Session Four: Day Three- Calling All Teachers

Lisa: Emily, you're not alone.  We're still here!
 
Anyone who has spent any amount of time attending church has already or will probably at some point teach a class to someone on something.  The first class I ever taught was to middle school girls.  After that I taught in the youth group, then in the preschool classes and then bible studies.  James 3:1 rolls around in my head every time I become responsible for teaching anyone so when Beth asks us:

Why would a new teacher feel shaken by the first sight of James 3:1, my answer is this:
It feels overwhelming to be responsible for teaching others about Jesus to begin with.  Reading this verse rains down ever more doubt and insecurity and begs the question, "What happens if I don't get it right?"  It's a little scary to me.

Lisa: Also, because maybe for the first time, they realize that they will be judged more strictly because of the influence that they have on others.  It is scary and overwhelming when this verse is isolated, but then realizing that the kingdom needs teachers, and some are called to teach, and that by ignoring the calling you are being disobedient to the Lord and not walking in His Will.

Jill:  Yes this is a bit daunting to read.  But I think James is making sure to remind us, dont stray from the truth, dont teach for your own personal interest.  I think it needed to be said, exactly the way he said it.  I have only taught in matters of health care, not nearly the same but it is still scary to have someone come to you excepting you to know all about thier personal situation and have all the answers.  I love how our Pastor reminds us frequently by saying "I dont have all the answers, I dont understand everything in the bible and I am NOT your Holy Spirit".  I think it is important for biblical teachers/preachers etc to remind us that they dont know everything, but they can help us, guide us, pray with us. 


As she goes through the lesson, some of my favorite parts are when she talks about Jesus being the only one to ever master teaching.  I love that she takes us to Timothy and talks about attempting to teach on more than we know and the ability to mislead others with our teaching.  These are things I worry about.  Especially when she brings us to 2 Peter and talks about the false prophets who are among the people as well as teachers leading others astray.  

Thank goodness for 2 Timothy 4:5, which says:
You, keep your head in all situations and endure hardships, do the work of the evangelist , discharge all the duties of your ministry.

It reminds me that being a position of teaching means that I need to be talking with God and in the Word, making sure that all that comes from my mouth is biblical and sound.  Teaching is a gift and to be honest, it doesn't show up on my list of Spiritual Gifting.  Perhaps that is why I struggle being in a position where what I am saying impacts others.  I do it and have done it because sometimes a class has just needed a body to fill a spot.  Reflecting on today's topic, I'm not so sure that is a good thing.  

Lisa: It's interesting too, Emily, because we were taught that filling those empty spaces with warm bodies IS necessary.  Perhaps, that is some false teaching in and of itself.  Especially since the Scriptures plainly state that one is NOT to teach if they are NOT a teacher.  Hmmm....

Jill:  Good point Ladies.  I have to agree with you, James says not everyone is meant to teach and not everyone should teach, Yes it is good to have a body fill a spot, but that is not what God wants,  Personally I fell it better to skip a class if there isnt a teacher  until you find someone who IS a teacher.  THink of it this way, would you take an English teacher to fill in for a Physics teacher in college?  No they cancel the class until they can find the right teacher for the class.


Not all of us are called to teach but for those who are, Beth does an incredible job of laying out self reflection questions.  Are we trying to please people or please God?  Much is required of those who teach and while it doesn't change our eternal salvation, it does speak to the quality of our works and whether or not we are letting God lead us and teach us.

Lisa: I starred a few spots:

Under The Temptation to use the platform for personal agendas and opinions I starred this thought:

Keep check on your motives, stick to the Scriptures, and ask God to give you the supernatural capacity to love those listeners more than you love your own skin.

Not so sure this is what we see in front of us...

And then shortly after that, under The demand for self-discipline:

A decent teacher has to study.  Hard.  One of the signs of a teaching gift is an unexplainable thirst to study followed by the difficulty of keeping to yourself what you learned.

