Count it all Joy! (James 5:7-20) - Video Review

Count it all Joy! (James 5:13-20)

13 Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray . Is any merry ? let him sing psalms . 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick , and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain : and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know , that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS:
1) What are suffering believers to do (v.13)? 
2) What are cheerful believers to do (v.13)?
3) What are the elders of the church to do for the sick (v.14)?
4) What will heal the sick and how will the sinful be forgiven (v. 15)?
5) What two things should believers do for one another? Why? (v.16)
6) What happened as a result of Elijah’s prayers (v.17-18)?
7) What will be the results of turning a backslider from their errors (v.19-20)?

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
1) What do you do when you are suffering, cheerful or sick? 
2) How likely are you to confess your sins to other believers? Why?
3) What do you do when a fellow believer is in error?

LIFE LESSONS:
1) As children of God we are to pray for ourselves and one another.
2) Prayer is effective when it is offered by righteous believers.
3) Believers need each other to live this life of faith.

Count it all Joy! (James 5:7-12)

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold , the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh . 9 Grudge not one against another , brethren, lest ye be condemned : behold , the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take , my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold , we count them happy which endure . Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS:
1) How long are believers to be patient (v.7)? 
2) What does the farmer patiently wait for (v. 7)?
3) How do believers patiently wait? Why? (v.8)
4) What are believers not to do while waiting? Why? (v.9)
5) Who is our example of patience and suffering (v.10)?
6) Who was blessed because of their perseverance (v.11)?
7) What is wrong with making oaths or vows? What should we do instead? (v.12)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
1) How patient are you in enduring life’s trials? 
2) What do you typically do when faced with a trial?
3) Can others depend upon you to keep your word?

LIFE LESSONS:
1) God is glorified when we endure trials with patient endurance.
2) God blesses those who endure hardship without complaining or grumbling.
3) God takes our vows to others seriously. Therefore, we should do the same.

Count it all Joy! (Video Review: James 4:11-5:6)

Count it all Joy! (James 5:1-6)

1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted , and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4 Behold , the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud , crieth : and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton ; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS:
1) What is the Lord instructing the wealthy to do (v.1)? 
2) What has become of their riches (v. 2)?
3) What will witness, or testify, against the wealthy (v.3)?
4) What has reached the ears of the Lord (v.4)?
5) How have the wealthy lived, while others were in lack (v.5)?
6) What have the wealthy done against the innocent (v.6)?

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
1) What have you done with all that the Lord has blessed you with? 
2) How have you treated those who are not as blessed as you are?
3) How is the Lord leading you to right wrongs that you may have committed?

LIFE LESSONS:
1) Believers are wealthy with time, talent, spiritual and/or material wealth).
2) God blesses His children to bless others.
3) God will right every wrong committed against those who have been unjustly oppressed and/or neglected by those whom He has blessed.

Count it all Joy! (James 4:11-17)

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy : who art thou that judgest another? 13 Go to now, ye that say , To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell , and get gain : 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away . 15 For that ye ought to say , If the Lord will , we shall live , and do this, or that. 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS:
1) When we slander a fellow believer what are doing (v.11)? 
2) What is God able to do that we cannot (v.12)?
3) Why shouldn’t we boast about what we will do in the future (v.13-14)?
4) What should we say instead (v.15)?
5) What is boasting about our plans for the future (v.16)?
6) When we know what we should do and don’t do it, what is it (v.17)?

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
1) Have you ever gossiped or spoken against a fellow believer? 
2) What were the ramifications, if any, of your behavior?
3) How likely are you to boast about your plans to others?
4) Why is all such boasting wrong?

LIFE LESSONS:
1) God is the only Righteous Judge.
2) When we speak against another we are disobeying God’s command to love them.
3) Pride is the root of boasting about our plans without acknowledging God.
4) Willful sin disobeys God even when we know His will for us.

Count it all Joy! (Video Review - Week #4)