Walking with Jesus with Pastor Doug Anderson Podcast

  I wonder what you feel when you see someone being shown either favoritism or disrespect? Sadly, it happens all too often in every part of the world. A phrase that has been coined in the recent past is 'type casting'. You understand, don't you? It's when prejudice is evident in the manner a person is being treated and people presume it is because they appear to be of a particular ethnicity or socio-economic class, or they are dressed in a particular way, or they speak a particular language, or they have tattoos or piercings, or their hair is dyed a fluorescent color or is dreadlocks.  (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is James 2:1-13. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  Yesterday I left you sitting in a room with one of the apostles of Jesus named James. Perhaps you remember James and Jesus had a unique relationship... they were siblings! Yes, James was the son of Mary and Joseph, born sometime after Jesus, so everyone understood them to be brothers. From what we know James did NOT believe Jesus was who He claimed to be, nor did he evidently believe the preposterous stories his parents told him about Jesus' birth... at least not while Jesus was alive. But everything changed with Jesus' resurrection! James could not deny the clear evidence... (Click here to see full text, images and links)    Today's Scripture is James 2:26. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  I wonder how many of you have pets and how long you've worked at taming or training those animals? Perhaps we could apply the question even to children: how long and hard have we adults worked to train and even tame the behavior and mouths of our children or grandchildren? Welcome back to our time with the apostle James as he is writing the first letter going out from the apostles to the early Christians about 20 years after Jesus has left Jerusalem returning to heaven. James was a brother to Jesus, growing up in the same home, and yet James rejected the notion that Jesus was anything other than a normal older brother. It seemed preposterous to James that Jesus might somehow be God in the flesh, even when James began hearing of miracles and Jesus' powerful messages.  (Click here to see full text, images and links)    Today's Scripture is James 3:7-12. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  I wonder who the people are in your life whom you consider WISE? They are the people you call when you need someone to listen to you and speak wisdom into your life to help you. Perhaps they are the people that sometimes when they speak, you reach for a pen to write down the wisdom of what they just said!  In every generation, in every place in our world, WISDOM is one of the greatest needs we have as human beings, because we all face many decisions every day and the consequences of those choices often affect many people. (Click here to see full text, images and links)       Today's Scripture is James 3:13-18. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  In some parts of the world this is "Labor Day Weekend" and that's a very big deal for many people. For some it's the holiday from work on Monday. I know of many places where summer ends and school begins the day after Labor Day. So, I wonder what this weekend means for YOU, my friend? Join me as we again gather inside the little house in Jerusalem where James the apostle is writing a very important first letter to the Jewish Jesus followers known as 'Christians' in many parts of the Roman Empire. (Click here to see full text, images and links)      Today's Scripture is James 4:1-3. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  For many of you today is a holiday from work and school. I hope it's a great day for you. The purpose of this holiday has long been forgotten as most people simply enjoy it as a great three-day weekend transitioning from summer to fall. But as you perhaps know, this day was declared a holiday to celebrate an important aspect of our God design as human beings. God designed humanity with the desire and even passion to WORK, to accomplish things, to improve things, and then the desire to work TOGETHER to accomplish more than we can alone!  Now of course Labor Day has never been a religious holiday nor a day of worship. Organizers of this holiday have made it about celebrating the accomplishments of mankind through our hard work. But here and now I want to declare that Labor Day is fundamentally a celebration of what God did in the Garden of Eden when He created the first human Adam and put him in the garden. Genesis 2:15 says "The LORD God took the man [Adam] and put him in the Garden of Eden to WORK it and take care of it." Amen my friends, I hope that gives you a fresh perspective on this day called Labor Day! (Click here to see full text, images and links)    Today's Scripture is James 4:4-8. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  Do you know anyone with wild emotional swings depending on the circumstances of life? Do you also know people who are very constant, stable in their emotions? These days we're watching and listening as James the apostle is writing his letter of encouragement and exhortation to the first century Jewish Jesus followers scattered all across the Roman Empire. These dear people lived during a very difficult time of persecution and thus emotions were always in flux and sometimes explosive.  Come on, let's join a few others who've gathered in James' little house in Jerusalem as he writes. He's in his fourth chapter as he picks up his stylus: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." (James 4:7,8)  (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is James 4:7-10. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  Are you a 'planner' or someone who likes to do things spontaneously? When you are preparing for a trip away, do you make detailed lists and pack several days in advance, or throw things together into a bag the day of your journey?   (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is James 4:13-17. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  All of us deal with frustrations in life, problems and maybe even conflict almost every day. That's the world we live in, but may I ask HOW do you deal with those difficult aspects of life, here on planet earth, as a member of the human race in 2022? Where do you turn for answers and help? How do you keep from wounding others?  Again, we join the apostle James as he is writing his letter to Jewish Christians around the Roman Empire in the middle of the first century. Of course, James, and all other Bible authors, did not write whatever they felt like writing. The apostle Paul explains the miracle of Biblical authorship this way: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."(2 Tim. 3:16,17) (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is James 5:13-15. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  Have you ever seen someone struggling, straining to control their pet dog on a leash? The dog wants to run free, perhaps it sees other dogs or maybe some cats or a squirrel and the owner is with both arms fully extended and their feet planted firmly, struggling to hold back their dog who is pulling with all their might to run. Is that maybe a picture of us sometimes? Oh God does not have us on a leash and He's not straining to restrict our thoughts or our words or our choices or our behavior, but do we sense an inner struggle between what we have a strong desire to say or do and what we know would be the wise, God honoring thing to say or do? (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is James 5:15-20. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  For those of us old enough to remember the world changing events of September 2001, you probably remember the morning of this day, 21 years ago today... September 12. The eyes of the entire world were focused on the NYC skyline, wondering what it would look like the 'day after' that horrific 9/11 tragedy? Sure enough, as daylight came, we saw the pile of debris was still smoldering and for any who had lived or worked in NYC the absence of those two enormous towers caused one of the most famous skylines in the world to be almost unrecognizable, on this date 21 years ago! May I urge you to not rush into this day before you give some thought to what was happening in our world 21 years ago this week and how much our world has changed in these two decades?  (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is Galatians 1:1-7. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  As you look back over your life, I'm sure you can see what you might call "Defining Moments". Perhaps they were tragic events or maybe glorious, wonderful events...but regardless of whether they brought you joy or heartbreak, these "Defining Moments" profoundly affected the rest of your life. Can you remember some of those cataclysmic experiences in your life journey? (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is Acts 15:1-6. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  We've probably all had the experience of watching a very volatile situation diffuse and then actually come to a place of compromise and agreement. That is what was happening when I left you yesterday in Jerusalem in about the year 48ad, as what has been called "The Jerusalem Council" was reaching a conclusion. The apostles of Jesus, many elders of the Jewish Jesus movement in Jerusalem, the apostle Paul and Barnabas, and some Gentile Jesus followers who had come from Syrian Antioch for what they hoped would be a resolution meeting, had reached an impasse of disagreement.  (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is Acts 15:19 & Galatians 2:2-10. Choose below to read or listen.Acts 15:19 ​​Galatians 2:2-10 Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  I wonder what the most powerful expression of "INCLUSION" is that you've ever experienced? Perhaps it was your grandparents explaining to you that you are 'included' in a wonderful family with a proud heritage. If you are adopted, that was an especially powerful moment of 'inclusion', wasn't it?  Or maybe it was the strong sense of being included on an athletic team that worked very hard and the synergy of your shared efforts and skill won the competitions. Or maybe it was being part of a wonderful business organization or a great church or being an alumnus of a school, you loved, or even being part of a wonderful neighborhood of people who cared deeply for each other. "Inclusion" has in recent times become a powerful political word, but long, long before that word had political clout, God used that word as He referred to the descendants or Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as "My chosen people". Do you remember? (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is Galatians 3:26-29. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

  Perhaps you've heard the phrase 'perfect timing'? Normally it refers to some circumstances or events which occur at just the right time to accomplish something significant. I'm sure you've had several such 'perfect timing' experiences in your life, I know I sure have! Did you know it happens often with God as He deals with us, the human race, in our very complex world? Come, let's rejoin a small group of people sitting in a little house in Syrian Antioch about the year 48ad as the man known as the apostle Paul is writing his first letter. That letter has been preserved and copied and translated so that no matter where you live in the world today, it is probably available to you in your language and is known as the letter "Galatians" in the Bible. (Click here to see full text, images and links)     Today's Scripture is Galatians 4:4-7. Choose below to read or listen.​​ Pastor Doug Anderson    262.441.8785   “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2) Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here