Generated by whisper.cpp

[00:00] Have you ever asked a question
[00:03] or heard somebody say, right, what is life, right?
[00:06] You've heard that before, people are like, what is life?
[00:08] And sometimes it's said in jest, you know,
[00:12] something bad happens, you know, like, you know,
[00:14] whatever, you know, what is life, right?
[00:15] What is going on, basically.
[00:17] But in some cases, it's a deeper me, right, for many.
[00:21] What is life?
[00:22] Albert Einstein once said,
[00:25] our situation on this earth seems strange.
[00:29] I mean, one of us appears here involuntarily
[00:32] and uninvited for a short stay
[00:34] without knowing the whys and the wherefores.
[00:36] It's interesting because I kind of expect the world
[00:40] to think that way, right?
[00:42] What is life?
[00:43] You know, they don't know necessarily what's going on.
[00:48] When I say the world, I mean the unsafe,
[00:50] those who don't know Christ, right?
[00:52] And so it makes sense that they would, you know,
[00:54] say, what is life?
[00:55] And, you know, as Albert Einstein said,
[00:58] we don't know the whys or the wheretos.
[01:00] But it's interesting that I think many Christians
[01:03] ask that question too, to some degree.
[01:07] You know, they like, well, I don't know,
[01:09] I just kind of, getting through life,
[01:10] trying to do the best I can,
[01:12] and then I'll be in heaven some day, so I guess that's it.
[01:15] They may not say that verbally,
[01:16] but that's kind of the thought process, right?
[01:18] 'Cause I think what happens in Christian's lives,
[01:20] it's not that they say that, what is life,
[01:23] but they live it, and we live it, I do it sometimes.
[01:27] What I mean by that is these everyday decisions
[01:30] that we make, and some of them are very big,
[01:32] and some are small, but you know,
[01:34] you would think like, the big ones,
[01:36] you would know more about, oh, I believe in God,
[01:40] I believe in Christ, I put my faith in him,
[01:43] let me go to him in these decisions.
[01:46] But for Christians, right, many times, we don't, right?
[01:51] We set our plans, and we never bring God into them.
[01:56] Right, like, we're living here
[02:01] without the whys and the where tos.
[02:03] It's kind of like, okay, well, I don't know,
[02:05] so I'll just make these big decisions.
[02:06] Oh, you know, I'm gonna buy a house.
[02:08] Now, bring God into that decision?
[02:10] No, I'm gonna, you know, get married,
[02:12] and bring God into, no, you know, I'm gonna buy a new car,
[02:16] I'm gonna move, I'm gonna move to another state,
[02:17] I'm gonna get a new job, I'm gonna, whatever,
[02:19] I'm gonna have more kids, whatever, I'm gonna adopt,
[02:21] I'm not, you know, whatever the situation.
[02:24] Oftentimes, we just do, with no thought of tomorrow.
[02:29] James is gonna address some of this in this passage today.
[02:35] You know, I just love it, I just love it, man.
[02:41] So, let's pray real quick,
[02:42] and then we'll go to James chapter four.
[02:44] Father, we often pray, just teach us what we do not know.
[02:49] We don't know much, Lord.
[02:54] We just convict our hearts of things
[02:58] that we need to know, Lord.
[03:00] Things that you desire for us.
[03:02] Lord, may we approach the scriptures humbly,
[03:04] may we approach them with great humility,
[03:09] understanding, Lord, that you are sovereign over all things.
[03:13] Open our hearts to what you teach us today, Lord.
[03:18] We love you, we truly love you, Lord.
[03:20] We are thankful for all that you do,
[03:23] all that you are, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
[03:25] All right, well, let's read this passage.
[03:28] It's chapter four, verses 13 through 17.
[03:31] It's a short passage, and it's another passage,
[03:34] I don't know what I'm gonna add to this, aren't I?
[03:36] It's another passage that is simple,
[03:38] it's like, you kinda read it and you're like, okay.
[03:40] But you're like, man, nobody reads it.
[03:42] Oh, that was encouraging, right?
[03:44] It's not one of these ones, again, in James,
[03:45] 'cause James is not what we would call
[03:47] the most encouraging book.
[03:49] And I think I told you this last week,
[03:51] or told somebody, and maybe I told the group
[03:53] I can't ever remember, but oh yeah,
[03:54] I think I said it as a Mother's Day thing.
[03:56] I was reading some stuff on James,
[03:58] and the guy gets, the one guy gets to chapter five,
[04:01] and he's like, oh, you know,
[04:03] it's done a world of good for our church, James.
