How to Know if My Faith is Real | Pastor Joshua Hurlburt

How to Know if My Faith is Real | Pastor Joshua Hurlburt

James provides two powerful tests to examine the authenticity of our faith. The Word Test reveals that our speech directly reflects our heart condition - we cannot have an unhealthy mouth and a healthy heart. The Wisdom Test shows that our choices and their outcomes reveal whether we follow worldly wisdom (characterized by envy and selfish ambition) or godly wisdom (marked by purity, peace, and mercy). Both tests expose our spiritual condition, revealing our need for Jesus as the Great Physician who can heal what we cannot heal ourselves.

Can My Faith Save Me? | Pastor Joshua Hurlburt

Not all faith has the power to save. James 2:14 asks whether faith without deeds can truly save us. Dead faith produces no life change, while demonic faith believes correct doctrine but refuses to follow Jesus. Only living faith transforms us, evidenced through actions like loving enemies, serving others, and showing practical compassion. Abraham and Rahab demonstrated living faith through their deeds, proving that genuine faith and works operate together. You cannot manufacture saving faith through religious activities or moral behavior - it is a gift from Jesus. The crucial question is not how much faith you have, but whether your faith is real and transformative.

Grace to Love the Underdogs | Bishop Steven Arnold

God has a pattern of choosing those the world overlooks and using them for extraordinary purposes. From Abraham to Moses to Peter, Scripture shows us that God reaches down to the neglected and discarded, restoring them and anointing them for amazing things. True Christianity is tested not by how we treat those who can help us, but by how we show grace to people who can do nothing for us in return. We must examine our hearts for favoritism and ask God to help us love others the way He loves them. Since we all live on grace and have received undeserved mercy, we're called to extend that same grace to the underdogs around us.

Religion That God Accepts | Pastor Joshua Hurlburt

Our true identity comes from Christ, not from our circumstances, diagnoses, or struggles. Many people confuse what they've been identifying with for their actual identity in God. Real faith isn't just hearing God's word but acting on it with obedience. James provides three diagnostic tests for authentic faith: how we use our tongue, how we treat people in need, and how much we allow the world to influence us. When God's word reveals areas needing change, we should respond like looking in a mirror and fixing what we see wrong.

Faith to Overcome | Bishop Steven Arnold

Life inevitably brings trials and challenges that test our faith, but these difficulties serve a divine purpose. Trials are external pressures that God allows to develop our spiritual strength and reveal our character, while temptation targets our flesh and seeks to destroy us. The key difference is understanding that trials build faith while temptation aims to tear it down. When we face struggles, we can ask God for wisdom rather than seeking answers from worldly sources. Temptation begins with our own desires and what we entertain in our minds and hearts. God promises a crown of life for those who endure trials and resist temptation. Rather than asking God to remove pressure, we should ask what He wants to develop in us through difficult seasons.