#22: Has Jesus Transformed your Life?

On episode 22, Tim focuses on James chapter 2:14-22 - is there evidence for the faith you have?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into episode number twenty two of Bringing Heaven Down.
My name is Tim and I'm the host of this
daily devotional podcast that comes out Monday through Friday. While
you're here, please rate and review the show and make
sure you follow the show wherever you are currently listening
to it so that the podcast will show up in

(00:21):
your feed Monday through Friday this week. These past few days,
I've really been in this evangelism mode. I don't know why,
but I feel led by the Holy Spirit to talk
about evangelism and how we demonstrate our faith to others.
So there's a particular section in James Chapter two that

(00:45):
I want to talk about today because the Bible is
clear that we are saved by faith alone. But there
should be more than that, too, because there should be
some evidence for the faith that we claim to have.

(01:07):
So that's what we're going to talk about today. Hold
on tight to that steering wheel, grab your favorite drink
or a cup of coffee, and let's bring Heaven a
little closer together. As I was saying, we are saved

(01:28):
by faith alone because there is no good work that
can get us to heaven, because we are naturally sinful
from day one when we were born. The Bible is clear. However,
it says this in James Chapter two, verses fourteen, it says,

(01:49):
what good is it, my brothers and sisters? If someone
claims to have faith, but as no deeds, can such
faith save them. Suppose a brother or a sister is
without clothes and daily food. If one of you says
to them, go in peace, keep warm and well fed,
but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

(02:10):
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is
not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say
you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith
without deeds, and I will show you my faith by
my deeds. You believe that there is one God good.
Even the demons believe that, and shudder, you foolish person.

(02:32):
Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he
did When he offered his son Isaac on the altar.
You see that his faith and his actions were working together,
and his faith was made complete by what he did.
I think an easy way to summarize what we just

(02:55):
read is by asking a simple question, has your life
been transformed because you know Jesus does your life look
different because you know Jesus? Do you talk differently? Do

(03:16):
you act differently? Another way to look at it is
to say, around your workplace, your closest friends, your family,
if we had to pull them with a specific question

(03:38):
and we asked them, is Billy Bob a Christian? And
does Billy Bob know Jesus? Are you confident that the
answer to that question would be yes? And would you

(03:59):
wonder if the answer to that question would be known?
Because this is what James chapter two is talking about.
Although we are saved by faith alone, there should be
evidence by deeds for the faith that we have because
our lives should be completely transformed because we know Jesus.

(04:26):
I think another way to look at it is to
say this, if you have a favorite sports team. For me,
it's the Minnesota Sports teams and the timber Wolves are
in the Western Conference Finals. Do your closest friends know
who your favorite sports team is? And I would assume

(04:51):
that the answer to that question would be yes, probably
because you talk about them. You talk about your favorite players,
You talk about how they played on Sunday or Tuesday
or Thursday. You talk about the disappointments and the victories,
and the reason why they know who your favorite sports

(05:12):
team is is because there's evidence for this team being
your favorite sports team because you cheer for them, you
talk about them, you act a different way when they're
on TV. You get excited about them. It's the same
thing with Jesus. Do you get excited when you talk

(05:33):
about Jesus? Is your life different now that you know
Jesus than it was before you knew Jesus? And if
it's not, or if it's not to the degree that
you would hope, what needs to change? What areas in

(05:54):
your life? Do you need to take a step of
faith and say, I'm cutting this habit, I'm changing the
way I talk in this way. I'm going to clean
up my vocabulary. I'm going to be generous and stewards
of what God has blessed me with because our lives

(06:16):
should be and should look transformed because we know Jesus.
That's really all I have to say today. Thank you
for tuning in and thank you for choosing Jesus today.
I hope this was uplifting and encouraging and challenging everyone.

(06:36):
I hope you have a great day.