Bob Reeves

Q 5. 1. This study in James has made me more cautious of my walk with Christ. What I'm trying to say is, I've made more mistakes in my walk with Christ since taking this lesson, or else I've been walking in sin for quite a long time and hadn't noticed. I'm catching myself doing everyone of these sinful things James mentioned in this study. 2. All I can say about this lesson is, WOW! It has been an experience. 3. If should say this lesson needs improvements, then I would be upset at because "my sins have found me out." So I will have to say, "the improvement is needed in my life and there is no need to improve on the study." I've done a lot of confessing and repenting... God Bless bob

Q 4. 1. James is very clear on this subject. ". . . he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." Walking in sin seperates one from the fellowship of the God. Pslms 51:12 David cries out: "Restore unto me the joy of they salvation; and uphold me with they free spirit." Showing one their sinful ways and they confess, their sins will be forgiven and they will have the joy of their salvation restored.

Q 3. 1. The role of oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. 2. The one doing the praying the prayer of faith is expected to "have the faith of healing." 3. It is the act if faith in the One that does the healing, Jesus Christ. 4. According to James 5:16, healing comes after confession of sin.

Q 2. 1. The role of the elders is to pray for the sick. Their faith in the healer, Jesus Christ gives them the power to lay hands on the sick and give the prayer of faith. 2. the qualifications of the elders to pray for the sick is their faith in Christ and His healing powers. Other words, the elder is to be mature and spiritual.

Q 1. 1. According to James 5:14, prayer is initiated by the person that is sick or a person knowing (believing in faith) that Jesus can and will heal. It is expected of the elders to pray the prayer of faith. 2. James is stating it is expedted of the elders to pray the prayer of faith. It is the elders of the church that have the closeness and great fellowship with Jesus Christ the healer.

Q4. 1. Grumbling and complaining says quiet abit about our spirituality. The unsaved sees in a grumbling and complainging Christian, a person that could not be a Christian. They also see no need becomeing a Christian because if that is the way they act, "why should they themselves become a Christian?" There are more people going to hell because of grumbling and complaining Christians. Dr. Wilson made a statement on page 9 that I never thought of before. It goes like this: ". . . Grumbling about people is a thinly veiled way of complaining about God." 2. Whenever the lost and of course some of the Christians see or hear us grumbling and complaining, they see some with little or no faith in the Lord to accomplish what He said He would do. We tell others we have been set free of our sin, then we begin to act like non Christians, they may wonder about the "sin free person." 3. Being patient is so very important. If we draw near the Cross, then our patience can be seen by those that have no or little faith. This will bring a desire in their hearts to come to he cross of our Saviour. We are to be a light in a darken world. Is that not our goal?

Q3 1. Impatients is soon followed by unbelief. Whenever I speak about the return of Jesus, I oftern hear "there will not be a return of Jesus. I've heard that all my life and He isn't here yet. Besides that old saying has been around for hundreds of years." This kind of talk comes from some people that claim to be a Christian. 2. Dr. Wilson speaks of an old spiritual on page 8 of this lesson that is has the words, "I shall not be, I shall not be moved." We Christians must stand strong in the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that some have the world view that Jesus is dead and burried. They will spend a lot of money and time to try to convince you. For those who truly have their faith in and looking for the return of Jesus, will be rewarded.

Q2. 1. The spiritual danger of our demand for comfort and luxury is loosing fellowship with the Lord God. 2. (Extra Credit) Whenever we demand low-priced good and services from our employees, we are cheating on the quality of our product. This in turn is cheating the consumer.We too will be cheating on our employees because we pocket all these extra proffits. Cheating certainly doesn't exibit patients. It produce Greed. We are living in changing times. People are looking for "Cheap" and not "Quality.

Q.1 1. If we seek riches more than anything, we could die in our evil state, leaving God out of our life is very dangerous. Leaving God out of our plans is evil and will bring judgment upon us. 2. We should certinaly seek the Lords will before we attemp steping out to do something for Him. Do not say "If it be the Lords will, I will do this or that" whenever your intentions are "unless I can find something better to do." I've asked people on Sunday morning if they were going to be in the evening service. I usually get "If it be the Lord's willing." I come back and say, "Do you think it is the Lord's will to "forsake assembling ourselves together as the manner of some is?" Heb. 10:25. The person should have said "no, I have something else planned for tonight."

