Ep 56 Peace Maker, Not a Trouble Maker – Pt. 4

Okay, so we’re so glad you’re back with. It’s all greek to me, We’re gonna go into this final chapter on uh how do you plan for the future? You know, making plans and we’re gonna talk about it Vicky and I are gonna look at the last five verses in James chapter four and just open it up so that we could really see what God is saying here. And the key thought that we’re gonna be talking about is if the Lord wills will do this or that if we belong to God, let’s find out in the discussion how that impacts us concerning the future and that we not need to worry. So join Vicki and me as we talk about it, we’ve been looking at, you know, what we want, what we think, what we speak, what we plan, what we do. I mean, we’re just thinking about how to apply the wonderful word of God to our lives. And this particular program that we’re gonna be talking about is what I plan. And uh, so we’re gonna look at James 4 13 through 17 in the practical ways of being a peacemaker rather than a troublemaker, not just, you know, with the flesh, the world and the devil, not just with my talking and how that impacts other people, but also with my plans and my peace of mind with my family, with my everything in my life, the Lord, the Lord’s will. Am I doing the Lord’s will. So that’s what we’re talking about today. What I plan. It’s got a nice calendar there. You like calendars, the future and let’s just look at the scripture and Vicki, you begin Verse 13 come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engaged in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away instead. You ought to say if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil. Therefore to the one who knows to do the right thing to do and does not do it to him. It is sin. It’s an amazing uh, I mean just uh, what is it? Just five verses, but it’s like, it just kind of lays it out concerning, you know, the, the starting from today tomorrow where I’m gonna be living, what I’m gonna be doing, how I’m gonna be working and then assuming and presuming that I’m going to make a profit and uh, and you don’t even know that you’re going to be around tomorrow. It says in the, in the bible is, you know, don’t boast about tomorrow. You don’t even know what one day will bring forth. So it’s just an amazing passage that he comes to this point. Uh, the, the apostle James and God using him to identify you know, things that will trouble us, worries and anxieties that will trouble us about the future about our present, you know, jobs and food and health and family and all of that and uh And like I quoted Proverbs 27, 1 do not boast about tomorrow. You do not know what a day may bring forth. Hey, this might be my last day, it might be your last day. I mean, you know, you can’t, you can make plans for the future, but you always have to preface them. If the Lord wills, you know, we’ll do this or that Matthew 6 34, so do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble. Qalqiliya of its own. You know, that’s what our Lord taught us about how to get rid of anxiety. Don’t live in tomorrows anxieties and worries, you know, living uh in, in a guilt ridden heart is just constantly looking at the past and not accepting the death, the burial and the resurrection of jesus christ who cleans me from my past, he’s my redemption, but he’s also my release. Uh you know, for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and yet many people live today and constantly bring yesterday’s junk into today. They never bring it to the cross and drop it and and get forgiveness and so here our Lord says, so don’t worry, I met him now anxiety about tomorrow for tomorrow will care for itself somehow. Some way God has made it so that we he says, look, I’m gonna take care of it each day has enough qalqiliya, evil or bad of its own each day. Don’t bring yesterday’s junk into today and don’t bring the tomorrow’s weights and anxieties into today. So taking the guilt of yesterday, taking the the anxiety of tomorrow and bringing them into today. How could you? I mean, just crushing. So that’s a that’s a incredible. So now let’s look at the text. I was just thinking about those verses that when we don’t receive God’s forgiveness for ourselves, that’s one thing. But when we don’t forgive somebody else who has offended us, we keep bringing that up to them also. And it’s it’s terrible because who can live like that? We’re not free. We’re always in bondage to that of the person. They always want us to remind us of our past, our guilt. Well, you know, you did this when we raise our Children and they’ve done something really hurtful or our loved ones, our husband or our wife, if we keep bringing that up, we’ll never be able to go forward in life and I call this a presumptuous plan. You know, come now, you say today or tomorrow, we’ll go to such and such a city. And spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Think about all the, you know, you don’t know the place, you know, you don’t really know the city, you don’t really know how much time, you don’t really know what kind of business and you really don’t know what kind of profit and yet it’s all like it’s going to happen, this is what we’re gonna do. And so I think it’s, it really is self explanatory, I called it the presumptuous plan. You take the next one, This is planning to live without consulting God for his purpose and will and prayer. We’re looking at our will, the time, the place, the business, the profit. Our life is unpredictable. Verse 14 yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow one day looking at the future. Our life is very temporal and transient God says that we are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away, you know, just like that. So here is life with jesus christ and here’s life without jesus christ. Life with jesus christ, john 14 uh John 14 6 in him is life and the life was the light of men christo centric, john 14 in him is life and the life was the light of men. Not only is he the source of life and the creator of all life, but he is the one who is uh revealing things to people, you know, revelation comes from him Making things clear and then in John 316 God, so loved the world that he gave, his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And so God gives us this eternal life, the life that jesus christ had and has he gives to us. And then in john 10 10, the thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. But jesus said, I’ve come to give