One of the greatest challenges many Christians will face as they begin to grow in godliness and maturity of faith will be what to do with their words as they relate to other believers. As one grows in his faith, it becomes easier to recognize...
11 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. 12 God alone,...
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived...
This past week, Bill White taught on James 3:13-4:3. In this passage, James challenges believers to walk in wisdom and to recognize leadership that does the same. He contrasts true, heavenly wisdom with false, earthly wisdom. They may seem similar on the exterior, but they can...
1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned...
Throughout our study in James’ letter to the early church, we have seen a constant reminder of our fickle, double-minded nature. While God is true, steadfast, and enduring in his devotion to us, we are easily led astray by our sinful desires to pursue those...
4 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. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have...
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what...
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For...
This weekend we took a look at what James has to say on taming the tongue. James begins chapter 3 by addressing teachers and reminding readers that those who teach are judged with a greater strictness. James doesn’t say this to scare people away from...
1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. 2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. 3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what...
When you think of the word wisdom, what comes to mind first? Is there someone in your life that you consider to be wise and understanding? In this section of his letter, James distinguishes the wisdom that comes from God from the wisdom the world...
13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the...
“A whole world of wickedness” — that’s how James describes the tongue in his infamous section on our trouble with words. But what does that mean practically? For the Bible here to claim the tongue to be a whole world of wickedness, certainly it would...
33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right?...
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship...
18 Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing. Proverbs 18:21 21 The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. Proverbs 21:23 23 Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble....
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Ouch. Jesus' words from Matthew 12 apply just as much to us as they did to the Pharisees who first heard them- perhaps even more so. Our sinful hearts make it tricky to navigate communication...
1 Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also...
This week Matt Williams led us through the second half of chapter two as we continued our series through the book of James. Following his treatise on partiality, James once again assumes the role of a lawyer to make his next argument. The basic idea here,...
13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only...
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our...
This weekend we continued to look at the teachings of James. In the beginning of chapter 2, James is addressing the sin of partiality, which can also be described as “judging according to value.” This passage is a brief aside, wedged in between two sections...
25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “‘You...
Integrity. It's the state of being whole or undivided, having a thorough consistency throughout. It's about more than just honesty- it's about conduct, direction, and action. You could define integrity quite simply as "doing what you say you will do." So what does it mean...