"Who makes the plans?"

Intro

1) “Thinking we can go it alone.” Analogy

A young couple purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving organic enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences were broken down.

The village vicar stopped by to bless the family’s work, saying, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!”

A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the young farmers. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The farm house was completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there were plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields were filled with crops planted in neat rows. “Amazing!” the preacher says. “Look what God and you have accomplished together!”

“Yes, Vicar,” said the farmer’s wife, “but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!”

2) Telephone Analogy

Difference between my sister and me and my friend in high school

3) Ministering to others through prayer and God’s leading

Henry & Nicky Wang- neighbors who were Buddist but now reads the Bible

Moses Chatla- Read newsletter portion

4) I love reading stories of how God leads and works things out.

My story of becoming pastor- crazy to me!

5) Correlation between James 4:11-12 and 13-16

James 4:11-12 addresses the issue of playing God in other’s lives.

Great points that Steve made last week.

Satan started to wage war on our hearts from the first time we came to Christ.

We must realize what our bitter selfish hearts do to others.

We sometimes enter spiritual famines in order to see how content we are in Christ.

The goal of prayer is to align our will, with God’s will. (Matthew 6:10)

James 4:13-16 addresses the issue of playing God in our own lives.

And really the question could be summed up for today as “Who makes the plans?”

Think about this in your life as we go through this passage today

(SLIDE) Read James 4:13-17

Chuck Swindoll says we often box God in our lives, without thinking, like this:

We allow Him into our religious issues, the moral matters of our life, international conflicts that seem so great and even questions of faith.

BUT we stop there and neglect Him from our personal finances, relationships, we keep Him away from our business decisions and even our marriages or parenting, we definitely don’t give Him the small day to day decisions because we don’t want to burden Him.

By doing this, we become “Masters of our own destiny”. (*Chuck Swindoll)

We can get a glimpse of what it is to play God in our lives by reading James 4:13:

James 4:13 NIV

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”

Set your own schedule “Today or tomorrow...”

Select your own path “…we will go to such and such a city...”

Place your own limits “…and spend a year there...”

Arrange your own activities “…and engage in business…”

Predict your own outcome “…and make a profit...”

Now there is nothing wrong with planning ahead or organization.

The issue is that we (like James’ audience) neglect to include or consult the Lord first with our plans.

We don’t take the time to listen to Him before we listen to ourselves.

James is addressing an audience that is well familiar with a culture that is out to make a quick buck.

-Traders and merchants

-New cities being discovered in Europe and North Africa.

-Founders of cities wanted jews to be citizens because prosperity naturally followed the Jewish people.

James 4:14 NIV

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:13-14 reminds me of...

Matthew 6:33–34 NIV

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

He may have very well been thinking about Jesus’ words in the back of his mind.

Proverbs 27:1 NIV

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.” -John Wayne

Matthew 6:33 reminds us that we should not worry so much about tomorrow because we’ve got enough worries but the most important thing to do is “Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness.”

I love this thought, do you know why?

Because when we’re seeking His righteousness, we don’t seek the world’s view of corrupt righteousness, or even our own.

When we’re not seeking God’s kingdom first it looks like this:

A church board or leadership meets and debates for 2-3 hours and never opened in prayer.

At the conclusion there is a quick, short often shallow prayer and the meeting is adjourned.

This is sadly very common in many churches today!

I am so beyond blessed to serve along a church board where they realize that they can’t get any business done period without first consulting God for His agenda and will.

I want to reassure you that this church board prays and we also pray for all of you.

But like that church board who doesn’t consult God first, we can often go day to day without even asking for God to lead us in our lives.

When we do this, we are not seeking God’s kingdom or righteousness- we are seeking our own.

James 4:14 NIV

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James is saying we shouldn’t only consult God for His foreknowledge in our lives but most importantly, life is uncertain itself!

We command nothing into existence, only God does.

Life is brief, but God is eternal.

Henry Jacobsen an author who I’ve enjoyed reading through this study on James says it this way:

“Oftentimes we pray first, God will confirm our plans with a quiet conviction about the course of action that you should follow, and additionally He would confirm, it through circumstances that develop.”

Jacobsen goes on to say that “we are responsible to the convictions God puts in our hearts, they will align with Scripture.

Tell the story of how I got into ministry and where I’m at today.

