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Advent starts next week and we'll talk about the Christmas story throughout the season. This week, though, we're going to talk about two women who had obviously rejected God's ways and brought great shame to their families and communities by their brazenness. Except, maybe that wasn't the way God saw their stories... An Unexpected Christmas Story begins here... Questions or comments? You can put them here or email roger.mccort@usw.salvationarmy.org Podcasts of our messages can be found as ...

Long long ago, in a place far far away... The world was broken, so God used Abraham to put it back together again. Yes, Abraham. Listen to this episode of the TSA-Napa podcast to understand why that was and how it matters to you right now, today.

You never really realize how much of what you think you know is based on things that go without saying. Many of the things we believe are formed by the culture we live in. Attitudes and interpretations of events are often based entirely on assumptions we make which may or may not have any basis in reality. There was this time when Jesus told a story about a Pharisee... and it didn't go where you probably think it did and it wasn't intended to make a point to who you probably think it w...

Yeast is a) Delicious, b) Corrupting, c) Representative of Evil, or d) a Kind of mold spore? In one parable Jesus told the crowds who followed him, yeast was an illustration of the Kingdom of God. But that flew in the face of traditional teaching about leaven being nothing more than putrefaction. How and why could he make such a crazy analogy? Join us as we examine one of the many parables Jesus told, the reasons he told them, and why we should never thing of them as simple moralistic stori...

"Wait!" you cry. "We've already been through all Ten Commandments! What do you meant there's one more we need to talk about?" Oh, my friends. There really has always only been one commandment we've been concerned with. The Ten all point to it. The 613 demonstrate it. and, according to Jesus, we are all bound to it. We MUST choose to follow it, or we're lost, because our very souls are bound to our decision to follow or abandon the covenant path laid out for us by Jesus. Today: T...

Some say that the Tenth Commandment is there to remind us that the Law is impossible to follow. Others (and I'm of this persuasion) say it is God's way of pointing out that if we are truly grateful for what we have, the rest of the commands will be met as we express that gratitude. To understand that, we're going to need to realize that the word "covet" doesn't refer to a sports car. Join our examination of the Tenth Word of God! I really covet your attention to this subject - and that's ju...

A HUGE problem with the way we tend to think about the Ten Commandments as separate rules for how to live our individual lives is that it isn't true. The deeper message behind each of God's utterances is always one of growing a community based on love and care rather than one set on rules and condemnation. That doesn't mean we don't have responsibility to uphold certain things as individuals, but it does mean that we need to stop thinking "What does this mean to me?" and get back to thinking ...

Stealing is a horrific crime of violence, whether its being done by a shoplifter taking a candy bar or a businessperson enriching themselves by taking advantage of their employees and customers. Such things make our souls cry out for JUSTICE to be done! But do you understand what justice is? Because, in God's view, it doesn't involve punishment or prison sentences. What?! Am I sure? Yes, I am, because Biblical justice is spelled out and it is based on redemption and reconciliation. It provide...

This week: Another two word commandment: LO NA'AP - Do not commit adultery. But what does that really mean? And what's the big deal anyway? Perhaps a better question: Why is this command where it is - in the middle of instructions about maintaining a community of people? I avoided getting graphic, but this still may not be suitable for those under the age of twelve, so use some discretion when you listen with younger folks nearby.

Here's a fun commandment: You shall not kill. "Wait!" some of you just said. "It says not to MURDER. It's fine for me to kill people if I use a government to do it. Or if it happens in war. Or if by killing someone I can save someone else from death or mental scars or a bad afternoon at the supermarket. Right?" Is that right? Or is there some logic being missed or some ideal being ignored here? And is there a list of exceptions to the rules God laid out for his people to follow? We'll talk ...

What does it mean to honor your parents? What if they suck? What then? Is this a command which means less or has less value in the modern world than it did when families hung together more cohesively than they do now? Do we have a proper understanding of this commandment, or has it been twisted and used as a demand for obedience to the whims of people rather than as a directive about how we should choose to trust in the LORD? You don't want to miss this one, because following this command lea...

Remember the Sabbath day and use it to keep your yard tended... No, wait, that's not it... Remember the Sabbath day and keep it by making sure no one else is doing anything resembling work... Hmm... No, that's work, isn't it? Remember the Sabbath day, but it's not really a big deal if we skip it for a religious retreat or some other task that says it's honoring God... Well, that SOUNDS like it's got some religious function, but is it what the LORD meant when he said that we are to CEASE on th...

Every person you ever meet will remember you by using a label. Could be Doctor or Firefighter or Tim's Dad or Cute Girl Who Works at the Gas Station or Woke Guy or Bigoted Lady. It may or may not be a flattering label, but it will be one they apply to you based on who or what your actions and words make you out to be. These are the names we bear, and the things we do will either honor or dishonor those names. What label do you WANT to be known by? Why do you do to represent that label?...

While they are beautifully made and often colored a radiant gold-yellow, it is not appropriate to use a rubber chicken to represent the LORD your God. The LORD can't be contained or described by a rubber chicken. Is it absurd to think that you would do that? Perhaps. But when you look at the whole of your life, how often do other things, people, or pastimes take the place of God? Perhaps not by eliminating what is holy from your life, but by edging it out until you're left holding onto...

So many people believe that the Ten Commandments are an important part of life, but so few of them can tell you what they are. There are a lot of reasons for that, including the fact that there aren't ten commandments and the fact that different faith groups read the same scriptures and separate them in different ways, leading to disputes about which one is more important or whether some parts are one command or many. And when we strive to make a certain set in a certain order be the one that...

"I'm grateful - don't do it again!" Paul wraps his letter to the Philippians up with this awkward-sounding (to us) "Thank you - No thank you" thing which is intended to help share the joy of the gospel with them and with others. How? And why do we care? Join our walk through the last verses of the book of Philippians and find out!

Conflict abounds! I suspect most of us are involved in multiple conflicts, varying from minor annoyances and open disagreements to national and international disputes. And we each add to or subtract from those conflicts, don't we? What if there was a way to resolve every one of those disputes completely? What would that be worth to you? Well, good news! Not only IS there a way to end every conflict, but the steps we each need to take to do so are carefully laid out for us. They are SIMPLE, t...

You know who really sucks? THOSE people. THOSE people over there. The ones not like us. How dare they refuse to conform to all of OUR expectations? Why won't they just do the things we wad to do? How can they ever be like us if they don't live out the same experiences and habits that we have chosen to make central to our way of life? Well, if they want OUR approval, they're going to have to straighten up and do things OUR way! EXCEPT... Paul says this isn't true. He did all that and it's cra...

Paul had said that we need to have the same attitude and make the same choices and take the same actions as Jesus. Which he knew a lot of folks would think might be too hard! So he gave us two examples of ordinary folks who lived that out so that we could know it wasn't just some kind of unreachable goal, but was actually something that is EXPECTED from each one of us. Who were they and what was their witness to the world? And, more importantly, what is YOUR witness? Are you a testimony to C...

Look, I'm sure that your national pride, like that you might have for a favorite sports team, can be a fun component of your approach to life. However, Followers of the Way of Jesus need to make sure that Jesus is Lord! In his letter to the Philippians, Paul lays out the requirements for being and keeping our citizenship in God's Kingdom. Those may start and end with rejoicing (they do!) but citizenship has both rights and responsibilities attached. If we refuse to live those out, then we ar...