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June 20 - James 2 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's shown here. It's Thursday, it's the 20th of
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  June and it's great to have your company on this morning, midday,
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  afternoon, night time, whatever time it is that I find you.
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  So good to have your company. Hello.
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  Hello. We are going to continue reading
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  through the book of James together because that's what we
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  do. We are reading through books of
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  the Bible, one chapter each day. And today we get into, well,
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  it's a little bit of controversial territory where
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  James says the controversial statement that faith without
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  deeds is dead. Oh, well, that's gotten a whole
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  lot of people hot under the collar.
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  But what James is getting at is, as he writes to these people
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  spread all over the place, he's saying if your faith doesn't
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  make a difference in how you live, he is questioning whether
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  it is a genuine faith at all. Because his audience has
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  travelled far from their homes in Jerusalem, spread to the
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  furthest corners of the world. And he wants that faith to be
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  making an impact in those places, to be transforming
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  people's lives. And so that is what he
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  encourages. People would not conform to
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  what's around them but stay true, be changed, and act as
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  changed people. So let's read it together.
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  Let us hear what he has to say as we read together James
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  Chapter 2. My dear brothers and sisters,
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  how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus
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  Christ if you favour some people over others?
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  For example, suppose someone comes to your meeting dressed in
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  fancy clothes and expensive jewellery, and another comes in
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  who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes.
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  If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich
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  person, but you say to the poor one, you can stand over there or
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  else sit on the floor. Well, doesn't this
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  discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil
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  motives? Listen to me, dear brothers and
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  sisters, hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in
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  faith? Aren't they the ones who will
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  inherit the Kingdom? He promised to those who love
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  him? But you dishonour the poor.
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  Isn't it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
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  Aren't they the ones who slandered Jesus Christ, whose
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  noble name you bear? Yes indeed, it is good when you
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  obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures.
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  Love your neighbour as yourself, but if you favour some people
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  over others, you are committing a sin.
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  You are guilty of breaking the law.
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  For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty
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  as a person who has broken all of God's laws.
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  For the same God who said you must not commit adultery also
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  said you must not murder. So if you murder someone but do
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  not commit adultery, you've still broken the law.
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  So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will
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  be judged by the law that sets you free.
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  There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to
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  others, but if you have been merciful, God will be merciful
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  when He judges you. What good is it, dear brothers
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  and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your
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  actions? Can that kind of faith save
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  anyone? Suppose you see your brother or
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  sister who has no food or clothing, and you say goodbye
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  and have a good day, stay warm and eat well.
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  But then you don't give that person any food or clothing.
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  What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself
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  isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds,
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  it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue some
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  people have faith, others have good deeds, but I say, how can
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  you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds?
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  I will show you my faith by my good deeds.
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  You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God
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  good for you. Even the demons believe this,
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  and they tremble in terror. How foolish.
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  Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
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  Don't you remember that our ancestor was shown to be right
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  with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the
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  altar? You see, his faith and his
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  actions worked together. His actions made his faith
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  complete, and so it happened just as the Scriptures say.
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  Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because
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  of his faith. He was even called the friend of
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  God. So you see, we are shown to be
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  right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
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  Rahab the prostitute is another example.
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  She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid
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  those messengers and sent them safely away by a different Rd.
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  Just as the body is dead without breath, so our faith is dead
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  with our good works. Lord, we hear in these words of
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  James this challenge that what we know to be true in our hearts
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  ought to make a difference in our lives and that if we don't
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  do anything in alignment with your Kingdom, it's like our body
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  without any breath in it. We can't do this without you.
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  We need your help and we need your transformation.
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  Holy Spirit, Breath of God, breathe into us your life, your
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  life that will fill our eyes with light, that will change the
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  lens through which we see and understand the world, and will
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  provoke us into action. Holy Spirit, change us.
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  Fill us with your fruits. Fill us with your power so that
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  we can love and be moved by that love to show it and practical
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  ways to the people around us even today.
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  Lord Jesus, help our lives shine your love in a way that is
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  unmissable. And when we get it wrong, and
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  our fear and our doubt overwhelms our best intentions
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  and we find it hard to act. Thank you, Jesus, that you are a
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  gracious, loving, ever patient, ever forgiving, and ever
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  companion in God who stays with us, continues to pour your
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  presence into us, and guide us back to your ways.
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  And so we pray all of this in your name, Jesus.
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  Ah, man.