The Book of James (week 5)
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God’s Will NOT Mine!
God’s Will NOT Mine!
INTRODUCTION
My people!
Okay, okay first up as you know Pastor Adam hasn’t been with us these past couple of weeks and that is because he has been home with his new baby as his family is now a family of 4. So here is the beautiful family of 4 and Isaac with his new baby brother Cam. (PICTURES OF INGLE FAMILY)
This is the last sermon we are going to have in the book of James. It is sad but next week I am really excited for because it is our Student take over lead completely by our seniors. So, they are going to lead out and there will be a senior panel that will talk about the book of James and what they have learned and gained from this series. I wish we had more time to go together so we could walk through every verse through this incredible letter written by James the brother of Jesus. But sense we can’t I want to encourage you to do it on your own. Also take advantage of resources like RightNow Media. There is a whole series on the book James led by Francis Chan who is an incredible teacher and walks through every verse but does it in small chunks. Talk to your mentor and they will get with me about setting up a RightNow Media account for you. Which by the way our church pays for that, its completely free to you!
Really quickly lets have a recap.
Week 1: COUNT IT ALL JOY (James 1)
Week 2: DON’T JUST LISTEN TO THE WORD BUT LIVE IT OUT! (James 1)
Week 3: LIVING FAITH IS DISPLAYED & DEVOTED (James 2, Logan)
Week 4: THE WARNING! (James 3)
Tonight is week 5 and the title of the message tonight is GOD’S WILL NOT MINE!
Story of being a pro basketball player and then into an Architect.
(SHOW PICTURE FROM ME IN MIDDLE SCHOOL)
God’s Will was very different than my own.
God’s Will isn’t just about your long term future. It is about your daily life.
God has a plan, a purpose and a will for your life.
***READ***
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.
***PRAY***
WE ALL HAVE AN END (v. 14)
Last week I mentioned the physical affects of sin. The main affect is death, our end. But our end here brings the beginning of the next life. It brings the beginning of eternity.
The length of our life compared to eternity is nothing. “For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” Our life comes and our life goes. Eternity comes and never goes but our eternity is decided by our life here. That is important for us to understand because we all believe we have a tomorrow but James clearly tells us we don’t know if we have a tomorrow or not. “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.”
Story of Justin Atchison
Students we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We all have an end and because we have to decide who we are with.
WE ARE EITHER WITH GOD OR AGAINST GOD (v.1-4)
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
If we are with the world, then we are against God and we are His enemy.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
As a believer (someone who has faith in Jesus) your desire should be to live for Him and with Him not against. Many think I have been saved I can live my life how I want now and I will go to heaven.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
When you have placed your faith in Jesus you now have the ability to understand that your life is not your own.
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
However, some of you in here need to understand that you cannot live for God without God in your life in the first place.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
God reveals himself to you and then you have a choice, repent of your sins and trust in Him or don’t. This is what it means to be with God.
Only after you make the decision to follow Jesus and are with Him will you then be able to choose your will or God’s will for your life. And students I need you to know that God’s will is better than yours and we should all desire to choose God’s will over my will.
GOD’S WILL OVER MY WILL (v. 15)
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.”
The goal of this passage is for you to look at your life through a different lens. To look at your life and say who am I living for? What are my goals, ambitions, dreams, plans, etc. But not just what are they but why are they and who are they for?
It is not made to have dreams, to have ambition, goals, and plans for your future. It isn’t bad to work hard and to try to achieve your dreams. But if all of your ambition, all of your dreams and all of goals are born out of selfish desires then even if you accomplish everything you could wish for. You will still be empty.
Everyone knows who Tom Brady is. Here is a clip of him from an interview after he has already won 3 super bowl rings and is already being talked about as the greatest of all time when it comes to QBs.
(PLAY TOM BRADY CLIP)
Sure Tom went on to win 4 more super bowls but even after 20+ years in the NFL and 7 Super Bowl wins I assure your his answer is still the same.
How about Markus Persson, does anyone know who that is?
Markus is the creator of Minecraft
Markus sold Minecraft to Microsoft for 2.5 BILLION dollars
Markus personally took home 1.6 BILLION dollars.
MILLION SECONDS - 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, & 40 seconds
BILLION SECONDS - 31 years & 8 months roughly
Markus had EVERYTHING anyone could have wished for and yet he spiraled into depression
King Solomon the son of David writes about why people like Markus and Tom Brady can have everything and still have nothing. And we know that we can trust what Solomon says because he is in fact the wisest man to ever live.
(GOD SPEAKING TO SOLOMON AFTER HE ASKS FOR WISDOM)
12 behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.
With all the wisdom King Solomon gain from the Lord this is what he recorded in Ecclesiastes.
14 I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
He goes even further to explain in the next chapter.
10 Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. 11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.
You have to be willing to lay your life down for something greater than yourself.
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
God’s ultimate will for your life is to be in relationship with Him. And that you would draw near to Him everyday of your life!
CONCLUSION
Students, we all have an end, during our life we are either with God or against Him and we have to choose which side we are on. And it is unwise to be against the creator of the universe. But if we are on His side you need to pick God’s will over your will.
With our limited time we need to live our life according to God’s will. Doing so will allow us to be light in a dark world.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Last week we talked about how your tongue is a flame and can destroy or with God it can be used for light. A part of God’s will for your life is no matter where you are, you would show Jesus through your life and share His good news with others.
It is incredibly hard, especially in a dark world like ours. AND OUR WORLD CAN GET VERY DARK. (TURN OFF ALL LIGHTS IN ROOM)
But In doing so, living out God’s will and not your own, will allow Jesus to be the light through you that will pierce through every bit of darkness. (TURN ON PHONE FLASH LIGHT)
His light can be seen even if there is just one person in the room living for Him.
But one of the best parts of living your life for Jesus is you don’t have to do it alone. Every mentor in here has decided God’s will not mine. (MENTORS TURN THEIR FLASH LIGHTS ON)
DARKNESS FLEES AT THE SIGHT OF LIGHT… AND THE GREATEST LIGHT WE HAVE AVAILABLE TO US IS JESUS.
Students right here right now, I want to challenge you. If you want to follow Jesus and declare I will live for God’s will and let Jesus’ light be seen in my life. That it is God’s will not mine. TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS.
No matter how dark the room is, when you live for Jesus, His light will shine through you and brighten up every room. Live your life in a way that you can proudly say, GOD’S WILL NOT MINE! AND WATCH THE DARKNESS FLEE FROM THE SIGHT OF HIS LIGHT!
