Jesus Fellowship: Lord, please work things out. 12/8/15

Day 341

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/3John.1

3 John
1 The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters,[a] even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

December 8th

Initial faith and tested faith

"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality." James 2:1
When James talks about faith in his Epistle, it is not in the same sense that Paul speaks of faith in Romans and Galatians. In those Epistles, Paul is speaking of initial faith for initial justification. Initial faith comes by hearing the gospel. Through this faith we are saved and justified in a split second. This initial experience of salvation is by grace and not of works (Eph. 2:8- 9). It is in this sense that faith is used in many of the passages in Romans and Galatians.
But the faith James is talking about is an already existing faith, an indwelling faith. This faith dwells inside of us and needs to be stirred up (2 Tim. 1:5- 6). It is faith that can also be tested and tried to such an extent that it proves to you that your salvation experience was not just something emotional. You can pass through trials and tribulations, counting it all joy. This genuine faith passes through the trials and continues all the way to the judgment seat of Christ.
When genuine faith is tested, it always has works with it. For example, James 2:1 tells us not to hold faith with partiality in our hearts. How do you hold faith? How does it dwell in you? In which way do you possess faith? Is it hypocritical? or is it genuine? James is talking about an existing faith that lives in us. He is telling us not to hold the faith of our Lord Jesus with something incompatible with it. So James is not talking about receiving faith but of holding faith in a way that is compatible with the Lord. In this Epistle good works are very precious because they are the expansion, the outflowing, of faith and grace

Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)

Anna, Ariana, Ariel, Georgie, Linnette, Wes, and Zoe.