James 4

James 4:1 
Christians are fighting fiercely among themselves. This isn't the first time we see this (nor will it be the last):
- Lot and Abraham (Genesis 13): Lot chose the worldly way, and Abraham eventually had to rescue him
- David (2 Samuel 13-18)
- The Disciples quarrel about who's going to be the greatest (Luke 9)
- The Corinthians sued each other in court (1 Corinthians 6)
- The Galatians "devoured" one and another (Galatians 5) 

Ephesians 4
Paul encourages unity within the body of Christ.

"Lust": Its Greek work gives us the word "Heathenism," where pleasure is the chief purpose of life.

Hebrews 4:2
Isaiah 53:6
James explains the root problem of internal quarrels: selfishness.

Selfish people even pray wrong: their prayers covet selfishness!

The idea here is, when we are consumed by ourselves, when we care more about the world than God, everything we do directly reflects the condition of our heart. We may think we're praying, but God knows the difference!

ARE WE BECOMING TOO FRIENDLY WITH GOD'S ENEMIES (James 4:1-12)

Key points:
1. Check out heart--Does it belong to God? Our heart condition is directly reflected in our prayer life.
2. Submit to God completely.
3. With God, we can withstand the attacks of Satan.

Enemy 1: The World System
The world system, the satanic system, is an enemy of God. Abraham was friend of God. Lot was friend of the world. Friendship to the world leads to loving the world and conforming to the world and being condemned with the world. Friendship to the world is termed idolatry by the Word of God.

As the church, we are married to Christ. To love the world is to be unfaithful to Christ (Romans 7:4; Jeremiah 3:1-5; Ezekiel 23; Hosea). We need to be faithful to Christ! We cannot be friendly to the world system! 

James 4:5
Envy is the product of false wisdom.

Enemy 2: The Flesh
Flesh = not the body but the old nature.

Sins of the flesh grieves the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:6-7).

James 4:6
The root manifestation of selfishness is pride. The antidote to pride is humility through God's grace.

Enemy 3: The Devil
Satan introduced pride. He introduced a world contrary to the world of God through his own pride. He made sure Adam and Eve fell through his deceit (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28).

Isaiah 14 was addressed to King of Babylon, but the message clearly goes beyond Babylon.

Isaiah 14:12-17
This passage is directly spoken to Satan.

Missler: "Sin always starts from the heart. The rest is just mechanics."

Observe all the "I" statements of Satan. Observe his pride. 

Note that Satan never said he wants to be God. He wants to be like God. When Adam was created, could Satan have seen him as a rival to be like God? Is he trying to conquer us so that he's the only one who can be the most like God? (These are just speculative ideas, and only God knows what's really going on. The point here is to illustrate the pride of Satan, and how that caused him to fall from Heaven.)

Isaiah 14:5
Satan's destiny is already written out, including the havoc he's created or will create. Satan introduced pride and used deceit as his main weapon.

1 Timothy 3:6
Ephesians 4:27
Do not give Satan any opportunity to grasp a hold on us.

How do we refrain from giving Satan a chance?

1. Submit to God (James 4:7).
The Greek word "submit" here is a military term. It means to get into the right rank, to mind our place. Be where we belong.

2. Draw close to God (James 4:8).

3. Humble ourselves (James 4:10). 

James 4:9
Sin is no laughing matter. There is no trivial sin in God's eyes. God hates sin. Period.

DO NOT SLANDER EACH OTHER (James 4:11)
Why do we nitpick at each other? Why do we not band together and fight our real enemy together?

THE SAFEST PLACE IN THE WORLD IS WHEREVER GOD WANTS US TO BE--WHEREVER THAT IS! (James 4:13-17)

A lot of us are afraid of acting on God's will. Why? Is it because we DOUBT? We doubt that His interest is not in our best interest. We fail to realize that God's will is the best for us, while we desperately hold on to selfish wants and needs.

Psalm 33:11
God's counsel stands forever. God's will comes from His heart! What is God's heart towards us? We should really think about that.

Jeremiah 29:11
This is God's heart for us.

And so, how should we march forward? How do we plan? We plan by following God's will, not our own will.

James 4:13-17
Abide by God's will.

Job 7:6
Job 8:9
Job 9:25
Life is but a quick snapshot. Life is short. We often don't think that; we often think life is so important because it's right in front of us. However, take a step back and compare life against eternity, then we begin to realize just how minute this current life is.

And although life is short, what we do with this short life determines our eternity.

We can make plans, but we should make it with the mindset of God's will.

