Common Sense Conversations

If you were to go to a court of law and be accused of being a Christ follower, is there enough evidence to find you guilty? As we look in James 2:14, James is going to show that works do not save us, but works show we are saved.

That’s a tough question. Even more important, if showing favoritism is a sin, do I do it in my life and does the church I serve in do it? These are questions that James dealt with in the early church and we are still dealing with today.

Do you have personal preferences that you put off on other people? Do you show favoritism? Does your church? Are we even aware that we show favoritism or make people live up to our personal preferences? Unfortunately this defines too many people in the church and churches overall. Do we realize that we repel people by being this way? That’s what this podcast will dive into today.

James, in the last verse of chapter 1, tells us what it really means to be a biblical Christian. This dispels what we see today in our culture about what people believe to be a Christian. There’s a big difference in claiming to be a Christian and what it means to be a Christ follower. That’s what this podcast will discuss.

We live in a day and time where people think they can claim to be a Christian but still live like the world. Jesus said in Matthew that whatever is in your heart will come out of your mouth. If Jesus lives in your heart, can you consistently have sinful things come out of your mouth? Not according to Jesus and what He said.

We too often are in a hurry in every area of our lives. Our schedules dictate our day and we are always in a rush. This includes our time in the Word. We hurry through reading the Bible, if we even have time to, and wonder why our Christian life is uninspiring and unfruitful. Maybe we need to allow God’s Word to read us. But that takes time and intentionality. That’s what this podcast will focus on.

James challenges us here with a passage asking if we are doer of the Word or hearer only. So what does it mean to be a “doer” of the Word? What does it mean to be only a “hearer”? We will tackle this and so much more in this session.

Do you find that you spend more time rationalizing your sin or being repulsed by your sin? If we aren’t repulsed by our sin, and sin in general, we are probably being led by our emotions and not the Holy Spirit.

In this passage James teaches us about how important it is to speak less and listen more. But we will also see how our mouth, speaking too much can cause anger to build and come out. This podcast will help us look at what it means to speak less to prevent anger from coming into our lives.

James tells us we need to be quick to listen. But what does it mean to listen? What is the difference between hearing and listening? This podcast will show how hearing and listening are different and how it will effect our spiritual and daily lives.