Are You Saved?

The essence of true Christian identity and faith takes center stage as we embark on a transformative journey together. With exciting plans for the channel on the horizon, including an interview with a cherished friend who has made significant contributions to ministry work, we tackle pivotal topics like leadership and pastoral mental health. Our episode also features a heartfelt conversation with a brave woman who found solace in our content amidst personal tragedy. Join us as we explore scripture and deepen our faith, with an open invitation to share your stories and engage with our community through email and social media.

Reflecting on Jesus' profound teachings, we examine the spiritual rebirth required for eternal salvation. Many modern believers find themselves spiritually malnourished, reliant on external beliefs rather than fostering a deep, personal connection with God. Through the story of the rich young ruler, we highlight the importance of a heart surrendered to God, exploring common misconceptions about church roles and finances. We aim to demystify these topics, emphasizing personal responsibility in faith and encouraging a genuine relationship with Christ that goes beyond rule-following.

In our quest to live out true Christian faith, a recent inspiring experience of giving and prayer leads us to discuss the importance of actions reflecting faith. Drawing inspiration from James, we urge listeners to evaluate their spiritual health and commitment, emphasizing that salvation is a lifelong pursuit, not just a one-time decision. We challenge you to break away from traditional family churches if they no longer nourish your spirit, urging you to find a community that aligns with God's purpose for you. By sparking curiosity and deepening your walk with Christ, this episode serves as a call to live a life set apart, preparing for His return.

Chapters

• 0:00 Examining True Christian Identity
• 13:42 Eternal Salvation Through Spiritual Rebirth
• 19:26 The Challenge of True Discipleship
• 31:11 Living Out True Christian Faith
• 36:49 Lifelong Pursuit of Faith

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the new subscribers. If you haven't yet, consider subscribing, hit that bell notification so that you can see every time I put out a new video. A major portion of you that watch my videos haven't subscribed yet, so why not? It's free. You can also find a PayPal link below if you want to give a one-time or give a monthly to support the channel. Anything, great or small, is appreciated. Now let's get into the video. What is up? Faith and Failures family. Thank you so much for joining me today on another episode. If you're watching on YouTube, thank you so much. Make sure you do like and subscribe and even comment with and I know you see my legs. I'm wearing shorts. I do have pants on for those of you watching online, but if you're listening on a podcast platform, whatever it may be, please download the episode, share with your friends. Hopefully you can really get some encouragement from these episodes. I went from kind of a and I'm still going to do some. I have a. First of all, I'll tell you a little bit of stuff that's coming up on the schedule. I got a couple of things in the next couple of months and maybe even one larger fish to start off the year. I'm not sure yet how it's going to work out, but I got a friend of mine that has been on Fox. He's written blogs for Fox. He's a well-known, well-traveled, he's done years and years of ministry, and I asked him if he would be willing to come on and talk about a leadership, talk about pastoral mental health. I think that is something that, as far as I've seen, we kind of gets shuffled and put to the wayside. So I want to talk a little bit about that. So I will be putting out little teasers and let y'all know when that's going to happen as well. As another person reached out to me on TikTok. They said that through one of my videos they were encouraged One of the little TikToks on there and they mentioned and kind of shared a little bit with me about their, I think, their loss of a child and there was some serious stuff going on and I said, hey, you know you're a Christian woman, do you mind coming on the podcast? She said yes. She said this month is full, so stay tuned for that. Just want to let you know we got some cool things coming up as well as continuing to do this Bible teaching type podcast Like I.

Speaker 1: 2:33

I like doing where I was, live streaming and doing, you know, going on the rabbit trails of different topics and things like that. But I'm really I love teaching and so I want to kind of get back. I'm going to do some some of that every now and then. But to me, if I'm going to have limited amount of time, I want my, my time is valuable. So I'm trying to teach my teenager this to value your time so that you don't waste it. And for me, my value and my priority is to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to study and dive into scripture and to help you as a believer or as a non-believer, whichever the case may be, to want to dive into scripture and get to know the word better, get to know the word better, get to know God better, and so that's kind of my heart. But I really also love, love, love doing interviews. I love that, that dialogue back and forth, so trying to get those.