you this life and give it much more abundantly cletus, overflowing to the top and overflowing. And so in verse 15 instead, he says, you ought to say if the Lord Wills, what is God’s will, we will live and also do this or that. And so we were looking now at the will of God. Some of the things concerning the will of God. There are two greek words, fellow personally wishing desiring, stressing the willingness that drives resolution, a present preset rather plan. And uh and the other word is virtually so fellow and julie, two different words in greek, that means the will of God, but two different types of will virtually is a resolved plan. Used of God to pre design all the physical scenes of life without usurping God usurping people’s choices. God’s fully or plan will not be thwarted by satan or demons or even sinful people. God has a plan and he’s going to accomplish his plan. Note that the bible explicitly denies the Lord ever resolved plans. That some must perish. You know, God never planned for some people to perish. But God’s plan was that he would extend his salvation to everyone. For God so loved the world and he is not willing that any parish, it says in second peter 39, the Lord is not slow about his promise as some council bonus, but is patient toward you. Not wishing or not willing Voula for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. This is God’s preset plan. But as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become the Children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. This is the dilemma too. And I’m giving some further scripture, john 6 40 for this is the dilemma of my father that everyone who beholds the son and believes in him will have eternal life and I myself will raise him up on the last day and john 7 17 really an important verse, If anyone is willing fellow to do his will Salima, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from myself. So Vicki you pick up some of these verses, John 931, we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God fearing and does his will, he hears him. So God wants us to be praying to him. So you’ll quote the verse and I’ll just kind of give the little nugget that’s in there. Next Acts 1322 after he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, concerning whom he also testified and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will. So when you do God’s will, you’re the man after God’s own heart. You’re the woman after God’s own heart. Doing his will, asking constantly Lord, what do you want me to do? Acts 21 14 and since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking the will of the Lord be done. Now, this was agape bus who had told Paul that he was going to die, going to Jerusalem and paul would not be or thwarted by that because it already committed his life to be imprisoned, to be beaten, to die for the cause of jesus christ. The will of God is whatever God wants not what is beneficial to me. Whether it’s you know, I’m gonna get something out of it. God’s will may may lead me into prison. God’s will may lead me into a beating. God’s will may lead you and me into death. And so we have to be constantly uh not only reminding ourselves, but also declaring, hey, you know, I want God’s will to be done 22 14 and he said, the God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear an utterance from his mouth to see the righteous one. That’s the will of God. To hear his word, that’s the will of God. And he’s appointed us to know his will Romans 1 10, always in my prayers, making requests that perhaps now at last by the will of God, I may succeed in coming to you. Listen a lot of the time you find God speaking about traveling uh going back and forth and constantly asking Lord, please protect us and guide us in your will to do what you want Romans to 18 and know his will and approve the things that are essential. Being instructed out of the law. So we know that God’s will comes out of the law here, pick up the next one, romans 12 1 and two. Probably one of the most famous verses for those of us who are christians. Therefore, I urge you brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship and don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove What the will of God is. That which is good and acceptable and perfect. And that’s the other thing God’s will is good, acceptable and perfect about surrendering my body, giving my mind to be conformed to his image and and doing what God wants. And then in Romans 1532 that I may come to you enjoyed by the will of God. God, God wants us to know that his will is gonna produce joy many of the times. And if you’ll notice the end of the verse it says, and find refreshing rest in your company, that’s God’s will for us to be refreshed. Second Corinthians 85 and this not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the Will of God. You see how different these verses are from the passage that James is talking about that this person presumptuously says, you know, I’m gonna go to this city, I’m gonna take this much time and take a year or so. I’m gonna make a profit. Just totally living life without even considering what the Lord wants or what the will of God is. We need to be very careful to never leave God out of our plans. But we want the first and foremost seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these other things will be added on to us. So I want to continue on the scripture that Vicki and I were talking about and I love First Thessalonians 43 through seven for this is the will of God your sanctification. