Young Adults Blog - Entries tagged "James"

• In James 4:11, James is telling us that we should not speak evil against other Christians (specifically, but this application must be spread to all people) because our speaking evil is our evil attempt to infect other people with our heart’s judgment.
• Ultimately your hearts desire and motivation is to infect others and influence others with your heart’s judgment because you are motivated to get others to have the same evil feelings toward someone as you do. God says that judgment is evil.
• This creates confusion among believers because we are slandering God’s word and translating it in a way that is not God’s word. That is why we must take our influence seriously because God’s word is at stake. James 3:6
• James also tells us that we are able to save nor destroy; therefore, only He who is able to do those things should judge Matthew 10:28.
• Finally James tells us that we must acknowledge God in our decision making because to do otherwise is to make God jealous by not involving Him; which ultimately is not giving Him glory. To boast about something without God is evil.

• Think of those you have spoken bad about. Are they Christians or not? How does this text fit your understanding of “why” you do this?
• Do you try to justify your slandering/speaking evil of others using the Bible? If so, how?
• Do you translate Biblical text in such a way to “do what you want to do” or do you translate only part of the Bible and forget other parts?
• When you have made a decision about someone, have you attempted Galatians 6:1?

• Praise God for your salvation and praise Him for the word that is able to save your soul.
• Confess to God your unbiblical judgments and slander toward other Christians
• Thank God for repentance.
• Ask God to give you wisdom and Grace to follow through with Galatians 6:1.

• Everyone either teaches/leads/influences another person and the confession of your life is more important than the confession of your mouth. If we claim Jesus as Savior we are called to be good, moral, honorable, excellent and commendable in what you do and humbly use your wisdom for other people. [James 3:13]
• This must permeate your work (i.e. job) too. If you hate your job, you aren’t fit to give advice, lead or influence others because you are not consistent. [James 3:13]
• If you are harsh with people, jealous of others or get into selfish arguments this proves your heart is not fit to be an influence of others. So do yourself a favor and stop lying to God and others.[James 3:14]
• Because that kind of life is not is not from the creator but from the created. You worship the created over the creator and therefore you are generating confusion and chaos among your family, friends, coworkers and brothers & sisters in Christ.[James 3:15-16]
• If you really had wisdom from God then it would be Holy. It would be free of sin, submissive, gentle, yielding to leadership, full of compassion and full of mercy [James 2:13] for others and its product would produce good benefits that are certain and sincere. [James 3:17]
• Because the product that is sown in peace produces peace. [James 1:21 ;James 3:18]

• What stops you from listening and following through with God’s Wisdom?
• What earthly wisdom has captured your mind?
• Read 1 John 2:16.
• What “Lust of the Flesh” (Personal idols) are between you and God? Is it your work, what about your family responsibilities, do you fear repentance (or who you have to repent to) or what are you enslaved to; the internet, reading, materialism, pornography?
• What “Lust of the Eyes” (Cultural idols) are between you and God? Do you put Oprah, movies, friends or other couples before what God says in your life?
• What “Boastful pride of Life” (Religious Idols) are between you and God? Do you seek prestige in the church, seeking the most popular church goers, do you seek to be involved in front of the church, is your only ministry in front of others to show you are religious?

• Read Matthew 4:2-10 and praise God for Jesus and his example of destroying Idols.
• Confess to Jesus your lust of the flesh, eyes and pride.
• Thank the Father you have an advocate in Jesus.
• Ask God to grant you wisdom to expose such idols in your life.

• The tongue has 5 Characteristics:

1. Fire, and we know fire consumes, leaves long lasting effects (i.e. scars, callousedness) and generates fear.
2. World of Iniquity, meaning it is “larger than life” and against God
3. It has the ability to defile/stain the entire body, meaning what starts out as a little bit of sin it has the ability to spread like an infection throughout the entire body of believers.
4. Therefore it will set on fire the course of life, meaning a teacher’s teaching of Jesus, if taught wrong, will not only set on fire one’s entire life but also the lives of others in the Body of Christ.
5. This fire is sourced from Hell (Ghenna), where waste and useless things that one wants anyone to have is burnt to be utterly destroyed. Ghenna (Hell) is where executed criminals were burnt. This place smelled really bad and the stench will carry. A teacher/preacher who shouldn’t be teaching/preaching will leave a stench of hell in your life and it will follow you around. Just like a smoker doesn’t know they smoke, but someone who doesn’t smoke will know if someone was smoking around them, because the stench is “stuck” on them and will follow them around until they clean themselves.

• Hebrews 5:12 tells us we are all teachers. We must ask ourselves who is watching our life and speech and do we “Walk the Talk”? So, who do you teach? A younger brother or sister? Does the youth ministry in your church “look up to you”? What about unbelievers – what about your life are you “teaching” them?
• 1 Peter 3:15 tells us that we need be able to explain why we believe what we believe. This is a great question for those who serve in ministry in the youth group, or AWANA’s or another ministry. If a child came to you and asked you to explain the Gospel – could you do it? Better yet, can you do it with scripture? What verses would you show them? What if they asked if you “Why did Jesus have to die”? Could you show the person with scripture? Notice, I am not asking you to “know” the answer – that is implied and we can all “know” the answer, but can you show it with scripture? How sad it is for a people to pass the buck on all the spiritual questions about Christianity to their pastors.
• What would you do if your child came to you and told you they don’t believe Jesus is God? Could you show them scripture indicating He is?

