1-- James Epistle Study Guide

Two Study Guides of the Epistle of James Kinds of Temptations After my wife and I had been at Koinonia Church for 6 months, the pastor finished Acts on Wednesday nights. For two Wednesday nights, the head elder had preached about the Epistle of James. Then I suddenly realized a fourth possible theme of the Bible-- dealing with temptations. What is one of the main reasons for many of the commandments in the Bible, even the ones in Exodus and Leviticus? Wasn’t the Apostle Paul a good example of resisting temptations and teaching how to do such? Now be ready for more question answering and a matching exercise. I guarantee you will be blessed if you do. Better than if I “lecture” you. Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides for ever. What are the three categories of sin? What has been or is the worse kind of temptations for you? What are the top 3 temptations for you now? Verse 2 says that we should be joyful when we fall into various trials! Why? Look at the next two verses before answering. I also was suddenly surprised to realize that the whole chapter of James 1 was about temptation. I counted 21 different kinds!! The first one is generic, but the rest are quite specific. Now please get your Bible and open it to James 1. Matching exercise: For each verse put the number of the appropriate kind of temptation after the verse number.

Verses Answer # 3 5 6 10 11 12 13 14 14 15 16 17-18 19 19

Temptations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

blaming God deception doubt enticements faith testing getting angry quickly giving up having need humiliation keeping sin in our lives materialistic pursuits not being careful about what we say not being compassionate not doing what the Bible and the Holy Spirit

1

19 21 22 26 27 27

tell us 15. not focusing on listening to the one speaking 16. not keeping righteous or restoring back to righteousness via 1 John 1:9 and repenting 17. not remembering what God has done for us 18. responding to quickly 19. selfishness 20. wrong thinking

What do Matthew 5:17-30, Matthew 11:23 & Romans 1:18-32, Galatians 5:15-21, 2 Timothy 3:1-5 say are temptations? Which ones are ones you have done? Which do you still have problems with? Why are 1 Corinthians 10:12-13, Romans 8:28, and Proverbs 3:5-6 so important to remember when you are being tempted or tested? Second Study Guide for the Epistle of James For pondering-- What does theme mean to you? How would explain it to others? Why do you think I selected the verses which I considered challenging? Are they challenging for you to live? How do the cross reference verses relate to the chapter indicated? Theme: For Faith Being Manifested Properly Chapter 1: bad and good responses • Challenging verses for me: 2-4, 12, 19-22, & 26-27 • Other verses that came to my mind: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 Chapter 2: bad and good works • Challenging verses for me: 1, 5, 12, 18-20, & 26 • Other verses that came to my mind: 1 Corinthians 1:27, Hebrews 6:10, & Galatians 5:22-6:2 Chapter 3: bad and good speaking • Challenging verses for me: 1-2, 8-10, 13-18 • Other verses that came to my mind: 1 Corinthians 1-3 Chapter 4: bad and good lifestyle • Challenging verses for me: 4, 7-11, 15-17 • Other verses that came to my mind: Psalms 25:8-10 & Romans 14:17-19 Chapter 5: bad and good hopes • Challenging verses for me: 7-10, 14-16, & 19-20 • Other verses that came to my mind: Philippians 3:14-16 & 20-21, & Daniel 12:3 One more thing to ponder--

Why do you think that I selected the theme? What theme would you have chosen?

2