Opening Hymn

We started off our time by singing hymn #407, "It is Well with My Soul"

Memory Verses

We then recited our memory verses (James 4:1-12) and discussed them together.

Memory Verse Discussion

Looking at vv.7-8, the “therefore” in vv.7 connects these verses to the previous section.
- We see God's promise of grace to the humble.
We also see that this is in response to our becoming friends (chummy) with the world.
God is never away from us, but is always ready to be near to us - the reason why God is not near you is that you are not near to God
There's no such thing as a dry spell, if you're truly walking consistently in the Lord
What does it mean to be miserable? It means to mourn over your sin, specifically friendliness with the world.
When we confess our sin, we need to go to God with a contrite attitude, a lowliness, because we have committed sin against the almighty God.
In what ways do we become friends of the world?
- How we view our finances - some place too much emphasis on, find too much security on retirement
- How we view our career - thinking that we need a job so much that we are willing to do anything to try to keep the job
- Entertainment/comfort - prioritizing this
- Family influences - Can't love father and mother more than me
Be careful, else your love for the world will cause you to compromise and disobey God
What are some forms of entertainment that can cause a believer to struggle?
- Too much engagement in sports (cult-like following)
- Wanting a comfortable life, that causes you to be anxious about losing a level of comfort
- Over-emphasizing fitness or health, seeing it as the most important thing
- Social media - can cause us to be envious of those who live for this world
"Let your laughter" could be translated "stop laughing"
- God wants to give you His grace, you need to actively humble yourself
- When you offend someone, you can't glibly go to someone and say that you've sinned against that person - you need to come humbly
Vv11-12 fits when you when you zoom out and see that James talks about interpersonal relationships throughout this letter.
- Vv11, prohibits us from speaking about others behind their backs, which is slander
- One subtle way that we need to be careful about is talking bad about someone when you're praying about them - we must never speak against anyone, and if we have an issue or concern we need to speak directly with that person.
- Rom 14 - we are not the judge of anyone else

We then turned to our new passage for memorization this week - James 4:13-17