Who is in Charge?

“Recalculating, When Plans Change.”

Introduction: Defining the Pain

Welcome to all of our Guests:

Welcome honored guests to our first annual open house celebration. It’s our hope that you find all the love and acceptance that we have found here at Reliant. I have been so proud of this Body of Believers as I watched them take their time to love on our community, pray down the streets and prepare for this morning. You guys are truly amazing.

The craziness of 2020

I want you to think back to New Year’s Day.

The economy was excellent.The unemployment rate was at an all-time low.2020 vision was the buzzword. Everyone was mapping out the year with growth and improvements in our personal lives and our businesses; we had vacations set, and then mid-February, it fell apart. Whatever you had planned got changed. The whole country shut down. Nothing was the same. Over the next 4 weeks we will walk through a series called “Recalculating, When Plans Change.”

So, what do we do when our world gets turned upside down? How do we recalculate and find our compass once again?

I believe we recalculate by asking three simple but profound questions.

Who is in charge?

What is your life?

What is the right thing to do?

Please turn in your Bibles to James 4:13, where I believe we will find the answers to all these questions.

Scripture: Defining the Passage

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.

Who is in Charge?

Everything rises and falls on leadership. The one in charge must take responsibility for the condition of things if things are ever going to improve. Although you might think the answer to this question is obvious, you might be surprised when we look at the whole of scripture.

Humanity

We cannot see, nor do we know what a day will bring much less tomorrow.

James 4:13–14 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.

We don’t always have control over the circumstances of our lives.

We do, however, have some control over our responses and action in any given situation.

You can either “go along to get along” or not.

God

One of the biggest arguments against God today is, “If God were a loving God why would he allow all the bad in the world?” So, is God controlling and thus causing all this hurt and pain?

God gave dominion of the Earth to humanity. (Gen 1:26)

Genesis 1:26 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Adam had the power to subdue the powers of darkness.

Adam and Eve chose to live under the guidance of other gods, namely Satan, which caused the curse of sin and brokenness throughout history.

God didn’t remove the authority of humanity over the Earth. They now had to rule under the curse of sin.

Illustration: Cain must rule over his sin.

Genesis 4:6–7 ESV

6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Genesis 6:5–6 ESV

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Tweet-able Quote: “The world is a mess because we don’t rule over sin but let sin rule over us.”

God is working through the brokenness of people to restore and reconcile the authority of humanity over the earth once again.

God chose the nation of Israel to reestablish His authority and guidance once again, establishing two kingdoms on Earth: The kingdom of God versus the kingdom of sin.

Through Israel, God brought forth the God-Man, Jesus Christ, that subdues the powers of darkness and rules in righteousness once again.

1 Corinthians 15:22–24 ESV

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

The Powers of Darkness

Who are the authorities and power that Christ will overcome?

Ephesians 6:10–12 ESV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

2 Corinthians 4:3–4 ESV

3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The Devil and his angles are still scheming and lying today; and humanity keeps falling into the traps of sin.

If things are ever going to get better we must take back our God-given responsibility and quit listening to the lies of darkness.

Under the banner of King Jesus we are more than conquerers!

What is your Life?

James 4:14–15 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Is your life just a mist: here today, gone tomorrow; or have you received eternal life in Christ?

Are you dead in your trespasses and sin, or are you alive in Christ?

Dead is to be without God, and alive is to be with God.

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Salvation is the rejection of the “gods of the world” and the willful submission to King Jesus.

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Next Steps: Defining the Process

What is the right thing to do?

James 4:16–17 ESV

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.

Once you get in the right kingdom, it’s easy to make the right choices.

Follow the will and instruction of your King. As children of God, we are not to let sin have dominion over us.

Romans 6:12–14 ESV

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Illustration: When Joshua brought the people into the Promise Land and defeated all enemies, he turned to the people with a challenge.

Joshua 24:14–15 ESV

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

“We’re in the Father’s House.”