Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. (1 Peter 3:8, 9...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. (1 Peter 2:15, 16 NLT)Observation:Our lives, according to God's plan for our lives, are to lived in such a godly way that it silences those who would...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (1 Peter 2:11, 12...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9 NLT)Observation:Where the majority of the Jews had rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the apostle now writes to those who...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. (1 Peter 2:5 NLT)Observation:We are the building products that God is using to build his church. Not only are we part of the building, but are also the priest that minister...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. (1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT)Observation:New born Christians need to finish the...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. (1 Peter 1:23 NLT)Observation:This new life that we have been born again into is not a temporary thing. This will last for ever because it was given by and comes from the eternal living word of the one true...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. (1 Peter 1:3, 4 NLT)Observation:All...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. (James 5:19, 20 NLT)Observation:If someone wanders away from the truth to walk back in sin and they are brought back from their...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. (James 5:7, 8 NLT)Observation:Even before the rain begins in the spring and in the...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. (James 4:17 NLT)Observation:A simple but powerful passage. Sinning is not just about doing things wrong. It is also sin to not do what you should do.Application:Doing the right things is just as important as not doing wrong things. When we know what we should do and do not do it, we are just as much of a...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? (James...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. (James 4:4 NLT)Observation:When he calls them adulterers he is referring to the fact that they had in effect broken their marriage covenant with God by loving the things of the world more...

Scripture – Observation – Application – PrayerScripture:What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask,...

Scripture – Observation – Application – Prayer Scripture: But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:17, 18 NLT) Observation: God’s wisdom produces good...

Scripture – Observation – Application – Prayer Scripture: If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. (James 3:13 NLT) Observation: James goes back to talking about those who we should be allowed teach us. He is wise enough to retrain his own tongue as said above, but also has knowledge and understanding of God’s ways...

Scripture – Observation – Application – Prayer Scripture: Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a...

Scripture – Observation – Application – Prayer  Scripture: Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1 NLT) Observation: James spoke of a problem in the church. People getting saved and then everyone presuming they could teach others even when they were not qualified to do so. He warns that “we”, including himself, will...