James 4:7-10 calls us to submit to God, resist the devil, and draw near with clean hands and humble hearts. Pastor Joe Brandi’s big idea for the week: God commands us to obedience, we repent of our sin, and we turn to Jesus, who brings us low so that he can lift us up.

James 4:1-6 traces our quarrels back to the desires at war within us, exposes prayer that tries to make God serve our passions, and confronts a heart divided between God and the world. Pastor Adam’s big idea for the week: peace begins when we surrender, because God gives more grace to the humble.

James 3:13-18 sets two kinds of wisdom side by side: one earthly, unspiritual, and demonic, marked by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, and one from above that is pure, peaceable, gentle, and full of mercy. Pastor Adam opens season two of Storm Proof with a diagnostic for every decision we face: will this action produce righteousness and peace?

The last Sunday of the year goes to the youth pastor, and Vinny Iudici proves James’s point about the tongue at his own expense — with something he said to an eleven-year-old that he clearly still carries. Small things said do not stay small.

James asks whether a faith that produces nothing can save anybody. Pastor Harry takes it without flinching — and lands somewhere unexpected: if nothing is being produced, the problem is not a works problem, and a list of nice things will not fix it.

Two men walk into the same room — one in a gold ring, one in rags — and James watches which seat each is offered. Pastor Joshua Pigg takes partiality as seriously as the letter does: faith that favours is faith that falters.

James 1:26-27. Pure religion is looking after widows and orphans… read more

James 1:22-25 and the man who looks in the mirror… read more

James 1:19-21: quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to… read more