Q4 1. I believe James makes it very clear,"Back biting, bad mouthing your brother or neighbor is speaking against the low and of course James tells us we are judging the law by NOT keeping it. There is but one Judge. We are to be wittnesses, not judges. Keep our tongue under subjection. 2. We are tempted to bad mouth others because of jealousy, envoy, and hurt. If you harbor any one of these, you are out of the will of our Heavenly Father.

Q3 1. Our Lord wants to "lift us up." We can never be used of God if we continue in our old ways. I was lost, but now I'm found. The Lord is wanting the church to walk in His ways. We are to be a light to the unsaved world. If we act as thought nothing has taken place in our lives after salvation, then we sure can't be a wittness for Christ Jesus. 2. I don't know if "nature" is the right word there. My old nature was to walk after the "flesh." Since Salvation, I have "put on Christ", which is now my new nature to walk after Him. II Corinthians 5:17 goes like this: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Refer back to II Cor. 5:13 through 16 to show why there is a "Therefore" in verse 17. Also in Galatians 5:16 Paul tells us to ". . .Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the **** of the flesh." We need to remember, the flesh did not get saved. Our Soul (the real me) got saved. The flesh lusteth after the things of this would. That is why we must walk in the Spirit of God to give us the POWER to walk as the verses 7 to 10 prescribe to those that are the bride of Christ. 3. To think about this question, I would have to say the flesh goes a whoreing after any one of the ten at one time or another. You get your eyes off Christ and you will fall. James 4:7 tells us to "submit ourselves to God." The Lord is our strength. Thank the Lord the saved have Power over sin. We can also thank the Lord that He will forgive us if we fall.

Q2. 1. God refered to the church as His Bride in the New Testament and Wife in the Old Testament. 2. The wife desireing affection from another. In this case, affections from the world system. 3. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were addressed by God as His wife. In the New Testament, the Church is addressed as God's Bride. So that makes God as our husband. We are married to him. Sure wouldn't want my wife to be walking hand in hand with someone else. 4. According to James, ". . . a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

1. Is God against pleasure? The answer would be no. That is, if I'm seeking worldly pleasure such as fulfilling the desires of the flesh like, sex out of marriage, spending more time at gambling, going to sporting events, or anything that would take me away from doing the will of my Heavenly Father. Then, the answer is yes. God would not want me to commit Idolatry. Leaving His work to satisfy my desires would be a sin. 2. What wrong in living to increase one's pleasure? Sounds like selfishness. Whenever worldy pleasure comes before serving God, it becomes selfishness. (****, = sin) Those that are sold out to serving the Living God, gets pleasure fellowshiping with the brethren, telling others about the love of God and how He fulfills the lustful desires of this world. I use to get great pleasure from sporting events. Now that I'm saved, my greatest pleasure is doing the will of my Heavenly Father.

*Peace makers sow peace with humility and and loving heart. Having the love of God in your heart will bring wisdom and humility. *According to James 3:16, if we have "envy and strife" we are "confused and evil." Needless to say, you cannot produce peace nor can you produce a ripening crop of righteousness. *James 3:17 tells us ". . . wisdom that is from above (heaven) is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good FRUITS,. . ." Verse 18 goes like this, "And the FRUIT of righteousness is sown in peace . . ." *James finishes off in 3:18 like this, ". . . of them that meke peace." This is wonderful. So, if we receive wisdom form above (heaven), then we will be sow in love and the fruit of sowing in love will produce righteousness (right standing before God).

*If you are envious of someone and your ambition is to be above or better than they, then you are too busy steping on others to see who you really are. Your pride has kept you from seeing the light of Christ and his grace. *Being humble doesn't mean you can't be ambitious. Your ambition will be different than the one that is walking on others to get what they want. Your amition is seeing souls saved to the Glory of God. Bringing others to Jesus is the greatest amition a person could have. I Peter 5:5; ". . . all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." *You are walking in selfrightousness if you have bitter envy in your heart toward another person or persons. Most of your ambition is toward making others more lowley than yourself. As long as your are like that, you can never be set free of strife and contention. Boasting how great you are and how you got there is a sin. And of course, if you walk in that sin, you will never see yourself need a touch for The Great God. You will die in your sin.

