{"content":[{"text":"August 1, 2020","bbox":{"left":0.147828,"top":0.109302,"width":0.13839700000000002,"height":0.01692700000000001}},{"text":"Lesson #1 –Faith and Wisdom","bbox":{"left":0.147828,"top":0.144151,"width":0.28108600000000006,"height":0.016926999999999998}},{"text":"Scripture Focus – James 1:1-11","bbox":{"left":0.147828,"top":0.178999,"width":0.294253,"height":0.016926999999999998}},{"text":"ICE BREAKERS – \n 1. How can doubting affect a person’s prayer life? \n 2. What are some ways to encourage a friend who feels that God is not \n answering his or her prayers because of a lack of faith? \n 3. What should you do when you begin to recognize double-mindedness in \n yourself?","bbox":{"left":0.147828,"top":0.213848,"width":0.684504,"height":0.132381}},{"text":"Key Verse: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all \n men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. —James 1:5","bbox":{"left":0.147828,"top":0.377484,"width":0.6864350000000001,"height":0.03844200000000003}},{"text":"LESSON BACKGROUND \n There may be as many as five men by the name of James in the New \n Testament, so we take care not to mix them up (see Mark 1:19; 3:18; 6:3; 15:40; \n Luke 6:16). Tradition has taken the author of the book of James to refer to James \n who was the half-brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19). \n Jesus and James grew up in a large family (see Mark 6:3, lesson 7). Along with \n the other brothers of Jesus, James did not believe in Jesus during Jesus' lifetime \n (John 7:3-5). But when the Day of Pentecost arrived after Jesus' resurrection, \n they had come around (Acts 1:14). Paul indicates that James himself had been a \n witness of the risen Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). \n The chronology is not entirely clear, but perhaps by the mid-40s in the first \n century, James had become a leader in the Jerusalem church. His exact role is \n not specified, but Paul associates him with the apostles on at least one occasion \n (Galatians 1:19). Paul also lists James among the “pillars” of the church (2:9); \n James was a leader in a group that included apostles and elders (Acts 15). \n The significance of this is heightened when we consider the centrality of \n Jerusalem in the thinking of the earliest Christians, who were of Jewish \n background. The Jerusalem church was more than just one congregation among \n many; it was the mother church. What happened there mattered to the entire \n church (example: Acts 15:4, 22-29). We see James's impact on the first-century","bbox":{"left":0.147828,"top":0.447484,"width":0.704103,"height":0.431775}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}