Cheap Grace, Saving Faith, and Practicing Resurrection Under Pressure

1. Sermon Discussion: (a) Jeremy: James 2:14-28 Faith with a PulseJames: saving faith and the kind that doesn't save, cheap grace and costly grace, the relationship between faith and works (and righteousness), the eschatological nature of works (as the "outworking" of faith in Christ as Lord and coming Judge).(b) Daniel: Revelation 2:8-11 Letter to the Church in SmyrnaRevelation: one of the two exemplary churches of the seven to receive letters in Revelation, their faithfulness in the face of persecution, the way persecution (and suffering) clarifies what's truly important in life, and the struggle for faithfulness this side of the "Constantine Shift" (that represents the historical moment when the Church transitioned from a persecuted to a favored religion of the state: before, it was harder to be a Christian than to not be a Christian; after, it was harder to not be a Christian than to be a Christian). 2. You Asked for It: Is the devil redeemable? 3. Offerings: From The Insanity of Obedience (Ripkin) and The Cost of Discipleship (Bonhoeffer)