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As humanity who has rebelled against their Creator, we are powerless to prevent war and death. As much as we strive for peace, war just cycles its way back into the world, especially when the “day of the Lord” is upon us (I Thess. 5:2-3). Ecclesiastes 8:8 New King James Version 8 No one has...

As Christians, we have a war waging within us: “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Gal. 5:17). We are at war with the evil in this world: “ These things I have spoken...

Since the fall in the Garden, we are a violent species as a whole. Look at all of the wars that have been fought throughout history, and this present age is no exception. If we’re not careful, more lives could be lost in the near future than the combined total of war losses up to the present...

The final section of James 3 focuses on two types of wisdom – demonic vs. Holy. The “wisdom” from Satan contains bitterness, selfishness, lustful sensuality, envy, and “every evil thing.” In contrast, the wisdom from the Holy One above yields meekness (humility), good conduct, pureness, peace...

James continues with his blunt but true analysis of the tongue and some worthy observations that everyone should heed, especially those of us who are ambassadors of Jesus Christ: James 3:7-12 King James Version 7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the...

The parallelism in verses 4-5 above really struck me as I read through this section of James again. After seeing the parallelism Solomon uses in Ecclesiastes and diving into the concept in more detail, it stood out to me like a sore thumb in James, who uses the same literary technique to drive...

I’m going to cruise through the rest of James and pick out a few verses to highlight along the way. @studier is anxious to get to the ending of Ecclesiastes, and so am I. I’m also stoked about diving into the overlooked Book of Ruth, and then I’ll probably tackle one of the minor prophets Lord...

Rahab's story summarized in Joshua 2 is a remarkable one. The Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land, and Joshua sent two men on a reconnaissance mission to scope out the land, especially the city of Jericho, which was the first target. Somehow, the king of Jericho caught wind of...

James 2:21-26 New King James Version 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made [a]perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham...

These are some of the same attributes (i.e. “works”) that James talks about (e.g. James 1:27, 2:1-4, 2:14-16). Jesus talks about good trees bearing good fruit that is generated by the Spirit, and bad trees bearing bad fruit from their own self-righteous or evil intentions. Matthew 7:21-24 New...

Matthew chapter 25 supports James’ belief that faith must produce works. After giving the disciples the Olivet prophecy of near future (AD. 70) and far into the future (TBD) events documented in Matthew 24, Jesus talks about the wise and foolish virgins along with the profitable and unprofitable...

Yes, we will be circling back to the great conclusion of Ecclesiastes and having James' teachings firmly in place should yield some good insights. James' letter ties in so nicely with many areas of scripture, and we'll see another example of that in the book of Hebrews. Determining my part in...

That’s an important point. The belief, faith, and fruit come from Jesus Christ’s work within us, not our own feeble attempts of showing off how “good” we are by our own efforts. Paul says “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from...

James 2:19-20 New King James Version 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is [a]dead? James doesn’t pull any punches here. Believing in the One and only True God is wise...

Merry Christmas to all!

That’s a great point brother. It’s like we’re in a band, and I am playing the bass. The chords I’m playing sound good, but the real power comes when I’m joined by the drums, rhythm guitar, and the lead singer to blend all of our instruments and voices together in a masterpiece like “Carry on...

The father loved his prodigal son, and there wasn't anything he could do to change his reckless behavior when he decided to use up his inheritance on a binge. He had to let his son go and hope/pray he would change his ways and return. "But when he came to himself, he said...I will arise and go...

I hope it doesn't become a battle-ground either because I'm not going to be a part of it. There's no point arguing with people who are set in their ways, and it just yields division and discord, exactly what Satan wants in the Church. Knowing the time of His death was near, a key point of one...

So here we go into one of the more painful areas of James’ epistle covering the faith vs. works concept that is a source of division among us. But, as I’ve discussed in other forums with people duking it out on this subject, faith and works really go hand-in-hand. They are not competitive...

“Love is patient, love is kind…” as the apostle Paul so eloquently expresses what true Godly love is all about in I Corinthians 13, and as you noted sometimes love requires discipline and rebuke. God’s law is love. The Ten Commandments as amplified by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount provide a...