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Q18. (James 3:7-8) Read Matthew 12:34 and 15:18. In light of these verses, why is the tongue untamable? The tongue is untamable because the heart that contain the things that are spoken by the tongue is full of evil. What has to happen before it can be tamed? The heart has to be tamed by self- control and by surrendering to the Lord Jesus and the tamed heart will pour out good speech to the tongue to speak out.

. (James 3:1-2) Why does James discourage people from aspiring to be teachers of the Word? Why is greater strictness appropriate? Should you set higher standards for your pastor than you do for yourself? James discouraged people from being teachers because they will be judged by what they teach. May be higher standards should be set for Pastors who teach or may be not, because all of us are supposed to be teachers one way or the other say, in our homes as parents of in an office as leaders.

. (James 2:20-26) How does James' point about the necessity of works jive with Paul's emphasis on salvation by grace without works (Ephesians 2:8-10)? Both James and Paul agree that good works are the result of living faith.

. (James 2:18-19) What is the difference between the "belief" of a demon and the "belief" of a practicing Christian? The "belief" of a non-practicing Christian? The difference is that the “belief” of practicing Christian leads to positive action while that of demon does not.

. (James 2:15-16) To what degree are we responsible for the poor and needy in the church community? How about our responsibility for those outside the church, in the community at large? We are responsible for the needs of the poor in our church to the extend of ability to help is. We have as much responsibility to those outside our church given Jesus example of who our neighbor is. That is, the needy and not just the one next door.

. (James 2:14-18) In what sense is faith dead if it is unaccompanied by action? In what sense might (if that were possible) it be alive? Action (or motion) is what differentiates what is living and the dead. Thus our faith does not lead us to act in the direction of our faith then it is dead.

1. Why is impossible for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God? Is it really impossible? Is Jesus speaking in hyperbole in order to make a point? Why or why not? (18:24-27) It is impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God because the rich are not ready to give up everything to follow Jesus. 2. How is Peter's question in 18:28 similar to Jesus' direction in 18:22? In what sense must disciple give up everything to follow Jesus? How literally should we take this? Peter’s question in Luke 18:28 is similar to Jesus directive in Luke 18:22 because both are talking about leaving everything to follow Jesus. We should take this as literal as we can by not allowing our possession to possess us in a way that we will miss eternal life. 3. Are the rewards Jesus promises in 18:29-30 literal or figurative? I believe they are literal. 4. How do Jesus' sacrifices to follow the Father's will parallel our own sacrifices to follow Jesus? What are the points of comparison? What are the points of contrast? (18:31-34) Jesus left everything in heaven in obedience to his father’s will and we will do well to leave everything to follow the will of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Q12. (James 2:13b) In what way is showing regard towards the wealthy (James 2:2-3) a denial of mercy? Extra credit: Read Hosea 6:6; Matthew 5:7; and 9:13. In what way does mercy "triumph over" (NIV, RSV, NASB) or "rejoice against" (KJV) judgment? What does this mean? When we discriminate against the poor in favour of the rich because of the benefits we get from the rich, we have not shown mercy to the poor. How mercy triumphs over judgment: God is a just God who judges and punishes sin. But He is a loving God. So in his mercy, he allowed his son who has no sin to pay the penalty for our sin on the cross but raising up to life.

. (James 2:9-11) Why does James refer to the Great Commandment as the "Royal Law"? How is it more "royal" than the Mosaic Law? How does showing favoritism toward a rich person break the "Royal Law" towards that rich person? How does it break the "Royal Law" in regard to a poor person? James referred to the Great Commandment as the Royal Law because it is centered on love for one another as yourself. In loving, we should thus not show favoritism towards the rich or against the poor, as doing so makes us sin and are guilty of breaking all the laws.

. (James 2:4) In what way does favoritism make one a judge? How does favoritism make one a judge with "evil thoughts"? I think favoritism makes one a judge because it makes us pre-determine/concludes the gain we stand to make on the one we favour. In the case of someone that is poor, we shun them because we think of what we have to give them. In this case, our judgment is with evil thoughts, I think.

Q9. (James 2:1-3) What kind of person or what kind of sinner do you tend to discriminate against? What kind of people are you (or your church) trying to make a good impression on? I may not like the drunkards or the sexually immoral but cannot recall instances of discrimination against them. However, as the church building chairman, I do try to woo the rich from other churches to contribute generously to our church project fund racing. I feel this is not wrong.

