James 2 I don't know how you can help from having a burning and a yearning in your heart when you read James. You can feel his passion and the sureness of the truth he speaks to us come right through the pages. It is like life to the bones for me, having read it through times of trial, times of temptation, times of blessing and times of wavering. Here we have the sure t...

James 1 ***DISCLAIMER*** I literally just finished a 5 week sermon series on James 1 for our high school students; this could be very long.*** A Change in Identity Leads to a Change in Activity (Verse 1) The Book of James starts off with a truly shocking opening statement! James 1 (NIV)1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, James 1 (NET)1 From J...

Galatians 6 I don't know about you, but I love the final chapter of New Testament letters. They are like the "catch all" chapter. It's like the author gets to the end and the Holy Spirit decides to hit you with 10 random and very practical applications. Galatains 6 is no exception to this rule. (Galatians 6:1-2)Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you wh...

Galatians 5 In Francis Chan's Book 'Multiply' he asks "When is the last time someone asked you about your faith? Most of us would have to answer "never"" "We don't give anyone a reason to ask about what makes us unique, so nobody asks" Ouch! As we've been going through our series over Galatians we've heard over and over that human efforts to be "obedient" and "go...

"So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." - Galatians 4:7 I remember growing up dreaming of what I wanted to be as an adult. It's almost like I was consumed by the thoughts of what I would do or be, and from that I would establish my identity. This was a tension that I struggled with most of my life. But then I met Jesus and...

Galatians 3 As someone that was raised Catholic, attended Catholic school and was an altar boy, Galatians 3 reminds me how I sometimes hold to the traditions of my youth, even though they are senseless to my salvation and relationship with God. Even though I am sure of my salvation, I still can fall into Satan's trap that it is "not enough". When it is Mardi Gras time w...

GALATIANS 2 Galatians 211 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. When there's a gap between what we expect and how someone performs, we choose what goes in the gap. Do you fill the gap with trust, or suspicion? Do you believe the best, or assume the worst? Healthy relationships with friends, families, neighbors,...

Galatians 1 We have been studying the book of Galatians on Sunday mornings for the past 4 weeks. I love this little letter! It only takes about 15 minutes to read the whole thing and yet I know that I'll be attempting to apply its truths for the rest of my life. Here are some of my jumbled thoughts from my sermon prep and my quiet time. If we embrace the message of Gal...

What a challenge our reading in Hebrews has been. We've seen Christ magnified. We been strongly challenged to "pay attention", to "grow up", and to not reject God's message. We've seen the symbolism of Old Testament worship explained in the light of Jesus' sacrifice. We've been reminded of the faithfulness of the saints in history and been challenged to live out th...

HEBREWS 12 We are instructed to lay aside our weights and our sins which cling to us so that we can run with endurance the race set before us. This isn't a sprint to see who can serve the hardest for the next year. This isn't about serving the Lord 40 in Children's Ministry for a couple of years and saying "that's it I did my time". We are instructed to prepare for a l...