We’re looking at some lessons in the book of James, one of the most practical books in the Bible. We’ve talked about both the damage and the good that our mouths can do. One of the things we said is this: what comes out of the mouth reflects what’s in our hearts. If we have…
Read MoreCategory: Bible Study
Lessons and studies from the Bible
Watch Your Mouth, part 2 – Be positive!
Our words matter. When our kids were little, they weren’t allowed to say the word “stupid.” One day, my wife was at a crowded grocery store on the same aisle with some of our church members. The girls were sitting in the grocery cart, or, as we call it in the South, the buggy, when…
Read MoreThe Close of the Letter: Three Things We Know
John has written this entire letter so that his people could know that their salvation is true, so it’s fitting that he closes the letter with three more things that we should know. As he’s done throughout this letter, John packs these little verses full of great theological truth. First, John reminds us that born-again…
Read MoreHaving Confidence in Your Prayers
Did your parents ever tell you something that you believed, and when you got older, you realized it wasn’t true? Like when your mom told you that if you made an ugly face, it would stick that way? I once heard a dad say to his daughter, “No, sweetie, the ice cream truck plays music…
Read MoreThat You May Know…
Remember that famous line in the movie Field of Dreams that goes, “If you build it, they will come”? You have no doubt that line was in the movie. However, the line is, “If you build it, he will come.” Or in the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, you just know the Evil…
Read MoreGod’s Rules are Not a Burden
We’ve been talking about John’s use of the three tests he gives his readers — the Doctrinal, Love, and Obedience tests. These are designed to help them evaluate the false teachers who have left the church. Now John rolls all three tests together into one paragraph. And, as usual, he gets right to the point: …
Read MoreLoving Others and Assurance of Salvation
Throughout this letter, John provides three tests by which his people can evaluate the teachers who had left the church. Their doctrine differed greatly from John’s, so the readers wondered who was right. Which teaching was the truth? In 4:13-21, John combines the Doctrinal test (see also 2:18-27 and 4:1-6) and the Love test (…
Read MoreBelieving Rightly and Loving Greatly
“It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” Those words from Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix are as relevant today as they were in John’s day. No one in the early church was choosing between red and blue pills, but they were choosing between the…
Read MorePut Your Love into Action
If someone evaluated your salvation based on the love you show to fellow believers, how would they rate you? Could you point to your love as proof of your relationship with God? In 1 John, the Apostle is giving his readers guidelines for evaluating true teachers from false teachers, and he’s already told them that…
Read MoreWhen Doing Confirms Being
I learned early on that I don’t like rules, at least most rules. I like rules that other people need to keep so they don’t hurt me or my loved ones. Those rules are great. It’s just that I don’t like rules for me. I don’t like the speed limit on most roads. I don’t…
Read More