Jogging Through James

  For the Audio Version on YouTube, click here -  James 5:1-12 For the Audio Version on SoundCloud, click here -  James 5:1-12 James 5:1-6 Come now,  you  rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon  you!   2  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.  3  Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.  4  Indeed the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.  5  You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.  6  You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. After talking about not speaking ill of, and judging one another, and about the need to make plans according to the will of God, and not boast about our plans as if we are sur

For the Audio Version on YouTube click here -  James 4:11-17 For the Audio Version on SoundCloud, click here -  James 4:11-17 James 4:11-12 11  Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.  12  There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? In continuation of his addressing the issue of conflict, which he said, stemmed from a desire for worldly pleasures, James goes on to address a very connected issue - speaking ill of one another – a problem that existed in the church back then, as it does even today. He begins by telling his readers to not speak ill of one another, and he uses the word ‘brethren,’ as if to remind them that they all belong to one family of God. He then goes on to give reasons why we should not speak ill of one another, and adds another aspect that is co

For the Audio Version on SoundCloud, click here -  James 1:1-8 For the Audio Version on YouTube click here -  James 1:1-8 James 1:1 “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.” James begins his letter by introducing himself, as the bondservant of both God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. A bondservant was a slave to his master. In the Old Testament, when God gave rules concerning slaves, He said that one could have a slave for six years, after which they were to be freed, after having received liberal supplies from the master. If, however, the slave chose to remain in the service of his master, he could do so – that was a choice he was making. Likewise, James had been freed from the bondage to sin, but had chosen to remain a bondservant to God, and to Jesus Christ, serving God by taking the gospel to those who hadn’t heard. He then reveals the audience of his epistle – the 12 tribes (the Jews), who were scattered

For the Audio Version on YouTube, click here -  James 4:1-10 For the Audio Version on SoundCloud, click here -  James 4:1-10 James 4:1-6 Where do wars and fights  come  from among you? Do  they  not  come  from your  desires for  pleasure that war in your members?  2  You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  3  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend  it  on your pleasures.  4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  5  Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6  But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” After talking about the need to be agents of sowing peace amongst one another, James goes on to address the issu

  For the Audio Version on YouTube, click here -  James 3:13-18 For the Audio Version on SoundCloud, click here -  James 3:13-18 James 3:13-16 13  Who  is  wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct  that  his works  are done  in the meekness of wisdom.  14  But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.  15  This wisdom does not descend from above, but  is  earthly, sensual, demonic.  16  For where envy and self-seeking  exist,  confusion and every evil thing  are  there.  After addressing the issues of communication, with specific reference to the use of the tongue, James then addresses another issue that is not disconnected from communication, but in fact is the source from which communication stems – wisdom. He begins by both asking a question as well as making a statement. He speaks to those who consider themselves wise. When referring to wisdom, let’s remember that he is not referring to knowledge a