James 4:15
How do we determine the will of God? Based on our own LIVING relationship with God!

Colossians 1:9
Because we have a relationship with God, we have a GROWING experience with God!

Ephesians 5:17
How do we determine the will of God? Understand His will.

Romans 12:2
This passage speaks of the proof of God's will.

Be not transformed by this world but be renewed in mind by PROOF of what is acceptable by God's will.

"Proof" in the Greek in this passage means to prove by experience. We prove God's will by experiencing it. Again, it's a growing experience. We work at it.

The point that James is making here is that when we plan, we plan with God's will in mind. If we don't, well, God will definitely let us know.

James 4:17
If we know what God's will is, but we don't act accordingly, that is a sin.

Some of God's will are clearly stated (for example, Exodus 20). No Christian will deny those. However, there are also PERSONAL will of God in each of us as well, and this type of will would be revealed to us individually as we GROW in God. Key word is GROW. If we do not grow, then we do not progress forward to receive this will.

As Christians, we all know we need to obey the will of God, and yet, we often slip. If we slip accidentally, then we quickly pick ourselves up and right our ways again. However, there are those who actively and deliberately disobey God.

Why?

Perhaps the poem, Invictus (by William Henley), could shed some light. "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul," the poem ends.

This is the wrong attitude. It is the attitude that leads people away from God. It is the attitude that leads to disasters!

We should, instead, plan with God in our heart. Here is Dorothea Day's modification to Henley's perspective:

Out of the light that dazzles me,
Bright as the sun from pale to pale,
I thank the God I know to be
For Christ the conqueror of my soul.
Since His the sway of circumstance
I would not wince nor cry aloud.
Under the rule which men call chance
My head with joy is humbly bowed.
Beyond this place of sin and tears --
That life with Him! and His the aid,
Keeps, and shall keep, me unafraid.
I shall not fear, though straight the gate;
He cleared from punishments the scroll.
Christ is the Master of my fate;
Christ is the captain of my soul.

Christ is the captain of our souls!

As we plan our lives, we need to always be right with God in our heart. With the right heart, we can then listen and act on the will of God. And with the will of God behind us, we can move forward with full confidence.

Success, in God's eyes, is not measured in materialistic things like money or power. Success, in God's eyes, is loving people with the heart of God. Success, in God's eyes, is loving God back with the heart of God. When we have such a heart, our future, our eternity, will no longer be limited by our flesh. We will then truly be the kings and priests that God has in vision for us (Revelation 5:10)!

Be not short-sighted and be engulfed by the world system, Satan's system! Right our heart and SEE the eternal future God has in mind for us!

The God Particle Found: 'It's A Boson!'

From the July 03, 2012 eNews issue
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Scientists waited in a line 1000-persons long Tuesday night to witness the long-anticipated announcement of the discovery of the Higgs boson, often called the "God particle."

The elusive Higgs cannot be observed directly, but physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) believe they have gathered enough evidence of the particle's traces - its subatomic-sized "footprints" - that they can say it does exist.

The Higgs boson is fairly large as far as subatomic particles go, approximately 130 times heavier than a proton and 500,000 times heavier than an electron. The difficulty is that it breaks down too quickly to be directly observed, and only its "shadow" can be seen. Yet, it is believed that the Higgs is the particle that unifies all the forces seen in the physics of the Universe, the substance of the invisible force field that gives all subatomic particles their mass in the first place, that gives them inertia, that makes it possible for atoms to hold together.

Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN's laboratories deep under the Alps believe they have actually found the invisible Higgs, or at least a particle that behaves a lot like they thought the Higgs would act. There might not be just one Higgs particle, though, but a whole variety of flavors, just as there are a wide variety of quarks.

"If the boson really is not acting standard, then that will imply that there is more to the story - more particles, maybe more forces around the corner," Neal Weiner, a theorist at New York University, wrote The New York Times in an email, "What that would be is anyone's guess at the moment."

Particle Physics 101:
The Standard Model in particle physics attempts to explain how all the fundamental particles of the Universe interact with each other. The model, which is often compared to the Periodic Table of Elements used by chemists, consists of the various particles that make up all matter and force in the Universe.

When our children study about protons, electrons, and neutrons, they are learning old information. Particle physicists have developed the categories of subatomic particles a great deal since the neutron was discovered in 1932. Protons and neutrons now fall into the category of hadrons, particles that are made up of combinations of quarks. Electrons and neutrinos are both types of leptons. All the above particles, which make up the fundamental building blocks of matter, are called fermions.

