Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

Today, Saturday November 21 - James 2 - God created us not only to live, but to live fully! For sure we have a "survival instinct", to fight to stay alive physically. But God wants us to live an "abundant life". In John 10:10, Jesus said the thief has come to steal, to kill and to destroy, but I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly! An abundant life cannot be lived in iso...

Today, Friday November 20 - James 2 - Spiritual maturity does not mean I have arrived spiritually to a place in my life where I don't need to grow anymore.  Someone said that the biggest room in all the world is "the room for improvement."  That really is the story of Job, that James would mention in the last chapter of his letter.  Job was such a good and upright person that even S...

Today, Thursday November 19 - James 2:8-10 "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."  Here James reaches back into the Old Testament f...

Today, Wednesday November 18 - James 2 - Thanks so much for letting me be a part of your day with these Pastor Chats!  I feel so blessed to have so many friends who have a desire to grow in the grace and knowledge of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  Most of you already know, that I announced this past Sunday, that I will stepping down as Senior Pastor of Rainbow Forest this next year and t...

Today, Tuesday November 17 - James 2 - We are going to begin looking at the next chapter in James today.  Remember the theme and purpose for the Book of James is to encourage the believer to grow to Spiritual maturity!  In chapter 1 we find that the mature Christian is patient in testing and temptations.  Now, in chapter 2, we will study how the mature believer will also practice th...

Today, Monday November 16 - James 1:26-27 "If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." I think what I really like about this wonderful Book of James, is...

Today, Sunday November 15 - 2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." We have been learning from James 1 that we need to look into the mirror of God's "Perfect Law". It not only shows us what is not right about us, it also begins to do somethi...

Today, Saturday November 14 - James 1:25 "But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." The Bible is the the "perfect law"!  And in this verse James calls it, "the law of liberty."  So many people think that the "law of God" is restrictive and puts a person in bondage and...

Today, Friday November 13 - James 1:22-27 This passage warns us of the danger of self-deception because we do not practice God's Word in our everyday living.  One of the first things most of us do every morning when we get up, is look into a mirror.  We don't look to see how fantastic we look when we just got our of bed.  No we look to see what needs to be fixed and taken care of, b...

Today, Thursday November 12 - James 1:22-27 - If we are not careful, we can easily begin to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are spiritual when we are not.  Just because we read our Bibles, memorize Scripture, go to Sunday School and church, talk about the Bible and spiritual things, not engage in activities that are considered inappropriate for a follower of Jesus, does not mean that...

Today, Wednesday November 11 - James 1:19-21 - I'm convinced it is one thing to "hear" the Word of God and quite another to "receive" the Word of God. Jesus said, "Take heed how you hear." James tells us that we are receive the Word with meekness. That means we hear, we listen, we receive with a heart that is submissive to the truth that it reveals and that it applies to our present situation and...

Today, Tuesday November 10 - James 1:19-21- In this passage of Scripture, James tells us that the first step in avoiding being deceived by ourselves is to "receive with meekness the implanted or ingrafted Word which is able to save our soul." But before he writes that, he says we should be swift or quick to hear, to listen, and slow to speak.  Too often we have been talking when we should hav...

Today, Monday November 9 - James 1:19-27 - James is encouraging his readers to live like "grown-up" believers rather than to be like spiritually immature children in their daily walk.  In this passage, that we will be looking at for the next few days, James is warning against self-deception.  The Bible teaches us that the devil is a deceiver. He deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden to thin...

Today, Sunday November 8 - If you are alive, temptations cannot be avoided!  No one is exempt from them.  Even Jesus was tempted.  But God has given us what we need to resist and to say no to the temptations that come our way.  Someone said, "You can't help it that a bird flies over your head, but you can do something about it when the bird begins to make a nest in your hair."...

Today, November 7 - James reminds us in the first part of chapter one that God has erected at least three barriers to keep us from yielding to temptations.  In the first barrier, God says, "Look ahead and beware of judgment." (vs. 15) In the second barrier, God says "Look around and see how good I have been to you." (vs. 17)  Today, we are going to look at the third barrier where God say...

Today, November 6 - One of the great challenges in life is facing the trials, the tribulations and temptations that come into our lives on a daily basis.  How we respond to them is the real issue.  James is specifically writing to assist us with God's truth in dealing with these challenges in James 1.  We can't blame God or others for our failures! God has erected three barriers to...

Today, November 5 - James 1:16-17 "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."  One of the great deceptions that the devil uses to entice us to yield to a temptation, is that God is not good and does not love and care for us, otherwise, we would n...

Today, November 4 - James is writing his letter to believers who are displaced and are living in foreign countries.  As believers today, we are somewhat displaced, and we are pilgrims on earth traveling to our final home that is heaven.  But while we are here, we have a responsibility to live in a way that reflects that we truly are children of God. As we study this wonderful letter from...

Today, November 3 - James 1:13-15 tells us not to blame God or others for our failures in dealing with temptations.  The Apostle John tells us that we are tempted in three areas: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is...

Today, November 2 - I'm always amazed at the Lord's leading in doing these Pastor's Chats.  The first thing I do, before I post anything, is sit in front of the iPhone camera and share what's on my heart and in my head about the passage we're looking at.  And then I edit it and load it to my computer. The next thing I do is to read the Experiencing God and Utmost devotionals and then pos...

Today, Sunday November 1 - Are you struggling with temptations in the area of addictions, bad habits, or any area of your life that is overwhelming you and keeping you from enjoying the Christian life like you should?  Well, James has a word from God for us in this small letter that he wrote to the believers who had been displaced to foreign lands.  It seems the temptations that defeat u...

Today, Saturday October 31 - The New Testament book of James teaches us how to live an authentic Christian life.  The religious world is full of hypocrites.  We say we believe one thing but live out our lives another way.  James deals with this over and over throughout his letter to the believers who have been scattered over the world through persecution for their professed faith. &...

Today, Friday October 30 - If I had to choose two words from the Bible that best sum up the key to understanding and experiencing the reality of God and are so necessary to live out our Christian life, I would choose "grace and faith."  Everything begins with God's grace! "For by grace are you saved through faith..." (Ephesians 2:8)  Grace has been described as "God's unmerited favor". &...

Today, Thursday October 29 - James gives us a wonderful promise in James 1:5, that if we need wisdom, if we need guidance and help in making the tough decisions in life, as we ask God for it, He will give us the wisdom without condemning us.  But in the next verse, James gives us a condition in the way we ask.  We must ask in faith!  And then he promises us, that if we are double-mi...

Today, Wednesday October 28 - The last verse in 1 Corinthians 13 concludes the great "love chapter" of the Bible with these words: "Now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love."  But the first of "these three" appears to be "faith." Love, as described in this chapter, is the visible proof or evidence that you have a genuine faith.  Hebrews is the great "Fa...