brain is that part of us that’s wasting away. It’s not our inner man. So 2nd Corinthians 4:16, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. day. This is helpful to remember in somebody whose outer self is falling apart, not just physically their body doesn’t work anymore, but their brain’s not working. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen, the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. It’s really helpful. when we look at somebody with dementia and it looks like they’re becoming less and less Christian. I love the way John Piper says it. He has a helpful ask Pastor John on dementia. And he says, Paul’s telling us that weak, in glorious, demented shadow of a once strong Christian in front of us is on the brink of glory and power. You need to go into nursing homes and think that way. These people are on the brink of glory and power. We must keep this continuity in mind between diminished powers of human beings here and the spectacular powers that they’re going to have in the resurrection. It’s so important if we lose a sense of that continuity for the Christian, will assume that we are becoming less human rather than being on the brink of gloriously superhuman. So it’s helpful to see that your brain is the outer person that’s wasting away. And that isn’t necessarily connected to the what God has done in the most inner you. Confrontation, Rebuke, and Care for the Weak Smedly Yates: Given that reality, Jake, we think about somebody whose inhibitions are broken down. The manifest ability for self-control allows things in the heart to make their way out. Is there ever a place for confrontation, rebuke, encouragement, help for somebody who’s still living the Christian life, still susceptible to sin? At what level is it appropriate? How should we think about, you know, helping behavior and rotten speech and things like that? Jacob Hantla: Yeah, absolutely. There is. You have to recognize that the purpose of rebuke would be repentance, right? And just like with children and with all Christians, it’s really wise and necessary to discern when possible between sin and inability. The reality is that we can’t always do that. But before I go there, I want to get back to this question. Let’s think about ourselves and what we’re going to be prone to do with what I just said. I’m going to be prone, you might be prone, to say, well, I didn’t sin. It’s just my physiology that made me do it. You don’t get off the hook ever in the Bible because your physiology had a weakness. God uses our weakness and our physiology as the platform in which he demonstrates his power, and particularly his power over sin. Our brains, actually a significant part of why they’re weak and why they break like this, is because it’s a part of God’s judgment for us. Romans 1, right? We became futile in our thinking, and our minds were darkened as a result of our unwillingness to acknowledge God as God. We are not merely our brains, and yet the dysfunction of our brains is actually a significant part of the fall. God renews that. He changes that in the believer. And if you as a Christian say, I know where I am particularly vulnerable, maybe I’m heading down a path towards dementia, or maybe I have some particular weaknesses where I haven’t slept much this week. I just had back surgery. I know I’m going to be on an opioid for pain, and I know that I’m going to have a particular—even if you can’t say the area of your brain that’s going to not function right—you're going to say, all right, Jake taught me that I’m going to tend to act inappropriately towards people. I’m not going to view myself rightly. I’m going to have a lack of self-control. I better ask for help. I’m not going to justify sin, but I’m actually going to be more vigilant for it. Fight it more diligently and get people around me to help me fight it. So now let’s go to the question of, is it ever appropriate to rebuke a dementia patient? Let’s assume that person is a Christian. Go to 1 Thessalonians 5:14. If that person is a Christian and they are sinning, even if they’re not even aware of it, they’re going to say, will you please come to me and help me? I’m going to need help. We need to, as best we can, use the right tool for the situation. Discern weakness, faint-heartedness, and still don’t hesitate to admonish unruliness or idleness. So 1 Thessalonians 5:14: “We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle or the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak.” Do you see those three different instructions? Somebody might be expressing sin. All three of these might be evidences of—in all of these three cases—there might be somebody evidencing unbelief or something that needs turning, changing. And in one case, the tool is admonishment. In another, it’s actually help. And in the other, it’s encouragement. Now consider the person with dementia. Their brain is not functioning the way that yours is. They can’t connect their actions to what’s socially appropriate. They can’t connect their actions with the goals they’re aiming at. They might be unclear as to even the situation that they find themselves in, the context of their life. That’s a pitiable—in all the right ways—pitiable circumstance. That would tend to make that person fainthearted, very weak. What they probably need more than admonishment is help and encouragement. I love Poithress. This is from Piper and Grudem’s book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He says, “Our privilege as Christ’s children altogether should stimulate rather than destroy our concern to treat each person in the church with the sensitivity and respect due to that person by reason of his age, gift, sex, leadership status, personality,” and I would add mental status. So how should you do