The greater self-discipline is fighting ferociously to hang on to your intimate relationship with Jesus.  God will never call you to sacrifice your intimacy with Him on the altar of ministry.  We have to zealously maintain our prayer lives and our love lives and teach out of the overflow of what Christ is teaching us.

This area just spoke so much to me.  It was a great reminder that teaching is one of my gifts, and the fact that I am not operating within my gift is so frustrating and discouraging.  Sometimes, however, I need to keep myself in check when I am teaching.  Often times I get so excited about learning and researching and planning and preparing that I do neglect my personal time with God. 

My favorite nugget from today?  The reminder that no matter what area of service God calls me to be a part of, He will never call me sacrifice my intimacy with Him on the altar of ministry.  To that I say "Amen!"

Jill: Amen indeed

Session Four: Day Two- Faith Perfected

You see that faith was active together with his works and by works, faith was perfected.

James 2:22

"Foolish man!  Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?"  James throws this out there and it sticks in my heart.  Am I willing to learn that even though I have faith, am I living a life that acts on it?  Being immersed in the scriptures as I do this study, another reading plan and a smaller devotional means that every day I have an opportunity to hear what God wants to teach me and to do the work he asks of me. 

James takes us by the hand and shows us the evidence of two very specific people in the bible who were willing to learn that faith without works is dead.  First he shows us Abraham and then Rahab, two very different people.  One the father of Israel the other a prostitute.  What things did you list under each person name in the margins?

Lisa:
     ABRAHAM:

• Ancestor of the Israelites
• considered righteous
• offered his son as a sacrifce
• faith and actions worked together
• faith was made complete by action
• believed God
• called God's friend

     RAHAB: 

• a prostitute (a porn star...)
• considered righteous
• gave lodging to spies

Jill:  Abraham

• God's Friend
• Righteous
• Father of Isreal

     Rahab

• Prostitute
• Righteous
• Helped the spies

James sees faith and works as being absolutely intertwined with one another.  After reading Genesis and James, list everything works accomplishes according to James 2:24

Lisa: I wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, but I wrote: "We are justified by what we do."

Jill "You see the person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone"

In your own life, do you struggle more with superficial faith or with legalism?  Why?

For me it is superficial faith.  I believe 100% that once you are saved you are saved.  My struggle is always in getting complacent and not doing the things that God asks me to do.  I need to always be aware of whether or not I am living a life consistent with what scripture tells me to be doing.

Lisa: Me too.  Legalism is such a dirty word to me, and I am utterly repulsed by it.  I am really praying hard against both of these ways of living.  I want to be the real thing, inside and out.  I also liked the quote from Beth leading up to this question that talks about Paul and James:

...but they (Paul and James) had two different objectives.  "James was combating a superficial faith that had no wholesome effect in the life of the professed believer.  Paul, on the other hand, was combating legalism - the belief that one may earn saving merit before God by his good deeds."

 Jill I stuggle with both equally.  Growing up Catholic clearly I have issues with legalism, but along with that I have seen my share of superficial faith.  And stuggling with the Catholic faith as I did both were very difficult for me to try and find my way.  Lisa I underlined that section as well.  It really made me understand who Paul and James' audiance was and why they needed to write what they did.

My favorite part of today's study was reading the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew.  While I have read this passage many times before, it was the first time that I was made aware of the women listed in the lineage.  How awesome that in the line of David leading up to Jesus, there was a woman named Rahab, who was able to change the course of her life from broken to healed and from healed to being an ancestor of the Savior.  Talk about God knowing who we are to become!  

Lisa:  I loved that too!  How many times have I read the lineage of Jesus, and this is the first time that I really realized how close she was to King David.  Without her decision to do something HUGE for the Lord (that wasn't even her God at the time) and something that endangered both her and her family, she CHANGED the course of history.  Of course, we know, that if she hadn't, that God would have someone else, but how AWESOME that SHE DID!!!  Then, thinking about Boaz, and why he was so willing to accept Ruth for who she was!  "If you know anything about the story of Boaz, maybe his compassion for Ruth and his willingness to see her as more than a foreigner makes perfect sense.  After all, he was his mother's son.  Rahab's boy grew up and became Ruth's kinsman redeemer, taking her as his bride."

