The Need Of The Hour: Thoughts From The Epistle Of James

THE NEED OF THE HOUR: 7 THOUGHTS FROM THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

OUTLINE

1.WITHSTAND TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS

2.WISDOM OF GOD

3.WORKS OF FAITH

4.WORDS OF CONFUSION

5.WRATH OF MAN

6.WAIT FOR GOD

7.WIN THE LOST

THE MESSAGE

THE NEED OF THE HOUR: THOUGHTS FROM THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

1.WITHSTAND TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS

The Book of James tells us to be joyful when we face trials and temptations as they will develop patience in us. When we endure temptation and overcome it we will receive the crown of life. Without being tested there will be no crown or reward.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

James 1: 2-4

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1: 12

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

2.WISDOM OF GOD

The Book of James tells us to receive the wisdom of God. Our God is liberal in giving wisdom to us when we ask Him in faith. God’s wisdom is full of purity and goodness. This wisdom will cause us to be a blessing to others. It will not lead us in the path of evil.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

James 1: 5 - 8

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 3: 17-18

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

3.WORKS OF FAITH

The Book of James tells us to demonstrate the works of faith. We should be doers of the word and not hearers only.we should show mercy to the widows and the fatherless and help the poor and needy without partiality .We should submit to God and resist the devil. Our faith must be demonstrated by these works.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

James 1: 22 - 27

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;

24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

James 2: 1 – 5 , 14 - 17

1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,

3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”

4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.