Introduction to James
James calls himself "a servant of God and the Lord Jesus" (1:1). He is identified in Galatians 2:9 as "a pillar of the church," and was called James the Just, a title that speaks to his intense piety. Even Josephus, the Jewish historian, said that one of the reasons Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70 was because St. James was martyred there!
This single-minded devotion and intensity translates directly into his writing. The essence of James' letter is a call to "pure religion" (1:27). It gives no quarter to licentious, cheap, or unserious Christian living. Over the fall we will be walking through James, asking God to give us this kind of zeal, to make us practitioners of James' pure religion.
Fall Preaching Calendar
Below is our schedule. Read along and read ahead!
August 2 - James 1:1-4
August 9 - James 1:5-11
August 16 - James 1:12-18
August 23 - James 1:19-27
August 30 - James 2:1-7
September 6 - James 2:8-13
September 13 - James 2:14-17
September 20 - James 2:18-26
September 27 - James 3:1-5
October 4 - James 3:6-12
October 11 - James 3:13-18
October 18 - James 4:1-12
October 25 - James 4:13-17
November 1 - James 5:1-6
November 8 - James 5:7-12
November 15 - James 5:13-18
November 22 - James 5:19-20
