MidWeek 20 James 4

Walking back into James

Chapter 3

If we could control the tongue, we could harness the world

You can’t draw good water from a salty spring. So, likewise blessings and cursings should not come from the same tongue/heart.

Chapter 2

Don’t be involved in the sin of favoritism, don’t discriminate among people, and obey the Royal Law.

Just as the body is dead and not breathing so is your faith if there are no good works to go along with it.

Chapter 1

That testings and trials bring opportunity for testing your faith so welcome those trials with open arms.

That real pure religion is caring for orphans, widows, and keeping yourself from being corrupted by the world.

The Big Stroke about James is… Real Christians don’t just stand around.

James, the brother of Jesus

James was on the list for Jesus to see after the resurrection

James, leads the church at Jerusalem

James, writes this Epistle succinct, clear and practical with a call for faith that is backed up by actions.

James, a quiet and brave man known for his integrity and devotion—and it got him killed.

James stoned by the Jewish High Priest in 61 or 61 A.D.

James, had knees hard and calloused like a camel from praying begging God to forgive the sins of the people.

Chapter 4

James 4:1–10 (NLT)

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.”

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

James 4:11–12 NLT

Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

James 4:13–17 NLT

Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

The up-shot of James 4

lands in this passage from the old testament with a refocus from self-reliance to Trusting in God!

Jeremiah 17:5–8 NLT

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

Humble Thyself in the sight of the Lord

by Bob Hudson

Em D Em D

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. (Echo)

Em D Em D

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. (Echo)

C D Em C D

And He will lift you up, higher and higher.

C D Em

And He will lift you up.