[04:07] It has done so much good, and we're so thankful
[04:10] that we have gone through it,
[04:11] but we're also thankful we're at chapter five, right?
[04:14] 'Cause, I mean, we're not there yet,
[04:15] we will be after today, so you can thank God
[04:18] that we're almost done with it after this.
[04:21] But it's hard, a lot of difficult truths,
[04:23] and all things that we fail at, right?
[04:27] Nobody goes through James and says, I got it, right?
[04:31] That's not too bad, it's pretty easy, nobody does that.
[04:33] You get to the end of James, and you're like,
[04:35] all right, work, all right, what am I doing?
[04:37] And so we read this today, and we're gonna go in again.
[04:42] - Wow, okay.
[04:43] - So let's read it, I'm just gonna read it real quick,
[04:45] and then we'll kind of break it down.
[04:46] It says, verse 13, it says, "Come now, you who say,
[04:50] "today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town
[04:54] "and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.
[04:57] "Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
[05:01] "What is your life?
[05:03] "For you are a mist that appears for a little time
[05:06] "and then vanishes.
[05:07] "Instead, you ought to say if the Lord wills,
[05:10] "we will live and do this or that.
[05:12] "As it is, you boast in your arrogance,
[05:15] "all such boasting is evil.
[05:17] "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it,
[05:21] "for him, it is sin."
[05:23] All right, lots of good stuff in there.
[05:26] Now, if you understand James, and you understand,
[05:29] you know, the audience that he's speaking to,
[05:32] he's speaking most likely to men in this day and age,
[05:37] at this point, right here, kind of businessmen, right?
[05:41] And they have a plan, you know,
[05:43] they're gonna go make money.
[05:45] And so, he starts off by saying, you know,
[05:49] kind of sets the question within the context
[05:53] of this group of businessmen.
[05:54] And they're making plans.
[05:58] And he says, "I want you to think about some things, guys.
[06:01] "I know that a group of you often sit down, right,
[06:05] "and you gather around this table or a table
[06:07] "and you put together a business plan
[06:09] "and a strategy, right, for making some money,
[06:12] "to make, whatever, for growing your business, right?
[06:16] "The money that extends, not only for today,
[06:18] "but into the future.
[06:19] "And I want to speak to those of you
[06:22] "who are good at doing that."
[06:24] Well, James is saying,
[06:25] "I want to give you a word of warning.
[06:29] "I want to suggest, right,
[06:31] "that maybe you're making a very serious error."
[06:35] Now, before I go on for that,
[06:39] some of you are like, "Well, we're not supposed to make plans."
[06:41] No, right, what he is condemning here,
[06:43] and you'll see as we go, right,
[06:45] is not anything to do with business
[06:48] or your, you know, maybe you love to think
[06:52] economically, you know, in your family, whatever.
[06:54] He's not criticizing that.
[06:56] What he is condemning here, right,
[06:58] is not business, but boasting, right?
[07:02] Boasting about things that they do not know about.
[07:06] And being confident in things
[07:08] that they should not be confident in.
[07:10] And we get to that.
[07:12] You're condemning here the business nature of these,
[07:14] not the business nature of these men.
[07:16] Some of you, right, are really good at that business.
[07:20] You know, you enjoy it, it comes good, you know,
[07:21] it comes relatively easy to you, and you enjoy it.
[07:25] And that's fine, God has put that in you.
[07:28] What he's condemning, right,
[07:30] is this idea that you know things that you do not know.
[07:40] That you are engaging in thoughts
[07:43] about business and future entirely independent of God.
[07:48] And we do that all the time, not just in business,
[07:53] by the way I say, I already mentioned it.
[07:55] Do this or do that, you know, and no thought,
[08:01] no concept of who God is.
[08:03] I think what these individuals that he's addressing here,
[08:07] and I think we can, you know, we're similar to this,
[08:10] we get it, right, is they're thinking worldly.
[08:14] And even normally, what we would consider
[08:19] normal thought process on business or future endeavors.
[08:24] When you think about it, right,
[08:30] the choices that they are making are based on what?
[08:33] Assumptions, right in the beginning, right in the beginning.
[08:37] Let's read it again.
[08:39] Come now, you who say today or tomorrow,
[08:41] we will go into such and such a town
[08:43] and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.
[08:46] Now that little verse, that little section,
[08:50] there's at least three assumptions
[08:52] that these guys are making and that we often make.
[08:55] Assumption number one, they will for sure
[08:58] be here tomorrow, that's what they're thinking.
[09:01] All right, that's assumption number one.
[09:03] They will be here tomorrow.
[09:05] Assumption number two, they will for sure go there tomorrow.
