Episodes
Thursday May 22, 2014
TO KNOW GOOD (James 4:15-17)
Thursday May 22, 2014
Thursday May 22, 2014
If we are to know what is good in the sight of God, then we must understand what God’s will is for our lives.
Now, it is easy to say that we are to seek God’s will in all that we do, but how do you really do that? How do you communicate with God on such a basic level that you can determine what His will is for your next moment?
We do this by fellowshipping with God. This is God’s desire, to fellowship with us. When we pray to God and God responds, that is fellowship. It is through this fellowship that we discover God’s will for us. It is through constant fellowship with God that we discover God’s will for the next moment, the next day, and so forth.
As believers, we have the awesome capability of fellowshipping with the almighty Creator of all things. Yet, even as a believer we must deal with the sin in our lives or that sin will cause our communication line with God to be blocked. Sin separates us from God.
If you want to know good, then you must fellowship with God. If you want to fellowship with God, then you must deal with the sin in your life.
Listen to this podcast to learn how fellowshipping with the almighty Creator of all things is possible for you.
Thursday May 15, 2014
CAN YOU DEPEND ON THE FUTURE? (James 4:13-14
Thursday May 15, 2014
Thursday May 15, 2014
Can you depend on the future?
We all make plans for the future. We plan for our kids to go to college. We plan for our retirement. We plan for our career. It is considered prudent to do all of these things, and foolish not to, but can we depend on the future happening like we want it to, like we are planning for it to happen?
It would be great if we see into the future and know exactly what was going to happen, so we could better plan for the events that were going to occur. For instance, if you knew that you were going to lose your job in a few months, you might begin to save money to prepare for it.
This is why horoscopes, soothsayers, fortune tellers, and psychics, are so popular, people will try anything to look out into the future. The problem is that none of these methods really work because they cannot really see into the future. Only God can see the future. Only God is omniscient. Only God knows exactly what you will be doing in the next minute, the next hour, the next day, the next year, until the day you die.
Satan cannot see the future. Satan cannot prophesy, only God can prophesy. So if we are to make plans for the future, wouldn't it make sense to consult the only One who knows exactly what is going to happen to us, when it will happen, and how it will happen? God knows it all.
Listen to this podcast to learn why it is so important to always consider God’s will for your life in any plans that you make, for it is God that commands your heart make the next beat, or He is the One that tells it to stop beating. In this lesson, James tells us how foolish it is to leave God out of the equation when we need to depend on our future.
Saturday May 10, 2014
HOW DO YOU REACT TO SIN? (James 4:9-12)
Saturday May 10, 2014
Saturday May 10, 2014
In our politically correct society, what is the proper reaction that is expected of someone who has offended someone else? Is it to laugh about what was said? Not likely. Is it to ignore it as something inconsequential? A great number of politicians have learned the folly of this reaction. The accepted, and expected, reaction is for the person to publically, sincerely, apologize and promise to never do it again. It is interesting that our society demands this type of reaction even when the offended person is totally unknown to the person who made the insensitive statement.
Contrast this to what most people consider the proper reaction that is expected of someone who has committed a sin against God. The world celebrates these people, praising them for their courage, and condemning those who would point out that this act was indeed a sin against God, and that God is offended by this sin. Not just this sin, but any sin.
The world laughs at the idea of calling something a sin. Our churches today are calling as good and proper what was once called sin. They not only tolerate sin in the church, but they declare their own open-mindedness because they accept sin as normal and accepted. As a result, church members are not dealing with sin in their lives, even though the Bible teaches that sin of any kind offends God.
In this lesson, James describes how the believer is to react to sin that has been identified in their lives. We are to mourn that sin. We are to ask God for forgiveness of that sin, in other words we are to apologize to God. We are then expected to repent of that sin, which means that we are promising God that we will never do it again.
God expects, and as our Creator deserves, a better reaction than we give to someone, whom we do not even know, that we have offended.
Version: 20230822