In contrast to fermions, bosons are particles like photons, gluons and the Higgs boson that do not make up actual matter; they are considered force-carrier particles. Two fermions cannot occupy the same place at the same time; they bump into each other. Bosons, however, are not actually matter and can move right through one another.

Scientists like to talk about the fabric of time and space. The fabric of space? By definition, isn't a "space" an emptiness, the hole between two objects? Isn't space that vast black nothingness between the stars?

In 1964, a physicist by the name of Peter Higgs, currently professor emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, proposed that empty space is not really empty at all; it is filled with a background energy field, like a lattice through which all other particles have to move. Wherever a particle moves through this field, the field gets distorted and hugs around the particle. The Higgs boson is that "hug" of the field - like a crowd of people around a starlet. The particle is given mass, making it harder for it to change direction, speed up or slow down, like the crowd-clustered starlet trying to move across the room. People surround the famous woman as she moves, making it harder for her to speed up or slow down.

In a similar way, it is believed that subatomic particles get their mass - their inertia, their resistance to changes in motion - through interactions with the Higgs Field. That was Peter Higgs' idea.

Since a field cannot be seen, scientists are looking for the hugging clusters, the uncharged particle that would interact with every other subatomic particle to give them all mass. Since then, scientists have been scrambling to find this particle, the Higgs boson. It's difficult to prove the existence of an invisible particle that disappears before you can grab it.

Physicists working at CERN's Large Hadron Collider said Wednesday that they had built up enough evidence to declare that a Higgs boson-like particle did indeed exist, and already the scientists are working to learn more. From here they want to detail the nature of the Higgs and its possible siblings and hunt for dark matter, parallel universes and the other stuff of science fiction.


"The fact that both our teams have independently come to the same results is very powerful," Oliver Buchmueller, a senior physicist on one of the research teams, told Reuters. "We know it is a new boson. But we still have to prove definitively that it is the one that Higgs predicted."

Peter Higgs received a standing ovation when he entered the CERN auditorium. His eyes filled with tears as he spoke to his fellow researchers. "It is an incredible thing that it has happened in my lifetime."

Related Links:
• A New Particle Could Be Physics' Holy Grail - The New York Times
• "It's A Boson:" Higgs Quest Bears New Particle - Reuters
• What Is The Higgs Boson? - BBC News
• Higgs Boson 'We Have It' - BBC News

Fossil Apes: Homo Habilis and Homo Rudolfensis

From the August 07, 2012 eNews issue
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The famous fossil hunting family, the Leakeys, on August 8th announced the excavation of a face and two jaw bones tentatively belonging to the ancient hominin Homo rudolfensis, with zoologist Dr. Meave Leakey declaring, "At last we have some answers." The mother-daughter team Meave and Louise Leakey, wife and daughter of Richard Leakey, discovered three new fossils between 2007 and 2009, which they hope will shed light on ancient hominin evolution. 

Scientists have long struggled to put together an accurate human family tree, one that provides a tidy portrayal of the descent of Homo sapiens from the ancestors of humans and today's apes. Paleoanthropologists have been frustrated to find, however, that the tree of human evolution looks less like a straight and true cedar and more like a wild and untrimmed bush – or set of bushes. This most recent set of finds supposedly clears up questions about one branch, but when putting together broken bits of ancient skulls, things can easily get tangled.

In 1972, a member of the Richard and Meave Leakey team found a new skull at Koobi Fora on the east side of what was then called Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana) in Kenya. The cranium possessed a sufficient number of unique characteristics to be considered an oddity. It had a large, flat face and a larger braincase. It was called KNM-ER 1470 and was nudged timidly into the genus Homo as a new species, Homo rudolfensis. The skull had no teeth, no mandible – no lower jaw – and it created a whir of debate over whether it shouldn't be placed within the umbrella of the earlier established taxonomic group Homo habilis.

The newest skull and jaws produced by the Leakeys, discovered within about six miles of the 1470 site in the same region of Kenya, have also been suggested as belonging to Homo rudolfensis, offering evidence that this strange creature was not merely an aberration. KNM-ER 62000 looks a bit like 1470, though smaller in size. The face and partial jaw have been dated to 1.9-1.95 million years in age. The more complete lower jaw has been dated to 1.83 million years ago – all of which match closely in age to the supposedly 1.9 million-year-old 1470 specimen.

Adam or Ape?
The big question between the paleoanthropologists right now is whether 1470, 62000, and the associated jaws should be properly called H. habilis or H. rudolfensis or some new hominin species. The finds have generated some excitement that 1470 might have its own family after all.