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God and that no man transgressed and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the Avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So you see, knowing what God wants concerning my future and having the, the attitude and belief system that I’m gonna do what God wants as the Lord wills. What the Lord wills is, what I’m gonna do. It affects my relationship with the opposite sex, it affects my relationship where I go and spend money. And uh again in first Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, rejoice. Always pray without ceasing and everything give thanks. I mean, what a mindset think about it, rejoice always. This is my my mindset and constant attitude is that I need to be a man, a woman, you need to be a man or woman, A teenager of faith that no matter what I go through, the joy is gonna come out pray without ceasing. Its a non, it’s a habit of the believer’s life. It’s our air that we breathe and in everything, Give thanks for this is the will of God in christ jesus concerning you, not for everything, but in everything in every even hard situation, I’m to give thanks. These are the passages that bring great joy to my heart When I read them and comfort in my heart for such as the will of God. 1st Peter 2 15. Here’s another one uh that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men that God’s will is for me to do what’s right, not what’s wrong and then say, well, you know, I think it was God’s will know, you’ll know when it’s God’s will to do what’s right. First Peter 42, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lusts of men, but for the Will of God. Therefore, in other words, all of my time belongs to God. But I make a choice each day to live for the will of God. First Peter 4 19, therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right, suffering is part of the will of God. You know, you can’t just say, well, I’m experiencing suffering. The devil is is is on me no many times, God has called his people to suffer persecution and it is part of God’s design and Plant Second Peter 1 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. So God is involved in foretelling the future. And of course, we talked about some of these other passages of scripture. What I’d like to do right now is go into the words of jesus concerning our future and concerning what he says in In uh in first in the book of Luke where he talks about a the coverage is the covetousness that is denounced when two brothers come to him notice what he says in Luke chapter 12 and verse 13 and someone in the crowd said to him teacher tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me and he said to him man who appointed me a judge to criticize a judge who makes that determination or an arbitrary a merest is someone who’s gonna divide it. And he said to them be on your guard against every form of greed alone. Xia you know that word play Aaron is numerically more and then who is to have. So here is what this word means is to constantly want more. I’ll never forget a tv program that we saw way back when I can’t even remember the time. But it was several multimillionaires talking and uh they were basically they were old growing I mean getting very old and Rockefeller was asked well what what more can you want? And you know what he said a little bit more think about the thought that people have so much but they want a little bit more. Look I don’t know Mr Rockefeller, I didn’t know him but I know that if anyone has this attitude for a little bit more, you have so much, but we want a little bit more for ourselves. You know, you need to really hear what Jesus said concerning this word. Greed. Play anoxia. And and then he told them a parable. You know, first he said, watch out for every form, guard yourself against every form of greed. For not even when one has an abundance. Does his life consist of his possessions? Your real life? You’re living and experiencing the uh the bleeding’s life. What Jesus meant in John 1010, I came to give life and give it bleeding more abundantly. That is not going to come from having stuff, having more stuff and you know, more toys and more expensive toys and more in number uh in your life more houses, more, whatever, cars, whatever it is. And then he told them uh a parable that it isn’t, you know to understand that it isn’t consist. Life does not consist in a man’s possessions. Jesus tells this parable. Then he told them a parable saying, the land of a certain rich man was very productive and he began reasoning to himself, saying, what shall I do luke chapter 12 verse 17. Since I have no place to store my crops. I mean, the man had so much that now he didn’t have any place to put everything he had. He says, he said to himself, this is what I’m I will do, I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul think about this, he’s dealing with physical stuff. But he says then I’m gonna say to my soul, you know uh Soul you have many goods laid up for many years to come, take your ease, eat drink and be merry. But God said to him, you fool this very night, your soul is required of you. And now who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. And then in verse 22, it says he said to his disciples teaching his disciples, he said to his disciples for this reason I say to you, do not be anxious, met him now, which means to be drawn in opposite directions. You know you want to go there, but oh I want that too. He says, no, no, no, do not be anxious for your life and as to what you shall eat, nor for your body as to what you shall put on for. Life is more than food and your body is more than clothing. Consider the Ravens for they neither sow, nor do they reap and they have no storerooms nor barn, and yet God feeds them how much more valuable you are than the birds In Chapter five, you have people planning to go to such and such a city at such and such a time and spend a year and make a profit and constantly be thinking about how to get more and they didn’t even consider to bring God into the equation and to say if the Lord wills, I need to be about what God has called me to do, you know? Matthew 28 verse 19 and 20 to go and preach the Gospel. And as I go to make disciples in Mark, chapter 16 and verse 15 of chapter 15 verse 16 that he says go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Chapter 16 and verse 15 and he said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation to every person. That’s the most important thing because you could have everything. But if you die without Christ if you die and you’re not even sure where you’re going to spend eternity, How terrible is that? But to just bow your head with me and to cry out to God and say, oh God, please forgive me and come into my life and saved me and helped me to understand that there’s no greater treasure than to know that my soul is saved and that you have forgiven me because you died on the cross for me. You were buried and rose again and I accept you tonight. I accept you this morning wherever you are. I accept you today as my personal savior, to forgive me and save me. I don’t want to be like this man in the story that is a fool that he’s taken care of all the physical things of this life. But he did not care for his own soul. God help us to trust you before we leave this planet and to come into your presence as Children of God. God bless you. Until next time. It’s all greek to me.