James 2:14, James 2:19

James 2:14 (KJV)
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

James 2:19 (KJV)
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Lessons in Peoverbs

Proverbs 2:8-12 (MSG)
He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.

Proverbs 2:16 (MSG)
Wise friends will rescue you from the Temptress— that smooth-talking Seductress Who's faithless to the husband she married years ago, never gave a second thought to her promises before God. Her whole way of life is doomed; every step she takes brings her closer to hell. No one who joins her company ever comes back, ever sets foot on the path to real living.

Proverbs 2:20-22 (MSG)
So—join the company of good men and women, keep your feet on the tried-and-true paths. It's the men who walk straight who will settle this land, the women with integrity who will last here. The corrupt will lose their lives; the dishonest will be gone for good.

Proverbs 1:19

Proverbs 1:19 (MSG)
When you grab all you can get, that's what happens: the more you get, the less you are. Lady Wisdom

Luke 2:14

Luke 2:14 (MSG)
Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

Proverbs 28:27

Proverbs 28:27 (KJV)
He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

Romans 5:6

Romans 5:6 (MSG)
Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

Romans 5:4

Romans 5:4 (MSG)
and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.

Romans 5:3

Romans 5:3 (MSG)
There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Psalm 100:3

Psalm 100:3 (KJV)
Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Ezekiel 18:29

Ezekiel 18:29 (MSG)
"And yet Israel keeps on whining, 'That's not fair! God's not fair.' "I'm not fair, Israel? You're the ones who aren't fair.

Ezekiel 18:28

Ezekiel 18:28 (MSG)
Because he faces up to all the wrongs he's committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won't die.

Ezekiel 18:27

Ezekiel 18:27 (MSG)
Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life.

Ezekiel 18:20

Ezekiel 18:20 (MSG)
The soul that sins is the soul that dies. The child does not share the guilt of the parent, nor the parent the guilt of the child. If you live upright and well, you get the credit; if you live a wicked life, you're guilty as charged.

Ezekiel 18:4

Ezekiel 18:4 (MSG)
Every soul-man, woman, child-belongs to me, parent and child alike. You die for your own sin, not another's.

Deuteronomy 24:16

Deuteronomy 24:16 (MSG)
Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin.

1 John 4:9

1 John 4:9 (MSG)
This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.

1 John 4:1

1 John 4:1 (MSG)
My dear friends, don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.

1 John 4:2

1 John 4:2 (MSG)
Here's how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!

1 John 4:6

1 John 4:6 (MSG)
But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.

Matthew 3:10

Matthew 3:10 (MSG)
What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire.

Romans 5:1

Romans 5:1 (MSG)
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

Romans 8:2

Romans 8:2 (MSG)
A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

Ephesians 5:2

Ephesians 5:2 (MSG)
Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Philippians 4:6

Philippians 4:6 (MSG)
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 (MSG)
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.