[09:09] They'll be here tomorrow
[09:11] and then they're gonna go there tomorrow.
[09:13] Assumption number three, they will for sure be successful
[09:18] in what they are planning, right?
[09:20] But look, today or tomorrow, we will go.
[09:23] So they're already saying, hey,
[09:25] oh, we're gonna be here tomorrow.
[09:29] And then they're gonna say, oh, we will go there tomorrow.
[09:32] Oh, and look, we'll spend a year there,
[09:33] trade and make a profit.
[09:34] We will be successful.
[09:36] Nowhere in there do you find, Lord, teach me, right?
[09:42] Convict me, give me wisdom, help me through this.
[09:47] That's not in there.
[09:48] And like I keep saying, and I'll probably get it,
[09:54] you guys will probably get tired of me saying it.
[09:56] This is not uncommon.
[09:57] I don't know if I have my phone on me, but yeah, I do.
[10:00] I wanna show you something 'cause it's kind of funny
[10:02] because Laurie and I have planned a cruise
[10:05] for next November, right?
[10:08] And I keep bringing up the cruise line app, right?
[10:12] And it's 'cause it has the days to go, right?
[10:15] And I think we're down to,
[10:18] oh, yeah, we're down to 533 days, right?
[10:21] (laughing)
[10:23] 533 days, right?
[10:25] I mean, it's forever away.
[10:27] But I plan this, I like that kind of show room.
[10:30] I bring it up, I look only 533 days and the next day
[10:33] I go, look, 532 days, right?
[10:36] But I say it kind of the joke, right?
[10:38] And we always say like, and she'll say really, right?
[10:40] She's like, we'll probably be dead by then, all right?
[10:43] I mean, we don't know, and that's the whole point.
[10:45] So it's important to understand that we don't know.
[10:51] And so when we look at verse 14, or verse 13,
[10:59] and then verse 14a, that's the first part of that,
[11:02] we see that they have made all these assumptions.
[11:05] And then James goes, you made all these assumptions.
[11:09] Yet you don't even know what tomorrow will bring.
[11:14] And so me looking at my cruise app, right?
[11:20] Ridiculous.
[11:23] I don't even know what tomorrow will bring.
[11:25] I mean, and James is being generous.
[11:27] We don't even know what the next couple of hours will bring,
[11:28] right?
[11:29] But he's making a point.
[11:30] You don't even know.
[11:31] You have all these plans for the future
[11:33] and you don't even know tomorrow.
[11:35] Pastor Alec Maltier says this, when we think then,
[11:43] no, he says this based on this passage.
[11:46] That's what I'll say.
[11:47] Based on this idea of time, right?
[11:52] He says, we receive another day,
[11:54] 'cause we don't know what tomorrow holds,
[11:56] but we receive another day,
[11:57] not as a result of natural necessity.
[12:00] Tomorrow does not have to come,
[12:03] nor by mechanical law, nor by right,
[12:06] nor by the courtesy of nature,
[12:09] but we receive another day by the covenant mercies of God.
[12:13] And if we really wanted to go back into, you know,
[12:18] dig into that, you can go to Lamentations 3, right?
[12:22] And it basically says that we are not consumed,
[12:24] it's kind of an interesting chapter, Lamentations chapter,
[12:28] but we are not consumed by God because of his mercies, right?
[12:32] It is because of God's mercy that we awaken every day, right?
[12:38] We open our eyes, all right?
[12:40] All right, we open our eyes and do you ever think,
[12:46] when you wake up in the morning, most of us think,
[12:53] I'm tired, whatever, I got this going on,
[12:56] I gotta do this, how many of us wake up and say,
[12:59] God has seen fit to give me another day?
[13:03] What is our life?
[13:11] Well, our life is at least grounded in the gift of God,
[13:14] in the gift of God, and every day is another gift.
[13:20] And James is trying to help people remind them of that,
[13:23] he's helping to help them understand that, no, all right,
[13:26] we do not plan on our own,
[13:28] 'cause we do not know what tomorrow is.
[13:30] If we get to tomorrow, it is a gift.
[13:32] If we get to the next day, it is a gift.
[13:34] If we get to 53 years old, almost 53 years old,
[13:39] it is truly a gift.
[13:41] And what we see again is this,
[13:47] the men and women are proud in their planning, all right?
[13:52] That's what James is saying, he's saying,
[13:56] listen, you're saying these things like you're planning,
[13:58] and you're gonna go here, and you're gonna do this,
[14:01] and on and on, and what is missing is this idea
[14:04] of the sovereignty of God over all things.
[14:07] When you think about that,
[14:11] sovereignty is God, just that alone.