this? With mild impairment, let’s just go down a category. If you had somebody with mild impairment—not all dementias, it’s not this catch-all where everybody’s all the same—you can have a mild impairment. Probably normal accountability. They’re going to tend to need more admonishment and help and encouragement, but be slower, be gentle, be more concrete. You’re probably not going to be able to string together three or four if-then statements to logically get them there. Make it simple. Sort of like when you’re admonishing your three-year-old, maybe your five-year-old, your seven-year-old. You still do it, but not in the same way that you would a 25-year-old or a 35-year-old. But then with moderate impairment, your correction probably becomes more redirection. Just simple statements of, “That’s not okay. Let’s go over here.” Change the environment. And then severe impairment, probably treat it more as symptom management, prioritizing safety, comfort. Simple statements still: “That’s not okay.” Like you would use for your one-year-old: “Use your hands for gentleness. We don’t speak like that. That doesn’t honor the Lord.” Normal Aging, Forgetfulness, and Dementia Smedly Yates: Statements like that. This is so helpful, Jake. I think partly because we don’t want to be in a position where we’re shocked and our black-and-white categories of sanctification, justification, get in the way of compassionate care and love for someone who is in a weakened state that needs help. It’s not dismissing sin, but just really helpful, compassionate care. I have a more personal question for you. Last evening, we had a number of friends in our home, and I got confused and thought that a dear sweet friend was somebody else altogether. And it occurred to me later, I asked a really strange question that didn’t make any sense to her at all. Do I have dementia? Jacob Hantla: I don’t think so. But you are getting older. There’s a forgetfulness that’s just a part of being human. And there is a forgetfulness that’s increasingly normal with age. Smedly Yates: You’re right behind me. You’re catching up. No, you’re not catching up, but you’re behind me. Jacob Hantla: Percentage-wise, I’m catching up, and I will never in an absolute, absolute way. So there’s normal aging, and some normal cognitive decline with aging is very different than actual dementia. So if you do have questions about that, it’s helpful. Regardless, if you just say, hey, I’m getting old. I’m not sleeping as well. Just as a result of not sleeping as well, as a result of just being weaker, maybe having more history behind you, some more stuff to forget, or whatever, you realize, hey, I don’t have dementia, but I’m not who I once was. That’s not a bad place to be. There’s a weakness there that’s helpful to get people around you to augment your weaknesses. How much more, if you were heading toward dementia. I promise I’ll tell you if I see it. You do the same for me. But regardless, you might or you might not. I don’t think you do. But let’s say that you’re saying, I forget stuff, do I have dementia? The second that you start thinking that, you’re probably not the right person to be making that call. It’s wise to get family members, elders, even medical professionals, doctors to assess: is this dementia? Is it a reversible cause? What’s the probability it’s going to accelerate? And then as you start seeing more and more likelihood that, yeah, this is progressing, start getting people around you to start relinquishing intentionally controls that you might have on your life. Can you double-check me on any purchases greater than X amount of money? Let’s go update the will. Let’s get you on a power of attorney. Invite them to take away the keys at the appropriate time. Even if you say that’s a long way from now, that’s a really humble way to invite, in a godly way, people who love you to be enabled to help you. Forgetting the Gospel and Childlike Faith Smedly Yates: Jake, can a believer forget the gospel in a mentally diminished state or not have the ability to articulate the gospel? Jacob Hantla: Yeah. They can. Memories are stored in our brain. And you might not have access to those memories even while you are saved. Right? That unbreakable chain of salvation will end in glorification from Romans chapter 8: all those whom he foreknew, and it gets all the way to glorification. And in the midst of that may be a trial like your memories are disconnected from you in a way that you can’t explain concepts like substitutionary atonement, you might not even remember that Jesus is your Savior, though he is. And so if somebody has forgotten those things, don’t tire of reminding them of those things. Because even if that memory can only stay with them for that one moment, it’s real. And it might help them endure that moment. It’s a really complex, I can’t say that we understand it at all. But God does. There’s a complex relationship between our thoughts, our memories, how those connect to our actions, and what our ultimate status before God that’s normally expressed through faith. And you can’t have faith without trusting in Jesus. So how can somebody who doesn’t even know who Jesus is trust in him? I’m just going to say I’m not God. God knows. And when you are in your right mind, if you do, that’s evidence of God’s work in you. Because nobody can say Jesus is Lord apart from, in me, and being it, apart from God changing them, saving them, making them new. And so if their brain breaks, and they no longer are able to say that in the same way, I don’t think that’s going to be devastating because they weren’t saved on the merit of faith, but they were saved by grace through the exercise of faith. That faith may look different now. But it’s helpful to think of what kind of people go into the