James: Pt 10 (5:12-20)
In this last passage of James, the author shifts gears dramatically to talk about the power of prayer for healing and our need to walk in the light if we want to be able to access the power of God. James talks about confession and the role of secret sin as a possible block to prayer for healing.
Easter Sunday
Before Jesus was resurrected from the dead on that first Easter Sunday, he was walking in his resurrection identity. Four days after one of his closest friends, Lazarus, had died Jesus went to visit his friends (Lazarus’ sisters) who were grieving, and into the middle of their grieving and pain he makes a declaration about his identity saying “I am the resurrection and the life.” In that moment Jesus is communicating something powerful and profound about his identity and nature. His statement “I am” is not only an identity statement, it is a statement of presence in the present. Jesus is calling Mary and Martha out of the past (and the disappointment of what he didn’t do for them) and also out of the future (what might happen) and into the present. I am here now and I am the resurrection and life. Jesus is calling us today out of a life of bondage to the pain and disappointments of the past and out of a life dominated by anxiety, fear and our need to know and control the future. Jesus is inviting us to live with him and receive his resurrection power in the present.
James: Pt 9 (4:13-5:11)
In this passage James has some direct and confrontational things to say about planning for the future, our ideas of control and what it means to release our lives into the hands of God instead of tight-fisted, white knuckle living.
James: Pt 8 (4:1-13)
James: Pt 7 (3:13-18)
In this part we examine James 3:13-18 with another searing pastoral challenge from James that has powerful application for us today as well. James continues to press in toward the source of our destructive speech patterns, and the source lies in our mind and heart. James establishes that there are two sources for wisdom, one is from above (God) and the other from below (worldly/demonic). Once again James isn’t coaching us in behaviour management, he is challenging us to examine the source that feeds our heart and our need to cultivate the soil of our heart so that we can plant the right kind of seed there.
James: Pt 6 (3:1-12)
This is a hard-hitting passage that not only examines the speech patterns that are so destructive but also the source. James is calling his listeners (and us) to not only focus on being disciplined with what comes out of our mouth but also to understand that our internal self-talk, patterns of reasoning, and inner conversations are precisely the place where the problem lies. It isn’t just about what you say, it is about what you think and say internally.
James: Pt 5 (2:14-26)
James is pastoring his fellow Jewish believers who have been driven all over the Roman Empire because of persecution and one of the pastoral issues that James confronts in chapter 2 is the preferential treatment of some over others, specifically those who have wealth and influence and cultural cache.
James: Pt 4 (2:1-13)
James is pastoring his fellow Jewish believers who have been driven all over the Roman Empire because of persecution and one of the pastoral issues that James confronts in chapter 2 is the preferential treatment of some over others, specifically those who have wealth and influence and cultural cache.
James: Pt 2 (1:12-21)
How do we process the trials and testing of life? Does God have a hand in testing us, what about temptation? If God does test us, why does he do it, what is he trying to accomplish? These are some of the questions that James might have been receiving from his own friends and community while they experienced persecution and injustice. So how does James respond and what can we learn from him today?