ServantOfGod

A Christian might show shame by acting embarrassed when a non-christian laughs and makes remarks about Christians. Maybe stays quiet and doesn't tell the person that they are a Christian. They try to hide the fact that they follow Christ so they won't be made fun of. A Christian should tell others about Jesus. We should never be ashamed to admit we are Christians. If friends make fun of us, we should turn the other cheek and tell them that Jesus loves them despite what they are saying. We should not become angry because that is not the way Jesus would have us act. They will know us by our love; Christ's love in us.

Jesus' name means Yahweh saves. Jesus came to save us/me from sin. He fulfilled His mission when He died on the cross and rose the 3rd day breaking the bondage of death so we could have life. He personally fulfilled His mission in my life by welcoming me when I repented and realized I could not save myself. I am saved by His grace and mercy and I now have eternal life.

Q2. Paul called the Judaizers' message as a "different gospel," a perversion of the true gospel. How is this dangerous to the Galatian believers? How do twisted gospels (or an unbalanced interpretation of the gospel) affect Christians in our day? There is so much being twisted out of the Bible that it truly frightens me what people believe. There are so many that call themselves Christians that never read their Bible and are so easily mislead. I fear if the antichrist comes along, they could be convinced to follow because they are not watching out for him and know nothing about end times. My dad was a preacher/missionary and he always taught me from the start the "simplicity" of the gospel. We accept Jesus and His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection and the fact that we cannot do anything to save ourselves. We serve the Lord in obedience after we are saved; it does not save us. There is none righteous among us, no not one! If we do not read our Bibles, study God's teachings and most of all pray for understanding on a regular basis, we will not have the discernment to when we are led astray. Churches need to watch and protect the sheep from wolves coming in and causing confusion. There are many wolves in sheeps clothing that will try to harm the sheep by confusing their thinking.

Galatians 1:4 - Jesus gave Himself for our sins so we could be with Him and the Father eternally. Jesus still rescues people the same way He did back then in Paul's day by revealing Himself through the Holy Spirit. The only way we can stay on track and keep our hearts from growing cold is by allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and will not force us to do God's will; we can still choose to ignore Him, do our own thing and mess our lives up. The Galatians had chosen to listen to man instead of the Holy Spirit which I am sure had to tell them they were doing wrong. We all need to humble ourselves and realize there is nothing we can do to save ourselves; works come from obedience AFTER we are saved by grace.

Q2. (2:4) In what way does favoritism make one a judge? How does favoritism make one a judge with "evil thoughts"? I have 3 children, if I say I love my youngest the most, I am judging that my other 2 are not as lovable. Maybe I don't say I love her most, maybe my actions just show it by allowing her to be first all the time or to do things the others don't get to do. Again, I am judging by my actions that my youngest is better than the other 2. If I am judging one child is better than the others, it is evil on my part because I am hurting my other 2 children by thinking this way. I am possibly causing my other 2 children to believe there is something wrong with them (when it is really me). I am also likely to cause ill feelings in the older ones toward the younger ones. Example: How did Joseph's brothers feel about him knowing that Jacob their father loved Joseph the most? It caused evil thoughts.

Q1. (2:1-3) What kind of person or what kind of sinner do you tend to discriminate against? What kind of people are you (or your church) trying to make a good impression on? I try not to discriminate but if I do, it is usually toward the wealthy not the poor. I may look at the wealthy and think they are not doing enough to help the poor and less fortunate. I will think to myself they probably don't care and before I know it, I have an attitude against them. I have to give that to God and let Him handle the situations involved. It is very likely that the person I am snubbing is giving behind the scenes and I know nothing about it. God has been teaching me not to judge a book by its cover and in my case, it means do not look down on someone because they have money. Pray for them that they will use their wealth wisely to further the kingdom of God. I believe my church has the right attitude and does not discriminate against anyone or try to impress certain people and not others. My church has the attitude that we will be known for our love toward each other and those around us and, especially our love for God. We welcome all in to our church but will not compromise the truth. We pray for the Holy Spirit to work in peoples lives as only He can save. My pastor prays for all that come into our church to be saved but He preaches from the Bible and if it convicts someone or offends them, he will not take it back. He will tell them he loves them but they need to get right with God.

Q4. (1:26-27) Why does James make taming the tongue and caring for the poor the prime tests of pure religion? Why not the quality of our quiet time or worship? I John 4:20 - If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? There are so many commands in the Bible to love our brothers and those around us. There are so many commands to help the poor and less fortune. If we are not practicing these commands, living them in our every day life, we can't have real quality time with God. We have to start our time with God by repenting and getting our hearts right and repenting for our mouths and lack of love. It is easy to say I love God but it is sometimes harder to show I love my brother or sister that is many times doing things to get on my nerves. It is so easy to say something bad about someone when they are not there (gossip). We cannot control the tongue; only God can teach us how. Our mouths can do more damage to those around us than any other force. Only God can teach us how to control this because He can change our hearts. Sometimes in order to spend true worship time with God, He sends us to our brother first to make things right. Also, this goes back to being not just a hearer of the Word but a doer of the Word.

