I’m going to be going over the book of James, chapter by chapter over the next few weeks. It’s one of my favorite books and it holds a lot of relevant wisdom for us today.
The book of James was written by the half-brother of Jesus. James didn’t accept Jesus as Messiah until after He appeared to James after following his resurrection. Almost immediately James got involved in leadership in the local church and started teaching with Peter and Paul. They went against popular teaching and said that it didn’t matter where you were born, what your skin color was, or how rich or how poor you were. There was only one way to be saved, through Christ alone. (Acts 15:11)
James definitely had the heart of a pastor, as he reached out to people of any background, whether Jew or Gentile. His writings are thought to have been written around 44 A.D. which would make it one of the earliest, if not the earliest New Testament book. He was known as ‘James the Just’ because of the way he lived his life, and he eventually was put to death for his beliefs in 62 A.D, according to the historian Josephus.
Who was James?
There are four men referenced in the New Testament as James. There was James, the father of Judas Iscariot, and James, one of the twelve disciples. James, son of Zebedee, brother of John, and also one of Jesus’s favorite disciples, and finally James, the half-brother of Jesus.
I’ve read through this book many times and I would encourage you to do the same. Every time I read it, I’m convicted or encouraged by something in it’s pages. It’s relatively short, but it packs in so much Truth for our lives today! I pray you will be encouraged by this, and also if you have any additional comments or requests, please feel free to e-mail me or post in the comments!
I’ve also included a song at the bottom of the page that has really been encouraging me the past few weeks, and I pray that it speaks to you as well!
In depth look at God's Word 
What an awesome, practical, self-reflecting book to study, Dan! I eagerly await to hear about the gems you’ll glean from it. It is hard to believe that James went from an unbeliever living under the very same roof as Jesus to the head of the Jerusalem church and taking on the role of remaining Jewish to the bone(as Beth Moore says) yet recognizing that Christ’s work on the cross had fulfilled the law and then ultimately dying for his faith. I’m still working on being quick to listen and slow to speak, but there are a ton of good reminders in there that I need to hear daily! Study on, bro.