According to the Media Awareness network, it is estimated that the diet industry alone in North America is worth $100 billion. We spend an obscene amount of money looking after or fixing our outward appearance! One of the current trends in the fitness industry is extreme home fitness. Highly intensive workouts and diets are designed to help people get into shape quickly. They are intended to give you quick results, which in turn should motivate and encourage you to continue. People take thirty, sixty or ninety day challenges to get into shape quickly. Yet with this extreme focus on making our outsides the best they can be, most of us are virtually ignoring our inner selves. Imagine if we focused with the same intensity on our spiritual life!

Near the end of the New Testament is a spiritually challenging letter written by James, the half brother of Jesus. He writes this letter to struggling and persecuted Christians with one simple goal. He wants them to build muscle as they mature in their faith. No spiritual flabbiness is allowed. James doesn't tiptoe around in this short letter. Rather, in rapid fire succession, he covers a variety of topics from faith, prayer, giving, favoritism, the tongue, temptation and trials to paint a picture of what spiritual strength and health is like. His no nonsense approach to spiritual growth is like a boot camp for the soul.

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Messages By Week:

Week 1: May 1
Extreme Spiritual Training

Week 2: May 8
Looking in the Mirror

Week 3: May 15
Confronting Bias

Week 4: May 22
Pushing the Limits of Our Faith

Week 5: May 29
Controlling the Tongue

Week 6: June 5
Growing in Understanding

Week 7: June 12
Staying Centered

Week 8: June 19
Enduring Patiently

Week 9: June 26
Praying Faithfully

...continued

You might ask what James knows about spiritual maturity. Remember this James is the brother of Jesus. To be more accurate, he would be the half-brother of Jesus. Mary was the mother of both James and Jesus. Joseph was James' father, while Jesus' father is God. During Jesus' life and ministry, James did not understand or accept his brother as the Son of God. In fact, he and his brothers thought Jesus was insane. But after Jesus' death and resurrection, we read in I Corinthian 15:7 that one of the people Jesus appeared to specifically was James. That was a life-changing moment for him. It is a reminder of how powerful the resurrection is. How emotional that must have been for James to see His brother alive after witnessing his death. From that day on, James became sold out and committed to following Jesus. Shortly thereafter he became the head of the church in Jerusalem. His strength of character and leadership was quickly recognized.

We know a few other things about James. That he was referred to as James, the Just, gives us some indication of his character. He was also nicknamed Camel Knees because he had acquired heavy calluses on his knees from hours in prayer. It is no surprise that James writes a lot about true character and bold prayer in this letter. Tradition tells us he was martyred by being thrown from the pinnacle of the temple of Jerusalem and his body was stoned beyond recognition. He fully invested and engaged his life in what he believed. He saw firsthand the power of these principles and truths worked out in his brother Jesus's life. He saw how his brother lived and he calls us to live the same way. He has the background to be our trainer and to challenge us with authority.

For the next 9 weeks we will look at the epistle of James through this lens of intensive and personal spiritual training. His letter will challenge us to intentionally grow our faith in Jesus and to put that faith into action. He wants us to not only understand the importance and value of having a living faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ, but to also remind us that faith demonstrates its dynamic character by its deeds.

Faith in Jesus should change us. Faith in Jesus should change our relationships with people. Faith in Jesus should change our involvement in the world. James wants us to put all our faith and trust in Jesus alone as our Savior and Lord. He is the object of our faith. But James is clear that if faith doesn't change us and inspire us towards maturity, then we have to question if we have a living faith at all.

We hope you are eager to be challenged and motivated to see God work in your life. Please know that spiritual growth is not something we can do on our own. It is not
accomplished by sheer will power and self-discipline. It is the result of abiding in Jesus and of keeping in step with the Holy Spirit. I'm excited about rolling up our sleeves, digging into the scripture and seeing the transformed life lived out.