Friday, November 18, 2011
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 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. James 5:19-20
I think this is an incredibly interesting way to conclude this incredible book of the Bible. This verse is specifically referring to the believer’s relationship with other believers. The idea of “convert” here is not referring to converting from non-Christian to a Christian. Rather, these verses are talking about helping a believer that has gotten into sin to get back to a right relationship with God. How does this happen?
1. Confrontation– Sometimes we are called to confront others. This is never fun, but we must hold each other accountable. See Matthew 18.
2. Counsel– Sometimes people will come to us to figure out what they need to do, or what they need to change. Often this happens when people are in crisis. They’ve gotten to the point in their lives where they are “feeling the heat”. We’ve got to point them to the Bible and help them to see their situation from God’s perspective.
3. Care– Both confrontation and counsel must be done with a care for the person involved. Our motivation should be to love God and love them. In so doing we could “save a soul from death, and …hide a multitude of sins.”
Application: Today you and I are in one of two groups or possibly in both. We are either in need of confrontation, counsel and care, or we ought to be confronting, counseling and caring. Often times both are true. Which one are you today?
We’re done with James…kind of.
And that concludes the book of James! I’m so proud of all of you, especially those who finished the book with us. I think it is so cool! How does it feel to have finished this incredible book.
Of course, we’ve finished walking through the book, but we’re not finished trying to do what God taught us. What was the most important thing you learned in the last 60 days of James?
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
In the 60 days I learned that God is very powerful and that prayer is powerful to that if you ask him for somerhing he will surely give it to you in faith and that it’s not about our clothes or what we wear that like makes us speical and it’s what makes us realize that the electronics and other stuff we have don’t matter really but it’s what we have instead of all those things that matter. I also learned that God will be there for us and that we need to include him in our life plans.
I think if we are honest that we are in both. Sometime we are the one with a little more wisdom and are supposed to care for them to restore them. Sometimes we at the ones who need to be restored because we aren’t as wise as we’d like to be.
I think I would have to think a bit longer to decide which would be my favorite part of James. There is so much good but I think the best part is that every time I read James I learn something new and I am challenged to change who I am to who God wants me to be.
God is so good, I’ve learned alot throught this series. Hope the next one is really good too!
And I am on the counsel stage, there is a lot of stuff I need to work out with God.
This was an amazing 60 days but what I got out of this day is we need to get people back on track with God they need to get back to church and reading God’s word and we need to help them it sees we can save soul how cool is that! 🙂 the thing that I learned In this is we need to help one another grow In one another learn from echother. I just want to say thank you Pastor Ben and every body for making this so could grow:)
This was very cool to learn and to grow worth eh youth group! I learned a ton of new things and I am going to try and apply them now. “Be ye doers of the word and no just hearers deceiving your own self.” Today I got that not only do I need to evaluate my life and make sure I’m on track but also that I should confront people who need help and to love them and do not because I’m better then them but because I need to love them enough to help them.
I’ve definitely been in both groups before! Although I’m not sure which one I am in at the moment. Unfortunately I’ve sinned and had people hold me accountable and help me get back on the right track, and I’m so thankful for that! It’s never an easy thing, but it’s something that at one time or another, has to happen!
I can’t believe we’re at the end of James 😦 this has seriously been the best devotions! I’ve learned soo much from James, it’s hard to pick the most important. Mostly because to me, all of it was important and each thing we learned about was so practical and so helpful! 🙂 It’s sad that we’ve reached the end, but I can’t wait to start whatever new devotions we’ll be doing soon! ;D
i think we could be in both like megan said.at timeswe could be the one who cares for others and at other times we could be the one in need of care.all of us have trials in our life and need care and we all hv cared for someone at some point in our life.right now im both.
i’ve learned so many things through James.this book i have to say is my fav so far! it has so many wise things and instruction in this book.i loved everything about it! i’ve been learning something new everyday!!! 🙂 loveu guys and i will see a few of u tmrw!!!! 🙂 <3333333
I’m definitely both. And the most important things I learned from James: On our own we are really stupid. xD We NEED God’s wisdom! He knows what is best for us, not us. We constantly need to be checking with God asking if we are doing what He wants. Also, I learned (well I already knew this) that our words can be really hurtful. They are so hurtful if we don’t use them right. They can also be really uplifting, though. So, use your words for good! Basically, those were the two main things that stuck out to me in the whole book of James. I was learning something new and different everyday and I took all of it to heart.
Oh. and that one lesson reminded me that I already have so much, so i should be grateful. I should thank God because what I have is a blessing. I don’t NEED it so it’s a blessing!
I agree that this is such a cool way to end this book. God makes it pretty clear to us in His word how important it is to love others as ourselves. Jesus put everyone before Him no matter what the cost, and loved those who crucified Him. This should be true about our relationships with others. I have a hard time confronting others about things because I hate to hurt others feelings. If I were to say one thing I hate, it would have to be that. I’ve always been the type to worry about how people feel about things, and confrontation and I don’t always mix well. But I’ve come to the realization, that even though it’s scary sometimes, it’s also for the greater good. Confronting others about thing not only helps them but helps turn the awkward(awky) situation around. Counsel. I’ve been the one others have ran to ever since the playground days. I’ve always loved helping people with their problems, but I haven’t always done it in the right way. Normally I would tell the from experience, then go by opinion, never think about God’s perspective or use biblical references. I’ve totally changed that now because seeking from God’s perspective is the right way to go! He has alllll the answers. My nickname is care bear 😉 lol! Jk. I’d like to think of myself as caring because I really do care about others, like I said before, other people’s feelings really matter to me, and so do they. I really love people and I’m a people person. I haven’t always cared for others as I should though, especially when it comes to my relationships with them. I’ve been in the position of both many times before, and right now I think I could be more of the above three! I need to be a better counsel, carer, and confronter. I need to look at life through God’s eyes as best I can and take it one day at a time.
Over the past 60 days I’ve learned a lot. I’ve grown closer with God, I’ve learned how to better study my bible, how to teach a small group, how to connect with others through His word. All of it has been very important and it honestly is hard to pick one thing. But if I were to pick it would have to be seeking God’s wisdom everyday. It’s there and all I have to do is pray for it. I need His wisdom because I acknowledge that we can’t go through this dark world without our only source of light.. And we all know who that is! 🙂 I’m so thankful for God and this book called the bible. I’m thankful for the books within this incredible book, and I’m thankful for James. For not only encouraging us, but walking us through 60 days of helpful guidelines to life an our relationship with God. AND I’m also thankful for Pastor Ben for letting us do this series on James and learning so much! Love you all and thank you for loving your relationship with God and studying James 🙂
At the moment I’m def in both groups.. I always need confronting & I know I need to confront other people! Confronting people is always scary to me cause I’m scared of pushing people away, or what they’ll think of me. But I think God’s working on that in me, cause it’s getting easier 🙂
AHH James is over! But this book of the bible was really cool, I learned a ton.. I can’t even pick out a specific thing I learned, but I think that praying for wisdom like we learned in ch 1 really has stuck with me. I get caught praying for wisdom when I’m upset/confused and I feel smarter in situations after I do 🙂 I’ve also learned that prayer is powerful. I mean of course it is, we’re talking to God!!! But James really emphasizes it’s importance.
Love you guys, & im so proud of the ones who got on here everyday or almost everyday!! It was a long book but it was great to go thru each verse together dontcha think? 🙂