Q2. (1:22) Why are we so easily fooled into thinking that listening to Bible teaching means that we are living out righteous lives? What is the nature of the self-deception? The Bible teaches us that we will be known by our love. It also teaches we will be known by our fruit. Fruit rots if it stays on the tree. If we do not give our fruit to others (love, kindness, gentleness, patience, faith, peace, joy); if all we are doing is listening; eventually we will become too full to hear what the pastor is saying. Maybe, we will even become so full, we will throw up on the person next to us (become angry, selfish, envious...) I like what the late Rich Mullins wrote in one of his songs. "Faith without works is like a song you can't sing, its about as useless as a screen door on a submarine." Yes, we are saved by grace and not by works; however, that grace we were saved by should cause a change in our lives of wanting to work and please the One that saved us. My Savior saved me from an eternal fire; worse yet, from being separated from Him for an eternity. Shouldn't I have a heart that wants to serve Him? Shouldn't I have a heart that when I hear His words I am ready to respond and do as He asks? Satan deceives us into believing if you go to church on Sunday's and listen to a sermon and don't do anything particularly bad during the week, you are doing okay. Christians need to read their Bibles and they will clearly see that that is not okay. We need to follow the examples of Christ and live the Word not just hear it. James is merely telling us to live as Jesus' did, reaching out to others.

Q1. (1:18) In what sense are we given spiritual birth by the "word of truth"? What does spiritual life have to do with the Word? Jesus is the answer to both parts of this question. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God"; in other words, Jesus. The Bible is the inspired living Word of God. No other book is alive. By reading the Bible and believing it's truths and allowing the Word to manifest itself in us (the Holy Spirit), we live a godly life. We are born again by accepting the words of Jesus (written in the Bible which is living and true) that tells us to believe on Him and we will be saved.

Sometimes it is just because they need someone to blame and they don't have a clear picture of God and His holiness. As we become spiritually mature, we realize God's holiness and the impossibility of any type of evil coming from God. We also have to realize that whatever God does, it is right for His purposes and He is perfect. If God chooses to send an earthquake, it is right in His eyes. His ways are not our ways and we may not understand. An earthquake may be His way of destroying a lot of evil and waking up a nation. Who are we to say. Read the Old Testament. God never tempts anyone with evil because He is not capable of evil Himself. The Bible clearly states that Satan is where temptations come from, even when it came to Jesus. God gives us the option of obeying Him or sinning. He wants us to obey Him out of love for Him. He did not make us puppets. I could design a robot to say he loves me whenever I ask him but does he really love me? Of course not. He is programmed to say what I tell him and there would be no satisfaction in that. God gives us good things, He loves us with a selfless love which He proved when He sent Jesus to the cross for us. He wants us to love Him because of who He is, not because we are forced. There is no pleasure in a forced love.

I am currently going though a lot of trials. Been unemployed for a year, am being forced to move because landlord is selling condo and I just lost my mom a month ago to cancer. I feel like I am repeating 4 years ago when my husband died, I had no job, and I had to move in with my son and his wife. Am I bitter toward God? No. God teaches me through trials to trust Him. I have to walk by faith not sight (II Cor. 5:7). He will always provide for my needs; He always has and always will. He has a plan for my life and sometimes He doesn't show me what it is right away, I just have to trust that He knows what is best. I don't like the struggle but I know the outcome, if I learn what I am suppose to, will teach me many things. Patience, trust and humbleness all come from trials. Sometimes I have to allow others to do for me and that is the hardest thing of all because I want to be the one that gives not receives. I have been knocked down by the devil on many occasions but I do not stay down because He who is in me is greater than He who is in the world! My Lord already has victory, it was won on the cross. I get knocked down and grab Jesus' hand and He pulls me right back up. I used to be a lot slower getting up but through trials and trusting God, sometimes I can spring right back to my feet and keep moving. God is refining me everyday. I am not perfect by far but I am not what I used to be. I try to live my life through the eyes of my Savior, it is my heart's desire to serve Him to the fullest. He is the one that changed my heart to think this way. He is the one that helps me to put others first and to love others around me unconditionally the way He loves me. It is not perfect yet but it is getting better. I am definitely not the person I used to be but I can't forget that I still have a ways to go.

This is my first experience in any online Bible Studies. I have been receiving the newsletters for this site for a long time but had a really awful computer that would crash every 15 minutes so I never tried. Thanks be to God, He has provided me with a better computer that I can work on for as long as I please! I am excited to start this study on James as it is a very "meaty" book that I am sure I can get much more out of than I already have. I can't wait to start the 1st lesson tomorrow!