James 4

James 4:13-17 (ESV)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

How not to waste the time you get!

Tommorrow may never come

007 video after prayer Joe comes up.

“You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face”

Making a plan

James 4:13 (ESV)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”

Good planning

Starting date: Today/tomorrow

A plan:

Step one:

Go to the city

Step two:

Spend a year there

Step three:

Start a business of trade

Goal:

Make a profit

In the world this is a great part of building success

James 4:14 (ESV)

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?

For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James asks..what about tomorrow?

Matthew 6:34 NASB

34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

What is your life?

Hot day

Mister pic

Mist a vapor .. a vanishing act

You might think James is telling us not to plan.. I do not think that is that case at all..

I think proverbs says it well

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:3 (ESV)

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Matthew 6:34 Message

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So we should make plans but when we do we must follow the:

Will of the Lord

James 4:15 (ESV)

. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Instead.. or come now..

Are you as sovereign as God

Sabbath.. greater sin.. Do you think that God cant run the universe without you for a day?

Thank you to the Mary Margaret.. over 500 trunk or treat.. Dave indoor outdoor service Lew and the orange team Pastor Jim handleing a tough situation..

.. where was I you might ask.. well

Pack pic

Are your desires better than Gods?

1 John 2:16 (ESV)

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[a]—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Luke 14: 28-33 (ESV)

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

Luke 14: 33 (ESV)

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Are you making plans for yourself or following the plans God might have for you.

Do you assume you are in Control or God is?

Romans 1:10 (ESV)

10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

Acts 18:21 (ESV)

21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

1 Corinthians 16:7 (ESV)

7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.

Lords prayer from Christ

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Jesus praying before the cross.. not my will but thy will be done

How not to make plans

James 4:16 (ESV)

16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil

Arrogantly and boastfully

Noah the flood

One family that allows us all to be here…genesis 7

One guy found favor with the lord One guy listened to the lord and obeyed and followed his plans and not his own

Everyone else on earth was following their own..

Remember where we come from..a place of brokenness and sin..

Luke 18:9-14 (ESV) parable tax collector Pharisee..

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.

Luke 18:9-14 (ESV)

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Truth is we should all be focused on the saving grace of Jesus on the cross and building the kingdom for God in everything we do seeking to give God glory and not ourselves…

See we make good plans by

Obeying Gods word

James 4:17 (ESV)

17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Surrender fully to Christ

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Look at everything your doing every day ask have I surrender today

Walk with God

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,     and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him,     and he will make straight your paths.

Memorize Gods word

Memory video

Accountability to Gods will

Proverbs 11:14 (ESV)

Where there is no guidance, a people falls,     but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

Pray

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Love

2 John 6 (ESV)

6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Romans 13:10 (ESV)

10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Charles spurgeon said

“How is it that, instead of living in the eternal future, where we might deal with certainties, we continue to live in the more immediate future, where there can be nothing but uncertainties? Why do we choose to build upon clouds and pile our palaces on vapor to see them melt away, as before they have melted, instead of, by faith, getting where there is no failure, where God is All in All, and His sure promises make the foundations of eternal mansions?”

1 John 4:4 (ESV)

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Make plans ..give God glory and be ready for God to change your plans.. and see him work