In the end, though, it is clear that the discovery has very little to do with human history. Neither Homo habilis nor Homo rudolfensis are considered direct ancestors of modern humans. All concerned agree that the one demonstrated human relation in the area, Homo erectus, existed at the same time as H. habilis and H. rudolfensis. As Dr. Leakey and her colleagues wrote in the August 9, 2012 issue of Nature, "The new fossils confirm the presence of two contemporary species of early Homo, in addition to Homo erectus, in the early Pleistocene of eastern Africa."

Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, commented on the Leakeys' new study, saying, "This new material certainly substantiates the idea, long gathering ground, that multiple lineages of early Homo are present in the record at Koobi Fora."

Theirs is a multi-branched lineage, if "lineage" is the right word at all.

More important than the kinship between H. habilis and H. rudolfensis is the question of whether these fossils are related to us. Should H. habilis even be considered a human cousin? While it has been shoehorned into the Homo genus, a number of studies have placed H. habilis in a completely separate category from H. erectus and other humans. 

In 1994, Holly Smith of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan published a study on the teeth of ancient apes and humans and concluded that H. habilis fit better with the apes. After doing extensive analyses of Australopithecus, H. habilis, H. erectus and H. neanderthalensis teeth, Smith stated, "…Restricting analysis of fossils to specimens satisfying these criteria, patterns of dental development of gracile australopithecines and Homo habilis remain classified with African apes. Those of Homo erectus and Neanderthals are classified with humans…"

Dr. Bernard Wood, a former surgeon and a notable expert in ancient hominid specimens, has long distinguished between H. erectus and the ancient apes. In 2007, Wood and paleoanthropologist Dr. Mark Collard updated their 1999 argument that H. habilis and H. rudolfensis should be placed in the same genus as Lucy, the Australopithecine, saying: "We find that, on balance, the available evidence still supports their suggestion that Homo should be reconfigured such that it includes H. ergaster, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, and H. sapiens but excludes H. habilis and H. rudolfensis…"

Why? According to Wood and Collard, the body size, body shape, locomotion, jaws and teeth, development, and brain size of H. habilis were all like the australopithecines, while the other Homo species were like humans.

Of Daschunds and Great Danes:
The early humans demonstrated variation, but were all similar enough to be considered closely related. Despite size and bone thickness differences, there has been question about whether H. ergaster and H. erectus were separate species, whether H. erectus were not simply a smaller version of H. neanderthalensis, and whether the Neanderthals themselves should even be classified as a separate species from Homo sapiens, based on DNA studies.

H. habilis and H. rudolfensis, on the other hand, are just plain outsiders.

Wood and others, like UC Berkeley evolutionary biologist Tim White and Milford Wolpoff at the University of Michigan, recognize that there can be a wide range of morphologies between members of the same species, and they are not quick to say that H. habilis and H. rudolfensis are that distinct from one another. If we were to compare the skulls of a Pekinese and a terrier and a great dane, it would be easy to assume separate species based on superficial differences.

Associated Press writer Seth Borenstein paraphrased White, saying, "[I]t's similar to someone looking at the jaw of a female gymnast in the Olympics, the jaw of a male shot putter, ignoring the faces in the crowd and deciding the shot-putter and gymnast have to be a different species."

The number of complete specimens are few in number, and it's easy to jump to premature conclusions base on too little evidence. 

"So where do we go from here?" Dr. Wood asked in his commentary. "More work needs to be done using the faces and lower jaws of modern humans and great apes to check how different the shapes and the palate can be among individuals in living species."

True Humans:
Ancient humans like the Neanderthals and their smaller cousin H. erectus may have (mostly) died out, but they were just as human as any of us.

Yet, while these scientists look at these issues through evolutionary eyes, their views correspond to the Biblical position that all human beings are ultimately related. If all of humanity but Noah and his family were wiped out, we should expect to see a variety of human groups in the fossil record, but only a relatively thin strain surviving to the present day.

The three fossil specimens announced on Wednesday may provide the world with new questions and maybe some new answers. The most notable fact, however, is that these specimens were found in the same layer as Homo erectus fossils, ancient apes and ancient humans living at the same time.

