James 1:11 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.”

THE

BACKGROUND

The book is addressed to Jewish believers scattered by

persecution. The epistle was probably written before the

Gentile congregations

became common.

The word “scattered” is diaspora. This is the noun form

of diaspeiro, which means “to sow as seed,” God sows the Church by persecution, and the

Church sows the Gospel.

Acts 8: 1-41 “And Saul was there, givingapproval to his death. On that day agreat persecution broke out againstthe church at Jerusalem, and allexcept the apostles were scatteredthroughout Judea and Samaria.2 Godly men buried Stephen andmourned deeply for him.”

Acts 8: 1-43 “But Saul began to destroy thechurch. Going from house to house,he dragged off men and women andput them in prison.4 Those who had been scatteredpreached the word wherever theywent.”

Acts 11:19“Now those who had been scatteredby the persecution in connectionwith Stephen traveled as far asPhoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch,telling the message only to Jews.”

THE TIME

OF WRITING

For many reasons, the date of the letter seems to be between AD 40 and AD 60. The most likely date is

between AD 45 and AD 55. The main reasons for this date are:

• The letter does not mentionChristians who are not Jewish.

• When Gentiles becameChristians, there were problemsabout the rules that they wereto obey (Acts 15).

• The use of the word“synagogue” (James 2:2translated as ‘meeting place’)shows that the Christians werestill meeting with the Jews.

• When *Stephen died, the Jewstried to kill the Christians.

MEETING

THE FAMILY

After the birth of Jesus, Mary and

Joseph had children. The Bible tells

us the names of the other sons of

Mary, the half-brothers of Jesus.

They are James, Joses, Judas and

Simon. There were also sisters but

we do not know how many.

Mark 6:3“Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't thisMary's son and the brother of James,Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't hissisters here with us?" And they tookoffense at him.”

Sons & Daughters

of Joseph

& Mary

HIS FAMILY KNOWS HIM

That being said, his family’stestimony is incredibly helpful andinsightful as we learn about thisman, the most important man in thehistory of the world, the mostsignificant man in the history of theworld, the most worshiped man inthe history of the world, Jesus Christ.

JAMES THEBROTHER1

(James the Servant of Jesus Christ)

• He didn’t need to.

• There’s a lot of guys namedJames in the New Testament.

• To say he was Jesus’ brothercould give the impression thathe was proud, and here hewants to follow in his brother’sexample of humility.

3 POSITIONSON JAMES’

RELATIONSHIP TO JESUS

• THEY WERE STEP-BROTHERS

• THEY WERE COUSINS

• THEY WERE HALF-BROTHERS

JAMES DISBELIEVED

JESUS

Mark 3 : 21When his family heard about this,

they went to take charge of him, for

they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Mark 3 : 31 - 32Then Jesus' mother and brothers

arrived. Standing outside, they sent

someone in to call him. A crowd was

sitting around him, and they told

him, "Your mother and brothers are

outside looking for you."

JAMES DOUBTED

JESUS

Mark 6:3-4

Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't thisMary's son and the brother of James,Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't hissisters here with us?" And they tookoffense at him. Jesus said to them,"Only in his hometown, among hisrelatives and in his own house is aprophet without honor."

• How many of you felt hurtbecause your family didn’tsupport you?

• How many of you felt hurtbecause your family wasn’tthere for you?

• How many of you felt hurtbecause your family didn’t havea great dignity toward you?

JESUS WAS KILLED BECAUSE HE

CLAIMED TO BE GOD

JAMES SAW JESUS RISEN

(HIS TURNING POINT)

1 Corinthians 15:7

“Then he appeared to James, thento all the apostles,”

JAMES THE LEADER2

• JAMES JOINED THE EARLYCHURCH

• JAMES AND JUDE BECAMEPOWERFUL PASTORS

Joseph never wrote a book of theBible; his sons did. His sons did.You can be humble, you could bepoor, you could be hard-working,you could be blue collar, and veryeffective if you raise your childrento love and serve the Lord.

“WE CREATE ALSO OUR LEGACY LIKE JOSEPH”

JAMES HAD CONVENING POWER

Acts 15 : 12

The whole assembly became silentas they listened to Barnabas andPaul telling about the miraculoussigns and wonders God had doneamong the Gentiles through them.

Acts 15 : 13 - 1613 When they finished, James spokeup: "Brothers, listen to me.

14 Simon has described to us howGod at first showed his concern bytaking from the Gentiles a people forhimself.

Acts 15 : 13 - 1615 The words of the prophets are inagreement with this, as it is written:

16 "`After this I will return andrebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins Iwill rebuild, and I will restore it,

Acts 15 : 17 - 1917 that the remnant of men mayseek the Lord, and all the Gentileswho bear my name, says the Lord,who does these things'

18 that have been known for ages.

Acts 15 : 17 - 1919 "It is my judgment, therefore, thatwe should not make it difficult forthe Gentiles who are turning to God.

Acts 15 : 20 - 2120 Instead we should write to them,telling them to abstain from foodpolluted by idols, from sexualimmorality, from the meat ofstrangled animals and from blood.

Acts 15 : 20 - 2121 For Moses has been preached inevery city from the earliest times andis read in the synagogues on everySabbath.

LEVELS OF SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP

AND AUTHORITY

• You need to see that in the NewTestament, there are levels of spiritualleadership and spiritual authority. Noteverybody goes to the meeting; it’s nota congregational vote. They don’t, youknow, cast a ballot across all thechurches. The senior leaders gettogether, they open God’s Word, theystudy, they pray, they seek the will ofthe Holy Spirit.

• If Peter is willing to sit, and Paul iswilling to sit, and Barnabas is willing tosit, and they’re all willing to listen toJames, we need to be willing to listento James. If they’re willing to sit underhis spiritual authority—these are menwho wrote books of the Bible andthey’re under his authority.

• Paul submitted to the authority ofPeter and James. Paul wasn’t just inauthority; he was under authority.

JAMES THE APOSTLE3

PAUL SAT DOWN WITH JAMES

Acts 21:17-1917 When we arrived at Jerusalem,the brothers received us warmly.

18 The next day Paul and the rest ofus went to see James, and all theelders were present .

Acts 21:17-19

19 Paul greeted them and reported indetail what God had done amongthe Gentiles through his ministry.

• No one had a more magnificent callingthan Paul.

• Whatever calling you’ve received,Jesus didn’t come down from heavento convert you and to call you. Andeven Paul, receiving that direct callingfrom Jesus himself, submitted to theauthority that Jesus placed over him.There is no spiritual ministry apartfrom spiritual authority.

WHAT THE HISTORICAL RECORDS

SAY ABOUT JAMES

• In addition to the nickname that Paulgave him, the Pillar, church history, theearly church historians say that he hadtwo other nicknames. “James theJust”! And his other nickname was“Camel Knees.” James was on hisknees so much that his knees werehardened. So, he’s known as being apillar, a righteous man, who has alwayson his knees until they came to murderhim.

WHOEVER DOES THE WILL OF GOD HAS

JESUS FOR A BROTHER

Mark 3:33-35

33 "Who are my mother and mybrothers?" he asked.34 Then he looked at those seated ina circle around him and said, "Hereare my mother and my brothers!

Mark 3:33-35

35 Whoever does God's will is mybrother and sister and mother."(NIV)

FAITHWORKS CHRISTIAN CHURCH GLOBAL

Presented By:

Pastor Joven SoroFCC Main, San Mateo

6;30 PM Evening ServiceMarch 06, 2016

Website: http://faithworkschristianchurch.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Faithworks-Christian-Church-Global-292363410916567/