kingdom. Like the disciples, when the children were coming, and they said, no, don’t let them near. And Jesus says, no, it’s, it’s that kind of person who gets into the kingdom. Don’t think that those, faith doesn’t have to be complex. Faith doesn’t have to be well reasoned out. That doesn’t mean that you have an excuse not to think. Peter says, add to your faith knowledge, right? We are expected to grow in faith. I’d love to hear you expound on this, Smed. But there’s a childlikeness of faith that actually in your dementia, you might be able to express that. In your arrogance, maybe in your self-trusting when your faculties are working, it may actually be God’s means of separating you from your strength, because when we’re weak, we’re strong in him, that we don’t get to see all the interplay of that, but we may be a means moment by moment of reminding the Christian who forgot who Jesus was of who he is. Smedly Yates: I think that’s so helpful. The weakest place you will ever be in life are at your last moments on the earth. No matter how it is you go out of this life. Just last night I was working through the details of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. And listen to this, Paul is comparing the resurrection to a seed sown into the ground and then what comes out afterwards. And there are different levels of glory from sun, moon to stars, different kinds of bodies, fish, and other things. But not everybody’s the same. But every human being who faces physical mortality ends life here and then experiences resurrection, every one of us will experience the most profound weaknesses in the last moments. And here’s how Paul describes it. The body is sown, placed into the ground like a seed, corruptible. Subject to absolute humiliating corruption, raised incorruptible. No longer ever subject to corruption. And when we think about brain deterioration, that word corruption is weighty. Sown in dishonor. The last moments of anyone’s physicality are the most dishonorable. Stripped of power, stripped of strength, stripped of dignity, but raised in glory. And Jake, what you shared earlier about somebody being on the brink of the kind of glory that C.S. Lewis described—if we were to see a resurrected saint now we’d be tempted to fall down and worship them or run away in abject terror. We just have no idea what this glory is like on this side of it. But we go from the lowest, most undignified, most powerless spot in our earthly existence in those last moments. And he goes on and says, put in the ground in weakness, raised in power, put in the ground natural, raised supernatural. And so the earthy is first and then the spiritual. And so it’s just helpful to think about not being surprised when someone is at their most profoundly weak, not just physically but mentally, end-of-life scenarios. Jacob Hantla: Yeah, it’s profoundly humbling. And it makes us want to say, I don’t want to be there. Can I avoid that? Okay. I mean, do your best. And ultimately God may bring us there in a way that all of us, sometimes our last moments are momentary, sometimes our last moments of that corruptible humiliation last a really long time. In this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, this physical body that’s falling apart, we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed. It’s not merely saying, hey, let’s take this thing off, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. It’s not even worth comparing. And so if that’s the way that God has to be glorified in us—to go back to that first question—okay, I’ll do that. It’s light and momentary, even if it lasts a long time. And even if I’m not even able in the moment to contemplate what time is, it’s humiliating. And you know what? I’m going to ask the Lord to take that from me. I’m going to say, God, please don’t. That’s an okay prayer. That’s similar to what Paul prayed and said in 2 Corinthians 12. And Jesus says, no, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And if Jesus says that to you, Christian, you can say, okay, I’m going to be content with weaknesses. And man, if you get to care for somebody in their weak moments there, it’s helpful to have these things in mind to know they’re on the brink of glory. Marriage, Roles, and Dementia Smedly Yates: I want to move to a practical and theological question related to roles, thinking particularly about husbands and wives honoring biblical roles in marriage, particularly when a husband is experiencing mental decline and dementia. How does a wife caring for a husband honor those roles with a diminished ability? Jacob Hantla: Yeah, that’s a really helpful question. I loved thinking through this. Smedly Yates: I came up with it myself. No. Several people asked. I just wrote it down. Jacob Hantla: You did. I think we want to avoid two opposite errors. One is a view of submission and leadership as a rigid subservience. If a husband can’t lead, the wife can’t act. Or on the other side, a role evaporation. That illness or inability cancels biblical patterns. Both of those would be absolutely wrong. Did you get that? One would be if the husband can’t lead, then the wife shouldn’t be able to act. And if the husband can’t lead because of inability, role distinction, that God set out that is grounded in creation order, not in ability, right? Men aren’t pastors because we’re better at it or smarter at all or better teachers. That’s not where God grounds it. But in his purposes. And so it’s helpful. If we think about what femininity is, so we’re helping a wife whose husband is just incapable of leading in the ways that she wishes he could, a heart that longs to follow. You think of 1 Peter 3:4. The adorning for the woman is in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. Normally, that’s going to