Related References:
• Early Man Was Not Alone, Study Finds - The Sydney Morning Herald
• New Fossils Indicate Early Branching of Human Family Tree - The New York Times
• Leakeys Say Fossils Confirm Theory Of More Pre-Human Species; Others Say Findings Flawed - AP
• Patterns of Dental Development in Homo, Australopithecus, Pan, and Gorilla. - The American Journal of Physical Anthropology (July,
1994)
• New Fossils From Koobi Fora In Northern Kenya Confirm Taxonomic Diversity In Early Homo - Nature (August, 2012)
• Defining The Genus Homo - Mark Collard, Bernard Wood
• Homo Habilis - Darwinism Refuted
• Human Origins, Apes Or Adam? - Koinonia House eNews May 10, 2011
• Hominid Mandibular Corpus Shape Variation And Its Utility For Recognizing Species Diversity Within Fossil Homo - Journal of Anatomy
(Dec 2008)
• How Reliable Are Human Phylogenetic Hypotheses? - PNAS (Jan 2000)

Passion of the Gospel

The majority of my postings is to post knowledge-based notes on my personal studies of the Word of God. I do this because I believe in order for us to stand for Christ, we need to know what Christ is about. Christians need to be able to verbalize our faith in the Lord and help others understand why God is the Truth.

What doesn't come through in these posts is the PASSION for the Word of God.

The reason is simple: I want to remain focused on logically presenting the knowledge base of the Word. I do not want that to be carried away with highly emotional outbursts and run the risk of that shadowing the knowledge.

However, it is critical that we all develop the passion to LIVE OUT the knowledge of the Word. It is not enough to just KNOW. We must LIVE IT.

So, on this rare occasion where I have come across a wonderfully passionate video about the Gospel, I take the advantage of focusing not on the knowledge of the Word but the PASSION of the Word.

Check out this video by Pastor Eric Ludy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPIOkdNL-QQ&feature=pyv

It is about 10 minutes long, and I think it's worth a view.

The message may be simple (and that is the point: The Gospel message IS simple!), but feel the passion. That, I believe, should be the passion within every Christian.

Hebrews 13

Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray

CHRISTIANS IN ACTION (Hebrews 13:1-6)

Hebrews 13:1
Let brotherly love continue. We should actively show love. Like blood siblings, we, Christians, fight among ourselves. But, we never stop reaching out. We forgive, we stop the grudges, we reconcile, and we move on. We do this because God's love is in us; we do this so that we keep reaching out to our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Hebrews 13:2
We are to be hospitable. To care for the needs of others. To bless others in meaningful and practical ways. 

Hebrews 13:3
1 Peter 4:9 
Be hospital to others, to strangers, without grumbling. Be compassionate. Feel others' pain so personally that we'd go out and help them. 

Hebrews 13:4
All Christians are to honor marriage defined by God. Outside of God's definition of marriage, sex is defiled and unclean. This isn't my personal opinion. GOD SAID THIS (1 Corinthians 5:1, 6:13, 7:2, 18, 10:8; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Acts 15:20; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Jude 1:7)

Hebrews 13:5
Be content with NOW. Trust in the Lord that whatever situation we are in, God has a plan for us. We may have fallen prey to Satan's works (think of Job), or we may be be tested by the Lord. Whatever the case, we trust that God will lead us to safety. Therefore, keep our eyes on God and live in the now and not in the past.

Philippians 4:6-7
Paul, one who has suffered greatly because of his solid position to stand for Christ, showed, through his life works, how he remained content with every situation because he has GOD. 


THE CHURCH IN ACTION (13:7-17) 

Hebrews 13:7
Remember the leaders of the church, the teachers of the church. Respect them. Pray for them. Help them. Support them. Remember our church fathers. Remember our heritage. 

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus doesn't change. He is immutable. Jesus is God and has always been God. His love and faithfulness never changes. He is the rock of our salvation, the anchor of our life. 

Hebrews 13:9
The Church is to be on the lookout, be on guard for various and strange doctrines because those can carry us away. 

Hebrews 13:10
There is no certain foods we can or cannot eat, or things that we can or cannot do. In fact, Paul, throughout his many epistles, said that we have the freedom to do anything. But just because we have that freedom to do anything, that doesn't mean we should. 

The best way to guard against strange doctrines is to study the Bible systematically, one book at a time. One should avoid exclusive topical preaching, for example, preaching about what the Bible says about loneliness and dig out all related verses. There is a place for topical preaching, but it shouldn't be the only way. Teaching the whole book at a time forces us to take everything within context, instead of allowing ourselves to pick and choose only the verses we like and avoiding the verses we don't like or understand. Strange teachings are often the result of taking text out of context or the lack of solid understanding of the text.

