In our class times together, passages and themes from the book of James kept coming up and we decided it would be cool to change our tack a bit and do a Bible book study instead of our typical topical studies. I’m not sure they’re still glad they did because we are (I am) taking quite a bit of time going through, and I’ve gotten a bit too technical in the presentation. You’ll notice as we get close to the end of chapter 1 that I started doing better with that, and I think we’re doing quite well with a better balance of background, application, and velocity in Chapter 2 (next post). Here are the notes divided into four sections along with a bonus (no extra charge!) simple worksheet that I created for my kids since we are studying it with them in parallel.
James Introduction (Pt. 1 of 2) – March 13, 2016 – AAC, 42 min., 21MB
BTW, if you’re interested in the discussion in the introduction about the actual name of the author of the book of James, you should also listen to the first eight or nine minutes of the Palm Sunday lesson, since that topic came up at the beginning of our time together that next week.
James Introduction (Pt. 2 of 2) – March 27, 2017 – AAC, 39 min., 19MB
This (rather lengthy) series grew out of the previous study on the Shemitah and Blood Moon Tetrad. During one of our discussion times in class, one of the members asked, “If this stuff is possibly true, what should we do about it? How should we prepare?” And that question of how we could be ready for the possible return of Christ drove us to the Scripture to answer that question. There are five overarching questions that came out of trying to discover how to be ready.
What are the signs of the end?
How to be ready?
What do you do when told to deny Christ?
Should we be preppers?
What should we do if our government tells us we can’t obey God?
Here are the (again, rather lengthy – 25 pages!) notes from the study, but be warned that even as lengthy as they are, there are many important things that do not come out clearly in the notes, but are clear in the audio recordings. So, please listen to them if you can. Especially if you’re trying to deal seriously with any of these very timely questions.
Also, as quickly becomes clear in the audio recordings, you will understand many of the references much better if you join us and read the book, Killing Christians, by Tom Doyle. This lesson series is in no way a book study, but that book certainly illuminates many of the topics we discuss and provides relevant background examples, and is otherwise a fantastic book every Christ-follower should read.
Further, the book, Do Love, by Andrew Rankin provides great background for the practical application of how we should be living in the light of the Scriptures we study here.
This significant study has taken much more research than most, and I believe the results were worth it. In this study, we look at the seven religious feasts that God instructed the Jews to celebrate each year. A very very important feature of this study focuses on the Messiah’s past and future fulfillment of each feast exactly at the right time and precisely in the proper way. I spent a great deal of time reconciling the general feast calendar with the scriptural statements about Jesus’ last week before His death in order to establish a detailed most likely calendar of that particular week in history.
There are three takeaways from this study:
Nearly all of the writers of the NT had lived these annual rituals since they had been born. Knowing the background and meaning of the feasts will dramatically expand our understanding of what they wrote.
Seeing God’s careful precision with which He designed and fulfilled the feasts over thousands of years should encourage us to know He can and will be with us at ever point of need in our lives, as well.
Knowing more about the Jewish religion can better equip us to tell our Jewish friends about their Messiah.
There are three written resources: the usual teaching outline (but much more detailed than usual): The Jewish Feasts, a table with the annual feast calendar along with meanings and a surprise addition on the right side: Feasts Calendar, and my proposed calendar of Jesus’ last week of earthly ministry: Passover calendar.
In addition, here are the audio podcasts of my presentation of the second and fourth lesson to my Bible Study class. AAC format usable in iTunes and with iPods. (Blame my audio engineer for the absence of the other two. BTW, I’m my audio engineer.)
This study came as a follow-on to the study in Colossians that ended in love, and then Jesus’ instruction in John 13. Though we cannot attempt to recreate the setting of the early church, we can at least look at them and learn from their example as a group of new Christians responding without precedent to the Holy Spirit’s direction. Acts 2 describes their characteristics and then shows the results of their behavior. Wow!
As I revealed in the previous lesson, I realized that while knowing your spiritual gifts, and even understanding His purpose for you, are both important steps in finding God’s direction and will for your life, having an ultimate life goal will dictate your priorities and activities to make you more focused and effective in your Christian life. This lesson illustrates that truth with numerous examples from some great individuals from the Bible: Paul, Moses, Hannah, and Jesus.
This simple lesson attempts to draw ideas from the early church to help us better understand the importance and practice of community within the church. Passage studied is Acts 2:42-47.
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