Dear Friends, This morning I was reading in the book of James as part of my sermon preparation for Sunday. As I was finishing up, I came across James 5:16, which says: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” My first thought was, “Well, that counts me out!”, because I definitely do not see myself as a “righteous person”. I definitely still struggle with sin, as every human does. So it’s hard to think of ourselves as “righteo

Dear Friends, One of my very favorite words in the Bible is “but”. I was reminded of that fact this morning as I read Ephesians 2:4-5, which tells us, “But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead.”. In this chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is writing about the difference that Christ's death and resurrection make in the life of those who believe. He begins the