Christians, have you done a study on the book of James?

Question

What are your thoughts on the principles found in James for Christian living? James was a Pastor and he wrote to give Godly wisdom to Christians who had to leave Jerusalem because of the persecution of the Church. Having a Pastors heart for his flock, he continued to minister to them by writing his letter. Have you noticed that whenever the Church has been persecuted, God used it to spread His Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Answer 1

The book of James is apparently addressing new Jewish converts who lived outside the Holy Land, and elsewhere Chp. 1:1
James tells how we should be doers of God's word and not just hearers only.
James also deals with the fact that not all religions were true and gives details for the true religion...
Joy,Patience in trials
unwavering Faith
endure temptations
source of temptation
spiritual hearing
forsake evil
search for the truth
stay pure
good works
heavenly wisdom Chapters 1,2,3
Marks of a FALSE religion Careless and forgetful hearing of the word Chp., 1:22,23,24
unbridled tongue vs.26
prejudice against poor, partial obedience, unmerciful,hearers only,inactive faith, Chp. 2
Chp. 3,4 warnings of the tongue, unanswered prayers of the false, pride, evil speaking, neglect
in chapter 5 there are warnings to the rich,
exhortations of Christ's return
Instructions on prayer, confession, and winning souls for the Lord.

James is the writer of the book of James but God is still the AUTHOR of all his inspired word.

We can read it a hundred times and still learn something each time.

Answer 2

This book, like many of the others, is particularilly meaningful when you begin at the start and read it straight through.

A preacher told me one time that he once just read James to the congregation in place of preaching a sermon. He added no comment except to invite any who had a need to come to the front during the song after the "lesson". The result was great as far as public responses.

He told a preacher friend about this, and his friend tried the same in his church. He had simular results.

Many times we try to rely on stories and dynamic speakers, when all we need is to let the Word speak. There is nothing we can add that can improve God's word!

Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

Try reading James straight through and let the book speak for itself!

Answer 3

Yes I have, at a Christian camp. The camp is called CE Camp (Christian Endeavour Camp) and for the whole five days of the camp, we looked at one chapter of James per day. It was very impacting, with up to 40 people crying in public over the camp, due to conviction of (guilt in regard to) sin, as well as sensing the presence of God.

From memory, the scriptures which got to people on the 3rd and 4th days were the following:
James 3:9-10 "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praising and cursing. My brothers, this should not be."
James 4:4b "Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."
James 4:8-11 "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it."

Yeah, so, it was a great camp. There were dramas depicting what the scripture teaches here, also, which were brought to greater relevance by the presentations.

Thanks for the question!

Gman

Answer 4

If the book of James helps you grow spiritually, thank the early followers of Martin Luther, who prevented him from trashing the book of James and two other New Testament books, just as he did with seven Old Testament books.

Answer 5

Hi Josh just wanted to say hello and see what interested you today. James was Jesus' brother also wasn't he? very interesting. Am I right about that or not? I'm not completely sure. Oh I just wanted to say I didn't mind you publishing my email I only put it in email to protect you. I don't feel it was detrimental to me. Lets be friends if you can tolerate an Atheists. God Bless.

Answer 6

Okay, Nicholas H, Right to Reply and everything...

"-The Christian Church has DONE the persecution in the last 2,000 years my friend. The crusades, the inquisition, Hitler and the stance of silent consent by the Catholic Church....face it, more people have been murdered in the name of Christianity in the last 2,000 years than by ANY other religion.
CHRISTIANS HAVE NOT BEEN SERIOUSLY PERSECUTED FOR CENTURIES!!!!"

WTF?

I just LOVE the way you have thrown in things of which you clearly have no knowledge.

1. "The crusades"
Originally waged against Turks (muslims) who were trying to capture Christian lands.

2. "the inquisition"
Was perpetrated by an anti-semitic Spanish govenrment (admittedly, with the help of a handful of bad cardinals) who wanted to root out Jews who were pretending to be christians. And, yes, I do admit that no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

3. "Hitler and the stance of silent consent by the Catholic Church"
Ha. The WHOLE WORLD adopted a stance of 'silent consent' until Hitler started to invade countries the rest of the world didn't want him to have.
As for the Catholic Church, it hid thousands of Jews in Vatican City and provided thousands more with fake baptism certificates so they could escape the death camps.

4. "face it, more people have been murdered in the name of Christianity in the last 2,000 years than by ANY other religion."
Really? Wow. PROVE IT.

5. "CHRISTIANS HAVE NOT BEEN SERIOUSLY PERSECUTED FOR CENTURIES"
No, but do we ever go on rants against pagans, blaming them PERSONALLY for the first 300 years of christianity, in which we endured persecution from the Roman authorities and were not allowed to practise our religion? Rome did, of course, have a pagan belief system. YOU have the first amendment to protect your beliefs and free speech. The first christians had no such protection.

And, finally, why is it only ever Atheists who throw things like "the crusades" or "Hitler and the stance of silent consent by the Catholic Church" at christians and not Muslims and Jews (respectively)? Surely they have more right to question us on our justifcations for these historical 'events'? What have we ever actually DONE to you? It's all very admirable, you guys hating us on behalf of everybody else, but I'm quite sure that people who are neither christian nor atheist can speak for themselves.

P.S. PaulCyp, Good point - Catholic much? ;)

Answer 7

James 1:4,5.
let any man ask of God in faith, and God will answer.

for God gives liberally to them that ask if they ask not amiss.

Answer 8

What St. James says about the tongue is a valuable lesson for all of us!

Answer 9

Simply stated, nothing just happens. God will always take what Satan meant for bad and use it for the good.

Answer 10

nope havent done one on James,,,we are studying Mathew,,,,and have studied Samuel what an awsome man Samuel was,,,,,,,

LH