I am looking forward to Sunday for two very practical reasons. First, our church will begin a new worship service sermon series, a verse by verse look through the New Testament book of James. The theme? Practical Faith. I am looking forward to growing together as a church in our obedience to the Word of God in all of the practical ways that James presents. To help our church prepare our hearts for worship, I've provided a one-page overview of the sermon passages and topics that we will explore. The sheet is available for download here. I trust that many of us will be able to look ahead and meditate on each passage of Scripture before each Sunday arrives.This leads me to a second very practical reason why I am looking forward to Sunday. As a church, we will launch a new afternoon Bible study format. Members of our church will gather around the Word of God in small discipleship groups. They will candidly look back at how God has used truth from the Book of James in their lives the previous week, look up truth in the Book of James from the passage presented in the morning worship service, and look ahead in prayer at how God desires them to obey His Word in the coming week in practical ways. I believe that this time together in the Word of God will become a highlight of our life together at Faith Baptist Church as our members do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12).-----To hear the four-part sermon series leading up to the Growth Groups Bible Study launch, click here. It is entitled: "Every Member Ministry." For a related post entitled "Every Christian Teacher," click here.