Today we reviewed the ascension story in Acts chapter 1. We wanted to finish our series on the "Why" questions about Jesus by asking why he ascended. We concluded that Jesus' ascension was a sign that he is not dead but that it is his church's turn to do the work of the kingdom!

Last week we came to a specific understanding of the meaning of Jesus' death. Today we explore the meaning of his resurrection based on that understanding!

Today, a week before Easter Sunday, we studied different "models" or understandings of the doctrine of atonement (or how Jesus' death deals with our sin problem). We were critical of one called "penal substitution" because the assumptions it has about God are in direct contradiction with the person of God we see revealed in Jesus Christ.

In this wonderful little passage, James confronts our very real (but misguided) sense that we are self-sufficient. He challenges the myth of our independence with the truth that we are dependent, community-oriented people who need God and one another. We learned today that God is the only one who is self-sufficient.

James, in this passage, tells us why people fight in churches: selfishness, greed, double-mindedness, and worldliness!

Today our friend Lee Reese helped us see the very practical wisdom teaching of living out the teaching of Christ.

Today we spent time in discussion about this important passage on how we use our mouths!

This passage has been a very controversial one in Christian thinking. In fact, it caused Martin Luther to think that James' letter shouldn't be in the Bible. Today we studied why James' teaching that we are, indeed, saved because of what we do is such a controversial doctrine.

James is very SERIOUS about not showing favoritism--and he's RIGHT! Today we talked about James' important teaching on this huge topic.

Part of James' wheelhouse is his teaching that our beliefs imply action! We studied this today in the context of James' teaching about listening and being reflective.