1. What does the Scripture tell us about this man? What do we know about him from his words, his manner, and his actions? (Feel free to include parallels from Matthew and Mark in your profile of the man.) The Scriptures tells us that the man was a ruler, very rich, humble (knelt down to greet Jesus) and knew and believed he has kept the laws. But he exhibited the following: i. He was feeling spiritually inadequate hence the quest to know what to do to inherit the kingdom of God ii. Took sides with the Pharisees who believe in resurrection compared with the Sadducee who do not. iii. Believed that one earns eternal life. 2. What do we learn about Jesus from this encounter? What does this account tell us about him? The encounter teaches us that Jesus does not take time in pleasantries but always just hit the nail on the head just as told the young rich leader the needed facts: i. No one is good except God ii. To go and sell all his possession and come back and follow Him- the way to eternal life. iii. Kingdom business is Jesus’ priority. 3. Why does Jesus challenge the man's seemingly innocent form of address: "Good teacher"? What is Jesus' point? Why does Jesus interrupt answering the man's question to make a big thing about something so small? Question 2 answers some of my thinking. 4. Why does Jesus tell him to sell all his possessions? Is this something Jesus requires of everyone? If not, why single out this man? Jesus told him to sell all his possession because that was the hindrance to following Jesus and thus eternal life. Money (wealth) corrupts and can be hindrance to eternal if not mastered. In most cases, we are mastered by money/ wealth. Anything that will prevent us from eternal life should be yanked off. But this is a tough nut to crack and I need prayers so that I will be better than the young rich man. 5. How are we to generalize about "selling all our possessions"? What application does this have to us? 6. Why did Jesus designate the poor to be the recipients of the man's wealth, do you think? They are the most vulnerable and needy. 7. Could the man have followed Jesus without divesting himself of what he held dear? Can you? Can anyone? Yes, if he surrendered his possession unto the Lord and did not allow them to take all his mind and time and also to use the possession to reach out to the needy. Yes anyone can when one surrenders himself totally first to the Lord then use the wealth to serve the Lord.

Q8. (James 1:26-27) Why does James make taming the tongue and caring for the poor the prime tests of pure religion? Why not the quality of our quiet time or worship? It is a test of our compliance to our obedience to the command on the perfect law of love. God is interested in our relationships with another especially with widows, orphans and the poor. If we tame our tongues, we will be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to get angry. Once we do all these, James says we exhibit pure religion because we comply with the word of God.

Q7. (James 1:25) What is this "perfect law" that James mentions? How would you define it? How does it relate to the "royal law" (James 2:8)? In what sense does it bring liberty? James refers to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that liberated us from Mosaic laws that could not be kept even by the Jews anyway. Jesus sum up the laws of the prophets into two: …love the Lord your God with all…., and the second he said: love your neighbor as yourself (which James referred to as the Royal law). The liberty the perfect law brings is that we find new life and new relation with God through the Lord Jesus Christ through faith by grace alone and not by works of circumcision and keeping legalistic Mosaic laws which were not even successfully kept.

Q6. (James 1:22) Why are we so easily fooled into thinking that listening to Bible teaching means that we are living out righteous lives? What is the nature of the self-deception? We are probably full of ourselves because of the work we are doing reading, listening and teaching the word that we probably don’t pause to examine if at all we are doing what the word tells to do. Self-deception is the tendency by many of us to hear the word but do not do what is required. However, one sad thing I notice is that a lot of times, I am not a good listener/ reader in the first place due to wandering mind that makes me miss what had been said or read. How can I then do what I have not heard or read? Lord God, take total control of my wondering mind and help me to hear well and do what is required. Amen.

Q5. (James 1:18) In what sense are we given spiritual birth by the "word of truth"? What does spiritual life have to do with the Word? We are spiritually born when we hear the message of the word of truth, the Bible, the word of God, believe and accept that Jesus died to set us free from the bondage of satan.

1. What is the point of the parable that precedes the incident of Jesus and the Little Children? Why is that important to the interpretation of this passage? (18:9-14) In the preceding story, there was an encounter with the children. It was about humility. The proud and arrogant Pharisee when praying to God loudly and proudly proclaimed his giving to the poor and good conduct to justify his righteousness. But the Tax collector demonstrated humility by his humble posture and confession as a sinner. The Tax collector went home justified but not the Pharisee. This story is similar as children are seen among other qualities as symbol of humility. 2. Why would parents want to bring their babies and little children to Jesus? (18:15a) To be prayed for and be blessed by the Lord Jesus. 3. Why did the disciples rebuke the parents? What was the disciples' view of the children's importance? How did they see their actions as serving Jesus' interests? (18:15b) The disciples rebuked the parents because they thought taking the children who are not very important in the first place to Jesus, would disrupt the Lord’s schedule of preaching and healing. In their own view, the disciples thought their action was really good to ensure their Lord’s time was not wasted. 4. Why did Jesus interrupt his teaching to call all the children in the crowd to him at this point? In what sense is this a "teachable moment"? (18:16) Jesus interrupted his teaching to call the children to him so as to teach his disciples and everyone including us that, the kingdom of God is for people like the very children that were being looked down by the society and the disciples then, that is, people with simple faith and humility among other qualities. 5. What point is Jesus making by inviting the children to come freely? How does Jesus follow up on his action? He wanted to demonstrate that everyone was free to come to the kingdom of God 6. Children have lots of endearing (and not so endearing) characteristics. Which characteristics of children is Jesus pointing to in this context that he wants would-be disciples to emulate? Humility and faith 7. In what way does Jesus' teaching here offer hope to us who read it today? The Kingdome of God is ours if we will come forward in the simplicity, faith and humility of children.

Q4. (James 1:5-8) What is the promise to claim in verse 5? What is the condition attached to this promise in verse 6? How do trials help us receive this wisdom? If we lack wisdom, we should ask God who gives generously. We should however have faith and should not doubt in order to receive. Trials helps receive God’s promises when and if in the mid of the trials we come to ourselves, trace where we have gone astray and turn to the Lord in confession and repentance. At this point of home coming, he will hear and answer our petitions.

Q3. (James 1:5-8) How do trials help cure us of "doublemindedness"? How do trials help us grow in faith? Trials turn our attention back to God in confession and repentance if we have sin. We can then have time for and with him and call upon him to deliver us from the cause of the trials. As he answers us, our faith in him becomes stronger.

Q2. (James 1:13-15) Why do people blame God for evil? Does God tempt us with evil? Does he tempt sinful people with evil? Why does he allow people to sin? Why does he allow evil to exist at all? It appears that I myself blame God since I usually tell my wife that the God that has the power to make us what he wants us to be should just do so without allowing me to go through trials in order to become strong in faith. I also feel that he should make a shield round me so that I will not fall into sin. But one thing I am sure is that God does not tempt any one with evil.

Q1. (James 1:2-4) What value have trials had in your life? Have you let Satan destroy you with those trials? Or allowed God to refine you? How have you changed? A major trial I am currently going through at the moment is financial desert. As a retiree, the monthly pension cannot meet my family needs. Some pre- retirement investments that were made in landed property to augment the pension are in low demand due to the general insecurity in the country. Despite all challenges, we can see that God has been faithful in providing food on the table daily. As such, we remain trusting in his word that encourages us that he is our shepherd and thus we will not want. This keeps us ever trusting and rejoicing in his faithfulness.

1. What makes us confident in our own righteousness? (18:9) Have you ever known anyone like this? Been this way yourself? What causes it? What are the symptoms? Pride makes us confident in our own righteousness and acts. I am one of such and think I do that unconsciously. I will prayerfully avoid that now. 2. In what ways do twenty-first century Christians look down on others? Who are the people we look down on? How does this grieve Jesus' heart? How does it injure the cause of Jesus' church? I think some of us in the 21 century compare how we serve and worship God and think we are a lot better and thus look down at those are not doing as much. I may think I attend all the church weekly programmes, respond to call to offer some services for example to give money for some needs in the church or community etc and feel proud. This study is reminding me that the Lord is not happy with such attitude especially if it leads me to look down at others who do not do as much as I do. 3. What did the Pharisee's prayer consist of? What does that tell us about him? (18:11-12) What did the tax collector's prayer consist of? What do his prayer and his body language tell us about him? (18:13). The Pharisee’s prayer consisted most his righteous acts and the things he does do but the tax collectors and sinners do. This shows pride. On the other hand, the tax collector presented himself as a sinner unworthy to stand before the Lord God and asked fro mercy and forgiveness. This demonstrates humility.

1. Describe the judge in this parable. What do we know about his motivations? (18:2, 4-5) The Judge I believe, was selfish- interested in his convenience, comfort and has no respect nor regard for people (the widow) and God. 2. Describe the widow. What makes her tick? Why do you think she is so persistent? (18:3) She was not the kind that easily gives up, was persistent in getting her rights given to her. 3. What is the stated purpose why Jesus told this parable? (18:1) Jesus told the story to teach his disciples then, and us now, the need to pray without giving up until the answer comes. 4. What kinds of things can happen that cause us to lose hope, and lose any heart to pray consistent and believing prayers? How can we get out of these "pits"? Most of us stop praying when we do not receive an answer immediately. Sometimes we give up when we see the enormity of the need and humanly conclude that it will be hard to get the need met. 5. How can we believe in swift justice from God when he hasn't brought it yet? We need to have faith in God’s ability to deliver the needed justice at the right time that will not be too late. 6. Do YOU think Jesus will find faith on the earth when he returns? Why or why not? Yes I do believe some will still be found trusting and having faith in him, but most would have given up. 7. What is this parable saying to you personally? What disciple-lesson are you taking away from this? To keep on trusting and having faith in God and keep praying until he meet my needs.

1. What two things do the "days of Noah" have in common with the "days of Lot"? What point is Jesus making by comparing his coming to those events? (17:26-30). One, each of the events happened when no one was expecting it thus going about their normal business and thus many were taken unprepared; And the second is, there was loss of lives and property. 2. At his coming is Jesus going to bring peace or punishment? Both. Peace and reward for the righteous and judgment and punishment for unrighteous. 3. Jesus warns those on the roof or in the field not to go back to get their possessions. Why? What does this have to do with Lot's wife? (17:31-32) Because it would be too late to save any worldly goods and the resultant consequence of losing self in the effort as it happened to Lot’s wife. 4. What does "trying to keep one's life" have to do with turning to get one's possessions? What is the paradox here that trying to save one's life results in losing it? Explain. (17:31-33) They are both frantic efforts too late to save one’s life or property. 5. Jesus tells of people in close physical proximity to each other, and warns that one will be taken and the other left. What does this teach us about the nature of Jesus' coming? Where will they be taken? What happens to those who are left? (17:34-35) Jesus coming will be unannounced and thus not everyone will be ready, hence two may be together but one will be taken while the other is left. I think the righteous will be taken to heaven. 6. What does Jesus' parable of the gathering vultures teach us about his location when he comes? (17:37) The gathering vultures indicate where a dead animal is located. At Jesus coming, the lightening accompanied by the lightening that ushers His coming will be indicators of His coming.

1. What do you think the lepers expected when they called out to Jesus for mercy? (17:13) Food, shelter, clothing, or actual healing? When the ten lepers called out to Jesus for mercy, the lepers probably expected some monetary gift. 2. What is the significance of the lepers showing themselves to the priests? (17:14a) The priests were the sole authority to declare a leper healed and fit to mingle with the society. Jesus was very sure the ten lepers were healed and thus instructed them to go get the certificate of cleanness. 3. Why does Luke make the point that the lepers weren't healed until they started to obey Jesus' command? (17:14b) Luke made the point that faith is demonstrated by action. He thus stressed that their action of turning to go to the priest was faith in action. This faith caused the lepers to obey, and as they moved, their healing was perfected and is a lesson for us disciples. 4. What about the thankful leper's actions showed his thankfulness? (17:15-16) The thankful leper turned to go back to Jesus to show his gratitude first, before reporting his healing to the priest. He did this by throwing himself at the feet of Jesus giving thanks to him. We should emulate him. 5. What was Jesus' attitude toward the thankful leper? Toward the other nine lepers? (17:17-18) Jesus appreciated the thankful leper for returning to give thanks and lamented how the other nine did not see the need to do like the thankful leper. 6. In the phrase "Your faith has saved you" (17:19b) is Jesus speaking of the leper's physical healing, or his spiritual salvation, or both? Were the nine lepers saved or healed spiritually? Why or why not? By saying that ‘your faith has saved you’ Jesus meant that the leper has received his physical healing as well spiritual salvation of his soul. I think the other nine lepers got their physical healing only but not their spiritual hilling. 7. Why is it so easy to forget to thank God for his blessings? We are usually so excited about receiving answers to our prayers that we forget to go back to give thanks to the Lord for the answers to our supplications. Lord God Almighty teach me to learn to learn to always come back to appreciate you for answering my supplications all the time.