James 2:14-17 – The Nexus

Happy New Year! As we begin this new year, let’s take a few minutes to take stock of our lives and the job we’re doing at building them. Are we building on the kind of foundation that will last and carry us into the future, or are we building on something that’s going to give us trouble down the road? In this message we glean some of the wisdom of Jesus and His brother, James, to give us some guidance on getting this right.

Building on the Right Foundation

When Noah was a baby, he liked to shove balls around the house like any little boy does. Well, the house we happened to be living in at the time was actually really good for this. If you went to the little hallway right in the middle of the house and rolled a ball toward the bathroom door, just as it got to the door it would slow down…and start rolling back toward you. The house came equipped with its own automatic ball return. It was like living in a bowling alley! We just had to set him in the floor there with a ball and he could entertain himself. It was great! Well…sort of.

Read the rest

In this second part of our conversation, What’s Next, we took a look at how the ideas of growing and reaching and help give us clarity in terms of our next steps now that we understand our identity a bit more fully. Keep reading to see how these can guide us.

Get Moving

Well, last week, after spending the previous four talking about our God-given identity as a church, we began a new conversation seeking to answer the question, “What’s Next?” So we know a little better than we did before who God made us to be. What are we supposed to do with that? What are some of the things we can be doing now to start moving us down the road in the direction of becoming fully that church? Certainly we’re not going to get there all at once, but what are the steps we can take now no matter who we are and where we are in order to start the ball rolling in that direction? Perhaps to ask that another way: How can we begin adjusting our behavior as a body in light of who God made us to be such that even if we’re not fully that church yet, we’re putting ourselves in a place to begin becoming that church? Read the rest…