Women's Bible Study - January 24th, 2024 - James 1

In one paragraph

This was a women's Bible study teaching through James chapter one, led by Deborah at First Baptist Jackson. She worked through the chapter verse by verse, asking what real faith looks like when life gets genuinely hard. The thread running through everything was this: God is good, he is not indifferent to what we suffer, and faith that is real will eventually show itself in how we think, what we...

Read together

1. Matthew 13:55 Matthew listed Jesus' half brothers by name and mentioned half sisters
2. Romans 8:28 God promises to work good through troubles if we bring them to Him
3. John 15 the vine and branches illustration of closeness to Christ, and joy being made complete
4. John 16:33 Jesus tells believers they will have trials but to take heart because He has overcome the world
5. 1 Peter 5 God exalts the humble, oppose the proud, humble yourself under His hand, cast your cares on Him
6. Proverbs 9:10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
7. Ecclesiastes 5:1 guard your steps before the Lord and draw near to listen rather than offer the sacrifice of fools
8. James 1:1 James identifies himself as a servant of God writing to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations
9. James 1:2-4 consider it pure joy when facing trials because testing produces perseverance leading to maturity
10. James 1:5-8 ask God for wisdom, He gives generously, but ask without doubting or you are double-minded
11. James 1:9-11 the humble believer takes pride in high position while the rich should note their wealth fades like a wildflower
12. James 1:12 the one who perseveres under trial will receive the crown of life
13. James 1:13-15 God does not tempt anyone; temptation comes from one's own evil desire which gives birth to sin and death
14. James 1:16-18 do not be deceived; every good and perfect gift is from God who chose to give us birth through the word of truth
15. James 1:19-21 be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, and humbly accept the word planted in you
16. James 1:22-25 do not merely listen to the word but do what it says, like looking in a mirror and acting on what you see
17. James 1:26-27 not keeping a tight rein on the tongue makes religion worthless; pure religion is caring for orphans and widows
18. Ephesians 1 having believed, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a mark in the spiritual world

Talk about it

1. Deborah quoted Martin Luther saying that faith is 'a living, daring confidence in God's grace and God's love' and that we should be so sure of it we would stake our lives on it a thousand times over. How does that description compare to how you would have described your own faith before hearing it put that way?
2. Deborah talked about the lies we pick up over our lives, from parents, teachers, culture, and said Tim Keller put it this way: 'Satan doesn't control us with fang marks on the flesh, but with lies in the heart.' What is a lie you have had to actively fight against with truth from Scripture?
3. James says to consider it joy when trials come, and Deborah described joy not as faking happiness but as 'a sense of well-being and peace knowing everything is gonna be okay.' She shared a personal story of a family conflict at Christmas where she felt God telling her to focus and control her tongue and let Him handle it. Have you ever been in a situation where the most faithful thing you could do was stay quiet and wait? What was that like?
4. Deborah drew a distinction between the person who honestly says 'I believe, help my unbelief' and the double-minded person James warns about who is one person in Bible study and a completely different person on Friday night. Where do you think that line sits, and how do you know which side of it you are on?
5. At the end of the sermon Deborah pointed to James saying that pure religion is looking after orphans and widows and keeping yourself from being polluted by the world, and she connected that to the earlier warning about wealthy believers who were not helping those who had lost everything. Where in your own life right now is there a gap between what you hear on Wednesday morning and what you actually do the rest of the week?