The people Jesus was talking to in Matthew 12:34 and 15:18 were unsaved, spoiled, and self righteousness. The didn't practice self control nor did they try to control their tongue because they felt they were above all the rest and after all, they were of the seed of Abraham. I've been with some really nice people that were not saved. You would never hear them say a bad thing of someone else. They truley believed treating others as you would like to be treated was the only right thing to do. There was no cursing or gossiping. People would say, "if anyone is going to heaven is this person." Whenever they were asked if they ever repented and received Jesus Christ as their Saviour, they would let you know they did not have to repent nor do this Jesus thing. They were just as good as he was. WELL, THERE WENT THE TONGUE....IT WENT WILD AND BEGAN TO LIE AND BLASPHEME THE LORD! In order for the tongue to be tamed: First you need Christ Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you of all your sin. Second, allow the Holy Spirit to work a righteous work in your life. With the help of the Holy Spirit, you begin to practice taming the tongue. James in 1:19 says, "Wherefore, my beloved bethren, let every man be swift to hear, SLOW TO SPEAK, slow to wrath." After Salvation, my filthy language changed. Whenever something did come from the mouth that was unclean, mean, or not decent, I would ask God to forgive me and would let others that wasn't the way a Christian talked. I was so bad. I'm so ashamed of my past...

Many false teachers and preachers have come on the scene because they had a "feeling" in a Sunday School class or heard some loud preaching that was not anointed by the Holy Spirit. These people teach their "feelings" while they copy some others teaching styles. Peter in his writings of II Peter 1:10 tells the "called" to "give diligence to make your calling and election sure: For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:" I've listened to the "feeling" (without any Bible knowledge) preach and teach. In most cases their teaching is not consistent to the Word of God. For example, One time you are saved by Grace and not by works, then, maybe in the next breath or sermon you better make yourself good enough for The Holy God to accept you into His Kingdom. Preachers and Teachers of the Bible are truley accountable for what they teach and preach. These teachers will do a lot of shouting, pointing their finger, and scream out words that I know they themselves do not practice. Paul in II Timothy 2:15 said to "study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Paul said in I Timothy 3:1, "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." In fact the whole third chapter of I Timothy lays out the path of a bishop (preacher). Many are called of God that do not want to study. Greater strictness is appropriate for the man of God who teaches or preaches the Word of God. I've seen men voted into preaching and pastoring churches because they can sing, play music, and cry. Preachers, teachers, Pastors, and any that hold a high office in the church should be tested and tried. Those who teach/preach should have higher standards because they are the ones that are teaching our young ones, and of course the body of the church how they should live to the Glory of God. Their life should be an example. The church body is depending on the teaching they are getting for their eternal destiny.

Paul is telling us we are "saved by grace throught faith" and James is saying if we don't work after salvation, we are acting just like the demon that once had dominion over us. Other words, we are walking in a sinful state as the demon. "I was once lost, but now I am found". Lost means that I was just like that demon, doomed. Now because of the WORKS of Jesus, I have been found! The Holy Spirit of God was turned loose in this world on the day of Pentecost to find me and convict me of my sin and show me how to be delivered from the clutches of satan and his demons. Jesus promised me if I would come unto Him I would be saved (at no cost to me). Now I work for Him because he poured out his love into me. Other words, I work because I love Him. Jesus saved my soul and gave me eternal life. Working for him just comes natural... Praise God......!!!!

The Bible teaches that the demons believe and trembles in fear. Before I ever accepted Jesus Christ as the redeemer of my soul, I too had the same belief as the demons. I was taught that God would someday destroy this wicked world. Being told that would make me trinble inside. The world (company I was keeping) I was in rejected God and wanted nothing to do with Him. But now that the Blessed Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and I accepted God's Only Begotten Son I no longer trimble with fear of meeting Him. My world is different now. As I just stated above. All that are in this world system, professed Christian or a non Christian will have a fear of God because of their sin. Other words, they know there will be a judgment day. It is sad that people walk around in fear. They can have the peace of God in their lives. James tells to to be a "doer of the word." If we are hearers only, then maybe we should check out our standing with the Lord God. A Christian has been delivered of the demon ('s) in their lives. Why act like one. Be a doer of the word and excerice your faith

1. To what degree are we responsible for the poor and the needy in the church community? Today, it would be seldom to find a church member destitute. That is, in America. Most church members have nice cars, computers, large screen TV's, boats, and are involved in some kind of expensive sport with their children. We are responsible for the poor and the needy in our church community to help the best we can afford. It is nice to have experienced people working in this area. The many community centers, in most cases are supported by the churches and some are given grants. It is nice to be able to give to Christian organizations that pools the moneys and gifts and are able to help more than one person at a time. Times have changed, but not the commandment of giving. We need to use wisdom and be good stewarts of God's blessings. The church is responsible to give out the gospel (Spiritual food) to the poor and the destitute then the physical food. Isn't that what Jesus did?

