Category Archives: Holy Spirit

Heart mouth believe

The Mouth reveals what the Heart believes

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James began his letter by addressing how to deal with temptation when it comes. He offers an example of asking God for wisdom, he explains that hearing God’s words without living them is to deceive yourself and then tells us that if someone cannot control what they say, their worship of God is empty and in vain.

He then goes into detail explaining that faith without correlating works is also dead, empty and vain.

Now in chapter 3 James revisits all of these truths in order to address sin in the midst of these Christians in chapter 4.

This letter of James is highly structured and makes some very well developed points towards success in Christian living, each of which build on each other so long as you do not neglect to follow the trail of thoughts he lays down.

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Dead Faith James works

Dead Faith

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James introduces the concept of “dead faith”, a wording which is entirely unique in all the Bible.

Now James is not saying there is a different “type” of faith, but rather a different condition or expression of faith. Or as in this case, a lack of expression!

Paul also introduces a novel expression of his own which is very similar. He called it “sincere” or “non-hyprocritical” faith.

Then Peter comes along and indirectly mentions the same by telling us that one of the benefits of temptations and trials (unintended by the enemy of course) is that it reveals the “genuineness” of our faith. 

So the existence of “genuine” or “sincere” or “non-hyprocritical” faith requires the existence of its opposite which would be faith that is “insincere”, “ingenuine” or “hypocritical”.

So the question is – Is “insincere” faith the same thing as “dead” faith? I believe it is, albeit they are nuanced in slightly different direction.

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Faith Good Works

Faith & Good Works Pt. 3

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In our series on Maturity & Ministry we have been looking at the need to maintain good works. As we continue in James, we learned today about the very real possibility of hearing the Word so much with a heart that intellectually believes it, without considering our lives in the light of it. To hear the word and NOT produce the ‘good works’ of the word.

James offers controlling what comes out of your mouth as proof of ‘good works’ produced by faith. He also mentioned caring for widows (especially those of your own family) and orphans as a demonstration of true worship of God.

We ended in chapter 2 verse 17 where James really begins to bear down on the fact that true saving faith is always accompanied by works. He then introduced the unique subject of ‘dead faith’, which we will learn more about next week beginning in verse 18.

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Faith Good Works

Faith & Good Works Pt. 2

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Last week we turned to James for more wisdom on living out our confession of Jesus as our Lord having first read what Romans 2 and Hebrews 10 had to say about ‘Good Works’.

James bears down on the necessity of faith in the production of ‘Good Works’. To do this he starts off with how the believer is to approach times of temptation which James tells us is a testing of our faith as well as our character.

He offers seeking God for wisdom and how the poor and rich should approach life as examples.

He wraps up with a teaching on temptation and where to set our focus which offers us more insight on the topic than perhaps any single author in the New Testament.

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Faith Good Works

Faith & Good Works Pt. 1

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Well if you have been following this series of “Maturity & Ministry” you know that we have been investigating what the New Birth looks like in terms of our ongoing responsibilities and stewardships in the Kingdom.

These include, but are not necessarily limited to:
• Love and respect for God
• Being proactive about the Word of God abiding in us
• Pursuing love of the brethren
• Desiring and being good stewards over the spiritual gift(-s) given to us
• Being faithful stewards over the ministry to which Jesus, the Lord of the Body, appointed us.
• Producing good works

Over the past 4 weeks we have taken a journey through the New Testament identifying specific things God calls “good works”.

This week we are beginning to look at the role faith plays in our pursuit of good works and our responsibility to encourage it in our fellow believers.

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