Week 39: Reaching the World God’s Way | Day 4

Tasks for this week:

  1. Watch all three parts of Reaching the World God’s Way
  2. Complete daily Bible reading
  3. Memorize James 1:2-4 and James 2:17

Week 39: Day 4

Today’s F260 Bible reading: James 1-2

1:1 From James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings! 2My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. 5But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. 6But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8since he is a double-minded individual, unstable in all his ways. 9Now the believer of humble means should take pride in his high position. 10But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. 11For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away. 12Happy is the one who endures testing because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. 13Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 15Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 16Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 17All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. 18By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. 19Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. 24For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does. 26If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. 27Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 2:1 My brothers and sisters, do not show prejudice if you possess faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 2For if someone comes into your assembly wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, and a poor person enters in filthy clothes, 3do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? 4If so, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? 5Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts? 7Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to? 8But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. 10For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law. 12Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom. 13For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over judgment. 14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him? 15If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself. 18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works. 19You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear. 20But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (NET Bible)

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. www.Lockman.org