Jill:  Dont you just love the way God works.  Jesus has a prostitue as a grandmother how many generations back, and his mother was unwed.  I love how God can use ANYONE at ANYTIME in their life, even in the period that you feel you have hit rock bottom.  He is there with us and He uses us even during those periods of greatest dispair when we may feel the furthest from him.  I LOVE THAT. As for Ruth, I used Ruth in part of our wedding (Ruth 1: 16-17).  I love the story of Ruth, again I just love the way God uses us in ways we cant even imagine.

FAVORITE QUOTE FROM TODAY:

When He who was, who is, and who is to come sees each one of us, He sees who we were, who we are, and who we will become!

Amen and Amen!!!  I love you Father.  Thank you for loving me in spite of who I have been, who I am, and who I might be.  Thank you for sending your precious Son to redeem us.  YOU are so good.

One more thing.  I read this on a friend's Facebook status, and I almost thought she snatched it from this lesson:

  

Who I used to be is a big part of who I am to become. Who sacrificed for me is responsible for what has changed in me. No matter where I have been, or where I am going, I am who I am and who He has created me to be. Good or bad, win or lose, right or wrong, worst or best. It is what it is, I am who I am, He is who He is.

~Julie Liston

 

Jill:  Wow

Session Four: Day One- Dead By Itself

"...If a person keeps on saying he or she has faith but keeps on having no works," then the person may not be saved.

Word Biblical Commentary

In the same way faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead by itself.

James 2:17

Throughout church history the above scripture has brought about controversy among theologians.  What do you think makes this segment so controversial?

There are people who believe Faith is all that matters since Christ died on the cross for our sins and believing in that is the way to Heaven.  Then of course there are those who think that His death wasn't enough and so doing good works is a way to ensure access to Heaven.  I love that this is today's lesson because this argument is something that I think turns many people off to Christianity.  There are those who think that since they are saved they can do whatever they want because no matter what they are going to Heaven and those who forget that their relationship with Christ comes before any good works.  The way that Beth explains that the Holy Spirit convicts us after our salvation to be better people and do more is exactly how I always want to explain it and hear this verse but just am never sure I'm getting it right.  I could have just written a big giant "AMEN!" over all of this days lesson.

Lisa: I'll second your AMEN, Emily!  It was reassuring as a brand new Christian that there was nothing I could do except accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and recognize that He died to save me.  However, as I've now been saved for almost 15 years (at the end of February!!!), I realize that through my faith, people should see good works.  I love how Beth brought us to Ephesians 2:8-10, where it lays it out pretty clearly.  Yes, we are saved by grace through our faith in Jesus, but we are also created to do good works in Christ.  It is sometimes interesting to me that the two can be separated.

Jill:  I love how James states "What good is it" more than once.  And he is absolutely correct.  What good is it if we say we have faith, but our actions speak differently. 

The first major point that Beth makes today is this:  Faith is meant to do some good.  It isn't enough to just believe in God (although she is clear that that IS enough for salvation) because we should be moved to make a difference.  We should be full of compassion, loving our neighbors and taking care of those less fortunate.  We should want everyone we come in contact with to know that God is God and He is so very good.

According to the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10, what is the relationship between faith and works?

That we have been saved by Grace through faith and it is a gift from God.  We aren't saved by works so that no one can boast.

Lisa: I already wrote my answer in the previous comment, but I'll write it again: We are saved by grace through our faith in Jesus, but we are also created to do good works in Christ.

Jill: Growing up poor I love how God saves by grace through faith so none can boast.  As someone growing up with little it is good to know that even having nothing we can be saved.  No one can boast about what they did or what they bought, none of that matters if you dont have faith in Grace.

In Matthew 12:33 Jesus Himself tells us that a tree is known by its fruit.  James is simply making the point that as believers we are free from the law but if we are living absent of all signs of Christ's Spirit in us, something is wrong.  James says in 2:19 that even the demons are aware of who Christ is.  So even those who know God can have Him not be present inside.  I think that is a pretty powerful statement.  Anyone want to talk about how reading that hits you?