Speaker 1: 3:35

If you ever want to be interviewed on this podcast, you have something to share. Whether it's a testimony, whether it's a struggle you've been going through or have gone through, feel free to email me at faithandfailures at gmailcom. That's faithandfailures at gmailcom. You could also join our private Facebook group. There's seven, maybe 800 people now on this YouTube channel. We have over 10,000 subscribers, 10,300 and something. So praise the Lord for that. All glory to God. So let's dive into today. So you can probably tell by the title of this video.

Speaker 1: 4:11

There's a question that most of the time, when you ask people who have been going to church for a while they've been a part of the Christian ecosystem you ask them this question and what is one of the things that they start doing? They start naming off things they do instead of fruit of who they are. Now, what does that mean? What's the question? So you can tell by the title are you a Christian? And most people will be like oh yeah, man, I go to church here, my parents went to this church, my dad's a pastor, my this and that you know I was born and raised Baptist, blah, blah, blah, whatever you know. Or I'm a Catholic, I say my Hail Marys, or whatever they do. Okay, that's not making fun, that's a legitimate answer that I have received. Oh yeah, I go to to this this St Mary's, blah, blah, blah. And they start like telling me all the things they do to be a Christian, when in reality, uh, it's the opposite.

Speaker 1: 5:19

So you don't do things to be a Christian, you actually give your life to Christ and therefore it produces good works out of you. Because you cannot and this is biblical For those of you who say different you pray to a saint or you whatever to help you and blah, blah, blah. They're not God. And so when you pray to a God, pray to a person who has passed on, you are, in essence, instead of the veil being torn and you coming before the father and praying to Jesus, praying to the Holy spirit, you have, in essence, made an idol out of that person.

Speaker 1: 5:55

I'm not talking about, you know, statues and reverence and and and remembering them, but I mean, peter even said when he was with Jesus I think it was Moses and Elijah, I think, if I'm remembering correctly if not correct me in the comments, I know probably some of you will anyways but he didn't know what to do. So he's like oh, let's build, let's build monuments. And Jesus shut it down. Right then, because it was not something right to do. Read that story. I don't know what you take away from it, but I think sometimes we push to idolize people and it's wrong, it's not the right thing to do. So, that being said, so that being said, are you saved?

Speaker 1: 6:45

So let's look at this verse. So Matthew, chapter seven, verse 21. And this is, to me, the scariest verse in the Bible. Now, why is it the scariest verse? Because this is a direct word for church people. Not everyone who calls out to me, lord, lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. So I want you to ask yourself a simple question. This should be a question. If you say you know God, this should be a pretty easy answer. But I believe and this is something that I've been for years now saying to my church Part of the mission and vision that I have for the church that I feel God put on my heart was spiritual maturity, spiritual maturity, because spiritual maturity, spiritual maturity, spiritual maturity leads to other places in your life to become mature, because you're aligning your spirit with God's spirit and you are submitting yourself to a holy God.

Speaker 1: 7:53

And when you submit yourself to a holy God, you become a holy people. And when you become a holy people, you are aligned with what he desires to happen in your life, and when you are aligned with what he wants to happen in your life, and when you are aligned with what he wants to happen in your life, things go better. That isn't. That isn't. It's not to say things are perfect or things are magically good and great and perfect and nobody ever comes against you in this, and that we're actually promised the opposite. So when we say, are you saved, what does that mean? True salvation is not merely about external actions, but about a deep, authentic relationship with God that should transform our lives.

Speaker 1: 8:37

Now the question, are you saved? Isn't about a one-time decision. I had a friend in high school. Him and I would have this, I guess you called it argument him, and I would have this back and forth, and he was a what is a common word or phrase? Once saved, always saved. Apparently, if you're a denomination of Baptist, sometimes that seems to be tethered to that denomination. I'm not sure exactly why, but like because you once accepted Christ, now you're good and you can do anything, and this was his attitude.

