James 4:13-17

We do not have control of time. We can never be sure of the next second. That is why we need to take whole of the moment and serve God now. The bible tells us our lives are just vapors, here for a little time, and then they vanish. We're just a small piece of eternity. There is no time for procrastination. If God shows us an opportunity to do good, and we don't take it, it is sin. Not to mention, a waste of the precious time we have.

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James 4:7-12

If we resist the devil and his temptations, we will grow stronger in the Lord and the devil will flee from us. If we just have faith in this, temptations lose their strength. We must cleanse ourselves to draw nearer to God, and he will draw nearer to us. If we let go of our pride and humble ourselves, the Lord will exalt us. There's no point in judging His law or one another. We are merely his creation--we have no say in how he governs us. The responsibility is not ours. We can therefore trust in Him because he is perfect, and as sinners we are not. We must obey His law, be doers of the law, and He will provide.

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James 4:4-6

We were born into lives where our flesh lusts for worldly things. The bible tells us this, and we experience it in our daily lives. But God tells us to resist these temptations by turning away from the world and turning to him. If we engage in the sinful ways of the world, we makes ourselves enemies of God. But because God offers grace, and he bestows it upon those who humbly turn to him. God resists the proud as they resist him.

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James 4:1-3

We always turn to fighting when our desires consume us. We fight and we kill for what will not satisfy us. God does not give us things we ask for that will turn us away from him, just like a parent wouldn't give a child a knife to play with if he asked for one. When we ask for something in accordance with God's law, we will receive it.

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James 3:13-18

There are 2 kinds of wisdom: Earthly wisdom, and holy wisdom. Earthly wisdom is driven by envy and strife, holy wisdom is driven by meekness and produces good fruit. You can tell which is which by the works each one does. There will be sin and unholiness wherever envy and strife are. Where the meek, wise ones are there will be peace, purity, gentleness and mercy. With holy wisdom, we can be righteous.

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James 3:7-12

Our tongue spews evil. We bless God with the same tongue we curse man. No wonder people call us hypocrites. We need to commit to speaking only good- we need to tame our tongues. But no man can do this alone. Only through Christ can this happen. A fountain can not produce both salt water and fresh water. It's either one or the other.

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James 3:1-6

These verses show the power of the tongue. It is so very true. The power of life and death is in the tongue. Just by what we say, we can lead the world. As the bit in the horse's mouth turns their whole body, so the tongue turns souls. Words spread like wildfire. Take gossip, for example-- A sinful act that spreads hellfire very quickly. If we can control our tongue, we are perfect, able to control everything else about his body.

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James 2:20-26

This elaborates on yesterday's message. Faith without works is dead. Abraham proved himself faithful through his work by offering his son at the altar. It was because of his faith that he did the works. He became a Friend of God. Wow, that is a miraculous title. I would be honored to be a friend of God. Rahab's faith was also justified by her works. I love the last verse as well: "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." You do not have living valid faith if you do not act on it.

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James 2: 14-19

Some of my favorite verses. You can't just proclaim that you have faith and expect that to save you. If you have faith, you will act on it. Like in this description- I have faith that you hungry people will be full and happy! Then proceeding to leave at that. You have to actually feed these people, give them nourishment, or you're doing no good at all. "Faith without works is dead." You can say that you believe in God, but demons do as well. You have to do your part to fight them.

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James 2: 8-13

I feel that this is pretty straight-forward. We are to love one another, if we don't completely love one another, we are sinning. It only takes one sin to be a sinner. just because we resist one sin doesn't give us rights to any others. When we are judged, we will only be shown mercy if we have shown mercy. This is quite scary in its plainness. It is a call to a sinless life- perfection. The world tells us its unobtainable, but the Bible says differently.

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james 2:1-7

Being rich puts us at a great disadvantage. Francis Chan also talked about this--compared to people in Third World countries, we are all filthy rich. We have so many things that distract us from God. Although we may look down on the poor and think them inferior, they can be much more rich in faith because they are not caught up in material possessions. Indeed, it is often the poor man who is humble in character and loves God--He will inherit God's kingdom.