What I’ve discovered and what James is reiterating: life is short and it’s better to do what God is calling you to do than to go life living out your own plans.

Life may go okay, but living out God’s plans are so much more fruitful and filled with blessing.

When we live for material things, we need to realize they either don’t last or they outlast us and we can’t take them with us.

“Who makes the plans in your life right now?”

James follows verse 14 with this:

James 4:15–16 NIV

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

This is the complete opposite of what the culture is doing, during James and His audience’s time.

With new cities being discovered daily, most people are out trying to make a quick buck, not giving the Lord a thought.

Many Christians, some I have known over the years, are terrified about the future or the end times.

They live in fear and often make life decisions based on that fear, not on the Lord’s will.

We must commit all our our current and future plans before the Lord and submit our will to His.

When we don’t do this we live our lives for ourselves and James says this is arrogant and boasting.

In fact he goes on to say more vividly:

James 4:17 NIV

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

So basically, as believers, if we are not submitting our plans to the Lord first, we are sinning.

Period.

To go further... it’s a sin when we do what we shouldn’t and it’s a sin when we don’t do what we should.

I love the advice that Swindoll gives us on how to stop playing God:

Know the right thing to do.

Start doing the right thing.

It’s not a hidden code, it’s cut and dry and simple for us to understand.

Know the right thing to do and do it!

The first right thing to do is what we talked about at family camp this year.

We must stay connected to the vine.

If we are distant from Jesus and not spending time with Him than you can bet that we will be keeping our plans from the Lord.

Or maybe worse, not even acknowledging He’s there.

If we are NOT submitting to God’s will, as Steve taught last week, we can be confident that we WILL go down a path that leads to destruction and chaos.

Psalm 14:1 NIV

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

Here are a few questions that we can look at to evaluate our current situation:

Where in my life, right now, do I go it alone?

What decisions did I make this week that didn’t include God?

What future decisions do I need to bring before God and seek His will?

When we are living for the temporary and not thinking about doing God’s will and seeking His kingdom first as believers, it’s a sin.

Getting back on track starts with a word we don’t hear often but need to: repentance.

We need to ask the Lord for forgiveness in those areas of our life that have been cut off or blocked from Him and open them back up to His leading.

Start today, start now.

I want to close today by looking at a parable in Luke 12

READ LUKE 12:13-21

This rich fool looked at his possessions as his own, not gifts from God.

He earned it sand worked harder than most and deserves them by the world’s standards, but not to God.

They aren’t his.

We often look at time as if it’s ours or that we’ve created it.

So we take it and plan it and create what we want with it.

We don’t take the time to ask God what He wants us to do with our lives each day or plans years in the future.

We often come at life like this rich fool and say:

This is what I’ll do.

I will do this...

I will store up things...

I’ll remind myself of all that I’ve accomplished and built.

And I’ll enjoy it...

Luke 12:20–21 NIV

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

God isn’t calling this person a fool in the way we think.

God is calling this person a fool referring to someone who is blind in judging life’s priorities.

Guys, I need to admit to you all.

I have been a fool in life and I still am sometimes when it comes to this topic of listening to the Lord and asking for His will to be done, and seeking His righteousness first.

In fact, I’ve been so convicted this week I need your prayer, as your pastor, and many of you as your close friend.

It’s convicting because what Jesus is saying in verse 21 is that the seeker of wealth or things, or anything besides the Lord ends up with an empty soul and empty life.

I don’t want that...for myself, for my marriage, my children, my family, or my friends.

And I know Jesus doesn’t want that for the church that he pursued, and bought with His own blood at Calvary.

Let’s pray in the days, weeks, years ahead that the Lord would guide and direct our steps as a church.

I’m not talking about a simple, easy prayer.

I’m talking that His will be done in our lives.

His will be done on earth as it is in heaven in our community.

And as the Lord leads us into global missions we want His will to be done in the world at large.

Let’s be a church that forgets to plan for our will to be done, because we’re too busy praying for the Lord’s leading!

James 4:15 NIV

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I want to end today with probably the most dangerous prayer and catalyst in a Christian’s life.

This prayer is familiar, but not so much if you don’t really mean it.

But it will rock your world if you mean it, and God will equip you to live it out.

Matthew 6:9–13 NIV

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’