What it is to be a Christ-like believer

James 4:1-10 Stop Fighting With Each Other

1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Aren’t they caused by the selfish desires that fight to control you? 2You want what you don’t have, so you commit murder. You’re determined to have things, but you can’t get what you want. You quarrel and fight. You don’t have the things you want, because you don’t pray for them. 3When you pray for things, you don’t get them because you want them for the wrong reason—for your own pleasure. 4You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that love for this evil world is hatred toward God? Whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God. 5Do you think this passage means nothing? It says, “The Spirit that lives in us wants us to be his own.” 6But God shows us even more kindness.[or grace] Scripture says, “God opposes arrogant people, but he is kind to humble people.”
7So place yourselves under God’s authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. 8Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters. 9Be miserable, mourn, and cry. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into gloom. 10Humble yourselves in the Lord’s presence. Then he will give you a high position.

James 4:11-12 Stop Slandering Each Other

11Brothers and sisters, stop slandering each other. Those who slander and judge other believers slander and judge God’s teachings. If you judge God’s teachings, you are no longer following them. Instead, you are judging them. 12There is only one teacher and judge. He is able to save or destroy you. So who are you to judge your neighbor?
James 4:13-17 Don’t Brag About Your Plans for the Future

13Pay attention to this! You’re saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money.” 14You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears. 15Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and carry out our plans.” 16However, you brag because you’re arrogant. All such bragging is evil. 17Whoever knows what is right but doesn’t do it is sinning.


James 5:1-6 Advice to Rich People

1Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you. 2Your riches have decayed, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. 3Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you. Like fire, it will destroy your body. You have stored up riches in these last days. 4The wages you refused to pay the people who harvested your fields shout to God against you. The Lord of Armies has heard the cries of those who gather the crops. 5You have lived in luxury and pleasure here on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered people who have God’s approval, even though they didn’t resist you.

James 5:7-11 Be Patient

7Brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord comes again. See how farmers wait for their precious crops to grow. They wait patiently for fall and spring rains. 8You, too, must be patient. Don’t give up hope. The Lord will soon be here. 9Brothers and sisters, stop complaining about each other, or you will be condemned. Realize that the judge is standing at the door. 10Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They were patient when they suffered unjustly. 11We consider those who endure to be blessed. You have heard about Job’s endurance. You saw that the Lord ended Job’s suffering because the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

James 5:12-18 Don’t Take Oaths

12Above all things, my brothers and sisters, do not take an oath on anything in heaven or on earth. Do not take any oath. If you mean yes, say yes. If you mean no, say no. Do this so that you won’t be condemned.

Prayer Is Powerful

13If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms. 14If you are sick, call for the church leaders. Have them pray for you and anoint you with olive oil[People in ancient times used olive oil for healing.] in the name of the Lord. 15(Prayers offered in faith will save those who are sick, and the Lord will cure them.) If you have sinned, you will be forgiven. 16So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed. Prayers offered by those who have God’s approval are effective. 17Elijah was human like us. Yet, when he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell on the ground for three-and-a-half years. 18Then he prayed again. It rained, and the ground produced crops. Help Those Who Have Wandered Away From the Truth 19My brothers and sisters, if one of you wanders from the truth, someone can bring that person back. 20Realize that whoever brings a sinner back from the error of his ways will save him from death, and many sins will be forgiven.


Romans 4 We Have God’s Approval Because of Faith

1What can we say that we have discovered about our ancestor Abraham? 2If Abraham had God’s approval because of something he did, he would have had a reason to brag. But he could not brag to God about it. 3What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and that faith was regarded by God to be his approval of Abraham.”  4When people work, their pay is not regarded as a gift but something they have earned. 5However, when people don’t work but believe God, the one who approves ungodly people, their faith is regarded as God’s approval. 6David says the same thing when he speaks this blessing: God approves of a person without that person’s earning it. David said, 7“Blessed are those whose disobedience is forgiven
and whose sins are pardoned. 8Blessed is the person whom the Lord never considers sinful.”  9Are only the circumcised people blessed, or are uncircumcised people blessed as well? We say, “Abraham’s faith was regarded as God’s approval of him.” 10How was his faith regarded as God’s approval? Was he circumcised or was he uncircumcised at that time? He had not been circumcised. 11Abraham’s faith was regarded as God’s approval while he was still uncircumcised. The mark of circumcision is the seal of that approval. Therefore, he is the father of every believer who is not circumcised, and their faith, too, is regarded as God’s approval of them. 12He is also the father of those who not only are circumcised but also are following in the footsteps of his faith. Our father Abraham had that faith before he was circumcised. 13So it was not by obeying Moses’ Teachings that Abraham or his descendants received the promise that he would inherit the world. Rather, it was through God’s approval of his faith. 14If those who obey Moses’ Teachings are the heirs, then faith is useless and the promise is worthless. 15The laws in Moses’ Teachings bring about anger. But where laws don’t exist, they can’t be broken. 16Therefore, the promise is based on faith so that it can be a gift.[or grace] Consequently, the promise is guaranteed for every descendant, not only for those who are descendants by obeying Moses’ Teachings but also for those who are descendants by believing as Abraham did. He is the father of all of us, 17as Scripture says: “I have made you a father of many nations.” 
Abraham believed when he stood in the presence of the God who gives life to dead people and calls into existence nations that don’t even exist. 18When there was nothing left to hope for, Abraham still hoped and believed. As a result, he became a father of many nations, as he had been told: “That is how many descendants you will have.” 19Abraham didn’t weaken. Through faith he regarded the facts: His body was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old, and Sarah was unable to have children. 20He didn’t doubt God’s promise out of a lack of faith. Instead, giving honor to God for the promise, he became strong because of faith 21and was absolutely confident that God would do what he promised. 22That is why his faith was regarded as God’s approval of him. 23But the words “his faith was regarded as God’s approval of him” were written not only for him 24but also for us. Our faith will be regarded as God’s approval of us who believe in the one who brought Jesus, our Lord, back to life. 25Jesus, our Lord, was handed over to death because of our failures and was brought back to life so that we could receive God's approval.