For example, Philippians 4:19
People often take that to mean God will always bless His people with riches. However, they don't take into account that Paul had encouraged the Philippians with this statement BECAUSE OF their sacrificial giving to the Lord! Taken in context, Paul is saying to those who sacrificially give, God will supply them with His glory and riches through Jesus.

Another example, 3 John1:2
Some take this passage to say that all Christians need to be rich and healthy at all times, and if we're not, then there is something wrong with our walk in God. That's basically what Job's "friends" told him, when in fact, Job's misfortunes were the result of Satan's deception, not because there was anything wrong with Job! Furthermore, in context, John wasn't even trying to imply the lack of riches or health directly correlate with lack of faith. He was just greeting his people!

Teaching the Bible in a book by book manner allows us to take the cue from the Holy Spirit. This method of study doesn't allow us to take things out of context or pick and choose whatever we want to read. 

Hebrews 13:11-14
A priest who still offers sacrifice by Old Testament methods (and those who follow them as well) cannot partake in the body of Jesus because they still follow the Old Testament. Leave that. Go out to Jesus! Leave the rituals behind! 

Hebrews 13:15-16
Give sacrifice of praise, such as singing of praises. Praise God verbally. Do good and share. 

Hebrews 13:17
Obey church leaders. Leaders are servants of God who watches out for God's people. They need our support and love. 1 Timothy and Titus define what leaders should and should not do. 


ENTER THE FRAY (Hebrews 13:18-25) 

Do not look back. Enter the battle and stand as Christians, no matter what happens. Stand with Christ. Enter the fray. Fight. 

Enter the fray praying (Hebrews 13:18)
Prayer is our first resort. It should never be our last resort. Prayer is where the power is.

Pray the following for our leaders:
1. Protection 
2. Effectiveness in ministry 

Enter the fray remembering (Hebrews 13:20)
1. Remember the supernatural peace from God through Jesus 
2. Remember God is powerful. God raised Jesus from the dead. He parted the Red Sea. He stopped the sun and the moon. Etc. We don't go into the fray alone. We go with God. 
3. Remember that Jesus is our great shepherd
4. Remember the everlasting covenant with Jesus, that Jesus will never change. We are His people always. His promises to us remain always.

Enter the fray allowing (Hebrews 13:21)
1. Allow God to work through us 
2. Allow God to work in us 

Enter the fray allowing, so that we can accomplish God's good work (Ephesians 2), so that we can be more like Jesus. 

"Make you complete" (Hebrews 13:21, KJV): To equip, to mend, to make ships ready for sail, to set a bone in place

Enter the fray greeting (Hebrews 13:22)

Be connected with brothers and sisters in Christ:
1. Be in fellowship with others 
2. Be in community with others 
3. Be in friendship with others 

Our enemy is Satan, not each other! Be united with brothers and sisters in Christ and fight Satan, not among ourselves!

The shield used by Roman guards can be connected to shields of others. By being connected, the Roman guards can more effectively withstand greater attacks. This is how we should go into the spiritual war. Connected. We link up together.

So, be strong, be courageous. Don't turn back. Enter the fray. Do so praying. Do so remembering. Do so allowing. Do so greeting.

James 3

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler

In this chapter, James uses 6 examples to illustrate 3 main powers of the tongue. Although James speaks of the tongue, his concept is broader. We not only should watch our tongue but our pen, our thoughts, our behavior, and ultimately, our heart.

1. POWER TO DIRECT (Hebrews 3:1-4)
You can tell a person by his words. If he can control his tongue, he can control other aspects. If he cannot even control his tongue, then it wouldn't be surprising to find him out of control in other aspects as well.

Example 1 (James 3:3):
A small piece of metal in the bridle could control a huge animal who could become useful and obedient as opposed to wild and dangerous! The beast can be a symbolism for ourselves, others, etc.

Example 2 (James 3:4):
The rudder is small but can turn a huge ship. Loose lips sink ships. Both the bit and the rudder can overcome contrary forces.

Proverbs deal a lot with the tongue:
Proverbs 15:1, 12:22, 10:19

2. POWER TO DESTROY (Hebrews 3:5-8)

Example 3 (James 3:5):
Words set things on fire just as easily as a kindle can set thousands of acres of land on fire.

Psalm 141:3-4
David prayed about keeping his tongue in check by praying to keep his heart in check: David knew the key to controlling the tongue is the heart. Our tongue is more powerful than a bomb. The things we say can save a person or destroy a person ETERNALLY. A bomb may be physically destructive, but it cannot harm the soul.

Our tongue is a deadly poison. Hurting people stealthily.

