The Book of James – Chapter 4

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 29, 2017 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

Our study through the book of James continues into chapter 4 with good momentum and incredibly practical and challenging content from the text.  Here are the notes divided into sections.

James Section 4A

James 4:1-2a – A Life Dominated by Pleasure (December 11, 2016)

Audio coming soon

James 4:2b-5 – The Matter of Unanswered Prayer / The Real Cost of Living for Yourself Instead of God (January 22, 2017)

Audio coming soon

James 4:6-10 – How to Return to God (January 29, 2017)

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  45 min., 22MB

Challenge for 2017

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 15, 2017 under Audio, Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

Here we are at the beginning of another year!  This lesson is a break from our James study, though the topic flows directly from our discussion from the first two verses in James 4, and we will actually land right back in James 4 for our conclusion.  God had given me this topic back in October for our annual New Year’s lesson, and I had been thinking about it since late 2015.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about “casual Christianity” in church and among our leadership.  The more I think about it, the more concerned I am that I and many others are practically living exactly that type of Christian walk, and aren’t even aware of it.

It is because of that possibility that this study compares Jesus’ “greatest commandment” and our lives to see if we are living up to His expectation of us – and our commitment to Him.

The Most Important Thing

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  39 min., 19MB

The Book of James – Chapter 3

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on December 7, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

Our study through the book of James continues into chapter 3 with an appropriate balance and reasonable speed.  You’ll notice that my study notes changed format with this study.  My Bible program of 20+ years finally broke with the latest MacOS update, so I had to (hurriedly) buy and get up to speed on the excellent, but incredibly pricey Logos.  Here are the notes divided into sections.

James Section 3A – The Dangers of the Tongue

James Section 3B – Wisdom from Above

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  xx min., xxMB

Coming soon!

The Book of James – Chapter 2

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on October 9, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

Our class 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 (I) are taking quite a bit of time going through, and I’ve gotten a bit too technical in the presentation.  I think we’re doing well with a better balance of background, application, and velocity in Chapter 2.  Here are the notes divided into sections.

James Section 2A – Partiality Condemned

James Section 2B – Faith and Works

AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices.  xx min., xxMB

Coming soon!

The Book of James – Chapter 1

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on August 14, 2016 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek, Series | Be the First to Comment

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

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

James Section 1A – Trials

James 1A – I, 1:2-4 (Pt. 1 of 6) – April 3, 2016 – AAC, 42 min., 21MB

(Sorry for the frequent audio issues.  Due to a family emergency I was receiving incessant texts and numerous phone calls while I was teaching.)

James 1A – II, 1:5 (Pt. 2 of 6) – April 10, 2016 – AAC, 45 min., 22MB

(Sorry.  Still having audio issues.  Not sure why.  Need to replace my audio engineer.  (me))

James 1A – III, 1:5 – Faith (Pt. 3 of 6) – April 17, 2016 – AAC, 54 min., 27MB

James 1A – IV, 1:6 – Faith, the double-minded man (Pt. 4 of 6) – April 24, 2016 – AAC, 49 min., 24MB

James 1A – V, 1:6-12 – Double-minded man, the poor (Pt. 5 of 6) – May 1, 2016 – AAC, 41 min., 20MB

James 1A – VI, 1:12 – Rich, and summary of trials (Pt. 6 of 6) – May 15, 2016 – AAC, 47 min., 24MB

James Section 1B – Temptations

James Section 1C – The Role of God’s Word

James worksheet

More coming soon!

Where Are You Going?

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on December 6, 2015 under Audio, Bible study, Multiweek | Be the First to Comment

This study came from four different sources that are closely related in their practical truths. I was reading something and came across this quote:

“Bad habits are easy to make, but hard to live with. Good habits are hard to make, but easy to live with.”

And somehow God took that thought and reminded me of one of my favorite Andy Stanley sermon series, Destinations: The Principle of the Path. And when I started thinking about that, I remembered a recent sermon by one of our teaching pastors where he talked about the process of how our thoughts become attitudes and actions, and how those actions become habits, and how those habits will determine our lives. And then I remembered some great wisdom from Andy Andrews that really helps make it all practical.

I began thinking about all four principles and realized there is an important reminder / warning for us at any age and place in life that we be careful with our minds, intentionally choose what is influencing our decisions, and make sure the destinations that are set by our current paths are where we want to end up.

Where Are You Going?

And in the process of doing that lesson, I updated an old lesson on controlling your thoughts.

Control Your Mind – Update

And in the Scripture meditation point I realized it would be helpful for me to put together a starter list of passages for people to meditate on.

Meditation

Here are the recordings of my teaching this series (AAC format playable in most browsers, iTunes, and iDevices):

(My new lapel microphone does a much better job getting my audio, but a much poorer job picking up audio from the group, and this lesson had a huge amount of wonderful discussion that ended up being large chunks of silence on the recording, so I had to remove it.  That results in some odd transitions, but it’s better than wasting the listeners’ time.  I may have to start running two separate recordings to capture both well.)

Week 1 – Introduction (8/2/15), 47 min., 24MB

 

Week 2 – Destination     (8/23/15), 41 min., 20MB

 

Week 3 – Direction     (8/30/15), 28 min., 14MB

 

Week 4 – Direction     (9/6/15), 42 min., 21MB

 

Week 5 – Direction     (9/13/15), 32 min., 16MB

 

Week 6 – Decisions / Thoughts    (9/20/15), 44 min., 22MB

 

Week 7 – Friends     (9/27/15), 40 min., 20MB

 

Week 8 – Friends (do-over)     (10/4/15), 20 min., 10MB

 

Week 9 – Friends / Music     (10/18/15), 33 min., 16MB

 

Week 10 – Music / Books     (10/25/15), 52 min., 26MB

 

Week 11 – Bible / Scripture Memory / Scripture Meditation     (11/29/15), 44 min., 22MB

 

Week 12 – Prayer / Worship     (12/6/15), 16 min., 8MB

How Did the Early Church Show Love for One Another?

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on September 29, 2013 under Bible study, Multiweek | Be the First to Comment

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!

All of the previous three lessons are a great preparation for beginning a book study on Do Love, A Love Hack’s Path to Spiritual Maturity, by Dr. Andrew Rankin.

How Did the Early Church Treat Each Other

Resist the Devil

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on December 26, 2012 under Bible study, Multiweek | Be the First to Comment

This multi-week lesson investigates who Satan is, where he came from, what his goals are, what his methods are, and what we can do to resist him.

Resist the Devil

Back to the Basics – Bible Study

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on June 24, 2012 under Bible study, Multiweek | Be the First to Comment

This study focuses on the importance of Bible Study in the life of a believer.

BTB – The Bible

Time to Take Action

Posted by Jonathan Bingham on January 7, 2012 under Bible study, Single | Be the First to Comment

This lesson challenges the listeners to change, and take action.

Take Action