James 4:4 (ESV) “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Who are your friends? We all have friends from church, work, even family, but some are better than others some pull us closer to God and some pull us away. Our friendship with the world doesn’t just pull us away from God, like poor friends, but makes us an enemy of God. We know God is holy, pure, and righteous and everyone who watches the news can see how evil and ruined the world is. Christ warns us in Matthew 6:19 that we should not layup treasure in this world. We see this thread in scripture where we are supposed to separate ourselves from the world and be set aside for God and God alone. God desires us, us the sinful faulty humans that He created; God desires to have our heart, soul, and mind. So who is your friend, is it the world is it laying up treasures here living a life for yourself? IF so you may be an enemy of God, and that is the wrong side to be on. Remember to be on the Lord’s side cause this world will someday pass away and only what we have done for heaven will last.
James –Taming the Tongue
Nothing is more dangerous than the words that you use. With our words we can tear down a friend in anger, we can curse the God who loves us despite our curses, and we can ruin family relations. Now we all could probably recall a time when we either used our words against someone or had words used against us. James 3:8 tells us how impossible it is for us to ultimately tame on tongue for it is “a restless evil.” Luckily for us we have an all-powerful and merciful God who will help us to control out words. Through this study I am constantly drawn back to James 1:5(ESV) “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.” This of course is not an end all but we do have a God who will aide us in our desire to be holy vessels for Him, and one way we do that is by falling on our knees before Him and asking Him to help our words to be an encouragement to those around us and a light to the world.
Pastor Thor
James- The Working Faith
James 2:14 (ESV) what good is it, my brothers if someone say he has faith but does not have work? Can that Faith save him?
The simple answer of course is yes faith is what saves. The question you need to ask yourself is what are you doing with your faith? James was not trying to tell us that doing good deeds or; “works” was the mean to salvation but that we as believers need to be producing good fruit. Matthew 12:33b tells us “the tree is known by its fruit.” James was making the point that if you as a believer are sitting on the sidelines of life and not serving you are in the wrong. Now service is a big field, should everyone be a pastor, no missionary no, but we all have opportunities to serve God, opening the door for a stranger or putting the needs of a co-worker before your own. We need to be living our lives for the glory of God and to produce good works and deeds for Christ. That is the challenge James is giving us to show our faith in our service to the one and only living God!
Pastor Thor
James-Triumph over Trials
James 1:1-18 Triumph Over Trials
As we begin our journey through the book of James we see the need in our lives to triumph over various trials. James starts out his book with the idea of taking on trials with joy. Even though that is terribly difficult to apply to your life it is necessary and doable with Christ.
However overcoming various trials in your life does have its own spiritual reward. James 1:12 “Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.” The crown of life is not a physical crown as we would think of it, but it is a spiritual idea and concept based off of the wreath crowns that Olympians would win during the ancient Olympic Games. This is God’s reward for believers who faithfully endure trials. I believe that all our motivation for serving God should be because of our love of God and not for any kind of spiritual reward. It is a beautiful picture to know that God will reward us for trying to live a life completely for God. Even though our struggle against our own flesh and spiritual wickedness we can claim our victory in Christ.
By Pastor Thor