Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

James 5 Warning to Rich Oppressors 5 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. James rebuked the Jewish Christians on many issues. Their lives were not in alignment with the faith they professed. In today's reading they were not only hoarding the money they had made, but they were oppressing the poor, apparently to the point some of their children died. But God heard the cries ...

Click Here to Read or Listen to James 4 Submit Yourselves to God 4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James again addresses behavioral issues with Jewish believers who were spread across world. They were arguing, quarreling, and fighting. We usually argue and fight due to pride. We want to be right, or in this case he says we are catering to, " The desires that battle within ".  Usually this phrase "desires within you" is related to sexual desires. It is the root word for our word "hedonism".  But lust can also be related to wanting something that isn't yours. Basically he is comparing them to little kids who fig...

Click Here to Read or Listen to James 3   Taming the Tongue 3 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. This is one of the few places in scripture where the bible gives a warning to those who would be teachers of God's Word. James teaches that they will be judged more strictly. What does that mean?  The words of Jesus and James remind us that being among the teachers in God’s church is more than a matter of having natural or even spiritual gifts; there is an additional dimension of appropriate character and right living. “James found that this department of church-work had become extremely popular. Hence his warning about its serious responsibilities. God will judge us on the last day with special strictness on account of our influence over others.” (Moffatt) But if t...

Click Here to Read or Listen to James 2 Favoritism Forbidden 2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? No matter how spiritual you are, there is always a temptation to judge people on their outward appearance. The believers in James' day were not only doing this, but also offering preferred seating in the church for those they deemed wealthy. 1 Samuel 16:7 it says, "Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart!"  5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world...

Click Here to Read or Listen to James 1 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. From verse 1, we get key details about this New Testament letter. First, the writer is James, who could be the brother of John, the two sons of Zebedee. Or, he could be James the half-brother of Jesus. Most scholars favor the latter. It is written to Jewish Christians, who were scattered among the nations due to persecution. This is commonly called the "diaspora". It also served God's purpose of spreading the gospel to faraway nations.  In Acts 17, we see that James was a key leader when the church met in Jerusalem to discuss some major issues. This makes James a very early letter in the New Testament. I.e probably before 49 A.D, the date when the council meet. So the dating is probably from 45-48 A.D. Only like 15 years after the resurrection.  Luther called James the " straw gospel ". He didn't like t...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Hebrews 13 13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. As the writer closes out his letter to the Hebrews, he reminds them that faith is shown in love to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but also those who are in need of God's love. When we welcome in a stranger, we might have a heavenly encounter with one of God's angels. There are times when I have helped strangers that there was a twinkle their eyes. Maybe this is what he is talking about.  They are also to show compassion and empathy to those in need and those who are suffering. Note true empathy is when you help prisoners, just as if you were in prison with them. Helping those who are being mistreat...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Hebrews 12 12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Chapter 12 is a pivotal chapter, where the writer moves into application of all he has taught the Hebrews so far. This language of " running the race " sounds a lot like the apostle Paul, who some have suggested wrote this letter. The saints who have gone before us are an encouragement to us. They have gone through the hard times. The times of doubt, times of disappointment, times of persecution, times of straying, and they have stayed fa...

  Click Here to Read or Listen to Hebrews 11 Faith in Action 11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.  3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.  4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.  5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark ...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Hebrews 10 Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All 10 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. The author was writing to a Jewish audience who would have been very familiar with the nature of the sacrificial system. The sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin was offered once a year on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement). The blood of the innocent lamb was poured out and over the altar as symbol of the payment for sin. I.e. There is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.  But the author re...

Click Here to Read or Listen Hebrews 9 Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle 9 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. The author of Hebrews was obviously familiar with the structure of the tabernacle, and all of the regulations and rituals required to enter into God's presence. Each element he mentioned had symbolic significance in the life and history of Israel's relationship with God. They were all reminders of God...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Hebrews 8 The High Priest of a New Covenant 8 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being. There were four covenants in the Old Testament. The Noachic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, and the Davidic Covenant. In each covenant God made promises to the Israelites, which were to be reminders to them of His faithfulness. Each covenant came with an earthly thing as a reminder of God's promises. I.e. Rainbow (Noah), Circumcision (Abraham), Ten Commandments on a tablets of stone (Moses), and a Crown for a King (David).  Within the Mosaic Law there were the Ten Commandments, but also all of the prescribed sacrifices for the high priest to come into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle one time per year to make a sacrifice for the ...