• Adore God today about your salvation and opportunity to open the revealed Word. Praise God for revealing Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
• Confess to God your life. Confess He is right in all things and you desire to grow.
• Thank God for the teachers, pastors, elders, deacons you have in your life today and praise Him for the leadership you submit to.
• Ask God to grow you by the living and active word.

• People show what they believe by how they live their life.
• If you say you believe “one thing” and do not show, through your actions, you believe that “one thing” then you are proving by your actions you do not believe that “one thing”.
• A demon’s theology is more orthodox than an unbeliever’s theology.
• Abraham was justified by faith before God and works before mankind.

• Read Ephesians 2:8-10. Why would God have created “good works” for a Christian?
• Read Galatians 5:19-26. Make two columns on a piece of paper. Name one column “works of the flesh” and the other “fruit of the spirit”. In each column write out what that verse specifically say are in each column.
• Using your list from, Galatians 5:19-26, write out specific outward physical indicators indicators, that people can see (public or non-public) of each “work” and “fruit”.
• Still using your list from, Galatians 5:19-26, write out how someone can “cover up” or “mask” the “works of the flesh” and fake the “fruits of the spirit”. Then write out how what you are going to do to kill the “works of the flesh” and build up the “fruits of the spirit”.
• Take time this week and evaluate yourself, according to the scriptures in the same way as you did with Galatians 5:19-26; except use Ephesians Chapter 5, Colossians Chapter 3, Matthew Chapter 5 and Mathew Chapter 7.

• Adore God love for you.
• Confess any shortcomings/sin you discovered/realized in this study and His Word that proves it.
• Thank God granting your repentance of sin and administering grace in your life to be conformed into His Holy Image.
• Supplicate (Ask) God to correct, reprove and train you in righteousness this week.

• The results of a trial are revealing. Either a.) you prove you love God or b.) you prove you hate God.
• If we are not draw, dependent or dedicated to Jesus it will show in our response to the trials in our lives, and how we will blame God for putting them in our lives.
• However, this is wrong because God does not put a trial in your life to make you sin, but to make you more like Jesus.
• It is your choice to run from that purpose, and the opposite of becoming like Jesus is to be become unlike Jesus (i.e. remain sinful, unclean, unrighteous, evil)
• God intends to call forth His troops by His word and His Word is what wetrust and desire to know.
• Therefore, we seek out every opportunity to hear His word (i.e. read the Bible)
• Finally, if we are doing this (counting trials as joy, asking God for wisdom in tough times, seeking His word) we will prove that we love Jesus by doing what the Bible says.

• Think of a trial (can someone recently went through and write out the outcomes if a.) the person endured it with faith and b.) Ran away, gave up or side stepped the trial. What are the differences? What did they prove about themselves?
• How about yourself? Do you see an area in your life that you need to change?
• Look at the last week of your life. How much “Jesus” did you put into your bank account and how much spending did you take out. Honestly examine yourself asking “Am I dedicated to the Spiritual Disciplines”? (i.e. Reading/Studying, Memorizing, Meditating on the Bible, Fasting, Praying, Celebrating/Fellowship, Confession, Service, Submission, Purity, Sacrifice etc)
• Do you have a sense of how much God invests in your life?
• What can you do this week to seek to know God more?

• Adore God for His investment in you.
• Confess any shortcomings you discovered in this study and His Word that proves it.
• Thank God for His time in your life and how we can come to know Him more through Spiritual Disciplines.
• Supplicate (Ask) God to give you grace to walk worthy of your calling and be more like Jesus. Ask God to bestow this grace on all other Young Adult Ministries in NWI.

• A trial’s purpose is to produce endurance in a person. (The ability to keep on going…)
• A person without endurance cannot “keep on going”.
• A person’s must “keep on going” until he/she is holy, perfect, or “intact/unbroken/undamaged”.
• Therefore, God puts trials in our lives to complete our progressive sanctification.

• “Consider”: hayg – eh – om – ahee:
  • “Doing a thorough review of a topic, because it is so important that the decision here is actually going to govern, rule, or lay precedence to future thoughts, decision, and actions.”

• The point here is to focus on our minds, do we really think this way? Ask yourselves these questions:

• Do you think how we view trials is important to our Christianity?
• Do you think you are “intact/unbroken/undamaged? Why or why not?
• What immediately comes to mind, when we hear the word “trial”?
• Name some “various trials” you or someone you know has or is going through?
• Thinking of those “various trials”, how can God use them to enable you to “keep on going” - What could one trial prepare you for?
• Thinking of those “various trials”, how can God use them to progressively sanctify (get one step closer) to perfection?
• How can this progressive sanctification of a believer, through trials, be a good thing to people, (Answer for both Christians and Unchristians) and do you think it will work?
• How can a foundation of a Biblical understanding of trials being “considered” joyous and help God complete His work in someone?

• Adore God for His ways of working in a person’s life.
• Confess any shortcomings you discovered in this study and His Word that proves it.
•  Thank God for the Bible and your time to come and study it today.
• Supplicate (Ask) God to help you to willfully accept trials, and understand they are to help us become more like Jesus.