Dear church family,I write to you with a heavy heart about the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk yesterday. While I’m not particularly political, I recognized in Charlie someone who spoke openly about his faith in Jesus Christ and sought to bring Christian values into public discourse. This senseless act of violence grieves me deeply, and it should move us all to lament, not just the loss of a ...  Read More

James 2:14-26What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.But someone w...  Read More

James 1:2-4Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.      When life falls apart, our first instinct isn't usually gratitude. We don't wake up thankful for the layoff notice. We don't celebrate a bad med...  Read More

James 1:12-15Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire whe...  Read More

James 1:16-18Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.      Most of us see our work week as separate from our Sunday worship. We compar...  Read More

     We've all heard the debates. Faith versus works. Grace versus law. Paul versus James. These discussions often generate more heat than light, leaving many believers confused about how faith and action relate to each other. But what if we've been asking the wrong questions? What if James wasn't trying to create a theology of works at all, but was instead calling us to something far more importa...  Read More

Romans 8:1-17There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the l...  Read More

Galatians 5:16-26 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual...  Read More

Ephesians 4:11-16And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fr...  Read More

1 Corinthians 12:7-11To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distin...  Read More

1 Corinthians 12:1-6Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.  Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.Now there are varieties of gifts, but th...  Read More

Acts 1:4-8And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not ...  Read More