This Sunday, we'll be working our way through James 5:1-12. We've been talking about worldly and heavenly wisdom the past few weeks, highlighting the need for gospel humility in order to live wisely. We've talked about slander (4:11-12) and arrogant planning (13-17). And now, we're getting the most extreme look at where worldly wisdom leads and heavenly wisdom leads. One ...

We've been working our way through the Book of James in our series entitled, "We Walk in Wisdom". This Sunday, we'll be looking at James 4:13-17 on "Wisdom for Humility". This passage, at first glance, seems to be nitpicking. It seems like James takes issue with the way that we announce our plans. That interpretation would even have an appearance of truth since James empha...

The book of James is a practical book, and the question it asks and answers is If you really believe the basic message of Jesus, the gospel of Jesus Christ, what kind of life will that create on the ground?What will it look like practically?Each passage we've looked at has been asking ... What kind of church community is created among those of us who believe the gospel? ...

Everyone wants to be wise, and most of us think we're somewhat wise, but we have real concerns about everyone else. When something goes wrong in someone else's life, we're quick to wonder, "What were they thinking?" But when something's not going right in our own life, we're quick to get defensive, "It couldn't be helped. Sometimes things just happen. Nothing I could have ...

This weekend is the British Open golf championship. I don't think that we have a ton of golf fans in the congregation, and I don't watch much golf, but I will be trying to watch a good bit of this one because I have played at the course they're competing on, Carnoustie in Scotland. Long story short: I had a week of golf with my father-in-law and brother--in-law back in m...

I'll never forget when I was in high school, going with my youth pastor, Dan, to visit one of the new kids who had visited our church (we'll call him Chris). As we were talking to Chris, Dan realized that he knew a bit about the Bible but perhaps didn't have a great understanding of how we're saved. So he got out a piece of paper and, after defining the words "faith" "wo...

This Sunday, we'll be continuing our series on The Book of James, entitled "We Walk in Wisdom." We're spending the summer looking at what the brother of Jesus has to say about wisdom. And this week we'll be looking at James 2:1-13 on the "Wisdom for Prejudice." Now, we don't need wisdom on being prejudiced, but we do need wisdom on how to handle prejudice when it shows up...

Hey, first of all, thanks to everyone for being flexible with Sunday School and Children's Church rooms as we navigate our way through Harper Park's renovation this summer. I'm sure there will be lots more changes coming our way. And if you're looking for somewhere to serve, Children's Church needs some people. The more adults we have serving, the easier it is. Second, s...

This Sunday, we will be continuing our new study in The Book of James. Some havecalled James' epistle the New Testament's Proverbs. It is certainly full of practicalteaching and wisdom. Last week, we were introduced to the book's divinely inspiredauthor, the Apostle James, Jesus' younger brother. We were instructed "to count it alljoy" when we "meet trials of vario...

I hope you're enjoying summer and our study of the book of James. We're in the middle of a lot of preaching by Ruling Elders and Associate Pastors, so enjoy the variety! James Murphy did a great job last week. As we read and preach through James, we need to keep reminding ourselves that James is not writing to tell people what to do to be saved, he's writing to describe ...