The Slavery of Rage
Everything worth doing is uphill
There's Always Someone Better...
Strange Appetites
Everyone Else is Doing It
A Mountaintop Experience Like No Other
Two Wisdoms
You are the Light of the World
Teeny Rudders
Dead Faith
Playing Favorites
Seek the Good
We have been Surprised by God's Glory
Don't just do something, sit there
The season leading up to Christmas is the season of Advent—a season of waiting and longing for a rescuer to mend our broken world. This morning we think about true love. Not just sappy or sentimental, love is primarily an action more than it is a feeling, and it often does things that look foolish or unreasonable. This morning we think about God’s love—in action, even if it looks foolish and unreasonable.
Shoots and Stumps
The season leading up to Christmas is the season of Advent—a season of waiting and longing for a rescuer to mend our broken world. This morning we think about the nature of peace. Peace is not just a lack of conflict; peace means everything is as it should be. In a world that most of the time does not feel peaceful, where do we find true peace?
From Sparta to Iowa
The season leading up to Christmas is the season of Advent—a season of waiting and longing for a rescuer to mend our broken world. This morning we think about the nature of hope. What does it mean to hope in God, and how can we find sturdy hope, not just Hallmark hope?
Bad Religion
As we consider what it means to grow more mature in our faith, James directs the spotlight to the issue of religion itself. What kind of religion does God want, and what kind of religion does he not want?
The Mirror Doesn't Lie
So far, as we have dug into the New Testament letter of James, we’ve seen that James is a very direct writer — he doesn’t beat around the bush. This morning we consider his most direct statement yet: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
If our faith is all about grace, what place does obedience have? And, if we don’t do what God’s word says, what can we expect?
Two Ears and One Mouth
As we continue to learn from James, he gets to his most immediate, practical teaching yet: Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. James means what he says—this is not a complicated section. But putting it into practice is not easy. What does it mean to be quick to listen? And might James mean that we should listen not only to one another, but to the Holy Spirit inside us?
Resources:
Proverbs about Words (pdf)
Sermon: A Way With Words (October 21, 2018)