Example 4 (James 3:7-8):
No man can tame his own heart. Only God can. Animals can be tamed but the tongue cannot be.

Isaiah 6:5
Isaiah is treated to the throne room of God. Isaiah's reaction is the same as the few who have also seen the throne room of God: Being crushed by a great sense of shame. Shame, because in that room, they are all confronted with the blinding righteousness of god against our sinfulness.

Isaiah's lips were cleansed with a burning coal from the altar. His lips were cauterized. Isaiah could not cleanse himself. He was made clean by God.

Similarly, we cannot tame our own heart. Only God can.

3. POWER TO DELIGHT (3:9-12) 

Example 5 (James 3:11):
Water gives life. So can our words. (Proverbs 10:11, 18:4, 13:14, 18:21 share the same idea.)

Our words should be like the river in Ezekiel 47, where it brought life to everything it touches. 

Proverbs 12:18
"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

Example 6 (James 3:12): 
Our tongue is like a tree. A tree can provide beauty and shade and bears fruit. Similarly, Our words can help others find shelter and courage. (Proverbs 10:21, John 6:63 are all examples).

Psalm 1 reveals the secret to prosperity. Did Jesus need nourishment? He prayed to God everyday! (Isaiah 50:4, Mark 1:35)


WISDOM (James 3:13-18)

Proverbs 8:23
God created wisdom first. There was wisdom before God created anything else. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. 

There are many Biblical passages chronicling the folly of man's wisdom.

Examples:
- Tower of Babel, which ended with confusion
- Abraham (Genesis 12) 
- Saul wanted David to put on the armor, but David couldn't handle it. When God has a plan, armors are unnecessary. (1 Samuel 17:38-40)
- Romans set out to sea despite Paul's warnings (Acts 27)

Ephesians 2:1-3
Three enemies of ours: the world, the flesh, the devil.

The folly of the world's knowledge is to not know God, to reject God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Worldly Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18)
We are either among those who perish or those who are saved. The difference between the two lies in our attitudes toward the Cross.

The Beginning of Wisdom

1. Fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10)

We may accumulate knowledge, but do we truly fear the Lord? The sincere heartfelt fear for the Lord does not come from Bible studies. It comes from our devotional life, our personal relationship with God.

2. Be with Christ
Our wisdom comes from Christ. To obtain wisdom, our first step is to be with Christ. Paul speaks of being in Christ 161 times. 

3. Study the Word of God (Deuteronomy 6, 2 Timothy 3:15, Psalm 119)

4. Pray (James 1:5)

Envy is one of the symptoms of false wisdom. Do we spend our time criticizing others instead of helping them? When they succeed, are we joyful with them or are we envious? When they fail, are we burdened or are we rejoicing? 

Philippians 2:3-4
Strife is a form of rivalry. A close cousin of envy.

Boasting is a symptom of pride, the original sin by Satan. 

The most dangerous deceit is deceit of ourselves.

Meekness is power under control.

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge.
Meekness is the right use of power.

Source of false wisdom: the world

World wisdom is earthly, sensual, devilish. Much of worldly wisdom masquerades as scientific knowledge. 

James 3:16
Wrong thinking produces wrong living. Worldly wisdom always results in disasters. 

James 3:17
Every good thing comes from above (James 1:17)--Even wisdom.

Evidences of true wisdom
- Purity: free from defilement 
- Peace (man's wisdom leads to competition and war) 
- Gentleness 
- Compliance 
- Mercy
- Good fruits
- Without partiality
- Without hypocrisy 

Psalm 115:8 
Psalm 135:18 
We become like the gods we worship.

The world is cruel. The world is harsh. Christ is love. Who do you worship? Who do we want to become? 

James 3:18
We reap what we sow. If we want to run amok, no one can stop us now. We may cause harm to others, and we may not care. But one day, it will all come back to bite us because God is just. 

Proverbs 6:16-19 
God hates causing disturbance among brothers. 

James 4 thus goes on to discuss the kinds of dissonances among us (James 4 notes to come).

It is increasingly politically incorrect to be a Christian...

Hal Lindsey's weekly update:

Both Christianity and the Bible are under attack in these last days in ways we could never have imagined just a generation ago. Dan Cathy, CEO of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain is learning that unfortunate fact the hard way.

In an interview with the "Baptist Press," Mr. Cathy ventured to express his personal opinion about traditional marriage. Uh oh. That was a mistake, because Mr. Cathy believes in the Biblical definition of marriage: one man and one woman. Further, Cathy believes that this generation's "prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about," just may be inviting God's judgment on our nation.

