May 26, 2019 – Learning from James – Law, Love and Freedom

-                        The

Law, Love and Freedom


1 Kings 21:1-16 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. ² Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.”

³ But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.”

⁴ So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.

⁵ His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?”

⁶ He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”

⁷ Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. ⁹ In those letters she wrote:

“Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. ¹⁰ But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹¹ So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. ¹² They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. ¹³ Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. ¹⁴ Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

¹⁵ As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” ¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.

Where was Naboth’s vineyard (verse 1)?

What did Ahab want the vineyard for (verse 2)?

How did Naboth respond to Ahab (verse 3)?

What did Ahab do (verse 4)?

Who ask “why are you so sullen” (verse 5)?

In your opinion, what does Jezebel’s question “Is this how you act as king over Israel?” reveal about her (verse 7)?

Who did Jezebel send the letters she wrote in Ahab’s name to (verse 8)?

Where does she tell them to seat Naboth (verse 9)?


Why were two scoundrels to be seated opposite of Naboth (verse 10)?


Who did as “Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them” (verse 11)?


Where did they seat Naboth (verse 12)?


What happened to Naboth (verse 13)?


Who did they send the word “Naboth has been stoned to death” to (verse 14)?


Why could Ahab go and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth (verse 15)?


What did Ahab do (verse 16)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 12:41-44 - New International Version (NIV)              

⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

⁴³ Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Where did Jesus sit (verse 41)?

What did He watch (verse 41)?


Who “threw in large amounts” (verse 41)?


What did the poor widow put in (verse 42)?


In your opinion, what did Jesus want the disciples to learn when He told them “this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others” (verse 43)?


What did the rich people give out of (verse 44)?


What did the widow give (verse 44)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?


In your opinion, what can we learn about what Jezebel values in 1 Kings 21:1-16 and what the poor widow values in Mark 12:41-44?

Romans 8:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Who is there “now no condemnation for” (verse 1)?

What has the “law of the Spirit who gives life” set Christians free from (verse 2)?

How did God do “what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh” (verse 3)?

In your opinion, how is “the righteous requirement of the law” met in those who live “according to the Spirit” (verse 4)?

What do “those who live according to the flesh” have their minds set on (verse 5)?

What do “those who live in accordance with the Spirit” have their minds set on (verse 5)?

What is “the mind governed by the Spirit” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why can the mind governed by the flesh “not submit to God’s law” (verse 7)?

Who “cannot please God” (verse 8)?

Who is “in the realm of the Spirit” (verse 9)?

What does the Spirit do for you, if Christ is in you “even though your body is subject to death because of sin” (verse 10)?

Who will give life to our mortal bodies if “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in” us (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does Paul’s discussion of living in the flesh or the Spirit in Romans 8:1-11 help us understand about the reason for Jezebel’s behavior after Naboth refused to sell the vineyard in 1 Kings 21:1-16?

In your opinion, what does Paul’s discussion of living in the flesh or the Spirit in Romans 8:1-11 help us understand about the actions of the poor widow Jesus praises in Mark 12:41-44?


James 2:1-13 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Who “must not show favoritism” (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why was it discrimination to tell the man wearing fine clothes “here’s a good seat for you” but to tell the poor man to “sit on the floor by my feet” (verses 2 through 4)?


Who has God chosen to “be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him” (verse 5)?


When do Christians do right (verse 8)?


When do Christians sin (verse 9)?


Who is “guilty of breaking all of” the law (verse 10)?


What happens if you “do not commit adultery but do commit murder” (verse 11)?


In your opinion, what does it mean to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom” (verse 12)?


What triumphs over judgment (verse 13)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?


In your opinion, how is possible that our favoring the rich over the poor as described in James 2:1-13 will leave us just as guilty of breaking the law as Jezebel who arranged for murder in 1 Kings 21:1-16?


In your opinion, how is the poor widow that Jesus observes in Mark 12:41-44 an example of following the instruction in James 2:1-13 in how to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”?


In your opinion, what does Romans 8:1-11 reveal to us about the law that James 2:1-13 calls the “law that gives freedom”?


In your opinion, how do these passages from 1 Kings, Mark, Romans and James challenge us to keep “the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’”?


In your opinion, how can we more fully “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 19, 2019 – Learning from James – Living Righteously for God

-                        The

Living Righteously for God


Jeremiah 31:30-34 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
³² It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

Who will die for their own sin (verse 30)?

When will the Lord make “a new covenant” (verse 31)?


What did Israel’s ancestors do with the old covenant (verse 32)?


In your opinion, what does the Lord mean when He says “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (verse 33)?


What will the people be (verse 33)?


Why will people not tell their neighbor “know the Lord” (verse 34)?


What will the Lord forgive (verse 34)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 2:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)                  

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

What did the people hear (verse 1)?

Why was there “no room left” (verse 2)?


How did they they get the paralyzed man to Jesus (verses 3 and 4)?


What did Jesus say when He “saw their faith” (verse 5)?


In your opinion, why did the teachers of the law think “He’s blaspheming!” (verses 6 and 7)?


What did Jesus know “in his spirit” (verse 8)?


In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’” (verse 9)?


What did Jesus want the teachers of the law to know (verse 10)?


What did Jesus tell the paralyzed man (verse 11)?


Why was everyone amazed (verse 12)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?


In your opinion, how does Jesus healing the paralyzed man whose sin He had forgiven in Mark 2:1-12 prove His authority to replace the old covenant that was broken with the new covenant that was promised in Jeremiah 31:30-34?


2 Corinthians 5:15-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Who did Jesus die for (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “regard no one from a worldly point of view” (verse 16)?

When has “the new creation” come (verse 17)?

How did God reconcile us to Himself (verse 18)?

What is God not counting against people (verse 19)?

What does Paul implore “on Christ’s behalf” (verse 20)?

How can we “become the righteousness of God” (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does 2 Corinthians 5:15-21 help us understand about how the promise that God made in Jeremiah 31:30-34 to “remember their sins no more” is fulfilled by Jesus?

In your opinion, what does 2 Corinthians 5:15-21 help us understand about what Jesus did to get the “authority on earth to forgive sins” that He claimed in Mark 2:1-12?


James 1:19-27 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Who should be “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (verse 19)?

What does human anger not produce (verse 20)?


How should we accept the word planted in us (verse 21)?


In your opinion, how can we deceive ourselves by merely listening “to the word” (verse 22)?


What is someone “who listens to the word but does not do what it says” like (verses 23 and 24)?


Who will be blessed (verse 25)?


Whose “religion is worthless” (verse 26)?


What does God accept “as pure and faultless” (verse 27)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?


In your opinion, what does Jeremiah 31:30-34’s discussion about the two covenants help us understand about the word James 1:19-27 says we are to “humbly accept” being planted into us?


In your opinion, how does Jesus telling the man whose sins He had forgiven in Mark 2:1-12 to “get up, take your mat and go home” foreshadow James telling us not to just listen to the word “which can save us” but to “do what it says” in James 1:19-27?


In your opinion, what can following the teachings in James 1:19-27 which instructs us to look “intently into the perfect law that gives freedom” and continue in it help us to not regard anyone, including ourselves, “from a worldly point of view” as Paul indicates he will no longer do in 2 Corinthians 5:15-21?


In your opinion, what do these passages from Jeremiah, Mark, 2 Corinthians and James help us understand about how Jesus can remember our “sins no more”?


In your opinion, how do we move from merely hearing the word to having it written on our hearts and then living it?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 12, 2019 – Learning from James – Our Desires to His Gifts

-                        The

Our Desires to His Gifts


Deuteronomy 17:14-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” ¹⁵ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” ¹⁷ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸ When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees ²⁰ and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

What does God, through Moses, anticipate that the Israelites will want in the promised land (verse 14)?

Who should they appoint as king (verse 15)?


In your opinion, why should the king not “acquire great numbers of horses for himself” (verse 16)?


What will happen if the king takes “many wives” (verse 17)?


How is the king to get a copy of this law (verse 18)?


Why should the king read his copy of the law “all the days of his life” (verse 19)?


Who is the king not to “consider himself better than” (verse 20)?


How is the king to approach the law (verse 21)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 10:35-45 - New International Version (NIV)              

³⁵ Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³⁷ They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

³⁸ “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

³⁹ “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

⁴¹ When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. ⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Who told Jesus “we want you to do for us whatever we ask” (verse 35)?

How did Jesus respond (verse 36)?


When did they want to sit at Jesus right and left hand (verse 37)?


In your opinion, why did Jesus say they did not know what they were asking (verse 38)?


What question did Jesus ask them (verse 38)?


In your opinion, what did Jesus mean by “you will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with” (verse 39)?


Who do the places at Jesus right and left belong to (verse 40)?


How did the rest of the disciples respond (verse 41)?


What do “those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles” do (verse 42)?


How does the disciple who wants to be great need to act (verse 43)?


Who must “be slave of all” (verse 44)?


Why did “the Son of Man” come (verse 45)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?


In your opinion, what effect does Jesus have on the law that Moses gave to the kings of Israel in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 when he tells the disciples what they are to do in Mark 10:35-45?


1 Timothy 6:11-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

²⁰ Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹ which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.

Grace be with you all.

What does Paul tell Timothy to pursue (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is “the good fight of the faith” (verse 12)?

Who “gives life to everything” (verse 13)?

How long is Timothy to do the things Paul commanded (verse 14)?

Who is “the King of kings and Lord of lords” (verse 15)?

Where does God live (verse 16)?

What are those who are rich not to put their hope in (verse 17)?

What are the rich to do (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what is “the life that is truly life” (verse 19)?

What is Timothy to “turn away from” (verse 20)?

How does Paul end 1 Timothy (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy 6:11-21 help us understand about why God would command a king not to accumulate gold or silver or horses in Deuteronomy 17:14-20?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’ instruction to those who wish to become great to instead become servants in Mark 10:35-45 become more specific in Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:11-21?


James 1:9-18 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

¹² Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Who should take pride “in their high position” (verse 9)?

What should the rich take pride in (verse 10)?


When will the rich “fade away” (verse 11)?


How is the “one who perseveres under trial” blessed (verse 12)?


Why should the person who is tempted not say “God is tempting me” (verse 13)?


When are people tempted (verse 14)?


What happens “after desire has conceived” (verse 15)?


In your opinion, what does it mean to not “be deceived” (verse 16)?


Who does “every good and perfect gift” come from (verse 17)?


How does God “give us birth” (verse 18)?


In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?


In your opinion, how is Moses’ command to a king to “not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn away from the law to the left or right” in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 echoed by 
James’ command to the rich to “take pride in their humiliation” that is followed by the discussion about temptation in James 1:9-18?


In your opinion, how does Jesus ending His discussion about being great through being a servant by saying “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” in Mark 10:35-45 help the disciples understand what was truly valuable in the same way that James does in James 1:9-18 when he says “every good and perfect gift is from above”?


In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that both Paul, in Timothy 6:11-21 “command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant not to put their hope in wealth” and James, in James 1:9-18 “the rich should take pride in their humiliation” address wealth like it is a challenge to faith?


In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Mark, 1 Timothy and James help us understand about the our desires?


In your opinion, how do we move from pursuing our own desires to receiving the “every good and perfect gift” from Father and the One who gave His life to ransom us?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)