Speaker 1: 9:10

And then some will say, well then you were never saved. That's just semantics. We're not going to dive into that, that's not today's topic but are you saved? Should be a to ask themselves to prompt an internal examination of what am I doing in my day-to-day life, every single day. What am I doing to externally show what God has done internally? Now remember this. I said this before and it can get very muddy and confusing. I said this before and it can get very muddy and confusing. External actions will not produce an internal salvation, but internal salvation will produce external actions. Even in the word it says faith without works is dead, like it's not going to be. You getting saved and then you're just good to go and you never do anything. Holy, you never correct anything, you never change anything in your life. The word of God. Okay, let's go back to the old Testament. And then you're just good to go and you never do anything. Holy, you never correct anything, you never change anything in your life. The word of God. Okay, let's go back to the old Testament. Then we'll go to the new Testament.

Speaker 1: 10:12

Old Testament Moses comes out of the mountain and he has the tablets. Okay, the first tablet download. He has 10 commandments. Okay, he breaks and he gets mad. Let's go back or let's scoot forward a little bit. Comes back down. Now he's got the new version. He's got the 2.0. All right, he's got the tablets.

Speaker 1: 10:30

10 commandments what was the reason for the 10 commandments? It was because a holy people, a set apart people, was so damaged, so sinful, that they had to have some sort of regulation and parameters to live their life. So the 10 commandments was given, god tried, he even wiped out the earth, started over again. And because we are sinful creatures, we are inherently sinful. It's like you don't have to teach a child to be disobedient. You don't have to teach a child to lie they can lie better but you don't teach a child to lie. You don't teach a child to not do what they are told not to do.

Speaker 1: 11:14

It's just my little daughter. Right now she's a year and a little bit over a month. She does not have to be taught that when I say no to put there's a, can you see it on the screen? Yeah, right here. Right there, there is a router that is wired into the wall and it's plugged in right there. She comes in my office Sometimes she has some toys. There's not any in here at the moment. Well, there's a block over there, but I cleaned some of them out because I was feeling cluttered. As you can see, I have a clutter problem. I lay things down. Actually, that's my wife's work right there. She did that. Uh, shout out, shout out, jesse Tillman. And she reaches for that because it's got wires hanging and it's just right at her eye level. So, yeah, she's going to reach for it. Well, I told her no and guess what happened? She reached for it again. So I went over there and I smacked her hand.

Speaker 1: 12:13

Some of you may be like well, it's your fault for having it that low. She needs to learn what no means. Some adults, a lot of adults, need to learn what no means it's okay to be told no. So are you saved? Are you saved?

Speaker 1: 12:36

Not a one-time decision, it is an ongoing and this is what we call in my denomination and from biblical texts, as far as where we get our theology and all of our key beliefs. We call it sanctification. So an ongoing process of every single day dedicating, saying yes, I will live for Christ today. It's an ongoing journey of faith. It's an everyday decision of obedience and an internal transformation that then produces external works. Faith without works is dead. So you having faith, you really have faith, you really believe, you are really trusting God, then it should produce in you external results, but external results doing all this stuff, and you know what's up, and it just it doesn't do anything for you as far as Christ is concerned. It doesn't automatically mean you get into heaven. It's just not how it works. I wish that it did. That would make, probably things a lot easier.

Speaker 1: 13:42

But this is why Jesus looked to the Pharisees and said they were whitewashed tombs. He said live like them, but don't be like them, because they had the law down, they had what they were supposed to do down to the T, but it meant nothing, because inside of their hearts there was no relationship, there was no depth to their relationship with God, there was no actual substance. And this is what I believe is one of the biggest problems with the church today Is we're walking around as malnourished zombies claiming Christ and we have no clue who God really is, because we're living off of our parents' beliefs, parents' relationships with God and we don't have any truly ourselves. And so then we become malnourished because there's no actual substance that we've been consuming ourselves. And we have to do that. When you stand before God, every person will and we will be held accountable for the good, the bad, the ugly, everything we say, everything we do be held accountable for the good, the bad, the ugly, everything we say, everything we do, everything we think. It is being recorded, written down. The only thing that can make all that go away and to be made righteous and be made whole and holy before a holy God is the blood of Jesus, is the receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That is the only way to be saved. So what is salvation? So salvation is being born again.

