00:00Hey, shalom, brothers and sisters. Welcome back. I want to talk about, I want to do an
00:05introduction to the book of James in the New Testament. James to just the brother of Yeshua
00:12and successor of the Messianic Church. Let's see what we could dig up right here. While
00:20most date the book of James in the early 60s CE, it is possible that it may have been written
00:27before 50 CE. If this were the case, James would be one of the earliest New Testament books
00:34compiled. The author of James is likely James, the brother of Yeshua, although scripture records
00:42four men with this name, two did not have the clout necessary to produce these epistles, and the
00:50other James, the apostle, was too early, having died around 44 CE. Now, the James, the apostle,
00:57was one half of the sons of thunder. His brother, John, he lived, he lived and wrote the book of
01:05Revelations. But James, there's so many James in there, you know, it does get kind of confusing
01:11in scripture, but this was, they say it was the brother, you know, the head of the assembly,
01:20you know, in Jerusalem. And we read about that in the book of Acts, where there was, you know,
01:26Paul and Peter and the other apostles were summoned back to the assembly to talk about the circumcision of
01:33the Gentiles, if they should do it or not. And anyways, background, the book of James was written
01:40to the twelve tribes, probably meaning to Hebrews, meaning, well, really, it was, he was doing it to
01:47the twelve tribes scattered throughout the world, the twelve tribes of Israel, not just Judah.
01:54The book is in contrast to other writings of the New Testament, particularly, particularly
01:58to those of the apostle Paul. While Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles and spent a great deal of
02:04time showing the distinction between justification and works, James focuses on the way justification
02:12of works harmonize in salvation's plan. James states that faith without works is dead.
02:19Works just, works justify faith. Faith justifies to man. That's chapter 2, verse 22. He teaches that
02:27justification along with sanctification, which means setting one apart through obedience to the word
02:34or necessary for salvation. Throughout James, throughout James emphasizes good works, which is a major
02:41theme of his epistle and which translates to true faith. Because James held strongly to obedience,
02:49Martin Luther, who advocated a doctrine of faith alone, called James an epistle of straw. So this man,
02:57Martin Luther, the founder of the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation,
03:01is second-guessing inspired word, you know, through James, Yeshua's brother. James centers on moral living,
03:10pure worship, and impartiality among believers. For example, he defines pure religion as helping
03:17those in need and keeping oneself unspotted from the world. Chapter 1, verse 27. He shows that compassion
03:26and proper worship and proper worship operate together. It is not enough to simply go through
03:30the motions. A believer must also learn and apply the principles taught by Yeshua and his apostles.
03:39While the majority of today's teachings focus on faith, few will emphasize obedience.
03:44For many clerics, the mere mention of works arouses negative thoughts of what they call
03:50legalism and works righteousness. While it is true that a person is justified by grace apart from
03:58works, it is not true that believers are free to disobey the laws and commandments established by
04:05Yahweh himself. While some Old Testament laws have been superseded, much of Yahweh's laws is still in
04:13effect, including the Ten Commandments. In Matthew 5, Yeshua made the law even more potent and binding.
04:20The law will be active and enforced through the end of the age. And you can read that in
04:29Revelations chapter 14, verse 12, and chapter 22, verse 14.
04:37And on the coming of the kingdom, those who obey it will be given access to the kingdom and the
04:43tree
04:43of life. Revelations 22, verse 14. So, basically, you know, a lot of these churches, you know,
04:54believe we're just saved by grace alone, not works, not faith. I mean, well, a little bit of faith here
05:00and there, but it's not the way it is, not the way the book says. And who are you going
05:04to believe?
05:04You're going to believe man? You're going to believe the inspired word? You know,
05:09it's simple, it's logical, you know, self-evident that that's what, you know, we go by the word. We
05:16don't go by what man says. Look, look at the carnage and craziness man has brought into this world
05:21through the devil. You know, it's all upside down. It's confusing. You know, people look at,
05:27look at the wrongs and think they're right and think the rights are wrong just for their own selfish,
05:33carnal ambitions. That's not the way it is. And as for James, you know, the early, the early church
05:40fathers, you know, Eusebius, but way back before Eusebius, you know, is, it's stated and it's, you
05:48know, I'd have, I'd have no reason to disbelieve it, but Yeshua, he turned the reins of the assembly
05:55over to his brother, uh, James, the just, he was the head of the church, not Peter, like what the
06:01Rome says. Rome, Rome don't know that much. You know, they just know their own rituals and things
06:07like that. And the Protestant daughters, of course, follow suit, even though there's a couple of things,
06:13you know, they rebelled against, but you know, they still hold up to a lot of those Catholic beliefs
06:20and that's not, you know, that's an apostate church is what you would call it and churches.
06:28But, but then after that, you know, history also stated that, you know, when, uh, James, the just
06:35was, was, uh, martyred, martyred and, um, thrown off, thrown off the stairs by the temple, his brother
06:44Simeon, which was Yeshua's other brother, he, uh, took over the reins of the church. And when,
06:52and when, just before Jerusalem was, uh, surrounded by the armies of Rome, they had to call him to get
07:00out. And it was Simeon who took them out, took the, took the assembly out, escaped to the mountains
07:06and other places to, uh, Pella took up, took them out there. Cause when they remember, they remember
07:13what Yeshua said and, and his prophecies, you know, when you see armies surrounding Jerusalem,
07:18you better run to the mountains, you better hope it's not in a little winter or on a Sabbath.
07:23And sure enough, it wasn't. But anyways, I just wanted to give you an intro about James,
07:29you know, because James, James is in the back of the book where he should be in the front of
07:33the book
07:34and the, uh, church, the churches, they purposely put Paul in the front and, and all his writings
07:42and everything, which Paul, Paul's a good, you know, I don't got nothing against Paul,
07:47you know, it's kind of obvious that they, they put the, the Hebrews, the Hebrew authors and,
07:52you know, apostles and in the back, you know, you had the book of Hebrews in the back, James,
07:57John, you know, Jude, Peter, they're all in the back, you know, but that's all I want to say about
08:04that. And I encourage you to study the book because it's a wealth of knowledge and life lessons. You can
08:09learn from it. And, uh, thank you again, you know, please subscribe to my channel and I'll be getting
08:17more content out. So go ahead and, uh, hit the notification bell and that like button and comment
08:23below, you know, let me know what you think about the book of James and if it's impacted your life
08:28and how. And I thank you again until we meet again, peace out and shalom.
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