James 2:14-26 (ESV)

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Intro: What does it mean to be nominal?

WHAT IS OUR BASELINE?
Why does it matter that the LORD is a God of integrity?

SIN AS DISINTEGRATION
What is wrong here?

JUSTIFICATION & SANCTIFICATION
How does true faith in Jesus result in comprehensive change?

YOU CAN PRAY WITH US …
1 - Worship the LORD, God Almighty, for His absolute integrity. Praise Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that He is trustworthy and that our eternal future with Him will have absolutely no corruption or discord!

2 - How have you lived with a real gap between what you claim and how you live? Confess your hypocrisies to Jesus, asking Him to forgive you for being fraudulent and that He would transform your character as only He can.

3 - Give thanks to Jesus for His integrity and the full scope of His work to save us! Thank Him for changing our status (forgiving and adopting us) and for renewing our nature (regenerating us by His Spirit).

4 - Who do you know that lives with a noticeable gap between what they claim and how they live? Pray for them, asking the Lord to meet them in their brokenness and that He would heal them and grow their integrity.

5 - Ask the Holy Spirit to bear in you His fruit of love and goodness so that you would be eager for good works. Pray that He would help you “trust Jesus by faith alone, but not by the kind of faith that is alone.”