Them's fightin' words for the Left, the national mainstream media, and the powerful LGBT lobby. They quickly mobilized to punish the entire corporation and its 50,000 employees because its chief dared have a personal opinion that differed from theirs.

To add a more sinister tone to the threats, the mayors of Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco publicly threatened to prevent the restaurant chain from expanding in their cities. These forces are doing their level best to silence their opponents, i.e., most Americans, by intimidation. The clear objective is to make any criticism of same-sex marriage -- whether by direct criticism or by voicing support for the traditional, Biblical definition of marriage -- "hate speech." That's right! They want supporting traditional marriage to be labeled "hate speech." That's the first step toward criminalizing individual thought. And once individual opinion has been "criminalized," it can be punished.

Don't think this can happen in America? It is happening in Canada. It's already happened in "enlightened" Europe.

Folks, this situation is so potentially threatening to the religious liberties and individual freedoms of Americans, that it's almost surrealistic. How bizarre is it? So bizarre that even the ACLU has had to speak out in defense of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A! That alone may be a telling sign that we are in the end-times!

Supporters of freedom of opinion, individual liberty, and traditional marriage organized a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" last August 1. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people lined up for hours at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the nation to purchase chicken sandwiches and express their support for the company and its leadership. They did so politely, calmly, and cleanly -- meaning they bagged their trash when they left. (Not like some of the infamous protests staged by the Left.)

There was local media coverage in many cities, sometimes because the long lines caused traffic tie-ups, but the massive, impressive turnout was largely ignored by the national media. However, two days later, the gay rights community staged "kiss-ins" at Chick-fil-A locations across America. Well, at a few of them, anyway. And even in such large markets as Los Angeles, the protests amounted to very few picketers who turned out to wave some signs and make public kissing displays. But they got national media coverage.

As Gomer Pyle, USMC, used to exclaim, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

To prove my point: Here at "The Hal Lindsey Report," we subscribe to Reuters News Service. That's where we get the news video that we feature on the show most weeks. Reuters provided its media customers with two separate stories on the Chick-fil-A controversy. Both of them covered the sparse, anemic "kiss-ins." Nothing on the massive, unprecedented outpouring of support for Chick-fil-A just two days earlier.

Folks, the bottom line is this. If city officials across America are allowed to use the power of their offices to stop Chick-fil-A from expanding in their communities because the CEO of this privately-held company believes in traditional marriage, then they can deny your church -- which probably publicly supports Biblical marriage -- the right to expand, relocate, or build for the first time. Or even promote Biblical marriage from the pulpit. Once again, see Canada and some European nations.

It's time to pray as never before for our nation.

But that's not all I talk about on this week's program.

Last week, I discussed how the announcement of the possible confirmation of the theoretical "Higgs boson" had rocked the scientific world. Remember that I said that the existence of the "Higgs boson" only proved what the Bible had revealed 20 centuries ago? Well, this week's program is last week's program on steroids!

Not only did the Scriptures allude to the forces that bind everything together and make the invisible visible (which is what the Higgs Field supposedly does), but examination of the Word of God confirms that truly "science is God's evidence."

Further, the Book of Job, the oldest in the Bible, is chock full of evidence of God's truth. In it, God reveals much about science, nature, physics, astronomy, and geography. It is rife with details that no single person living in the Middle Eastern desert 4,000 years ago could have known.

I'll also discuss the dilemma of the skeptic. His or her judgment of God is rendered according to his or her limited understanding. In order to believe that there is no God, the skeptic has to accept and believe a number of simply outrageous suppositions, some of which I'll discuss this week.

And if science is God's evidence, then Bible prophecy is God's signature. 

God revealed through His prophet, in no uncertain terms, that the mysteries contained in the Scriptures could not be "revealed" until the time of the end when "knowledge will increase" and men will travel "back and forth."

Moore's Law says that computer capacity doubles every 18 months. That's why your laptop is obsolete by the time you figure it out! Columbus sailed to the new world 1,500 years after the Apostle Paul made his Mediterranean journey. Both sailed on wooden ships with sails. In fact, men traveled in wooden sailing ships until the end of the 19th century. One hundred years later, those same weeks-long trips take a few hours by air. 1,900 years from Paul's ship to the Titanic. 60 years later, Neil Armstrong is walking on the moon.

As the angel promised the prophet Daniel, knowledge is increasing, men are traveling "back and forth," and the things that were "shut up" are now being revealed.

Time is short! Get ready! Jesus is coming!

Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, Inspiration Network, CPM Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Please check

your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey