• Read James 1:1-18

    James begins the book with a one verse introduction, but to understand the rest of the book a little better, it’s important to know exactly what is being said in verse 1. James is writing to Jews immediately following Jesus’ time on earth. The “twelve tribes in the dispersion” references the fact that the Jews at this time were being persecuted because of their faith in Jesus and were being forced to spread out to run from persecution.

    Knowing that, it makes a lot of sense that James begins the body of the letter encouraging the early Christians to “Count it all joy…when you meet trials of many kinds”. In the following verses (3 through 12), James tells them that God can use trials in their lives to teach them lessons. Here are a few things that James says God can produce in them through trials: steadfastness, wisdom, faith, and stability of mind.

    James concludes this section in verses 13 through 18 by clarifying that God is not the cause of temptation is their lives. Trials and temptations are the result of living in a broken, sinful world. God simply desires to use trials to show the emptiness of sinful desires and the unreliability of trusting in earthly things. James then contrasts that to the fact that God is the creator of all good things and God’s reliability since He has “no variation” or change.

    • What trials has God used in my life to help me grow?

    • What trials am I facing right now, and am I looking for God to use them?

    • Is my natural response to blame God for my trials or to look for Him in them?

  • Read James 1:19-27

    This passage begins with a challenge from James to be slow to anger because “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” He follows that saying to replace filthiness with meekness and God’s word.

    James then encourages the early Christians to “be doers of the word. And not hearers only”. James makes a really cool analogy for this thought using a mirror. The idea is that we often look in a mirror to see any flaws in our appearance. If there is a hair out of place or something on our face, we see it in our reflection and fix it. James is teaching the readers that as they learn about God’s character in His word, it should lead to change. If they simply learn and don’t respond, it’s just as foolish as if they see flaws in their appearance in the mirror and walk away and forget what they saw.

    James ends the chapter in verses 26 and 27 by giving a few examples of what “doers” of the word should do. Controlling the tongue, striving for a pure and undefiled heart, selflessness, and purity from worldly desires and habits are all included in these verses.

    • Am I slow to anger and slow to speak?

    • Do I honestly look at the Bible like a mirror? Am I looking for ways that I can become more like God?

    • What are some things in my life that don’t reflect what James shows that God cares about in James chapter 1?

  • Read James 2:1-13

    One of the main purposes of the Bible is to show us who God is and what God cares about. These first few verses of James 2 do just that. In verses 1 through 9, James is stressing just how important this sin of partiality is to God. He references Jesus’ commandment to love your neighbor as yourself, and he says that partiality makes that impossible.

    Next, in verses 10 through 12, James stresses how important holiness is to God. God’s desire throughout all of scripture is that people, his prized creation, would pursue holiness and look like Him. James shows just how high that standard really is in verse 10 saying that “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” James says that anyone who has committed any sin has missed God’s standard and broken the whole law.

    However, James shows one more thing in verse 13 that is really important to God – mercy. Remember, this book was written to Christians right after Jesus’ life on earth, so this idea of mercy and forgiveness was still a little new to them. So, James puts it as plainly as possible to close out this section: “Mercy triumphs over judgement.” This is why Jesus came! The law is really important to God, but when he saw that we could never meet the standard, He showed us mercy and sent Jesus. Because of that, we get to live in relationship with God and pursue what He promises is best for us. How does that make sense? That we fall short and God still wants a relationship with us? It doesn’t make sense unless we understand what’s important to God, and James says it so well. Mercy triumphs over judgement.

    • Am I fulfilling Jesus’ commandment to love my neighbor as myself? In what ways am I showing partiality?

    • In what ways have I broken God’s law and fallen short of His standard?

    • Does my life reflect that I believe God loves me despite all of my shortcomings? Is that fact what motivates my thoughts and actions?

  • Read John 3:1-21

    Chapter 3 begins with the introduction of a new character – Nicodemus. We don’t know much about Nicodemus other than his high religious profile as a Jewish Pharisee. This means he was very knowledgeable and a teacher of the Jewish faith (God’s chosen people throughout the Old Testament). Jesus tells Nicodemus that to be a part of God’s family, you must be born again. Naturally, Nicodemus is confused, and Jesus explains that it is not another physical birth that is required but a spiritual birth. We must be spiritually made new by God to be a part of His family. Nicodemus is still confused and Jesus tells Nicodemus that we need to look beyond what our physical eyes can see to experience the spiritual fullness of God.

    After explaining this spiritual rebirth to Nicodemus, Jesus tells Nicodemus how God will make this rebirth possible. Jesus says that He is the one who can reunite us with God and make our spiritual rebirth possible. He explains that God sent Him into the world to save it. God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn us for our sins but to free us from them! Jesus says that he will be lifted up (referring to his crucifixion), and that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. Trusting that Jesus’ death pays for our sin is what makes it possible for us to be born again.

    • In this interaction, we see that Nicodemus had all of the head knowledge, but He missed the spiritual work of Jesus. How can we be careful to not only engage who Jesus is with our heads but also with our hearts?

    • Does the idea of being born again make sense to you? Do you agree that all humans need a spiritual rebirth? If this idea is confusing, I’d encourage you to read today’s reading in the Message Bible. If you don’t know how to find that, just Google “John 3 in the Message Bible.”

    • How does it make you feel that God loves you so much that he sent Jesus to die so that you can have eternal life with Him?

  • Read John 3:22-36

    In today’s reading, Jesus and John the Baptist were baptizing people. One of John the Baptists disciples asked him why he was not upset that many people were choosing to go to Jesus instead of him. John the Baptist responds by saying that his whole life mission has been to point people to Jesus – never to get people’s approval for himself. He says that Jesus’ praise must increase, and his own praise decrease. John the Baptist’s only goal was to point people to Jesus.

    John the author then explains John the Baptist’s reason for living this way. As he writes about who Jesus is, he implies that it only makes sense to point people to Jesus because He is the one with all power, and He is the one who can give eternal life. The chapter ends with John the author saying this in verse 36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36 ESV) The words John the author chooses here imply that we all have God’s wrath on us because of our sin. The idea here is that all sin must be paid for by death (see Romans 6 for more), but through Jesus, God is offering an alternative payment for our sin if we believe in Jesus.

    • How can we learn from John the Baptist’s example and make our lives all about Jesus? What parts of your life do you need to refocus on Jesus?

    • All of us have sinned, and all sin must be paid for. There are two options for how our sin can be paid for. We can pay for our own sin in death and separation from God or we can accept Jesus’ death as the payment for our sin. Does this idea make sense to you? If not, please reach out to Julia or Darron!

    • If you have accepted Jesus’ death as the payment for your sins, take a few moments to thank Him.

  • Read John 4:1-45

    Today we read about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Do you remember a few days ago when we said that Jesus doesn’t do anything on accident? That is definitely true in today’s reading! What town Jesus goes through and what time he passes the well seem to be coincidences until we meet this Samaritan woman. As we observe their interaction, it becomes clear that Jesus is not there on accident; He is there for her! This story is a beautiful example of the way God pursues us.

    As we read about their interaction, John the author points out a couple other cool things. One is Jesus saying that He can provide spiritual water. He uses the example of water to say that he can meet our spiritual thirsts and desires – He can satisfy us. Finally, after Jesus tells the Samaritan woman things about her past that He could only know if He was the Messiah, she believes Him! The last thing we see in this story is the woman’s response. She goes and tells everyone about Jesus, and many people believed because of her testimony.

    • How has God pursued you in your life? Some examples might be people He put in your life or times when you were at your worst and God was still there.

    • Do you have a spiritual thirst or desire for God? Pray that God would increase your desire to know Him and increase your faith that He is the one who can satisfy your greatest longings.

    • How can we learn from the Samaritan woman’s example? God has pursued you and meets your greatest desires! How eager are you to tell others about Him?

