All Episodes
Displaying 41 - 60 of 90 in total
Episode 41: Faith alone...or not?
Some worry when they read James 2:22-24, which uses the example of Abraham to say that we are "justified by works." Is James contradicting Paul, or the teaching of the...
Episode 42: Abraham believed God
In this episode, we go back to Genesis 22 to explore the difficult story of God's test of Abraham, when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We need this sto...
Episode 43: Scandalous faith
James uses not only Abraham as an example of faith, but Rahab, the prostitute who hid Joshua's spies in Jericho. This episode explores the implications of holding up a...
Episode 44: Not everyone should teach
We've all had good teachers and bad teachers. And apparently, a number of people in the early church wanted the status of being a teacher. But James 3:1 warns that peo...
Episode 45: Nobody’s perfect...yet
When we've made a mistake, we sometimes say that "Nobody's perfect." And indeed, James 3:2 suggests that we "all make mistakes often." But what James says is informed ...
Episode 46: Little words, big consequences
We've seen how James says we all make mistakes. That's his way of introducing the fact that we all make mistakes in how we speak to one another. In James 3:2-5, he use...
Episode 47: Please don’t pass it on
Is anyone listening to this old enough to remember the praise song Pass it On? The song lyrics taught that "It only takes a spark to get a fire going"; the song was ta...
Episode 48: Words from hell
What James teaches about the way we speak reaches a crescendo in 3:5-6: our errant tongues can set our whole lives on fire, and are set on fire by hell itself.
Episode 49: Taming the untamable
In James 3:7-8, the apostle suggests that human beings know how to tame any kind of animal, but ironically, we can't tame our tongues...
Episode 50: Changing the way we see
James has written colorfully about the evils of the tongue and its wild, untamable nature. How do we learn to control it better? James 3:9 suggests one place to start:...
Episode 51: Bearing fruit
Olives don't grow on fig trees; figs don't grow on grapevines. What James 3:11-12 teaches is once more reminiscent of the words of Jesus: "You will know them by their ...
Episode 52: Who’s really wise?
In today's world, just about anyone can have a platform to share their supposed wisdom. But who's really wise? James 3:13 suggests that true wisdom is shown in an appr...
Episode 53: What’s wrong with ambition?
It's probably not hard to imagine how people's ambitions can threaten the health of relationships. James 3:14 suggests that believers were doing things for their own g...
Episode 54: Chaos theory--church edition
James has already suggested that out-of-control tongues are "set on fire by hell." The strong language continues in James 3:15-16: compared to true wisdom, the counter...
Episode 55: Being wise, making peace
James has already spoken about true and false wisdom. In James 3:17-18, he says more about the nature of godly wisdom, and what he says is reminiscent of Paul's teachi...
Episode 56: Craving and conflict
Try to imagine what you really want when you're in the midst of an argument... James 4:1 says that the root of our external conflicts is an internal conflict: we have ...
Episode 57: Frustrated desire
More strong language. James 4:2 says that conflict comes from frustrated desire. But his words seem to suggest that Christians were actually willing to commit murder t...
Episode 58: Pretty please?
Most of us were taught to say "please" when we wanted something; without the magic word, we might not get it. James 4:2-3 seems to suggest that this might be true of p...
Episode 59: Unfaithful
James pulls no punches. He's already suggested that believers were guilty of murder. In James 4:4, he calls them "adulterers." Why?
Episode 60: What does God want?
James has already spoken of how our desires clash within us and cause us to clash with each other. James 5:4 suggests that God, too, desires something. But the verse i...