Wayside Bible Chapel

Confession and repentance are two essential aspects of the Christian life. Confession means admitting our sins to God and asking for His forgiveness. Repentance means turning away from our sins and changing our behavior to align with God's will. When we confess and repent, we receive God's grace and mercy, and we restore our relationship with Him. Confession and repentance also help us grow in holiness and maturity as followers of Christ.

The church of Laodicea was a very affluent city. The church enjoyed their physical prosperity to the extent that they had impoverished themselves spiritually. Wealth and comfort can be a hindrance to our spiritual life in Christ. We can rely on wealth instead of relying on God. We can become so focused on comfort that we avoid doing what we know the Spirit of God is directing us to do.

The church of Philadelphia was one of only two churches that did not receive a rebuke. They had a little power, and they kept the Lord's word and had not denied His name. They stood firm, refusing to compromise with the world. The Lord Jesus was setting before them an open door. To those who kept the word of patient endurance, Jesus' promised to keep them from the hour of trial. And to the conquerors, He gave the promise of making them pillar in the temple and to put His name on their foreheads.

The city where gold was once in abundance, home of Croesus and Aesop, had a church that had a reputation for being alive, but it was dead. God sees the heart. We can be mister perfect Christian on the outside but be an impatient, selfish brat at home when no one sees. That means all the praise of man for our good works is misplaced. But God is not fooled. Time to wake up!

Jesus' letter to the church of Thyatira starts off with a recognition of their love, faith, service, patient endurance, and how their good works are more than before, but from there it is all downhill. The fact that they tolerated a faction in the church approved of eating food offered to idols and fornication and even taught the deep things of Satan meant the elders were not guarding the flock. The Lord promised to deal with each according to their works. Our works come from our heart. It is a promise and a warning.

The church in Pergamum had seen one of their brothers martyred. They stood their ground and held firm to the name of Jesus. But they had among them a faction that compromised with the Roman culture in a way that was ruining the testimony of the church. Find out how it applies to us today.

Smyrna was a beautiful city that was very much into emperor worship. It had a street called Golden with a temple to Zeus on one end and Cybele on the other. Christians were excluded from guilds because of their refusal to worship the gods. That meant they were in poverty but Jesus said they were rich. One of them, Antipas, was martyred for his faithful witness. What we see as wealth is shaped by our worldview. There was no reprimand, only a warning of more persecution to come and an encouragement to stay faithful.

The first letter from Jesus to the churches in Asia Minor went to Ephesus. It was a large city of decadence because of the temple to Diana. The church had superstars of the faith that established it, and forty years later they were still doing lots of good works and careful to kick out false teachers. But they had lost their first love. It is a warning to all Christians who are faithful to walk the walk but who have forgotten the passion they once had for Jesus.

Our passage today includes John's description of the glorified Christ, and Jesus' own self-description. What an introduction to the seriousness of the letters and the prophecies that follow!

Revelation opens with a declaration that the Trinity is giving John a letter for the churches that were in Asia, which is now Turkey. Then God tells us He is the Alpha and Omega who was and is and is to come. He is declaring the letter is from Him, the timeless One. That means it is for the church of every age, preparing us to face the persecution that is inevitable, and to show us the grand conclusion is worth suffering with Christ.

James gives us step by step instructions on how to make agreements, what to do when we are sick, when we are happy, and when someone strays away from fellowship. The last is instruction is the very purpose of his letter.

Almost 300 years ago, Charles Wesley wrote the hymn, Hark, The Herold Angels Sing. The message and the poetry were thoroughly Biblical. This year's Christmas message is an explanation of what he penned so long ago.

When faced with those in the church who are not acting as they should, what are we to do? Life is often difficult and we expect the church to be a refuge. So how should we respond to ungodly behavior toward us? Those James was writing to were being abused by the wealthy, even to the point of fraud and what James calls murder. Hear his inspired instruction.

This sermon's passage is the harshest warning against the misuse of wealth in all of Scripture. Money is one of the chief, if not the chief, competitor for our affections. It promises security, comfort, enjoyment. So what is the balance of using it while keeping Jesus as our priority and source of satisfaction? Listen and take the challenge.

In this sermon, James is telling us of our tendency to do our own thing without considering God's will. We make plans and even arrogantly boast about them, when God had something much better for us to do. We act as if we control our lives when God has already planned every day before we were born. He has a better plan for our short lives than what we would naturally desire. But we must seek Him and acknowledge Him.

Submission and humility are not terms that our culture values, but the Bible tells us that they are essential to blessing and exaltation. In this brief but memorable passage, James confronts our insincerity and challenges us to be the people God can bless and exalt.

In a culture dominated by worldly pursuits, it is important that followers of Christ take time to consider the wonder of the eternal unseen blessings that are ours in Christ. In the message Counting My Blessings, Pastor Paul tells of the top ten things he is grateful for, all of which have an eternal value. The message challenges us to do this regularly.

There is a war going on within every follower of Jesus. Our old nature wants to find pleasure in this world. Our new nature in Christ wants to seek those things that are from above. The danger of letting the old win out is that in the process we make ourselves enemies of God. Thankfully, God gives us grace and His promises assure us that He will help us. He is jealous for us and longs for our hearts to be fixed on Him.

James tells us there are two kinds of wisdom. The fruit of the wisdom from below is demonic, selfish, and divisive. The wisdom from above is gentle, meek, and peaceable. One is an expression of our old nature and the other of our new nature in Christ. Every moment we choose between the two.

The Bible places a major emphasis on the power of words both to help and to destroy. James tells us our words should be holy, but he also tells us no man can tame the tongue. We will be judged by every word we have spoken. That is the dilemma. What are we to do about it?