Having read this a few years back, this is probably the one scripture that drives me to constantly be talking to God about what I need to be doing and where I am lacking.  I do not want to be like a demon, knowing God and all that He is capable of but living completely outside of the Holy Spirit guidance and manifestation.  I want to hear what God is calling me to do (whether that be minding my temper, offering grace to those around me, helping in a shelter or food bank, loving on other peoples kiddos, etc.) and be bearing the fruit of my belief.  I know that I am saved by Grace, but I also don't ever want to be complacent and forget that my behavior draws other to or pushes others away from God.

Lisa: I think what struck me here is that so often people will insist that they, or someone they know, are Christians, like the really amazing ones.  You know, the kind that can recite all kinds of Scriptures, but THIS is the Scripture that I am reminded of.  Just because someone recognizes the ONE true God, just because they can recite the Scriptures word for word, does not mean that they are Christians or are saved, or are on my side.  The Jehovah's Witness and Mormons can recite scriptures all day long, but they do not believe anything close to what I know to be true.  Be careful and really pray for a discerning heart.

James is making sure that we understand that being complacent isn't enough.  Any additional thoughts?

Lisa: I'm pretty sure I'm saved and still moldable and shapable, but I always get a little nervous that I'm not really where I think I am, which is how I know the Spirit is still moving in and through me, but, nevertheless, here was the prayer I wrote:
Jesus, I pray with every ounce of my being that I would not be hardened to your voice, your Spirit, and to your will.  Soften my heart and my will so that I will know what you need from me.  I long to bear fruit for your kingdom.  Give me strength to stand on what I know to be true, even if I stand alone.

I also named the bullet points at the end The Believer's Creed.

The Believer's Creed 

• We believe that God "gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
• We believe that He bore all of our sins so that we could become His righteousness.
• We believe that we are who He says we are and not the numbing sum of Satan's accusations.
• We believe that to find ourselves, we lose ourselves in all that is glory and grace.
• We believe that we are loved and not despised, held and not forsaken, cherished and not rejected, enjoyed and not just endured.
• We believe that "at the name of Jesus every knee will bow - of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth - and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Phil. 2:10-11).

Session Three: Day Five- The Royal Law

Because we were able to get together and discuss Day Five, I'm not going to go into too much detail other than answering the questions just to have this day on the blog.  It would just bother me too much not to include it!

Throughout scripture when God says "I am THE LORD" what does that mean to us?
We all agreed it meant "non-negotiable."

The "Royal Law" is to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.  We had great discussion regarding how difficult this can be, particularly if one actually has trouble loving oneself.  Or if those neighbors are other Christians behaving badly without remorse.

After reading James 2:12, how are we to act?
Speak and act according to how we will be judged.  It's important to be able to listen carefully and speak slowly.  If we loved others in this way, how might it change our interactions with those we come in contact with, including those closest to us, like friends, husbands and children.

We also talked about how important reconciliation is and in doing what the Royal Law commands, how loving others allows us to let go of hurts and reach for healing.

Not too much else for me to add, but please feel free to add on or discuss anything I left out!

Session Three: Day Four- The Folly Of Favoritism

"You can safely assume that you have created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do" Anne Lamott

Oh how accurate is Beth as she takes us through a day that forces us to look into the mirror of our hearts and acknowledge that our tendencies are to treat people differently.  Whether that is our intent or not, it seeps out of our very pores, spilling over into areas of our life where me might not even notice.

Humans are naturally drawn towards others in the same spot in life.  I tend to spend time with other women in my same economic status, with kids about the same age or have friends with the same interests and beliefs as I do.  So it's very interesting to go through the scriptures on page 88 and see over and over what God has to say about justice, judging and favoritism.  And to be clear, having friends who share the same interest or are like me isn't necessarily the same as judging others for not being like me.  However, I think if we aren't careful, those lines could easily be blurred.

When we read James 2:4, if we discriminate what do we become?

