Day #31

Alyssa

Love the handwritten stuff.  This is like two ways of storing in one!!

Makinley

Amelia

 Thanks to the girls above for making efforts to store God's Word and to encourage us with the evidence of it.



Do you remember what we learned yesterday?  We were learned how we should treat the poor, the hurting, and the weak.  Re-read the 6 things that Jesus mentions in Matthew 25:31-40.    

Prayer: Ask God to help you understand what you are about to learn and to help you know how to live it out.

Read James 2:14-16 and Ephesians 2:8-9.

Is faith without works ALIVE or DEAD?

Just like in yesterday’s lesson, some of us may have questions.  Is James going against Paul’s clear message in Ephesians 2:8-9?  Please look up this verse and write it in your journal.

In reality, these two verses, James 2:14-16 and Ephesians 2:8-9 sound like opposites, but they are really not. There is no battle between the two men who wrote these verses.  Paul and James would both agree that the only way someone can be saved is by having faith in Jesus Christ and accepting His amazing grace, which is His free gift of forgiveness that we did not deserve or have to earn… and then they would agree that works would be the next necessary result in a believers life.

Do you get this??  All humans, when we are without Christ, put our works first.  As unsaved people, we naturally try to be good.  But, our efforts at best are like this verse... Isaiah 64:6 (click).  This is the opposite of God’s plan.  We first accept, in faith, Jesus’ free gift of salvation… something we did not earn with our goodness… but was given to us in our filth.  And then, through Jesus Christ alone, can we then have that necesssary result of a truly saved person, which is works Ephesians 2:10 (click).

This is SCARY, but if we have no desire to do the acts of mercy that we learned yesterday, our faith is dead… in other words… we are not saved.  If someone says that he believes in God, but lacks evidence of Christ at work in him… the conclusion is tough… the person is not saved.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Someone can very much believe in God and Jesus Christ.  They can have genuine faith that Jesus is real and that the Bible is truth.  They can know many things in the Bible and have scripture memorized.  But, the Bible says this... James 2:19. 

Someone could have even walked down front at the end of a church service and prayed a prayer saying that they have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior.  But, the reality is that 1 out of every 4 people that are emotionally touched and moved by God’s Word are actually saved.  Please read the following verses Luke 8:4-15.

JOURNAL: Look up Luke 8:4-15 in your Bible.  Please write in your journal the 4 seeds and what happened to them.  Then beside the 4 different seeds, write Jesus’ explanation for who each seed represented.

GENUINE BELIEF and being emotional does NOT make a person saved.  Do you want Christ to be the one in charge of your life?  Can you say, not my will, but Your will be done even in the toughest of circumstances?  These are important questions to ask. 

Read James 2:15-16 one more time.

When we see any of the 6 people mentioned yesterday and say, or even think, the phrase “I will pray for that person’s peace and warmth, and for them to be fed,” when you can actually meet that need, it is a puffed up wish and prayer for them.  And that is all it is.  In reality it is an attempt to mask someone who refuses to help someone in need.  There is not profit or honor in that prayer if we are not going to be a doer.

Much to think on today, no doubt.

TARGET of the Day

Talk to God all throughout today about what you have learned.  Ask Him to help you see and understand.  Talk to Him all throughout today.