Maundy Thursday is one of my “favorite” days of the church year. I put that in parentheses because it’s also a hard day. The day Jesus was betrayed. The day the journey to the cross really picks up speed. So, before He leaves, Jesus shows us wh...

As we continue walking through Holy Week, Wednesday marks a subtle but significant turning point. Monday and Tuesday were filled with teaching, challenge, and public presence. But today, we move quietly yet definitively toward the cross. Though...

Tuesday of Holy Week is traditionally remembered as a day of teaching. In Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 23 stands out as one of the most intense and honest teachings Jesus gives during his final week. It is a direct and passionate rebuke of religio...

In our traditional Palm Sunday message, Andy shares with us from Luke 19: 28-40. On this Palm Sunday, we see Jesus enter Jerusalem. The energy is eclectic. But the next step for everyone is always the hardest step.

We begin our time together for Holy Week by looking at the cleansing of the Temple. This is an interesting story, and also one that can be a danger to us. We see Jesus flip tables and make a whip. It is tempting for us to run first to “that” Je...

The first line of today’s Psalm is one that most of us know quite well, and it is one that is always associated with defeat. It is one of the last things that Jeuss says upon the cross - My God, my God, why have you forgiven me.  It starts...

Today, we’ll start a two-day look at the Psalms. We’ll read Psalms 131-133. These Psalms come near the end of that section of the book. Psalms of ascent are very specific things; these are psalms that were intended to be sung as the pilgrims we...

We finish up James with one of its most well-known verses. It’s one of those verses I can’t help but say in the old King James - “The prayer of the righteous availeth much.”  The Bible tells us, in several passages, that somehow, our praye...

James gives us some words that I believe are helpful for every relationship.  Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.”  Mean what you say and say what you mean. Every relationship, from time to time, will have issues with commun...

In our Traditional message from April 6, 2025, Andy shares with us from 1 Corinthians 15: 20-22. All are dead through Adam, but through Christ, all can live. We are more than our failures. We can live because of Jesus!

Today, we see James’ harshest condemnation of the rich. It is easy for us to hear this passage as a condemnation of the church and all that the church has. But in James’s day, the church was poor.  It has nothing. This is actually a condem...

Today is another day where Jaems feels like Proverbs. James talks to us about two things: judging others and making plans for the future. In both of these, his message is this. You are not God. How can you judge?  You are not the lawgiver....

James reminds me of a New Testament Proverbs. There is so much good stuff there within it.  Today, we see such good advice about lament and pain; we also are told to resist the devil, and he will flee. We are not bound up in our sins. But ...

James teaches us today that there are two types of wisdom. I struggled with thinking about this at first, as I don’t think of worldly wisdom as “wisdom” at all because I think of wisdom as thinking or seeing from God’s perspective. There are, w...

In our Traditional message from March 30, 2023, we look at Jesus's third temptation. This one cuts the heart of all other temptations.  Who are we? Where does our allegiance lie? We also learn this truth - temptation is always a lie.

Today, we look at one of the passages where James really goes from preaching to meddling.  He talks about the tongue. We live in an age of cell phones and social media, and we forget that the person on the other side of our online argument...

Today is the section that Martin Luther did not like at all. James today tells us that faith alone does not save us but that we are saved by our works. It was his works that saved Abraham, not faith alone. Doesn’t this contradict Paul?  Di...

We return again to Matthew 4: 1-11 as we look at Jesus's temptation.  In our INTERSECTION service from March 23, 2025, Andy shares with us the great choice for Jesus. Would He trust the Father to take care of Him? We face the same choice t...

James, in chapter two, continues to get all up in our business. He continues to warn us about the dangers of showing partiality.  He says that God will show His spiritual riches to the poor, but we so often dishonor them by how we treat th...

Today’s reading is at the heart of James’ book. Today, we see what true religion looks like. It is not enough that we hear the word; we are to do the word. We talked early this week that for James, religion is not just an intellectual agreement...

Today’s reading has two verses that I love so much and that can be very formative in how we think about sin and grace. First, he tells us that we are dragged into sin by our own sinful desires. Our spiritual battle is going to always start with...

James today hits on something that will be a constant theme for him in this book. Be careful of wealth. For us, it’s easy to think that it is a warning to someone else. And yes, there is always someone better off than each of us. But if we are ...

As we begin our time together in the book of James, we see some really vital truths. Today, we are told about the importance of trials and the value of wisdom. Our trials produce endurance, and that endurance produces maturity.  Our trials...

Over the next three Sundays, we will examine Jesus's temptations more closely, each individually. Today, we examine the temptation to turn stones into bread. What was happening here? What is this temptation actually about?

We begin our time together in James by getting an overview of what it is about. Who wrote it?  What is the point?  James is a great book to read in tandem with Galatians or Ephesians, in the same way it is great to read Job in tandem ...