be expressed through submitting to husbands, to their leadership, even in ways, as long as their leadership—for unbelievers, as long as their leadership doesn’t lead them to go against the Lord—even submitting to that with a gentle and quiet spirit. That’s going to play itself out differently for a husband who can’t lead through inability or poor decision-making due to brain decline. You go to Proverbs 31. This breaks the category of a submissive wife as one who’s subservient and just says, “Tell me exactly what to do, so I only do that thing.” No, an excellent wife who can find, she’s far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her. He will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. You see right there a husband who can trust his wife, whose wife is working for his good and not harm, that’s a wife who’s embraced godly roles. It’s not a wife, it’s not neediness that she expresses, but productivity and care. Jump forward to verse 15 of Proverbs 31. She rises while it is yet night, provides food for her household, portions for her maidens, she considers a field and buys it, the fruit of her hand, she plants a vineyard, she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable, her lamp does not go out at night. This is a woman who can work, who can work hard, but very different from that which feminists would say, hey, a woman who doesn’t need a man, a woman who functions for her own good, depart from him, but this is a woman who’s functioning strong for the good of her husband. And her husband trusts, she, verse 27, looks to the ways of her household. She doesn’t eat the bread of idleness. Children and her husband call her blessed and praise her. Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. This biblical femininity is rooted in fear of the Lord, love of her husband, not a desire to dominate over the husband, but to come alongside as a God-given helper to build him up, that can be demonstrated in very unique, very God-glorifying ways with a husband whose mind is increasingly not working. It’s fundamentally a disposition to honor and support the husband voluntarily and gladly. Leadership often involves delegation. So, husbands: if you’re heading that way, plan in advance for the kinds of ways so that your wife, even when you can no longer give your preferences, she knows, and it seems like in the moment, she’s actually working against it when you no longer understand what’s going on. She’s actually able to follow. So it’s good and right for the wife to be productive, capable, in a way that might look independent, but with a hard attitude that supports. So anticipate that. I want to give a personal example. This is actually hard and a little bit embarrassing. So dementia is different than delirium. Delirium is something that’s short-term, usually from a cause. You see it in elderly when they get like UTIs. You can see it from medications. Post-surgery, I see it all the time with anesthesia. As many of you guys know, I spent a long time in the hospital with Burkitt lymphoma. I was getting a lot of chemo. They stick a needle in my spine, give me chemo directly into my cerebral spinal fluid around my brain. I was on tons of pain medication and all kinds of other medications that did weird things to my brain. I don’t remember this time, but there was apparently a few days—I remember bits and pieces of it—where I was out of my mind. I at one point apparently tried to hit Kiki. I took all my clothes off and tried to go in the hall at the hospital. Kiki was a loving, submissive, supportive wife by helping me not do that. I am very grateful for her tearfully persevering, guarding me from myself as my brain was failing me. At that point, thankfully, in a reversible way. But she was not stepping out of her God-ordained role by saying, “No, Jake, you cannot go in the hall naked. No, Jake, you cannot hit me. Jake, get in bed,” and even physically and chemically restraining me for a time. That was a gracious expression of role differentiation that I think honored the Lord and honored me. I remember also, just husbands to wives, me at the—I was reading my vows this morning from almost 25 years ago. I wrote in those vows. And I’d encourage you guys to think through that now. And singles, as you’re thinking through marriage, think through what it might mean in all the different stages. I said, “I pray that as we grow old together, our love will grow stronger because we are together growing as one closer to Christ. I commit myself to loving you, even when your beautiful body is gone, even when your mind is not sharp, even when you do not recognize who I am. No matter what the cost to me, I will be married to you until God takes you.” And that’s what it means. That love isn’t in it for what the other one can give. It’s not self-seeking. It actually seeks the good of the other. So have this mind in you, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped after, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being found in human form. He did that all the way to the point of death, death on the cross. That’s what husbands are called to. That’s what all of us are called to. So thinking, I am above changing this diaper or correcting my spouse for the thousand and seventy-second time this week. Stooping that low is nothing compared to our Savior’s humble condescension to us. And so you actually are embracing God-given roles as a Christian when we help and endure and love our spouse to the very end. Honoring Parents and End-of-Life Care Smedly Yates: And that’s a great segue, Jake. When I think about what you just described, our parents did those very things for us when we were helpless. There may come a time where those roles are reversed and we’re helping our parents in their end-of-life