In this week's message from our series through James, Real Faith in the Real World, Bud reminds us how important our words are and why we must control our tongues and use them only to encourage and build up others. Since people are made in the image of God, we should treat them (and speak to them) in ways that honor the One who created us.

One of our elders, Dean, takes us through the next message in our series, Real Faith in the Real World. Covering verses 1-13 in James chapter 2, Dean reminds us that if we treat people the same way God treats them, we will demonstrate love and grace, rather than favoritism. Specifically, he challenges us to show love to one another, in practical ways, without making snap judgments or showing preferential treatment.

To help us close out a challenging year and look ahead to a new, hopefully better one, Troy encourages us to ask ourselves the following question: What if the things you’ve experienced up to this point—the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful—were all meant to lead you to exactly where you find yourself now?

To conclude our short series, Hanging on to Hope, Troy encourages us not to waste our pain but to find meaning in it. The question we should ask when God allows us to go through hard times is not why, but who? In God's mind, pain has two intended recipients: us and someone else. If we choose not to take what we’ve experienced and find some way of using it to help other people, we miss a large part of why God allowed us to suffer in the first place.

Continuing in our series, Hanging On To Hope, Bud shares one of the key reasons why we go through difficult experiences: our wounds give us power to feel another person’s pain. God allows us to be broken by trials to help us gain credibility with other broken people, and to help them persevere through challenging times.