Judges with evil thoughts.  This is where that caution has to come into play.  I love the people who I call dear friends right now.  I now that God placed them into my life for me and me into their lives for them.  BUT, daily I need to make sure that I am open to others that He might bring into my life for a season or forever especially and even if it seems we have nothing in common or if they have habits or hygiene or children who rub me the wrong way.  My goal as an authentic believer is to be open to impacting their lives but also for them to be able to impact my life.

Jill:  Guided by evil motives (NLT).  This is interesting to me.  I guess I never thought of myself as having evil motives before by judges people.  But I guess it is true, I am constantly comparing myself to others, which also included judging them.  Why are you wearing this or that, it is totally inappropriate to wear this or that to work, to church, walking down colfax, etc etc etc.  When someone comes up to me begging for money, I assume all of them are faking it and just wanting free money, I judge them.  I realize now that it is evil, I dont know what is going on in their lives, I think I put them down to lift myself up.  Sad really, that I need to do that.

God promises the poor that they will be blessed more than anyone. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 explains that this is the promise God gave so that those who have more cannot boast it over anyone.  Throughout scripture God tells us over and over that the meek will inherit the earth, the poor will be made rich, etc.  It's incredibly important that we be open and available to serve those humbly who have less than us in whatever capacity God calls us to do so.  I don't want to be a part of a "Spiritually Elite" group who has forgotten all that scripture says about reaching the poor and lost.

What feelings surface when you somehow feel dishonored?  How might those feelings translate to those dishonored over their poverty? 
I feel angry, embarrassed and a need to run and hide.  Walls immediately go up and I turn my back on whomever has made me feel that way.  It's incredibly hard to get over.  Thinking about this made me go back over the folders in my mind and interactions that I have had with those I know who live in poverty or with a lower standard than I have been blessed with.  While there are many people I can pat myself on the back for because I cared for them or welcomed them into my home, there are just as many that I said the stiff hello to in the halls of church and walked away from as quickly as I could.  It isn't something I'm proud of at all, but the reason I'm doing this study is to take that hard look in the mirror and make those changes (Anyone else now have the Man in the Mirror lyrics in their head?)


Jill: I get angry immediately.  I too am not proud of my past interactions with people.  I get annoyed easily with others.  I feel really bad about that.   When I think about how my angry feels might translate to those dishonored over their poverty, it reminds me of being young.  I grew up poor,  luckily in my neighborhood we were all in the same boat, same as others in my family.  Then when I went to high school (Catholic high schools let you choose any catholic school you want to go to no matter where in the city it is from your house).  So in high school I was for the 1st time around kids with money.  They looked down at the kids from my grade school, as they knew were from the poor part of town.  So I can relate to those feeling, but I pushed them back in the corners of my mind.  

Your turn.  How did today's lesson impact you?

Jill:  I love how God chooses the less fortunate of people so no one can boast.  LOVE that

Session Three: Day Three- Pure Religion

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 1:27

Religion.  It seems like such a yucky word to me, especially since of late this has been a very real area of struggle for me.  I don't want to be religious.  I don't want to be around religious people.  I don't want to follow the laws and rules that religious people throw down and require people of faith to follow.  Those feelings of 'I don't' made today's lesson very real to me and I absolutely loved it.

Before we go further, answer the question Beth posed:  How would YOU define religious?

I said that religious applies to people who call themselves Christians but pick and choose which bible texts to use in trying to force people to behave in a way that is comfortable to them.  Religion requires people to follow certain man enforced rules rather than be spiritually convicted by God.


Jill:  Religion: practicing a faith.  And by that I meant following the "rules" associated with practicing that faith.

It really hit me that I am in fact, religious, when Beth asked us to list out all of the religious manifestations that would show up in my life over the course of the month.  My list is below and I hope you'll add yours, too.  I wrote mine down and then thought about why I do these things.  I'm not trying to be religious, but I do want to model Godly behavior for my children and those I come in contact with.  But I also want to be authentic and real and I want people to understand that I'm imperfect but working through Grace.  How does one reconcile that?  Scripture tell us, and it's what we studied yesterday, that once we are saved, our lives begin to change and manifestations of that Faith begin to show up through our works.  I think it is a tricky balance to not become complacent in doing works - and prideful of those works - but to still do the things scripture asks us to do.  Rambling thoughts, but any insight would be appreciated.

Read the bible, pray at meals and bedtime, devotions, bible studies, acts of service, talk about God, explore ways to be more faithful, tithe, church, worship music, etc.


Jill: Prayer, church, bible study, Giving monthly to Musana.org Writing letters to my sponsored child Jacinta, giving money to the homeless people that approach me by my work. 

Because as women I think the tongue is an especially powerful weapon, the next part really hit home.  "If anyone thinks he is religious yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue then his religion is worthless." James 1:26.

Hello.  

Worthless.  None of the things I do, NONE OF THEM, are worth anything if I cannot control my mouth.  Gossip.  Sarcasm. Swearing.  Those are just a few of mine and if I am honest they show up  more often then I would like.  So praying with my kids, going to church, doing this study - it all means nothing if I cannot control my mouth.  Anyone else feels knocked over by this verse and the things Beth had to say about it? 

Jill:  I was really struggling with what James meant by "control the tongue"  I assumed he meant gossiping, swearing, being two-faced, talking bad behind someone's back.  But it wasnt clarified so I am glad I assumed correctly.  So since that was the case my bad mouth is swearing, and talking bad of others (again I think I do that to feel better about myself as I have low self esteem). 

After James tells us what true religion is not, he gives us a quick image of what it is.  Describe his idea of "pure and undefiled" religion from verse 27.

We are to look after the orphans and the widows and to keep from being polluted by the world.


Jill: To look after the people who have nothing, "the 2 classes of people in his culture with the least rights, the least hope, and the greatest vulnerability".   I love the way Beth describes the widows and orphans it really paints a picture to me as to why James and others in the Bible kept saying widows and orphans.  

What images come to your mind after reading this?

Homeless on the streets, abused and neglected children and starving people.  I'm struck by how often caring for the poor is talked about in scripture and yet so very many religious people are not involved at all.  And I'm looking at myself in the mirror.  We tithe and it goes to missions and a few times a year we get involved in a service or outreach program, but daily caring for those less fortunate has not been a priority.  One of our family goals this year is to do more and this really challenges me to make sure that is a priority.

  

Jill:  The imagine that comes to my mind is Musana.  The orphanage in Uganda that I give to.  If you have ever read the reason why those 3 girls started that Children's home it is exactly what James is talking about.  The people with the least hope and most vulnerable.  The most horrible living circumstances ever.  These 3 girls took the widows and orphans and created a wonderful loving Christ filled home.  And I just had to be apart of it.  Even in some small way. 

One of my favorite things that Beth said today is this:  You don't live this kind of life accidentally.  You make up your mind who you want to be and daily die to the rest.  This has already been written out and taped to my fridge because I want to be intentional about doing what God stirs up as passion in my heart.  I want to jump in and be a light to this broken world.  I want to do exactly as the Scripture tells us to do and my heart hurts for the children of abusive and broken homes and for those overcome by drugs and addiction. Where is God stirring up your passions?

Jill:  Clearly Musana is my passion.  I love how Beth says on page 86 "So how on earth do we serve in ti without smelling like it?  With serious discipline and determination and then we run to the One who can wash us"  I paraphrased, but I love that. 

 

Session Three: Day Two- The Perfect Law

"James can teach us the difference between talking about living in victory and actually doing it."  - Beth Moore

Coming to a place in my life where I actually began to understand that there was a difference between simply reading the bible and actually doing what it says was a game changer for me.  Which is why the lesson today hits so very close to my heart.  These verses are where I am living right now.  It's a reason that we changed where we attend church services.  It's what we want for our children.  Living out my faith and not just talking about it is changing my life.