situations. I’m going to ask you a series of questions that came in and you can answer whichever ones you want. I’ll try to go faster so we get through them. Maybe. Maybe we do a part 17 of this series, whatever. But I’m thinking about the command, the prohibition, do not sharply rebuke an older man. And the positive commands honor your father and mother. Those commands don’t expire. And when I think about don’t sharply rebuke an older man, there ought to be an elevated view of those who have walked this life longer than we have. We’ve lost that in an American culture, right? Tribal cultures have kept that in some ways. Other places, other cultures have kept that. We just sort of disregard the elderly as a new cultural phenomenon. And, you know, the word euthanasia, the beginning of the word is, is eu or good and thanasia, thanos, death. Good death. It’s not good. And we don’t discard people when they’re no longer of utilitarian purpose. But that is where our culture is going. And Christians must look very different. So when we think about how do we gently, compassionately, lovingly honor God, honor our parents, loving them through end-of-life scenarios. Here’s a series of questions. How do I honor those relationships when compassionate care, sometimes correction, help the 1,077th time. Dad, use your words. Don’t use your hand. You know, whatever it is. Give me the keys. How do we do that and honor them in our disposition? Number two, is it sin to employ the resources of home health care or a live-in situation, a retirement community, etc.? And then what do we need to think about with end-of-life scenarios? Yeah. That’s a lot of questions. Let’s go. Jacob Hantla: Let’s go. So I think honoring your parents means, first off, it’s a disposition of the heart, but it’s a disposition of the heart that is connected to meeting their physical needs. You went to 1 Timothy 5. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. And then dot that dot, second, verse 2, older women as mothers. And then it rolls into, let’s think of widows who are truly widows. Open to 1 Timothy 5. This is maybe a section that you’re like, you might not read this honor widows who are truly widows section, thinking it applies to you. It does. And I think in it is the answer to this question, or at least a significant part of it. Verse four, the thought here is the church needs to take care of widows, but don’t do so in a way that robs a family of the responsibility and need to take care of their own parents. So look at verse four. If a widow has children or even grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household. And now look at this three part: make some return to their parents. So rooted in just a mom, dad, thank you for however many years of my life. You changed my diapers and fed me and looked after every need. It’s okay if my career is messed up because I have to have you in my home and I have to go take care of you. That is, do you see what it says? That is actual showing of godliness. I love what you just said. It’s so different than the culture. The culture might do this in a way that Christians have to be sharply different than. It is godliness to make return for the way that your parents cared for you. Number two, this is pleasing in the sight of God. You don’t do it out of social obligation—well, who else is going to do it? They don’t have enough insurance. Or even if they do have insurance and you do get the privilege of having live-in help. No, you are seeking to please the Lord as you make return to them. This is pleasing. Yeah, and then the third was, yeah, so godliness, make return to their parents. It’s please the Lord. Take care of your parents. Meet the needs. And if you don’t, verse 8, do you see what it says? If anyone does not provide for relatives, especially members of his household, do you see what you’re saying? You have denied the faith and you are worse than an unbeliever. This is what James is referring to in chapter 2. That’s a faith that’s dead being by itself. The religion, end of James 1, the true religion, takes care of orphans and widows in their distress. How much more are your parents? So, yes, take care of your parents. You have to. It’s a great privilege. It’s actually God’s ordained means of living out godliness. So can you send your parents to a care home? Does that mean you have to maximally sacrifice? Not necessarily. It doesn’t mean that you have to perform every task. Neglect is sin, but using help may be wisdom. The reality is dementia needs are often 24-7. They involve skilled needs at times. They may wander, fall, be incontinent, unsafe swallowing. Care at home at all costs—that may be rooted in love. It may also be rooted in pride or even foolishness. Honor can actually look like choosing a good facility, visiting often, advocating, overseeing care. Encourage the church to be involved, but don’t demand the church do the work at you avoiding it. I don’t remember what the other questions were. Smedly Yates: That’s all right. We got one minute left, Jake. Would you close our time in prayer? Closing Prayer Jacob Hantla: God, thank you for your word and just how replete it is with wisdom and principles and instruction and most of all revelation of who you are and what pleases you. God, I pray from this and just from this lesson and all the trials that you bring us through related to dementia and so many others that you would increasingly form us each individually and then corporately as your body. Form us into your image. Increase our godliness and then, God, bring us safely home. We love you. Be glorified in our lives and in our church. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. The post Equipping Hour: Dementia and the Christian Q&A appeared first on Grace Bible Church.

