Sermons by Dr. Abidan Shah
Dr. Abidan Shah
"The Devil Made Me Do It" | James 1:12-18
Dr. Abidan ShahEpisode · 46 min · May 10, 2026
About this episode
A lot of people blame the devil, their past, or even God for the sins they keep falling into. But James gives a much clearer answer.In this message, Dr. Shah explains how trials and temptations travel the same road, and how temptation begins when we stop trusting God and start turning inward. This sermon walks through
the blame game, the seduction process of sin, and why the answer is not just trying harder, but refocusing on God’s goodness and remembering who you are in Christ. If you are battling temptation, repeated sin, or a trial that is starting to pull you in the wrong direction, this message will help you think about it biblically and respond with hope.~~~~CONNECT: https://clearviewbc.org/contactGIVE: https://clearviewbc.org/giveBOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506DR. SHAH: http://abidanshah.com/
More from Sermons by Dr. Abidan Shah
View all- 1God's Covert Operation | Ephesians 1:9Standing in a Churchill-era bunker, Dr. Abidan Shah realized: the Allies' plan against Hitler wasn't fiction, it was a covert operation. That's exactly the word Paul uses for God's plan in Ephesians 1:9 — mystery, or musterion, which traces back to the Aramaic raz and Hebrew sod: God's covert operation, unfolding across all of history.In this message, Dr. Shah works through Daniel's encounter with Nebuchadnezzar's terrifying dream, the statue of gold, silver, brass, and iron that represents the kingdoms of history, and the stone — Christ — that crushes it all and grows to fill the earth. He traces the same secret plan all the way back to the Garden of Eden, through Abraham and Sarah's very human attempt to help God along, to Israel's future restoration and the church made up of Jews and Gentiles together. The message closes with a sobering reminder from 1 Corinthians 13: you can understand the whole mystery, and still have nothing, if you don't have love.0:00 – God's Covert Operation: Standing in Churchill's Bunker3:13 – What Has God Already Blessed Us With? (Recap)6:55 – What "Mystery" Doesn't Mean (Mystery Religions & Gnosticism)9:25 – Musterion Comes From the Aramaic Word for Covert Operation10:27 – Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, and a Death Sentence12:24 – The Statue, the Stone, and the Heavenly Council18:24 – The Secret Counsel Began in the Garden of Eden20:02 – Abraham, Isaac, and a Much Bigger Plan22:22 – Why Didn't God Just Reveal the Whole Plan at Once?[~22:22–38:49 — additional content not fully captured; verify chapters against your edited timeline]38:49 – Bringing All Things Under Christ41:07 – Is Israel Finished? (Romans 11:25)42:22 – The Resurrection and the Mystery of Godliness44:57 – Without Love, You Have Nothing (1 Corinthians 13)
- 2You Are God's Favorite Person | Ephesians 1:6Nothing is ever really free — you get what you pay for. That's true of almost everything in life, and it's true of your salvation, too. It's free to you, but it was never cheap. In this message, continuing our series on the blessings of the Trinity, Dr. Abidan Shah turns from God the Father to God the Son, and what it means to be "highly favored" and redeemed in Christ.Working through the Greek word charitoo (highly favored — the same word used of Mary in Luke 1:28) and apolutrosis (redemption — a ransom paid), Dr. Shah makes the case that you are not just accepted by God, you are His favorite one, and corrects a common misunderstanding about who that ransom was actually paid to. The message closes with one of the most personal stories Dr. Shah has ever shared on a Sunday morning — standing alone in a phone booth on the Pennsylvania turnpike at two in the morning, 33 years ago, at the very bottom of his life.0:00 – Salvation Is Free, But It Wasn't Cheap5:16 – Highly Favored: What That Word Actually Means (And Why You're God's Favorite)10:26 – A Moment of Honesty: Do You Feel Good Enough?12:30 – Redemption: The Ransom That Had to Be Paid16:09 – Not to Satan, But Within the Trinity — What Propitiation Means22:30 – The Riches of His Grace (And Why This Isn't Optional)26:34 – The Prodigal Son: A Father Who Was Already Waiting29:28 – Wisdom and Prudence: God's Plan at Its Very Best34:31 – A Phone Booth on the Pennsylvania Turnpike
- 3You Are Adopted, Not Abandoned | Ephesians 1:3–6A historic London cathedral just signed a four-year contract to double as a nightclub. Dr. Abidan Shah opens this message standing right outside it, warning that what's happening in Europe — secularization, empty church buildings turned into pubs and clubs — isn't as far from us as we think. His answer isn't panic. It's Ephesians.Beginning a three-part series on how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each bless us in salvation, this message starts with God the Father and a doctrine a lot of us have misunderstood: election. Working through the Greek word for "choice" and Isaiah's prophecy of Jesus as God's Elect One, Dr. Shah makes the case that Paul was never saying God arbitrarily picked some people and rejected others before they were born. We are chosen in Him, not chosen to be in Him — elect only because we are in the Elect One, Jesus Christ. The message closes with what that actually means for anyone who's ever felt like an outsider in God's family, ending with an old story about a prodigal son too afraid to even look out the train window for a sign of welcome.0:00 – A Church Turned Into a Nightclub4:18 – Why Ephesians Matters Now More Than Ever8:01 – Does God Pick Some People and Reject Others?11:13 – Context: What Kind of Church Was Ephesus?17:36 – Jesus, the "Choice One" (Isaiah 42:1 and 1 Peter 2)24:14 – Chosen in Him, Not Chosen to Be in Him28:51 – Why This Makes All the Difference32:52 – How You're Actually Made Holy (Ephesians 5:26–27)36:56 – Salvation Isn't Adoption — It's the Benefit of It41:20 – The Entire Tree Covered in White Cloths
- 4Why Worship? | Ephesians 1:3Why do we even have a time of singing before the sermon? In this message opening Ephesians 1:3, Dr. Abidan Shah asks the question directly: why worship? He defines worship as a time of wonder — marveling at the majesty, power, and grace of God — and traces the biblical pattern of blessing God all the way from Melchizedek and Abraham to David's 4,000-person choir of Levites.Dr. Shah makes the case that worship together with God's people has never been optional, then walks through the difference between physical blessings (which God gives to everyone, believer or not) and spiritual blessings (which belong only to those in Christ) — election, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit. The message closes by unpacking Paul's mysterious phrase "the heavenly places," and what it means that believers are already seated with Christ even while still in the middle of a spiritual battle.0:00 – Why Do We Even Have a Time of Worship?5:43 – Blessed Be the Lord: The Old Testament Pattern9:04 – David's Army of 4,000 Worship Leaders13:56 – What Heaven's Worship Looks Like (Revelation 19)17:09 – Every Good Gift Comes From God — Even to the Lost21:41 – What Are Spiritual Blessings?26:00 – Paper Assets vs. Real Assets31:02 – What Does "Heavenly Places" Actually Mean?39:35 – Seated With Christ, Yet Still at War44:41 – Why Church Isn't Optional48:04 – How You Can Help Someone Else Worship
- 5You've Got Mail — And It's From God | Ephesians 1-6"You've Got Mail." If you remember that sound from the early internet days, you remember the excitement of checking your email. In this message, Dr. Abidan Shah opens a new stretch in our series through Ephesians by reminding us that the Bible is God's mail to us — not just Paul's letter to a church that existed two thousand years ago, but God's Word to you, today.Scanning through the whole book, Dr. Shah lays out why Ephesians is both a letter and a book, why the first three chapters (doctrine) have to come before the last three (application), and why so many Christians' faith keeps collapsing because they want the "good stuff" — marriage, family, spiritual warfare — without the foundation underneath it. Using the picture of building a house, he walks through the doctrinal foundation Paul lays (grace, sealed salvation, a place at the table for Gentiles) before showing how it all leads to the practical, everyday commands that follow.0:00 – You've Got Mail: God's Letter to You2:50 – Is It a Letter or a Book?8:59 – Building a House: Why You Need a Foundation12:00 – Sealed: You Cannot Lose Your Salvation15:49 – Your New Life and Your Place at the Table22:00 – The Debt of Salvation26:37 – The Oneness of the Church31:50 – Replace the Old With the New35:31 – Family, Marriage, and Spiritual Battle41:08 – Praying Always
- 6Are You Late to Faith? | Acts 19Have you ever shown up late — to a meeting, a moment, a whole season of life you feel like you missed? In this message, Dr. Abidan Shah looks at what happens when someone comes late to faith, using the believers Paul meets in Acts 19 who had never even heard of the Holy Spirit. Whether it happened through no fault of your own or through years spent far from church, this message is for anyone who feels like they're playing catch-up with God.Dr. Shah paints a vivid picture of first-century Ephesus — a melting pot of 250,000 people, the fourth-largest city in the world, home to a temple three times the size of the Parthenon that doubled as a bank and a museum. Into that noise and spiritual confusion, Paul comes not as a tourist admiring the sights, but as a missionary carrying the true gospel to people trapped in a shallow, incomplete faith. What follows is a citywide awakening — sorcerers burning half a million dollars in occult books, and a riot led by a silversmith whose business dried up because people stopped buying idols.But the message doesn't end in triumph. Turning to Revelation 2, Dr. Shah shows what Jesus later said to this same church — a church that worked hard, endured much, and still heard the words "you have left your first love." Whether you came to Christ late or have walked with Him for years, this message asks the same question: is your love for Jesus still what it once was, or has it quietly grown cold?Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join~~~~GIVE: https://abidanshah.com/give/BOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506~~~~0:00 – Have You Ever Showed Up Late?5:00 – Ephesus: A Melting Pot of 250,000 People13:00 – Paul Came as a Missionary, Not a Tourist20:00 – Unlearning a Faith Half-Understood27:00 – A Citywide Awakening and the Burning of the Books36:00 – Riot in the Streets: "Great Is Diana of the Ephesians"43:00 – Revelation 2: "You Have Left Your First Love"
- 7What the Church Actually Is | Ephesians 1:22As we begin a brand-new series in the book of Ephesians, Dr. Abidan Shah starts where the whole letter points — with the church. Almost every major doctrine is found in Ephesians, and before we can understand how the church fits into prophecy and the end times, we have to answer a more basic question: What is the church actually?The Greek word is ekklesia — assembly. Dr. Shah traces it from the Greek city-states, where the ekklesia gathered and then scattered and was no longer the assembly, through its use in the Old Testament Greek translation, and into the New Testament, where believers took the word for themselves. He shows where our English word "church" even comes from — kuriakon, "belonging to the Lord," worn down through kirche into church — and walks through what the early believers actually did when they gathered: reading and preaching the Word, baptism, communion, declaring their faith, caring for one another, welcoming outsiders, and sending missionaries.The message lands on the three pictures Paul gives of the church in Ephesians: the community of the new covenant, brought near by the blood of Christ; the temple of God, built on Christ the cornerstone, where every believer is a stone with a part to play; and the body and bride of Christ. You cannot say "I love Jesus but not the church" any more than you can tell a groom you love him but hate his bride. Christ is the head; the church is His body — and the church still matters.Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join~~~~GIVE: https://abidanshah.com/give/BOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506~~~~0:00 – Beginning a New Series in Ephesians5:26 – Four Ways People Come to the Church11:00 – What Ekklesia Meant to the Greeks and the Jews19:00 – Where the Word "Church" Actually Comes From26:00 – What the Early Church Did When They Gathered34:00 – Don't Be Enamored with the Unconventional40:00 – Paul's Three Pictures: Covenant, Temple, and Bride
- 8What the Bible Says About Wandering from God | James 5:19–20As we come to the very end of the book of James, the letter closes on a subject you'd never expect — and it's one that touches almost every family. In this final message of our study in James, Dr. Abidan Shah preaches on backsliding: what it means to wander from the truth, how it happens, and what God calls us to do about the ones who have drifted away.Before he gets there, Dr. Shah makes an important distinction — you can't backslide until you've "frontslid." Many people we assume have wandered from the faith were never truly saved to begin with. From there, he walks through three things James teaches in these two verses: the reason for backsliding, the remedy, and the repercussions. The truth we wander from is doctrinal and behavioral — and ultimately it's a person, Jesus Christ. And the remedy isn't punting it to God or leaving it to the pastor. It's a fellow believer who cares enough to go after the one who has strayed, the way a shepherd leaves the ninety-nine.The message closes with the story of Robert Robinson, who wrote "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" at twenty-two and then drifted so far he called himself the most miserable man alive — until his own hymn, hummed by a stranger, brought him home. Whether you're the one who has wandered or the one God is calling to go bring someone back, this message is for you.Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join~~~~GIVE: https://abidanshah.com/give/BOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506~~~~0:00 – O Brother, Where Art Thou? The End of James6:16 – You Have to Frontslide Before You Backslide12:30 – The Reason: Wandering from the Truth19:00 – None of Us Are Immune — It Can Happen to Anyone24:30 – The Remedy: A Fellow Believer Who Cares31:00 – The Repercussions: Saving a Soul from Death38:00 – The Man Who Wrote "Come Thou Fount" and Wandered
- 9How to Pray When You're Suffering | James 5:13–18Joseph Scriven lost two fiancées before either wedding and still wrote the words "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." A life of that much pain stood behind one of the most beloved hymns ever written — and it would have been far more tragic without prayer. In this message from James 5:13–18, the closing sermon in our study of James, Dr. Abidan Shah walks through what the Bible actually teaches about prayer in the middle of suffering.This isn't ordinary prayer. When you're financially strained or a relationship is strained, there's always another day. But suffering means you need relief now — you can't wait. Dr. Shah works through four things James teaches about praying through pain: that we must keep praying and never assume we're bothering God, that God welcomes the hurting the way Jesus healed everyone who came to Him, that suffering is a time to honestly examine our own hearts, and that real prayer is offered with intensity and integrity — no "back door" left open for God to slip out of.Along the way he shares two stories his father rarely told: a village showdown over a grieving man's dead wife, and a hospital-room prayer that raised a dying girl who sat up asking for bread. Both point to the same truth — God always keeps His promises. The question is whether we keep ours.Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join~~~~GIVE: https://abidanshah.com/give/BOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506~~~~0:00 – The Hymn Born Out of a Lifetime of Pain6:16 – Point One: Keep Praying — You're Not Bothering God16:50 – Jesus Healed Everyone Who Came to Him (Matthew 8–9)23:00 – Point Two: Call for Others to Pray With You29:32 – Point Three: Examine Your Heart in the Suffering34:35 – Point Four: Pray with Intensity and Integrity45:23 – The Story His Father Never Told from
- 10When You Need Patience NOW | James 5:7-12Have you ever been in a situation where you just did not have time to be patient? We all have. In this message from James 5:7–12, Dr. Abidan Shah walks through what the Bible actually teaches about patience — not gritting your teeth and trying harder, but tapping into the patience of Christ Himself.James points to the farmer who waits on the early and latter rains, and reminds us that the Christian life is a long game, not a slot machine where we drop in a prayer and expect an instant answer. Dr. Shah works through four situations that test our patience: when we're tempted to give up, when we're tempted to blow up, when God seems distant, and when His name gets used for all the wrong reasons. Along the way he draws on the suffering of the prophets, the perseverance of Job, and the promise that our latter days can be greater than our former ones.The message lands on the deepest source of patience there is. You can walk out saying "I just need to try to be more patient" — but that won't hold. Real patience comes from a living, moment-by-moment connection to the most patient person who ever lived: Jesus, who waited in a womb, learned obedience, endured false accusation, and stayed on the cross for six hours when He could have ended it in an instant.Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join~~~~GIVE: https://abidanshah.com/give/BOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506~~~~0:00 – The Man Who Didn't Have Time to Be Patient5:47 – Be Patient When You're Tempted to Give Up (The Farmer)15:47 – Be Patient When You're Tempted to Blow Up (The Judge at the Door)22:51 – Be Patient When God Seems Distant (The Story of Job)30:41 – Be Patient When God's Name Is Used Wrongly38:00 – The Real Source: Tapping Into the Patience of Christ
- 11Does James Support Marxism? | James 5:1–6Most people are hesitant to hear a sermon about money, and most pastors are hesitant to preach one. But the Bible isn't hesitant at all — Jesus gave sixteen of his thirty-eight parables on money, and Scripture references it roughly two thousand times. In this message from James 5:1–6, Dr. Abidan Shah takes on a passage that sounds, at first glance, like an attack on the wealthy, and asks a direct question: does the Bible support social Marxism?Drawing on his experience growing up in a socialist country and a fast tour through the history of economics, Dr. Shah works through what James is actually condemning — not wealth itself, but the wicked landowners who hoarded what they had, defrauded their workers, and lived only for themselves. James gives three attitudes to examine: how we guard our money, how we get it, and how we give it. And the question underneath all of it isn't whether you have money. It's whether money has you.Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join-the-family/~~~~GIVE: https://abidanshah.com/give/BOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506~~~~0:00 – The Bible Isn't Afraid to Talk About Money5:00 – What It's Actually Like to Live Under Socialism8:49 – A Whirlwind Tour Through the History of Economics19:19 – Marx, Religion, and the Abolition of Private Property28:45 – Is James Actually Against the Rich?31:37 – How They Guard It: The Difference Between Saving and Hoarding37:30 – How They Get It: Wages That Cry Out to God42:19 – Will a Man Rob God? (Malachi 3)47:05 – How They Give It: Fattened for the Day of Slaughter52:30 – Money Is a Great Servant but a Terrible Master
- 12What Real Humility Looks Like | James 4:10–17Humility is one of those words that's easy to talk about and hard to practice. In this message from James 4:10–17, Dr. Abidan Shah walks through what real humility looks like — both in our relationship with God and with the people around us. The vertical aspect, humbling yourself before God and recognizing that every blessing you have comes from him, is the foundation. But the horizontal aspect, how you treat and talk about others, is where most people struggle.Dr. Shah connects James's teaching on humility to the night Jesus wrapped a towel around himself and washed his disciples' feet — and lands on one of the most sobering verses in the passage: to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Real humility isn't just an attitude. It shows up in what you say, how you serve, and what you do with what you already know.Dr. Shah writes a personal letter every week — reflections on Scripture, faith, and living it out with clarity and purpose. Join the family: https://abidanshah.com/join-the-family/~~~~GIVE: https://abidanshah.com/give/BOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506
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