Speaker 1: 15:11

Let's look in John, chapter three, verse three and seven through seven says Jesus replied I tell you the truth unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. What do you mean, exclaimed Nicodemus. How can an old man he's asking, I mean, it's a very. I mean if someone's telling you this and you're like that doesn't make any sense, if you don't understand what the word is saying, if you don't understand, ask a question just like Nicodemus. Some may look at him and be like dude, that was a dumb question. But if he doesn't get it, I'd rather ask and look dumb than think I have it and I ain't got it. How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again. Jesus replied I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don't be surprised when I say you must be born again.

Speaker 1: 16:12

So Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John, chapter 3, it clarifies that salvation involves being born again. So you have to let your flesh die and let the new spirit, man or spirit woman, be born again so that you can be a new creation, a spiritual rebirth that the Holy Spirit can bring about, that only the Holy Spirit can bring about. It's not about human effort okay, said this since we started. It's not about human effort Okay, said this since we started. It's not about human effort. It's about divine transformation that redefines our identity and our relationship with God. Now, being born again is the starting point of true salvation and it marks the beginning of life in the spirit, reflecting the character of God. So this is the starting point receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Speaker 1: 17:09

So a few weeks ago I felt not convicted, but maybe just like moved in a way. I would always say stuff like give your heart to Jesus, things like that, and I feel that God kind of pushed me in a direction of not just your heart, give your life to Jesus, like he don't just want this, he wants all that you have, and giving your heart to Jesus. So this is and I say this to my people because it's so so, so true and it's so vital for us to understand whether new or old believers it's so, so, so true and it's so vital for us to understand whether, new or old believers, you can receive salvation free of charge. What does that mean? Jesus came, he lived and he died. He lived us in this life. He died as the perfect sacrifice for all eternity. So, hey, even if there's aliens, they got to know Jesus too, to make it to heaven. That's so weird. I'm going to get on that topic one day. But Jesus came, lived, died, perfect one and done.

Speaker 1: 18:12

But after you receive that now, there is an ongoing effort that must happen every single day in your life to maintain and retain that relationship with God. You can't just come to Jesus and even in the moment really mean it, but then go back out and be with your same friends, be with your you know all the same atmosphere, be the same person. It doesn't. There should be a shift Now. I'm not saying that you're going to be perfect. God's not expecting perfection, but he does desire for us to grow in maturity, which means, just as we were children and we began to grow, we begin to change, both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. There should be, after we become, we pass that new birth canal in Christ, in the spirit. We should begin to grow, we should begin to mature. We should begin to grow. We should begin to mature, we should begin to change. That's what we need to try to work on, that right there. Salvation is free, but remaining in Christ will cost you. It should cost you everything, everything that you were, and then allow God to give you back what he desires for you to have back. That makes sense. I hope it does. So.

Speaker 1: 19:26

Look over in Matthew, chapter 19. Probably going to be a little full for the screen, but that'll be alright. Let me change this up just a tad for my reels. I want it to be able to fit. That'll be all right. Do it right there, all right. Matthew 19, 16 through 22.