In general and specifically, are we following the Bible in our daily walks? Is society demanding that we follow the Word of God in all that we do? Does our Almighty Father look upon us and frequently say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" - or is He thinking of us as He thought/thinks of Sodom and Gomorrah? On today's show, we will discuss James - Chapter 5.

In general and specifically, are we following the Bible in our daily walks? Is society demanding that we follow the Word of God in all that we do? Does our Almighty Father look upon us and frequently say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" - or is He thinking of us as He thought/thinks of Sodom and Gomorrah? On today's show, we will discuss James - Chapter 4.

Words possess incredible power to either build up or tear down the people around us. James teaches that controlling our speech represents the highest level of maturity we can achieve. Three key dynamics determine how our words impact others: not all words carry equal weight, the source of words matters significantly, and our intent is often irrelevant to the damage caused. When we hurt someone with our words, explanations typically make things worse by shifting blame to the wounded person. Instead of trying to contain the damage through explanations, we should extinguish word fires with humility and sensitivity, offering genuine apologies without excuses.

In general and specifically, are we following the Bible in our daily walks? Is society demanding that we follow the Word of God in all that we do? Does our Almighty Father look upon us and frequently say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" - or is He thinking of us as He thought/thinks of Sodom and Gomorrah? On today's show, we will discuss James - Chapter 3.