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James 1 :19-27

Here it talks of the disposition we should have, and how to act on it. We must be calm- slow to anger, intent listeners, and think things through. Worldly anger does not produce the righteousness of God. If we can maintain such a disposition, we must not only hear the word, but do it. You will forget the word if you do not carry it out. That which you do carry out will be blessed by God. If you are truly religious, you will see this scripture through, keeping yourselves unstained from the world and loving your neighbors.

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James 1:12-18

We can not just expect God to do keep us happy all the time. There will be times when our faith in him is tested and we have to strengthen ourselves through him in order to obey. God himself is never tempting us, but He will allow the devil to tempt us. If we fall to these temptations, we sin, and if we sin, we die. But we can trust in the Lord that he is steadfast and he loves us, and everything good comes from him.

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James 1:6-11

The Lord is steadfast and unwavering. Therefore, our faith in him should be just the same. If we don't stand firm on his rock, we are putting ourselves on unstable ground where we will fall. We will not receive anything from him if we do not know him. We can not get caught up in worldly material possessions or the pursuit of wealth. These things will only deter us from God. And if we are separate from God, we will whither away, as James so appropriately puts it, like the sun scorching a flower in the grass. Those who don't have anything are ahead of those of us that do because they are not distracted by these things that don't really matter.

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James 1:1-5

I love the book of James. So much wisdom. Here, he talks about patience or steadfastness. The tempting of your faith works patience. It is the policy of enduring temptation that allows for us to grow strong and wait for Jesus. We can become perfect, wanting nothing, if we have the patience. If we do still lack wisdom, we can ask for it of God, who will always generously give it to us. It is all about what we are willing to do for God. All we need to do is ask for something we don't have, if we use it for His will.

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Rev 21:1-14

Heaven. I can't wait to finally get there. Here we get just a glimpse of what it will be like. Truly majestic. With 12 gates, 12 foundations, and a huge wall, it's the true Kingdom of God. He created this place for his children to be with him. No death, no sorrow, no pain, no tears. We will be made new! What a refreshing thought. Everyone will be judged and get what they deserve. No one will be forgotten. He is the beginning and end, and we can trust in Him.

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jude 1:17-25

How Great is our God, that he should save us from ourselves. There will be those who mock us, who turn away from God, who have never known his spirit, but by keeping our faith in Him strong, he will give us eternal life. He will provide for us. When we can be presented faultless before him, we will truly experience the glory of his presence.

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1 John 2:1-17

This passages comes down to not only talking the talk, but walking the walk. You can say you're a Christian, but if you do not keep his commandments, you do not know Christ. If you do not sin, only then are you perfected in God's love. I find verse 10 especially straight-forward. "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." There is no stumbling in Jesus. You don't sin. No one wants to believe this, and I don't understand why. Through God, all things are possible. I have faith in his word.

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1 peter 1:3-16

Jesus is calling us to follow him. He tells us anything we endure here on earth is worth it. He has heaven waiting for us, a father there, our creator awaiting our arrival. This is truly amazing. He is calling us to be holy, as he is holy. If we turn from our sins and our lusts, we have an eternal life. Only through faith in Jesus Christ is this possible.

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James 5:1-11

Jesus is coming for us, but as a groom awaits his bride at the alter, the bride must walk to him. We must strive to be with him and obey God's commands. He will judge us when he comes. Those who are yet sinful will perish, and those who believe in him will have eternal life. The material things in this world will turn worthless and those who lived for those things will die.

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Hebrews 11:1-16

Through faith, God will save us. But faith without works is dead. So if you are working to please God, that is faith. All these testimonies are of people who did just that. they seeked God, and trusted in him. They trusted that God was faithful and will provide a promised home for them, so they worked to please him, and please him they did.

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Philemon 1:4-16

Paul writes to Philemon that he is a good man. He loved and had faith in Jesus and in doing so, refreshed the saints' hearts. Just by loving and having faith in Jesus, Philemon encourages others. Paul then asks him to take care of his son Onesimus-- Not as a slave, but as a brother. If I understand this correctly. Onesimus needs to get to know Jesus because he has strayed from his path. Paul asks with an honest and sincere heart that Philemon take back Onesimus,

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Titus 2:1-14

I like these verses because they talk directly about how a woman should be. It's important to keep ourselves pure and dignified, teaching the youth to act as such as well. No one should be able to hold anything against us. If we can live this way, we will certainly please God.

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