  • Today, we see two more miracles of Jesus. He heals a man’s son that he has never even met and he heals a lame man by telling him to get up and walk! As awesome as these miracles are, there’s also beauty in the order of these events. Jesus meets the physical needs of each of these people, and then they begin to follow Him! It’s amazing that Jesus seems to be ok with that. Through meeting their physical needs, He softens their heart to believe in Him so that he can meet their spiritual need.

    Another interesting thing in this passage is the building tension between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. Jesus was the Messiah that would fulfill God’s promises to them, but many of them did not believe.

    • How can you learn from Jesus’ example of how to invite people to follow Him? Who are the people around you with physical needs that you can meet? That just might be what softens their heart for Jesus to meet their spiritual need.

    • We talked in chapter 3 about how Nicodemus had all of the head knowledge but missed the spiritual work of Jesus. Today, we see the same thing with many Pharisees (Jewish leaders). In what ways are you tempted to value your knowledge and opinions over your spiritual submission to God?

  • In today’s reading, Jesus speaks and addresses two themes that we have seen throughout the gospel of John so far. First, he speaks of his oneness with God the Father (You can now add Son of God to your list of names!). He says that He and the Father are one, and all of the power and knowledge that He has was given to Him by the Father. The simplest truth here is the most profound: a man is claiming to be God. Yes, there are many mysterious and marvelous layers to what Jesus is saying. The claim that every man and woman must wrestle with, though, is His claim to be the Son of God. Jesus says that our belief or doubt regarding this claim determines whether or not we will have eternal life.

    The second theme Jesus speaks to is the doubt of the spiritual elite (the Pharisees and Sadducees to name a couple). There was a group of people when Jesus was alive who were very well acquainted with God’s word, but they did not believe in Jesus. Jesus implies here that they have put so much faith in their own knowledge and understanding that they cannot see their need for a Savior.

    • What doubts do you have that Jesus was the Son of God? Is there a lack of evidence that causes these doubts or is it a lack of knowledge? Have you ever seriously looked for answers to your questions about who Jesus was?

    • What are the reasons or evidences that make you most confident in your belief that Jesus was the Son of God? What are some things you can do to learn more of these evidences to increase your faith? (Examples: online research, books, podcasts, asking a spiritual mentor)

    • Why do you think the religious leaders of that day had such a hard time believing that Jesus was the Son of God?

  • In the beginning of chapter 6, John the author tells us of two more miracles. First, we see Jesus feed a great crowd with only five loves of bread and two fish. Before the miracle, though, we see Jesus ask Phillip where they should buy bread. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus knew what He would do but still asked Phillip what He thought? It’s almost as if Jesus was inviting Phillip to ask Him for a miracle. Jesus didn’t want Phillip to just believe that He could do anything, but He also wanted him to look for needs that Jesus could meet supernaturally and ask Him to do it.

    The second miracle we see is Jesus walking on water. We see the disciples out at sea in the middle of a storm. They were afraid and distressed, and that’s when Jesus showed up. In their fear, Jesus came to them in the middle of the storm, and when He arrived, they had peace.

    • Do you invite God to work in supernatural ways in your life and the lives of those around you? This is more than just believing He can. Do you look for needs that only God can meet and ask Him to do it?

    • Jesus can bring peace to any situation. Take a few moments and pray for His peace in your own life and in the lives of those around you.

  • Today, we see a new name of Jesus. He calls Himself the bread of life. Add it to your list! One meaning of this name is similar to what we saw in Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well. Jesus, as the bread of life, satisfies us. Another meaning of this name is that in the same way bread gives us life on earth, Jesus gives us eternal life. Jesus, as the bread of life, satisfies our deepest longings and sustains us for all of eternity.

    One thing that’s hard to ignore in this passage, though, is how crazy Jesus must have sounded to everyone there! “Eat my flesh” and “drink my blood” are not exactly normal things to say. Many people were certainly confused, and some even got angry.

    • In what areas of your life are you feeling discontent? How can you trust Jesus to satisfy you in those areas?

    • What’s one thing you can do to be more dependent on Jesus as the sustainer of your life? What’s one way that you can prioritize God and the things of eternity over the things of this life?

    • Do you have any sympathy for the people who were confused by Jesus?