Send us a textJoin us this week as we jump back into James Chapter 5. Hope everyone enjoys these. Please leave us a comment and follow to help us reach other people.Thanks for listening and continuing to support us! Videos Available for your viewing pleasure over on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1dWYyR5QqE_dVwGvr6_eAQ Find us on the socials!!! https://www.facebook.com/talkaboutitoutdoors https://www.instagram.com/talk_about_it_outdoors/ Check out our partners! Cruzr Saddles https://www.cruzr.shop Grim Reaper Broadheads https://www.grimreaperbroadheads.com The KT Team https://thektteam.org Cal Hardie Arrowhead Land Co. 770-296-2163 All our links! https://linktr.ee/talkaboutitoutdoors

In general and specifically, are we following the Bible in our daily walks? Is society demanding that we follow the Word of God in all that we do? Does our Almighty Father look upon us and frequently say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" - or is He thinking of us as He thought/thinks of Sodom and Gomorrah? On today's show, we will discuss James - Chapter 2.

The book/letter/epistle of James. Chapter 4. Originally published as a part of Letters to Young Churches, which sold over 4,000,000 copies.   Read by Peter Croft, youngest grandson of the late J.B. Phillips.

The book/letter/epistle of James. Chapter 3. Originally published as a part of Letters to Young Churches, which sold over 4,000,000 copies.   Read by Peter Croft, youngest grandson of the late J.B. Phillips.

The book/letter/epistle of James. Chapter 2. Originally published as a part of Letters to Young Churches, which sold over 4,000,000 copies.   Read by Peter Croft, youngest grandson of the late J.B. Phillips.

Many people believe the right things but struggle to see real change in their lives. The problem isn't lack of knowledge but the gap between belief and action. James challenges us to understand that genuine faith naturally produces good works, not as a requirement for salvation but as evidence of transformation. There's a difference between divine faith that changes lives and demonic faith that merely acknowledges truth without surrender. Real faith always demonstrates itself through love in action toward others. When the Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside out, good works flow naturally as fruit of that changed life.

In general and specifically, are we following the Bible in our daily walks? Is society demanding that we follow the Word of God in all that we do? Does our Almighty Father look upon us and frequently say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" - or is He thinking of us as He thought/thinks of Sodom and Gomorrah? On today's show, we will discuss James - Chapter 1.

The book/letter/epistle of James. Chapter 1. Originally published as a part of Letters to Young Churches, which sold over 4,000,000 copies.   Read by Peter Croft, youngest grandson of the late J.B. Phillips.

Send us a textJoin us this week as nick breaks down Chapter 4 in JamesThanks for listening and continuing to support us! Videos Available for your viewing pleasure over on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1dWYyR5QqE_dVwGvr6_eAQ Find us on the socials!!! https://www.facebook.com/talkaboutitoutdoors https://www.instagram.com/talk_about_it_outdoors/ Check out our partners! Cruzr Saddles https://www.cruzr.shop Grim Reaper Broadheads https://www.grimreaperbroadheads.com The KT Team https://thektteam.org Cal Hardie Arrowhead Land Co. 770-296-2163 All our links! https://linktr.ee/talkaboutitoutdoors

James Chapter 1 presents four powerful combinations that transform passive faith into active discipleship. First, trials produce endurance which leads to spiritual maturity, teaching us to find joy in difficulties rather than avoiding them. Second, asking God for wisdom in faith brings clarity, while doubting creates instability and double-mindedness. Third, understanding that desire leads to sin and ultimately death helps us stop destructive patterns at their source. Finally, hearing God's word without doing it leads to self-deception, while applying biblical truth brings genuine growth. These principles challenge us to move beyond spiritual immaturity and activate our faith through concrete actions in every area of life.

Send us a textHey Guy, please join us this week as nick jumps into chapter 3 and discusses James in his words.Thanks for listening and continuing to support us! Videos Available for your viewing pleasure over on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1dWYyR5QqE_dVwGvr6_eAQ Find us on the socials!!! https://www.facebook.com/talkaboutitoutdoors https://www.instagram.com/talk_about_it_outdoors/ Check out our partners! Cruzr Saddles https://www.cruzr.shop Grim Reaper Broadheads https://www.grimreaperbroadheads.com The KT Team https://thektteam.org Cal Hardie Arrowhead Land Co. 770-296-2163 All our links! https://linktr.ee/talkaboutitoutdoors

James 4 confronts believers over pride, worldliness, and self-rule, calling them to repentance, humility, and submission to God. It exposes the danger of judging others and planning life apart from God's will, insisting that true faith is demonstrated by humble dependence and obedient action rather than arrogant presumption.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/lets-talk-scripture/donations

Send us a textJoin us this week as Nick jumps into James chapter 2. Leave us a comment and some thoughts. We look forward to hearing from youThanks for listening and continuing to support us! Videos Available for your viewing pleasure over on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1dWYyR5QqE_dVwGvr6_eAQ Find us on the socials!!! https://www.facebook.com/talkaboutitoutdoors https://www.instagram.com/talk_about_it_outdoors/ Check out our partners! Cruzr Saddles https://www.cruzr.shop Grim Reaper Broadheads https://www.grimreaperbroadheads.com The KT Team https://thektteam.org Cal Hardie Arrowhead Land Co. 770-296-2163 All our links! https://linktr.ee/talkaboutitoutdoors

James Chapter 3 teaches that the tongue reveals true spiritual maturity: uncontrolled speech exposes false wisdom, while wisdom from above produces humility, peace, and righteous conduct within the community.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/lets-talk-scripture/donations

Send us a textThis Week we kick off the Wednesday word as nick brings the book of James. We will start in Chapter 1 and see where it goes. Please be sure and leave us a review. Thanks for listening and continuing to support us! Videos Available for your viewing pleasure over on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1dWYyR5QqE_dVwGvr6_eAQ Find us on the socials!!! https://www.facebook.com/talkaboutitoutdoors https://www.instagram.com/talk_about_it_outdoors/ Check out our partners! Cruzr Saddles https://www.cruzr.shop Grim Reaper Broadheads https://www.grimreaperbroadheads.com The KT Team https://thektteam.org Cal Hardie Arrowhead Land Co. 770-296-2163 All our links! https://linktr.ee/talkaboutitoutdoors

Dr. Steven Manning completes the journey through the book of James with a sermon from James Chapter 5.

In this episode, we continue our Faith in Action series through the book of James by diving into James Chapter 3, where James challenges us to examine the power of our words. Our tongues may be small, but Scripture tells us they can build up with life or burn down with destruction. We've all said things we regret. We've all been hurt by someone else's words. But James reminds us that, through the Holy Spirit, we are called to speak differently — to speak with wisdom, gentleness, and self-control, even when emotions are high. In today's conversation, we talk about: Why our words carry spiritual weight How our speech reflects what's going on in our heart The danger of careless talk, gossip, and comparison Practical ways to surrender our tongue to God daily How to move from reactive speech to Spirit-led speech This episode is both challenging and hopeful — because God never convicts without also offering the grace and power to change.

Abide | Study Through James - Chapter 2 | Isaac Goulson | 11.2.25

Abide | Study Through James - Chapter 1 | Isaac Goulson | 10.26.25

In this episode of Worthy Pursuit, Amy dives into James Chapter 2, where faith and action come together as proof of a genuine walk with God. We talk about what it really means to live out our beliefs — not just say we have faith, but let our lives show it through obedience, love, and compassion. James challenges us to move beyond words and into works — not because works save us, but because true faith naturally produces good fruit. When our hearts are surrendered to Christ, our actions begin to reflect His character. Amy breaks down: