Through Moses, God gave a law to his people.  The law was not about simply obeying a rule, but rather had a purpose beyond itself.  It was to be a shaping mechanism, a system that helped Israel become God's people to the world around us.  Today we will begin a miniseries on God's law through the voice of Jesus. 

Before the church is called to do something, we are given an identity.  The doing is how we express that identity, and that identity is our vocational calling.  In today's sermon, we are going to spend some time talking about the original vocational call of Israel and its expansion beyond borders into the church.

Jesus is the new Moses giving a new law to a new people.  Today we took some time to identify, define, and explain who the people of God are.

Today begins a new series on Jesus' most well known sermon, The Sermon on the Mount. Today's message introduces terms, creates framework, and gives thought to what it means to engage this sermon in a more practical way. 

James’ junk drawer (the remaining sections of the book) contains what I believe to be an ancient version of what we call the first rule of resiliency - be here now. As we wrap up our series on James, the sermon serves as a call to our church specifically and the importance being and living deeply right where we already are.

If the previous three sermons were a mini series on wisdom, today is the spin off.  Today we read the text, travel in to the esoteric, and then back into the tactile.  Using our limited words, we dive into the idea of what it means to live on into the world to come. 

If any book in the New Testament can be categorized as wisdom literature, it is the book of James. For the past three weeks, we have been discussing the idea of wisdom as God's creative power creating order out of chaos. In today's message we get into the nuts and bolts of the wisdom of the world vs. the wisdom of God.

We dive into how wisdom was understood in the ancient world, a world that understood wisdom to be much more than good decision making skills, but rather the literal power of God to create a good order.  Furthermore, this wisdom was not simply God's to use, but an energy that God assigned to his people in order to follow in his footsteps as his image bearers to create the order of God out of the order of chaos.

Wisdom is often reduced to a thought process, but for the ancient Jews, true wisdom impacted the world you lived in with creative power. Join us in this first part as we recap the first half of the book and set the foundation for a discussion on Wisdom.

Typically in life, we judge people based on their differences. James will challenge us to use a different matrix through which to judge people. James will challenge us to replace oursevles as our standard for judgement and replace it with an idea that should lead, not to more confrontation, but peace.

Today we take a look in the weight attributed to works of justice, peace, and mercy. We are going to attempt to decouple the reformation idea that works follows faith, in favor of the Biblical idea that faith and works are partners working together as we are being saved.

Prayer, scripture, community, and a life of service are among the basics of following Jesus. When Jesus was asked about how we should pray, Jesus gave an answer.

While Paul and James may use the same words, and in the words of Scot McKnight, they use different dictionaries. While that maybe true, in this section of Scripture, James is talking about works of peace, mercy and love while Paul is talking about works of the law. James is clear; faith is not merely a confession, it is action.

The economy of this world, also called the economy of chaos, values people based on their access to wealth, power, and fame; it will always devalue those with less access to those things. James invites us into a new economy where the script is flipped. In the economy of God’s kingdom, the poor are, in fact, the rich. The economy of God’s kingdom is based on the currency of faith and mercy, and begins with the investment of loving our neighbors.

In chapter 2, James calls us to a better way of living in this world. Because we often read this book through the lens of Paul, James often misunderstood; however, Paul is not the best lens through which to read James. As a devout Jew, James is best read through the Law and Prophets.

Clarifying questions around these two topics from James 1.

In chapter 2, James calls us to a better way of living in this world. Before we study this chapter more fully, our pastor transparently reflects on the personal convictions, conflicts and struggles he’s had while studying this chapter.

Faith, religion, and Christianity are often reduced to a set of doctrines, traditions, and church attendance. According to James, religion is about the posture of our hearts and the lives we live. In this week’s sermon, we will explore the importance of intention.

A few insights about Bible translations and how to choose which one suits you best.

In this message we launch out of James and into Palm Sunday. In our journey from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, we land on one very important question: Which Jesus do you want?