Discipleship Lessons

This year I took our congregation through the New Testament letter of James. To make application easy to remember, I summarized each message with one main discipleship lesson. James is all about practical discipleship. His letter encourages disciples to live under the lordship of Jesus Christ in all of life. So most of these lessons are very action-oriented. Some also call for self-examination. Together, these lessons help us mature in Christlikeness, as we aim to be doers of the Word (1:22).

1. Be joyful because God is using our trials for spiritual transformation (1:1-4). 
2. Pray confidently with a stable, God-centered faith (1:5-8).
3. Reverse your thinking in how you view yourself and others (1:9-11).
4. God is completely sovereign and yet we are fully responsible (1:12-18).
5. The evidence of our discipleship is found in our godly speech (1:19-21).
6. The evidence of our discipleship is also found in our obedience to Jesus (1:21-27). 
7. The glory of Christ should grab our gaze, not gold and garments (2:1-9). 
8. The only cure for our sin is obedience to Christ that rests on his mercy (2:10-13).
9. No one can separate genuine faith from active works (2:14-26). 
10. Your tongue is evidence of who controls your life (3:1-12). 
11. Jealously and selfish ambition will destroy your discipleship (3:13-18). 
12. Sinful pleasure and pride will also destroy your discipleship (4:1-6a). 
13. Pursuing humility is the way to repair our discipleship (4:7-10). 
14. Disciples are cautious when talking about people and future plans (4:11-17).
15. Living in luxury and self-indulgence carries eternal consequences (5:1-7).
16. There is a great reward when you persevere in your discipleship (5:7-11).
17. Prayer is the lifeline of our discipleship (5:13-18).
18. Discipleship must be carefully grounded and guarded in the truth (5:12,19-20).