Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

November 20
Thursday


CAN YOU
HELP?

READ:
James 2:14-20
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Faith by itself, if it
does not have works, is
dead. _James 2:17
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The administrators of the high school in Barrow, Alaska, were tired of seeing students get into trouble and drop out at a rate of 50 percent. To keep students interested, they started a football team, which offered them a chance to develop personal skills, teamwork, and learn life lessons. The problem with football in Barrow, which is farther north than Iceland, is that it's hard to plant a grass field. So they competed on a gravel and dirt field.

Four thousand miles away in Florida, a woman named Cathy Parker heard about the football team and their dangerous field. Feeling that God was prompting her to help, and impressed by the positive changes she saw in the students, she went to work. about a year later, they dedicated their new field, complete with a beautiful artificial-turf playing surface. She had raised thousands of dollars to help some kids she didn't even know.

This is not about football__or money. It is about remembering "to do good and to share" (Heb. 13:16). The apostle James reminds us that we demonstrate our faith by our actions (2:18). The needs in our world are varied and overwhelming but when we love our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus said (Mark 12:31), we reach people with God's love. __Dave Branon

`````````````````Open our eyes, dear Father, to those in need. allow us```````````````````
````````````````to find ways__momentarily and otherwise__to help meet```````````````````
````````````````those needs. Help us to take the focus off ourselves and````````````````````
`````````````````````place it on those who can use our assistance.````````````````````````
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Open your heart to God to learn compassion
and open your hand to give help.

*****************************Today's Bible Reading __ James 2:14-20*****************************

14 What does it profit, my
brethren, if someone says
he has faith but does not
have works? Can faith save
him? 15 If a brother or sister
is naked and destitute of
daily food, 16 and one of
you says to them, "Depart
in peace, be warmed and
filled," but you do not give
them the things which are
needed for the body, what
does it profit? 17 Thus also
faith by itself, if it does not
have works is dead.

18 But someone will say,
"You have faith, and I have
works." Show me your faith
without your works, and I
will show you my faith by
my works. 19 You believe
that there is one God. you
do well. Even the demons
believe__and tremble!

20 But do you want to
know, O foolish man, that
faith without works is
dead?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

There is disagreement among scholars as to the identity of the James
who authored this letter. Some see him as the son of Alphaeus (Matt.
10:3; Mark 3:18). Long-held church tradition, however, identifies
this James as the half-brother of Jesus (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3). In
Galatians 1:19, Paul mentions seeing James, "the Lord's brother,"
in Jerusalem__and this has fueled the position that the names of the
Jerusalem church and the James who wrote this letter was in fact
"the Lord's brother." James became a person of great prominence in
the early church, having received a personal audience with the risen
Christ (1 Cor. 15:7) and having become one of the primary leaders
of the church at Jerusalem (Acts 15:13-20).