Desert Breeze Community Church

Our modern culture of impatience and instant gratification is the least able to develop perseverance in us than any other culture in history. However, in real life perseverance is crucial to our success in relationships, marriage, parenting spiritual maturity, physical fitness, career advancement, and in dealing with the normal difficulties of life. Our Christian faith gives us incomparable resources for the development of perseverance!

How you think, feel and handle wealth is a test that reveals the spiritual state of your heart. The wealthy are those who have more than they need to live. It is not sinful to possess the blessings of wealth, but it is a sin to take that which is a blessing from God and misuse it for our own ends. The more you have the more you are in danger of misusing it.

We all make plans while considering as many variables as possible. But when we ignore God’s will when we plan, we ignore this reality- God’s will determines whether or not our plans will succeed or have any lasting value! If we can determine the goals at the heart of our plans we will learn where our hearts treasure lies. Then we can learn to submit to God’s will and direction in our lives

Relationships don’t put us in conflict with each other as much as they put us in conflict with our own sinful nature. If you will not fight or flight but face the inevitability of conflict in relationships, you will find them to be wonderful opportunities to grow in greater levels of maturity and intimacy with God and others. Just as our words are a window into our heart, how we relate and treat others is a window into the quality of our relationship with God (1John 4:7-8).

If God were to grant you one wish, what would you ask for? In 1Kings 3 when Solomon had just begun his reign over Israel. God came to him and said, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.” And so, Solomon, out of all the things he could have chosen he asked not for wealth, power or fame but for wisdom. Solomon later writes that wisdom is more valuable than jewels and nothing you desire compares with wisdom (Pro3:15, 8:11). We live in a day and time of unprecedented access to information unlike any other time in history. Though, we are drowning in information, yet we are dying of thirst for wisdom.

The quality and content of your words tell you a lot about your spiritual condition, the health of your soul. Most of the hurt in our lives have come from the words that we have spoken and the words that have been spoken to us. We live in a day and time of social media where words abound.

James 2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Who Is Right – James or Paul? BOTH! “Justified” = Gr. make yourself right or prove yourself right.

James teaches us that when you are saved by Christ, you are not only cleansed of your sin but you also have been given the power to mature in Christ-likeness through a process. In other words, true faith will always produce real fruit. In his pointed and straightforward style, James tells us that this forging of maturity is done through many trials of different kinds (cf. 1:2-4). How we respond to each of these trials exposes our hearts and has the potential to produce endurance and joy (leading to the crown of life) or the potential to sin (that leads to death) (cf. 1:12-14). James systematically goes through the most common trials of life, giving practical instructions on how to view them and what to do and not do. The trial we look at today is the tendency in all of us to view and treat others with partiality rather than mercy.

If we have been born again through the Spirit of God making the Word of God alive to our heart (v18a), then why aren’t our lives more remarkable (2Pet1:3-4)? Why are we too easily overwhelmed by trials (outward pressures) and overtaken by temptations (inward pressures)? When was the last time you were awestruck by the wealth of God’s presence, the comfort of His love, the strength of His power and the significance of being His beloved child?

Aron Lee Ralston Story (Matt5:29-30). Heaven and hell are at stake in what you do in dealing with temptation and sin. The more you experience the lifegiving joy of knowing Christ Jesus the more you will take drastic measures in dealing with any temptation and sin that will keep you from Him. All you must do is watch the nightly news and you will be confronted repeatedly with the question: “Why is there so much evil in this world?” James answers that question by teaching us about the nature of temptation and sin.

It’s not what happens TO YOU (circumstances) but what happens IN YOU (character) that either makes you bitter or better in life. It’s why you can have two people going through a similar set of difficult circumstances and one becomes bitter and the other becomes better.

If you ask people who don’t believe in God why they don’t, the number one reason will be suffering. If you ask people who believe in God when they grew most spiritually, the number one answer will be suffering. -Ortberg “Soul Keeping” It’s not what happens TO you (circumstances) but what happens IN you (character) that either makes you (better) or breaks you (bitter) in life.

There are always voices trying to make us captive to earthly things by pulling us from Christ or our liberty in Him. May God hold us from that danger by driving us to Christ with this Christ centered doctrine and direction. As Augustine said, “Christ is not valued at all unless He is valued above all.” May we be captivated by Him.

Paul was facing possible death while the church was experiencing persecution from the secular world. We face similar adversity in our world today. How does the churches unity in suffering impact the world around us?

The letter is written by Paul while in prison and is addressed to the church in the city of Ephesus. The first 3 chapters explores the story of the Gospel and how Jesus created a multi-ethnic community of followers united through Him. The second half explores how the gospel story effects the way we live every part of our lives. The hope for today is to scratch the surface of Ephesians just enough that you leave frustrated that we didn’t go deeper and that this will spur you on to read the book with a friend or with your small group.

No one places a lamp in a sunlit meadow. Lamps are made to be captives in dark rooms so that those who dwell therein might become captivated by the light and long for the Sun on their face.

Anxiety is an inescapable reality in our lives. It keeps us from where we should be and takes us where we shouldn’t be. We are anxious about many things, and there are many things we can do to battle anxiety’s symptoms; however, until we address the question at the heart of our anxiety, we will be unable to accept the answer to it.

The Bible says fear not 365 times. Proverbs 9:10 says “The fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom.” It seems that we are being told two different things. How do we redeem fear in order to understand it the way the Bible commands us to and dispel the misconception that we are to be fearless at all times? We must remember that fear is a God given emotion and it can be viewed and felt in a healthy way. In order to have a biblical fear we must ask ourselves who or what is the object and cause of our fear?

If your shame is misplaced and pushing you away from God, it’s not God-given. Healthy shame should draw you toward repentance. The Psalms teach us how to think and feel from a biblical perspective. Psalm 51 teaches us that Christian, God-given shame produces Christian, God-given joy.

The experiences that shape us throughout our life story will heavily influence the perspective we take into seasons of suffering. If we hope to suffer well, it is necessary to purify and guard our hearts as life goes on.