2/5/22

True Control

we will talk about the fact that we are not in control of our lives.

People all over the world are experiencing difficulties. Many are feeling like they have lost control of their lives.

We experience unexpected events all the time. We expect one thing but something totally different happens.The fact that life is full of surprises shows that we are not in control of our lives.

Yet we plan everything as if we are in control.

James had a lot to say about trying to control things

1. We must remember that our lives are uncertain

James 4:13 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.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.

“Now listen” is calling for attention. He is about to talk about something very seriousness.

James talked about business. The present tense “say” indicates that the situation under consideration was common practice.

Business travel in the first century was very common to today in some manners These people had a good plan. They would “go to this city,” “spend a year there,” “carry on business,” and “make money.”

The starting time is arranged—“today or tomorrow.”The city has been selected. But God was not in their plans.

They made no allowance for unexpected circumstances.

Therefore, James pointed out their inadequacy. They do not even know what will happen tomorrow.If they do not know what will happen tomorrow, then they certainly do not know what will happen in a year.

They planned as if they knew exactly what the future holds.

They forgot the fact that they are not in control of their future. It is good to make some sort of a plan for our future.

However, James was exposing the kind of horizontal thinking that they were in control of the future.

He is saying that tomorrow’s circumstances are beyond our control. An unexpected injury, the sudden death of a loved one, the loss of a job—these and many other surprises can change our lives.

As I get older, I go to more funerals every year. When I go to funerals, I always hear families say, “He died so suddenly.”“She passed so unexpectedly.”

This is the fact of our lives.Life is uncertain.We cannot know what will happen in our future. We must remember that our lives have a consistent uncertainty.

2. We must remember that time is precious

James 4:14 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.

Not only is life uncertain, but life is so brief. In order to point out the briefness of life, James used an example from nature: “You are a mist.” In the morning it covers the countryside. But before noon it is gone.

Moses expressed the same idea in

Psalm 90:3 You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—they are like the new grass of the morning: 6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.

Our lives are short. This is why in order to escape from the sense of futility of our lives, we must focus on God who reigns eternally.

Even living up to be 70, 80, 90, or 100 is relatively short.

Some of us who are older can testify that time is passing faster and faster as we get older.

Does this mean that we should never make plans for our future? Of course, not. We must have plans for our future, so that we will not waste our brief lives.However, when we plan, we must keep in mind that our lives are uncertain and brief.

We must plan for the short term and long term.

Each week I write sermons I will preach next, as well as a few down the road. I plan ahead for a series, come up with passages, study the passages, write the sermon, and meditate on them.

We must plan according to our calling and be willing to adjust to God’s appointments. Otherwise, all our plans are futile.

3. We must remember that our lives are pre-ordained

James 4:15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

Instead of saying, We will it should be if it is the Lords will. We cannot assume that we can live independently of God. We must always condition our plans on the will of God.

However, some of James’s readers, rather than subjecting their plans to God’s will, made it their practice to “boast and brag” about their plans.

Therefore, the question we must ask ourselves is this:

If we know that our life is uncertain and short, what should we do?

James 4:17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

If we do not do what we ought to do, then we have no excuse. Knowing what should be done obligates us to do it.

Therefore, the fact does not change.Our life is uncertain and short and God is the Sovereign Lord who is in control of our lives.

We all know this in our heads. However is it in our Hearts

in our hearts, we want to be in control of our lives. This is why we make plans for our lives without God.

We have God who created the universe and sustains the universe.He is the Sovereign God who is in control of everything,

I know so many people who are health fanatics.

We should try to eat, rest, and exercise to stay healthy because we must do our part to be healthy while we live our God-given lives here on earth.

However,When God calls, we go.

Conclusion With Gods will we can roll and then gain true control

We must not just hear the Word of God. We must experience God’s blessing by putting His word into action. And we must share the blessings with others.

DOING THE TWO IN 22

Lets Pray