The analogy of looking into a mirror is a perfect example of how benignly we can take our faith.  I started thinking about how on a spiritual level we can see our true selves - as sinful creatures- but then walk away from that mirror and forget that we are sinful.  Understanding that means that we keep the knowledge of our sin in the forefront of our minds every minute of every day.  Not that we wallow in it, but that we acknowledge it so that we can be intentionally hitting it head on.  Living out the scriptures.  Does that make sense?  I don't want to be thinking that I'm sinful so I feel hopeless, but remembering that I'm imperfect so that I am relying on Christ in all I do.

Our purpose is to be fulfilled in Christ, to be His image and to be convicted to be more like Him.  So Beth asks us what does this person who wants to be more like Christ do?
That person (me) looks intently to the perfect law (James 1:25).
What is the promise at the end of the verse?
"This person will be blessed in what he does." 
 
I love how it loops back to the first few verses we read.  Someone who is already saved should be using the scriptures to make changes in their lives and do what God has asked.  Works aren't what saves a person, but following the law does bring a blessing.

(Scriptures for thoughts on this:) 
Ephesians 2:8, 9: 
For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that [being saved] not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast.
Titus 3:5: 
Not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
through the washing of regeneration [new birth] and
renewing of the Holy Spirit.
II Timothy 1:9: 
[God] who has saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace
which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
Romans 4:5: 
But to him who does not work
but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith
is accounted for righteousness.
Romans 11:6: 
And if [salvation is] by grace,
then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no
longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace;
otherwise work is no longer work.

Works aren't what saves us, but once you have been saved, your life should begin to reflect who Christ is and should begin to change accordingly.  Which is why I love that Beth goes on to clarify that Christ came to fulfill the law and not simply abolish it.  She explains that James is attempting to clarify that the moral code is prioritized over the ritual code and bring the teaching of Jesus to a group of people to whom the law was precious.

We are saved by grace but are asked to put the Word into practice in order to grow into what God intends for us.  God isn't interested in our behavior by itself, but by our motives. (Taken from Beth Moore, pg 81).

Jill:  I love on page 78 when Beth says "The Word of God, is meant to do more than penetrate, it's meant to activate.  That really hit me.  We are to be so moved by the Word that we cant help but to act upon it.  That truly moved me.  


On page 79 when Beth says "I want to be who I was created to be: A bearer of the very image of God.  Sadly, however, he goes out and forgets who he really is."  This statement and James statement of forgetting what you look like after you walk away from the mirror was profound to me also.  Basically I took this to mean, we read the Word, love it, but when we close our bibles, we forget what we should be doing.  Makes me wonder something.  Our pastor once told us a story that the Pharisees use to walk around with rolled up bits of the Torah on them. Do you think this statement was to that some how.  "You need to walk around with the Torah on you, because if you dont you will forget it's message".  I'm probably just stretching here, but just curious.  





What did God promise He would do in Jeremiah 31:31-34?

Make a new covenant so that all will know Him

Jill:  I love this one.  This may be one of my new favorites. Jeremiah 31:34 "And I will forgive their wickedness and I will never again remember their sins".  NEVER AGAIN remember.  How completely amazing is that?  Never again remember.  The all knowing God will never again remember.  WOW!!!

Ezekiel 36:26-27 says that recipients of this new heart will be moved to follow God how?
By following the laws.


Jill:  I also love how he is going to take out my stoney stubborn heart and replace it with a tender heart.  Because I tell you what I can be one stubborn girl.  Thank you God for replacing my stubborn heart with a tender heart. 

Our latest act of obedience to what God wants for our family comes in moving to another church.  It doesn't seem to make sense but every time we walk into the doors of our new place, we feel like it is exactly where God is calling us for this moment.  During this time in our lives, I really think He wants us in a place where as matur(ing) Christians we will be challenged to not just hear the Word, but to be actively practicing what the scriptures say.  

I delight to do Your will, O my God.  Your law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:7-8)  I love knowing that this is where the actual transformation begins!

Jill:  I was unable to come up with a acronym for WORDS.  I am so not good at that sort of thing.  Did either of you make one?