Common Sense Conversations

As a Christ follower we know that God is faithful, but if we are honest, there are times when we struggle with really believing that and trusting that. It could be numerous things that cause us to doubt, struggle, and wonder if God’s promise are true, especially for ourselves. Abram struggled with this and we will look at his life to begin this conversation about God’s faithfulness.

Sometimes having the right perspective makes all the difference. When we don’t see clearly we can make poor and uninformed decisions that impact our lives. What if our perspective on sin was more clear? Would that make a difference in how we see and view temptation, sin, and God? That’s the conversation we will have and Adam and Eve will be the example to talk about.

We usually don’t see suffering as providing blessings in our lives. Yet that is what we will see as we conclude having a conversation about Joseph. The way we see the blessings in the suffering is with right perspective. That’s the conversation we will have today.

Suffering is not something we like or want to be part of our day. Yet, because we live in a fallen sinful world, suffering is something that is inevitable. But does suffering come from God, or does suffering come more from others around us? That’s the conversation that we will be having in this podcast.

In our culture, and even our humanity, the idea of suffering is not one that is viewed as something good. This translates over into our Christian walk as well. We seem to have a mindset that God wants good for my life and that suffering is a punishment, consequences, for doing wrong. If we are suffering, if our circumstances aren’t good, then we often times begin to view God in a different perspec...

In this episode we will look at an example of spiritual warfare, the temptation of Jesus. What can we learn from this? How does this teach us real spiritual warfare and how we are to act and respond? That’s what we will have a conversation about.

In this episode we will look at a biblical example of someone who wasn’t being attacked spiritually, but just made a really bad choice that had lasting impact. What we will see is we make these bad choices, not because of spiritual warfare, but because we are walking in the flesh and not the spirit. Let’s have a conversation about David in this episode.

In this episode we will look at the example of Abram and Sarai and see how their situation was making bad decisions in the midst of spiritual warfare that had significant consequences and how we can learn from that in our daily walk. We will see what caused them to make the decisions they did in spite of God’s promises and look at how we do not fall into the same trap they did.

The idea of spiritual warfare has been so overused and muddied in today’s culture that we seem to use it to describe everything. But could it be that we aren’t facing spiritual warfare but simply dealing with the consequences of bad decisions and choices that we have made? Let’s tackle this conversation in the first part of a multi-part podcast discussing this.

Should Christians celebrate Halloween? What about Christmas? What about Valentine’s Day or Easter? And if so, how? What does the Bible mean when it says we [as believer’s] should abstain from every appearance of evil? How do we do that in a fallen world? That’s what this podcast is going to discuss.

There are a lot of topics, circumstances, and discussions going on in our culture, especially Christian culture. But how do we know what lines up with the Bible, what is right, and what seems to be more culturally driven? How do I live a Christian life when, looking at our world today, it seems to be ever changing on what to do? Is there simplicity in living the Christian life? Could it be that we...

There is a difference in head repentance and heart repentance. One will allow you, or leave you in control while the other will not. One is a lie and one is freedom. That’s what this podcast will discuss.

Now that Jonah is in the stomach of the fish, we will look at Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2. But does Jonah really repent? That’s what this podcast will discuss.

After looking at the reason for the story of Jonah to happen, now it’s time to look at the reality. Did the story of Jonah really happen? Was it a made up story, or can we use Scripture to show it’s a real life story? That’s what this podcast will discuss.

Was God punishing Jonah or was Jonah having to deal with the consequences of his choices? Does God punish us today or are we only dealing with the consequences of our choices? That’s what this podcast will discuss.

Often times we mistake having to deal with the consequences of our actions/decisions as punishment. This podcast will look at the difference between consequences for our actions against punishment.

Because Jonah is unwilling to repent, he will be putting numerous other people’s lives in danger. Jonah is showing how that unrepentant sin can get such a strong hold on us that we become self-centered to the point we don’t care about others.

We can be so deep into and blinded by our sin that we miss and are unaware of opportunities in front of us. Jonah shows that he misses opportunities because he has rationalized and justified his sin and hatred for Nineveh. That’s what this podcast will discuss.

The way that we see/view sin is very important. As we look at Jonah in this passage, we will find that the sin that Jonah commits is the same as you and I do, more frequently than we would like to admit. But that sin has a cost. That’s what this podcast will discuss.

We often see biblical people and their stories and don’t think we can relate. We see their bad decisions, their sins, and [maybe don’t want to admit it out loud] that we wouldn’t have made that decision. As we begin to look at Jonah, I think we are more like him than we think and that’s what this podcast will discuss.

There are many today, even preachers and teachers, who claim that Jonah was a fictitious character and the story of Jonah an allegory. So was Jonah a real person and his story real? That’s what this podcast will discuss.

As we begin a new book to study, this podcast will begin by looking at who Jonah was and why the Book of Jonah was written.

In this last episode of the book of 1st John, John brings this letter to a conclusion. His is encouragement to the young believers to abide in Jesus which brings assurance in all other areas of life. We can apply this to our lives today.

John moves to prayer in this passage concerning others dealing with sin. This is a challenging passage, but gives us perspective on how to pray for others rather than being judgmental.

John continues the topic of confidence in faith that is in Jesus. He moves into how we can have confidence in our prayer lives because of the confidence we have in Jesus. That’s what will be discussed in this podcast.