Speaker 1: 19:56

Someone came to Jesus with this question Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Now, that seems like a pretty pretty. I mean common sense question. Why ask me what is good? Jesus replied there is only one about what is good. There's only one that is good. But to answer your question, if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments. Which ones? The man asked? And Jesus replied you must not murder, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not testify falsely, honor your father and mother, love your neighbor as yourself. I've obeyed all of these commandments. The young man replied. What else must I do? Jesus told him if you want to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. Now, if you recall, when Jesus started picking up his posse and the disciples, they literally left their jobs, their families and they followed Jesus. He was not asking this guy to do anything other than what he had already asked others to do, but this is why he wouldn't do it. Think about this. But the young man heard this. He went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Speaker 1: 21:25

I think sometimes it's easier for those that don't have much to continue to follow the will of God. It's easier for those who don't know a lot to study the word and be used by God, to pray and see miracles happen, because they don't overthink, they don't overcomplicate, they just believe that God is who he says he is. And it's very simple. I think sometimes we overcomplicate I'm sorry I forgot to move it down to the next one for you. They overcomplicate the walk with Christ and it ends up making us fall away because we can't adhere to what we think God desires, when really he just wants us. It's a lot more simple than I believe we make it so.

Speaker 1: 22:10

In this passage, jesus challenges the rich ruler to look beyond mere rule keeping and consider the condition of his heart. A true salvation requires more than external obedience. It demands a heart fully surrendered to God. And listen to me, people, whoever watches. I know we got people from all over the world that tune in, but I'm here in East Texas and here in East Texas everybody thinks they're going to heaven. Everybody thinks, because they're going to their mom and dad's church, they've got a ticket into heaven, that is, they're good. And that's not true at all. When we stand before God, we will be by ourselves. There will be no family, there will be no church, there'll be no pastor, There'll be no deacons, board members, worship leaders anything, it will be just you and it will be just God. And I'm telling you straight up that God does not play games when it comes to salvation and serving him. And that means even in your finances.

Speaker 1: 23:10

People get so upset when you talk about their money in church and honestly, I think they get upset because the money that they have doesn't belong to God. Because if it did and someone is literally quoting scripture and sticking to what the word says there should not be any animosity in their heart, like for me. I'm going to give you a little bit inside of me and believe and trust me when I say this. I'm not bragging. I'm telling you I make a certain amount of money from the church, that from tithes. That pays me. That's how. If you don't know, that's how church works People on staff, the lights, the renovations, the, the, the, the supplies. If you don't, if you never ran a business, you don't understand it. But that's when you pay ties, that's what it goes towards to keep the lights on. For leadership. Um, and some people don't think pastors should get paid. Some people don't think worship leaders should get paid. But those are people who have never done the position and really don't have the information to make that call. So if you feel that way, shut up because you don't have a clue what it is.

Speaker 1: 24:16

Any other business model, so let's use my church Any other business model. You have someone who is in charge. I have 22 leaders and those leaders have volunteers underneath them. I have five board members I have, and that five is also included in that 22, maybe more than that now, but then I have about 100 to 120 people, depending on the Sunday, every single Sunday that I have to be in contact with. That, I have to counsel with that. I have to every single day be doing something with somebody. Every Tuesday night, wednesday night and Thursday night I have something going on at the church and then anything we have going on on Saturday. I have something going on at the church and then anything we have going on on Saturday. Now you take pastor out of the equation and you have CEO or business owner or manager or whatever and you would be willing to pay them 70 to 100, maybe even over that, depending on the job thousand dollars a year.

Speaker 1: 25:20

But people get all weird when you talk about paying a pastor or paying a worship leader and all this other stuff when they have a lot of responsibility, that we actually have to care for people. We don't get to just make hard decisions and cut people, and who cares about the repercussions? Cause that's the decision. You have to actually care about them, so that stacks even more. So it's like it's really weird dynamic of this person who's in charge but yet has to actually care about everyone's opinion and love on them. It's pretty heavy sometimes.

Speaker 1: 25:43

What I'm saying is when I pay my tithes and I do pay tithes I pay mine. When I have a company as well, everything I get, if somebody gives me a gift, if somebody gives me anything, it doesn't matter what it is I immediately pay my tithes on it. Now, why do I do that? Am I trying to pay myself through the church? No, I have this rule at my church If God doesn't have your money right now and that's honestly the truth if you won't pay tithes or give gifts or whatever, give it somewhere else for three months and watch God be true to his word.

