Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. What are temptations? Why do they always look so good? Are they sin? Is it sin to succumb to a temptation of a good thing; why or why not? 
2. If we know that God tests us sometimes, then what is so wrong with saying God tempts us? What is the difference? What does God’s inability to be tempted with evil have to do with him not tempting us? Is it evil for God to tempt us?
3. Read Hebrews 4:15. How can James say God cannot be tempted, while the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was tempted just like us? Were Jesus’ temptations not truly real? How can both these claims be simultaneously true? 
4. Are temptations external or internal? When has one transitioned from temptation to sin? What does James mean when he says “desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin?” What is a “fully grown sin?” For example, if adultery is the worse version of lust, is lust not really a full-grown sin?
5. What does James mean when he says, “sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death?” Can Believers lose their salvation if they have already passed from death to life? Read Deuteronomy 8:2-10. How does this passage inform us on God’s use of tests in our lives? Is there anything good about tests/temptations? What similarities does this passage have with James 1:17-18?

The Unchanging Goodness of God 

1. What significance is there in saying “all good and perfect gifts are from God” in the context of wisdom through temptations? How does God use trials to bring about good in our lives?
2. What confidence does God’s unchanging character bring to us in the midst of trials and temptations?
3. Compare verses 14-15 to verse 18. Discuss the difference of man’s desire leading to death with God’s will leading to new life as firstfruits. How does this compare to the Fall of man and New Life in the Gospel? How does the Gospel apply to us in each individual temptation to sin?
4.  How does God interrupt the spiral of temptation? 

Tags: bible, redemption, james, temptation, transformation, past, awake, simon peter, lakeville, berean baptist church, roger thompson, burnsville