Skip to main content

James: Mercy Triumphs – Week Seven – On the Way Home

Chairein! (Ky Rain)

Homework: What a way to end a study! This week’s homework gave us our final glimpse of James in Scripture and spoke about the dilemma of the Jerusalem church in accepting the offering that Paul collected from the Gentile churches in Asia. We learned about James’ death and the aftermath of his murder. And I was completely moved by Day Five after studying all of what I mentioned earlier in the week. Mercy Triumphs is definitely one of my favorite Bible studies.

Melissa’s Articles: In the first of this week’s articles, “Theology of the Collection”, Melissa discusses the dilemma of James and the Jerusalem Church in receiving the gifts collected for the poor by Paul from the Gentile churches. Gentiles sharing the spiritual blessings of Jews have a responsibility to minister to them. Paul believed that the Gentiles “owed” the Jews for their spiritual heritage.

“So, Who Took the Reins?” is a fascinating article about who succeeded James as the bishop of the Jerusalem Church after his murder. This article also taught me that historian Hegesippus’ information is not always reliable because of his tendency to sensationalize, which reminds me to be like the Bereans and check my sources and their information.

The title, “The Legacy of James,” says it all. This final, emotional writing declares that James left a legacy of righteousness that touches hearts, souls and minds even today. He left a legacy of Christianity blended with Judaism in harmonious beauty. Like Melissa, I too want to so absorb Jesus’ teaching and live it out that I remind people of Christ even when I’m not talking about the Bible. That’s the gift that James has given to me. And it has changed my life.

Writing James: We already completed this assignment last week. What has been accomplished in my life as a result of writing the book of James? First, let me explain that I am using writing as a memorization tool as well. I’ve been typing what I’ve memorized so far each day to help solidify it in my mind. This exercise has helped me know the book a bit better. It also put me in the position of James, who wrote the letter, himself. I was able to sit and reflect on his thought processes as he wrote by writing it, myself. This has been an incredibly rewarding way to spend my time. I will definitely use this technique to study other letters.

Memorizing James: The memorization process continues. Currently, I have memorized James 1:1-3:4. At this rate, I should complete the project about a month sooner than the 5-month time frame that Beth suggested. My plan was to film my recitation and post it on this blog. By the time you read this, I hope at least pieces of it are already available for your viewing pleasure.

Now that all is said and done, where do we go from here? I so loved the experience of getting to know James and I relish a new perspective on Jesus through James’ eyes. So, I believe I will now study the words of another of Jesus’ half-brothers, Jude. I’ve studied it before, but I believe that this freshened viewpoint will only open his words up even wider to add another dimension to the portrait that has been painted of my wonderful Savior!

Video Segment: A powerful lecture ends this life-changing study as Beth discusses the end of James’ letter to the scattered tribes. Painting a potent picture of James at the time of his Big Brother’s death, the student can almost feel the restoration that took place in his life when Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection. Personally, I cannot wait for my Heavenly Father to queue up that video! As always, it’s sad to see a study end, but I will definitely take many lessons away from this one.

God bless you, Beth and Melissa!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Homiletics Training: Content

Homiletics .   By definition, “homiletic” is the art of preaching or writing sermons.   I think we would all agree that our pastors study the Bible thoroughly to deliver sermons every Sunday to their congregations.   The beautiful news is that every child of God can use this discipline to study the Bible for themselves. As a member of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) Leadership, part of my required preparation each week is to prepare homiletics for the passage we are studying.   BSF offers an engaging seminar on how to use this method to study the Scriptures.   I’ve taken the seminar several times under two different leaders and I’ve learned something new every time I’ve attended.   I’ve also been doing the process of homiletics for over ten years and I can say that there is no better teacher than the Holy Spirit in this process!   So keep practicing.   Keep sharing and discussing.   I’ve been posting my homiletics on this blog for quite a while, now.   And I would like to share wit

Homiletics: John 7

Contents ( not sentence, direct verbiage from Scripture ):   Where?                                                                 Who? 1 1-2 After, J went Gal, not Judea bec Jew ldrs look to kill; Jew fest of tabernacles near 2 3-5 J bros: go Judea so disc see works, show self to world; bros not believe 3 6-8 J: my time not here; world h8 me bec I testify works evil; you go festival, my time not cm 4 9-10 He stay Gal; bros left for fest, He went in secret 5 11-12 @ fest, Jew ldrs watch 4 J: where He?   Widespr whisp: He good man/He deceives ppl 6 13-14 No one say publicly for fear of ldrs; not till ½ way thru fest did J beg to teach 7 15-16 Jews amazed: how man get learning w/o been taught; J: my teaching cm frm who sent 8 17-18 Who choose do will of G find

Homiletics: John 10

Contents ( not sentence, direct verbiage from Scripture ): 1 1-2 VT ITY Phar, any1 enter shp pn by gate=thief/robbr; 1 enters by gate=shepherd 2 3-4 Gatekpr opns gate 4 hm/shp listn/he calls shp by name/leads out/shp follo bec kno voce 3 5-6 They nvr follo stranger, run away bec recog voce; J used fig o spch, Phar understd 4 7-8 Thrfr J: VT ITY I gate 4 shp; all who cm b4 me=thievs/robbrs, shp listn them 5 9-10a I gate, whoevr entr thru me savd/they cm/go/find pasture; thief cm only steal/kill/destry 6 10b-12 I gd shepd, lay dn life 4 shp; Hird hd shepd/own shp, see wolf/abandn shp/wlf attck/scattr 7 13-15a Man run bec care nthg 4 sheep; I gd shep; kno sheep/sheep kno me as Fr kno me/I kno Fr 8 15b-16 I lay dn life 4 sheep; have othr sheep of this pen