Theologians and historians tell us that the book of James is one of the earliest books written to the New Church of Jesus Christ, perhaps around AD48. The prevailing thought seems to be - it's written by James who is identified as a brother of Jesus the carpenter, in Mark 6:3 - another of the children of Mary.

James has quite a history - he was in the Upper Room at Pentecost, he took over the leadership of the Jerusalem Church and presided at the Jerusalem Council where the church leaders reached an agreement for the basis of Christian Fellowship. You see that is Acts 15.

In this book of James, whilst the importance of faith is acknowledged, just as importantly is the acknowledgement of, and the need for a genuine faith in God and Jesus Christ to outwardly produce good works!

James discusses, I believe in great detail:

• the basic, real and invariable nature of Christianity;
• many of the significant individual features of Christianity
• the intrinsic and indispensable qualities that characterise Christianity

In short - James provides us with a check list for the living of our Christian lives.

Remember 2 Corinthians 5:10 Amplified Bible - For we believers will be called to account and must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities.

If we break down, scrutinise and put into practice the information contained in the book of James, I think we will do an enormous amount of good not only for ourselves and those whom we love, but also for those others around us in the world in which we live.

Let's start together in Chapter 1.

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad among the Gentiles in the dispersion: Greetings (rejoice)!

James - self identification - ownership of what comes next in this letter that he is writing...no anonymous comments here. Speak the truth and own it - be responsible and with that comes some accountability.

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 1 - understand and develop ownership, truth, responsibility, accountability. It's important we learn to replace blame and even possibly a victim mentality with responsibility.

A servant - Decide who you are going to serve and why. Be a representative willingly. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 - Ambassadors for Christ

There is only so much of you to go around and there is only so much productive time that you have. Make a decision to serve and stick to it - through serving others we learn so much: sacrifice, humility, process, compassion, creates greater impact, builds stronger relationships, develops selflessness - the list goes on and on.

A servant of God - so powerful - true acknowledgement of God's existence, power and authority and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ - to me that means to obey the Word of God. Jesus said in John 14:15 - "If you love me keep my commandments". As we obey the Word we follow Jesus, obey Jesus and serve Jesus.

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 2 - serving, obedience to the Word of God and the service of others is a fundamental Christian requirement.