Faith is dead if it is unaccompanied by action. There are four people that I have put my faith in. 1. My wife, she has proven herself to me time and time again. She has tolerated me for the past 48 years. I believe that is because she loves me beyond measure. When I'm ill, she takes care of me and when I'm down, she is there to ecourage me. 2. My Dr. He has done me well. He treats me as a person by taking time to talk. He seem to intrested in my health and not my money. 3. My mechanic. He treats me with respect. He knows I can't solve the problem with my auto and of course he knows I can't afford to get into expenive repairs. Throught this, he makes suggest ways I can save money and many times, he will (at his expense) make the repairs. It seems he cares for my safety and well being. By the way, he treats my wife the same way. I have faith in these first three because they seem to care and they do take care of me. But formost, I have faith in Jesus the Christ. 4. My Saviour. Jesus gave His all for me. He made it possible for me to have the power over sin and temptation. I no longer have to worry about spending an eternity in hell. He said if I would see myself as a sinner and ask Him to forgive me, He would do exactely that. Because of the way I have been taken care of and watched over, I can by faith tell others about the first three that they will be treated with honor and respect. Because of the way God loves me and has shown me the way to go, I can by faith tell others of His wonderful love and care. How this Great God can set them free from any and all sin that makes them feel so misearable. Faith in Christ makes my faith alive. I not only talk about the wonderful things He has done for me, but I share my faith because I have love for this Great Saviour.

If I'm prejudice to a poor person, then I am denying him or her mercy. We as Christians need to share the saving grace of the Lord with the rich and poor. Deny nothing from God to anyone. Mercy triumphs over judgment because mercy frees us from judgment. I believe we must remember, there are rich unsaved and there are poor unsaved. The Bible teaches us that all have sinned. Rich and the Poor have sinned. We all need God's mercy to take away our sin judgment. I as a sinner, were already judged. The Bible teaches us that "death is the wages of sin." Whenever I confessed my sin to a righteous God, He showed me mercy that I did not desirve and wiped my slate clean. I'm so thankful I did not have to show my wealth (which I had none) to God in order to receive His mercy. So now, when I show mercy t the rich and the poor, God keeps showering His mercy on me. Now if the rich man is saved and the poor man is saved, then they are equal in God's eye. That is how we should see them. MERCY HAS MUCH MORE ABOUND! God is so Good!

1. If I may take from the lesson out line, "The Royal Law of love capsulizes and condenses the spirit of the Mosaic Law. 2. The Mosaic Law brings with it "punishment." The Roysl Law brings "life and mercy." 3. Showing favoritism toward a rich person is a sin. Just as being prejudice to a poor person is sin. I have learned this favoritism and prejudice is a sin. It doesn't make any difference which way it goes. Therefore, since showing favoritism and being prejudice is a sin we need to repent of them.

1. Whenever we "favor" a person over another, we are saying one is better than the other. There was a big business man came to Sunday morning service at our church and one of the deacons asked me to watch what I preached on because that guy had lots of money. When God is using you, you can't help but preach the Word.... Big guy or Little guy. God is over all. 2. Some people in the church try to make a good impression on the do-gooders and wealthy. I must confess, for some reason, I don't often spend much time on the wealthy. I've had them to try to influence my leadership as a pastor. Boy, This has been a good study so far. It sure makes you stop and search your being before giving an answer.... As a pastor, I like that.. This is challenging....

OH BOY!! Before I came to Christ Jesus and confessed I was a sinner and I wanted Him to come into my life and save my soul . . . I could really write a book on who and why I discriminated against. SATAN HAD GOTTEN SUCH A HOLD ON MY LIFE THAT I ACTUALLY HATED JUST ABOUT EVERY HUMAN BEING I MET, EVEN GOD HIMSELF..... After salvation, I couldn't remember who I disliked. When the Lord Jesus came into my life, He completely renewed me, my actions, my walk, my talk, and my thinking. For about a year, I didn't dislike anyone. Then there seemed to be a period that I became very judgmental toward people of different denominations. Today, whenever I begin to judge people or churches, the Holy Spirit reminds me who I am and where I came from. It isn't always easy to keep a pure mind. Prayer is the answer... I never want to loose sight of that Grace this wonderful and loving God shown upon me... GOD IS SOOOO GREAT AND WONDERFUL! I need to pray for Christ mind and understanding everyday.