Speaker 1: 26:18

Now people get all uncomfortable talking about money. So I say listen, we don't need your money here. Give it somewhere else. Prove God right, that he is who he says he is, that his word says what it says and that he will always come through. I've never had a person come back to me and say, man, I just it's not working. Never, because I don't ask anybody, just like Jesus here. I don't ask anybody to do anything that I don't do myself For my business.

Speaker 1: 26:50

I don't pay after taxes For my tithes, I pay on the gross, and then when I get a tax return if I do last year I didn't I pay off of that too. Some people, why would you do that? Why after if you've done it before taxes, then when you get your return back, that should all be yours. False. Everything that comes to me is his. So that means to me, from what I see in scripture, that not only does my mind belong to God I don't curse anymore not only does my mouth belong to God I don't watch porn anymore. Not only does my eyes belong to God I don't listen to anything but worship music anymore. Not only do my ears belong to God. Some of you may think this is extreme, but I'm telling you what, what my convictions are, because I've asked God to show me, teach me, lead me and guide me, because that is my level of dedication to him.

Speaker 1: 27:47

And so if we say we're saved, what level of dedication are we really giving everything over to God, like we say we are? I mean, this question should not tick you off. It should actually. If you desire to please a loving, holy God, you should want to live your life as such. There should be no question. So then you get to finances and all of a sudden we clam up and we're like man, I don't know, this just wasn't my money. No, we don't want anything. God wants you to give, and I tell people this too if you're, if you're giving and you're mad about it, I don't want that curse.

Speaker 1: 28:33

The bible tells us to be a cheerful giver, to give because we love to give, because we want to see things taken care of, we love the people that come there, and so we're able to finance and fund things back to the people because everybody's giving in together. In Acts I don't remember what chapter it is you see this same type of thing where everybody is giving into the church body and the church body helps, takes care of everybody else. We are very, very generous in what we do. If we have something and another church needs it, we immediately give it. There's no holding back at all. We fund outreach things where we go hand food out once a month to people who need food. We also give food into the church, into a freezer, so if there's a family that has an issue or someone's in the hospital, we can give them meals throughout the week and take care of them. This is what the body should look like, but this can only happen whatever church you go to.

Speaker 1: 29:36

If you've been holding on to your money because you're like well, I don't know what they're going to do with it. If you don't trust them, you shouldn't be going there. Bottom line. If you don't trust your church, you should not be in that church, because they should be doing it the way God's word designed for us to do it, and that is giving in so we can give out. That's the way it's set up. So does God have all of you?

Speaker 1: 29:58

Finances is a very sticky situation and in my personal opinion and from what I see in the scripture, it shouldn't be, because a lot of us will fall in this category where we're like oh, jesus, I want to follow you, jesus, I want everything you have, and he's like okay, well, then here, show me with your monetary gain that you really want what you say you want that, you really want to follow me. Do this and give it to the poor. Do this and donate and blah, blah, blah. You know, whatever the lord leads you to do, I'm not telling you what he's leading you to do, I'm just this is an example from the word, because it's scripture. You have to stop, assess and be like am I really, am I outlandishly like, outrageously, being generous, or am I being stingy with what God has blessed me with? Because I know this from firsthand experience you're stingy with what God has blessed you with. He eventually will dry up that blessing and there will be no more fruit of that labor. And so I have made it in my mind, in my heart, that my house, everything we earn, even though we're not giving it all away, everything we earn belongs to God and if he lays on our heart.

Speaker 1: 31:11

I was with some ministers actually at the time of recording this yesterday, and I was with some ministers actually as the time of recording this yesterday and I was invited. They said hey, we go out to a restaurant. Our waitress or waiter, each one of us, brings $100 to the table and we give that as a tip and we pray with them. So we did that yesterday. That's the first time I was invited to do this. I'm like Lord, I'm not really, I'm not rich, I ain't got $ hundred dollars, you know. But they don't do it all the time, but it's just kind of an every now and then thing to to bless somebody else. And so I was like, all right, I'll go, lord out of faith, I'll go. So I did it, and today I've had three or four invoices that finally got paid, and today I've had three or four invoices that finally got paid.

Speaker 1: 31:57

God knows what he's doing. When we're faithful, sometimes we wait for God to do something before we're faithful, and God is actually waiting for us to be faithful so that he can really do something. Think about it. Your blessing could be right around the corner, but you've been holding on to what you have so tight that your hand couldn't receive it if he threw it your way. Think about it. Look over in James. Let's look in James. Guys, has a modern church forgot about the ingredients of true salvation?

Speaker 1: 32:31

As we read this look at this. What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions? He's saying your faith is pointless if you're not showing it by how you live. Can that kind of faith save anyone? Question mark Is anybody going to come to church if you've got an attitude all the time and you're always bitter and griping and complaining? Absolutely not. You'll be the reason they never come to church. Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food, clothing and you say goodbye and have a good day, stay warm and eat well, but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds it is dead and useless.

Speaker 1: 33:19

James is trying to tell us listen, just every once in a while, take an internal self inventory and say am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing Like, what am I here for? A lot of us walk around without aim, without intention, and at the end of the day we got to ask ourselves what am I here for? A lot of us walk around without aim, without intention, and at the end of the day we got to ask ourselves what am I here for? What am I doing here? If you start asking these types of questions, I guarantee you it'll prompt something in you, internally, in your heart, in your mind, with your spouse, say what are we doing here? What's the reason for this? And when you start trying to unearth those roots, you can see what the reason for either bad fruit or fruit that's not producing. Well, sometimes you have to go through a pruning process to actually get good product. That was a lot of peas. That was a lot of peas.

Speaker 1: 34:14

So the modern church often emphasizes grace and faith, but James reminds us that true faith is the evidence, produces evidence out of our actions. Salvation isn't just about the moment of belief. It's about a lifetime of demonstrating the belief through the way we live. Now here's a question. If you are a believer, or maybe if you're not, hopefully me even talking like this will interest you in diving deeper into what the church is actually supposed to be, so that you can find a church that you can get fed. And if you're at a church right now, listen. Church that you can get fed. And if you're at a church right now, listen.

Speaker 1: 34:59

I was a pastor's child my entire life. Okay, I understand. When your parents go somewhere. If it's your family church, you will go there and spiritually starve for your entire life because somebody that means something to you goes there but you never get anything out of it. That is dangerous, and I understand it's very difficult to make these types of decisions when people you love and care about are in the middle of it. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, you are responsible for you. You are responsible for your family inside of your house. You need to be spiritually healthy and a lot of times that comes from being able to prune.

Speaker 1: 35:55

So look over at Philippians. Work hard to show the results of your salvation. Obeying God with deep reverence and fear for God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Now ask yourself is your life pleasing to God? Have you gotten stale? Have you gotten boring in your walk? Are you saved? Is your life producing the fruit that proves that you are, or are you a dying branch?

Speaker 1: 36:49

Being saved is not about a one-time decision. It is that moment, that pivot moment, that can change your life forever. But every day after that, there has to be pursuit, there has to be. There is life in Christ. It's not meant for you to just be yeah, I'm saved. God desires for us to be so much more than that. He desires for our lives to be so much more full than that.

Speaker 1: 37:17

So ask yourself are you living a life of saved? Are you living a life full of faith? Are you living a life that is pleasing to God? Are you living a life that, if God came down right now and he was doing the rapture and snatching people up, he's coming back for his holy, spotless bride? Would he have to dig and find you because you're blending in with everybody else? Or are you actually set apart, as the Bible tells us to be? I can't answer that for you, but I can tell you it is a question that you must answer because one day there's going to be a deciding factor and there's going to be a massive fracture in who is and who is not. There's no middle gray ground and I hope this inspires you to a deeper walk with Christ. And if you don't know him, I hope it makes you incredibly curious to where. You may not fully understand what I'm talking about, but you want to learn. I love you, I'm praying for you and I hope you have an amazing rest of your week. Faith and Failures Podcast.