The Local Church

In Luke 7, we follow John the Baptist as he waits in prison and begins to wonder - is Jesus the King he's been waiting for? Jesus isn't saving John the way he desired or expected to be saved. What do you do when your faith and hope crashes into suffering? Unmet expectations? Disappointment?

In Part 2, we looked at Luke 3:3-6 again as John the Baptist announced that Jesus was coming, he urged his audience to clear a path for a road in their hearts to make way for the king. One of the ways the road is prepared in our hearts is by raising up the valleys. Valleys are raised up when you relax in Jesus and understand you are more loved and accepted than you could ever dare hope. This opens...

John the Baptist is the hype man for Jesus.  His message in Luke 3:1-18 serves to make way for Jesus the coming King by smoothing and straightening the path, similarly to how roads would be prepared for kings of their day. For us to be prepared for the arrival of the King today, we need to treat Jesus as King in our hearts through reliance and obedience.

Instead of James going for his typical punch in the gut approach, James ends his letter with a push—a push to pray. In James 5:13-20, James lists out a variety of scenarios in that we should labor in prayer: when we are suffering, sick, and in sin. We should labor in prayer in a similar way to a woman in labor so that we can birth whatever it is that God has for us in the same way Elijah did.

James 4:13-5:6 contains some of the harshest words in the book, addressing wealth, pride, greed, and self-interest. As Americans - the generally wealthy in today's world - we must keep our pride in check and acknowledge that we do not control our financial futures. We should use our positions to advocate for fair payment of others, and pay attention to how we engage with our money and systems that...

We all have a choice to make. James 4:1-10 points out that you can choose to be a friend of the world or a friend of God. Both options talk a good game, but one is empty and one is full of life. Friendship with God requires us to turn away from friendship with the world toward humility and repentance, trusting that God will lift us up.

What good is it if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? James 2:14-26 asked this question and others like it to make sure we look under the hood and search the engine of our faith because faith without works is dead. As we search for what drives our faith, it is critical to find that it is fueled by our head, heart, and hands. All three of these create the synergy to make our faith compl...

"Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me?" No. James 3:1-12 carefully spells out that the tongue is dangerous and can be used by evil to corrupt. The words that Christians say should be wholly aligned with the values and beliefs of Jesus. If they're not, we must address what's in our hearts so that we can be trusted to consistently speak words of life to others.

In James 2:1-13, James gets all up in our business again instructing us that the church is to be different from the world by not having favorites. There are many scenarios to consider to help us assess where we tend to show favoritism based on class, appearance, and power. We must be different from the world by seeing the value in the people that are often cast out.

In James 1:19-27, James tells us to look into the Word of God to see ourselves honestly, and to walk away changed: Take time to stop, look, and listen as you address patterns of anger and controlling your tongue. Care about the the oppressed and changing the systems that perpetuate injustice, because this is at the heart of who God is. Do not become stained by the world we live in.

The key to understanding James 1:5-8 is to avoid our understanding of wisdom. James helps us see that wisdom is not knowledge; it's the right heart and mind needed in order to live like Jesus. It's the ability to see things from God's perspective and live accordingly.

10.2 Summary: We kicked off our new series, James: All up in your business. James wrote a letter to share his wisdom with the scattered believers of the first century. In his letter, James didn’t set out to share something new with his audience, but rather attempted to challenge how they lived. James starts off his entire letter by addressing that when we face trials of many kinds, it will test ou...

Faith is an action: believing something based on evidence and living your life as if it was true. Mark 9:14-29 - where a father brings his demon-possessed son to Jesus and demonstrates a faith of desperation - gives us a starting point to examine the three levels of faith. Crises force us to acknowledge who or what our faith is really in, and provide the opportunity to “level up”, surrendering our...

In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus' disciples (of then and now) are sent out with a specific task. Examining the impact this mission made shows us that it takes many people performing several different jobs in different places to fulfill one commission. When asking "What is MY mission?", we must remember that: 1) we were created to know and enjoy Jesus, and 2) God then created a specific mission as a gift...

What we believe about God's character affects how we invest what we have. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 was a message to the Pharisees of the day, who were supposed to be the light of the world but we're hiding it away. What has God entrusted to you and how are you using it?

What is the faith of the next generation worth? Everything. In Judges 2, we see what happens when just one generation fails to teach the next about the power of God and their passion for Him. But Deuteronomy 6 provides hope and instruction to pass on what we know of God "...when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up".

Bonfires, brokenness and the stench of regret. It’s the story of Peter and Johnny and Amanda. It’s the question of every human heart. Can I still be loved once I’ve blown it? Can I still be used after I’ve failed? Is Gods grace available to even me? Once we’ve experienced this love and grace, this restoration and redemption, this freedom and forgiveness, we can’t help but want to share it with oth...

Are you laying stones or building a cathedral? In the early church, there was a woman named Tabitha who lived an extraordinary life. It's a life that reveals something for us today: we don't usually bear future fruit by doing great things with uncommon gifts or abilities. We bear future fruit by doing a good thing with uncommon faithfulness. If we are going to bear future fruit, it's going to be t...

The trees we plant, the golden rule and the silver rule. Join us as we look at the turning point in Johns gospel and explain why some Greeks wanting to see Jesus was such a big deal. This is the silver rule, the desire for future fruit. John 12:20-26

In the final chapter of Peter's letter, we get his "yearbook message": Humble yourselves towards God and one another, and cast your anxieties on him. In these instructions, Peter provides the command and the comfort of the entire letter and we are met by a God who will never let go. A God who wants to protect and care for us.  1 Peter 5:6-7.

Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him." This is The Message's version of 1 Peter 4:1, and it helps us see three truths about recognizing God's voice, serving others, and using time wisely in this "4th quarter.

Learning to drive a new vehicle, the power of harmony and what to do when your three year old tells you that "you no come to my birfday party!" If we live a life of unified love with our Family and return blessing for evil we will have the opportunity to share the reason for the hope we have in Christ. 1 Peter 3:8-16

1 Peter 3:1-7: Context makes a world of difference in understanding so what do we do when our worlds are two millennia apart? We do the hard work. To understand Peter’s comments to wives and husbands we have to understand the context if we have any hope of applying the truth of scripture to our lives today. And there is truth to apply…

One of the tougher sections of Peter's letter the fledgling Christian church is found in the verses we explore today. We have to come to the text with humility and a desire to understand and obey. God wants to transform society by transforming individuals, while we we in the West often want to transform individuals by transforming society. This is messier, harder, certainly more painful but ultima...

The Wimbledon Championships, building projects gone wrong, and living stones being built into a spiritual temple. In 1 Peter 2:4-10, it is made clear that when we come to Jesus, we become like him: a living stone that God is building into a temple, a place where heaven and earth meet. We participate in this reality not as individuals, but together as the family of God with all the blessings that c...