[14:14] I mean, when I was growing up,
[14:15] I heard a lot about the sovereignty of God.
[14:17] Nowadays, sure, that's even mentioned that often, right?
[14:20] Well, in conversation, the sovereignty of God,
[14:25] not talked much about, right?
[14:27] Definitely probably not understood,
[14:28] and so in its simplest form, I just said,
[14:31] I gotta put it in some context, right?
[14:33] That according to the Bible,
[14:34] nothing in the whole universe would continue to exist
[14:38] for even a second, or a fraction of a second without God.
[14:45] That's a bird's eye view of God's sovereignty.
[14:48] Oh, I'm sure you've been in college of studies
[14:50] and studied on God's sovereignty,
[14:51] and you can go years and study the sovereignty of God.
[14:55] But at a bird's eye view, it said nothing exists,
[15:00] could exist without the sovereignty of God,
[15:04] and James wants us to remind us of the arrogance
[15:07] and regards to living our lives apart from that,
[15:10] trying to live our lives apart from that.
[15:13] He continues in verse 14.
[15:18] At the end, he says, well, we'll start with again,
[15:20] he says, yeah, you do not know what tomorrow will bring,
[15:22] and he says, what is your life?
[15:25] So there's the question, and he gives a great answer.
[15:29] That's a great, if you really think about it.
[15:32] You, me, right, we are a mist
[15:37] that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
[15:42] Ah, so encouraging, right, that's so encouraging.
[15:46] I mean, I think of different mists
[15:49] and to think of the way, and there's different versions,
[15:51] and they say different things,
[15:52] but I was thinking of a mist, the bottle,
[15:54] water spray bottle, it's like you can see it
[15:56] for a second, right, and then it just dissipates it to nothing.
[16:00] You're not even on the do on the ground.
[16:03] Do on the ground, some people look at that and go, wow,
[16:06] and they come back an hour later,
[16:07] and it's completely gone, right?
[16:12] We are a mist.
[16:14] Oh, man, I had a heart to hear that, right?
[16:19] I mean, he's given like this insane emphasis
[16:24] on this point of God's sovereignty
[16:27] and our boasting in tomorrow.
[16:28] So he says, what is your life?
[16:32] And though it's not the entirety of your life,
[16:37] James is giving an answer, and it's James' answer here,
[16:40] and the answer is what is life?
[16:44] Life is a mist.
[16:45] What is your life?
[16:48] Your life is passing quickly.
[16:50] Not easy to hear.
[16:55] Not easy to hear, especially when you're already
[17:00] well over halfway done.
[17:01] (laughs)
[17:03] Your life is passing.
[17:09] But isn't it vital that we hear this?
[17:11] See, because when we think of these things in these terms,
[17:16] when we think of life in that term,
[17:20] it changes everything, doesn't it?
[17:23] What is my life?
[17:25] It's a mist.
[17:27] What am I doing wasting?
[17:28] How do I not speak to God about everything that I do?
[17:31] Well, we go to the opposite side,
[17:37] and we're like, oh, we don't really want to talk about that.
[17:39] And so then we don't live our lives that way,
[17:42] like it's a mist, like it's short.
[17:44] We don't want to talk about those things.
[17:47] Yet the Bible continually reminds us that life is short.
[17:51] There's Psalm 90.
[17:53] Psalm 90, and if you want to write that down, you can.
[17:58] You don't turn there if you want, don't have to.
[17:59] But Psalm 90, I'm not gonna read the whole passage,
[18:02] it's pretty long, but I'm gonna read a couple verses.
[18:04] Verse three and four says this, you return man to dust,
[18:09] and say return, oh, children of man.
[18:11] For a thousand years in your sight are but a yesterday
[18:14] when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
[18:17] Verse nine, for all our days pass away under your wrath,
[18:22] we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
[18:25] The years of our life are 70,
[18:27] or even by reason of strength eight,
[18:30] yet their span is but toil and trouble,
[18:31] they are soon gone and we fly away.
[18:34] First of all, I find it remarkable
[18:36] that this psalmist, all these years ago,
[18:40] says your life is 70 or 80 years,
[18:43] and it's kind of still to standard today.
[18:45] I mean, obviously, there's other things that come in,
[18:50] but as far as just your life and living out,
[18:53] now, we have a lot of advances,
[18:55] we're a lot more advanced culture than this was,
[18:58] and I just find it fascinating.
[19:00] That is the same amount of time.
[19:04] And then he gives that encouraging, right?
[19:06] Even by reason of strength 80,
[19:07] yet their span, it was a 70 or 80,
[19:09] is but toil and trouble, true?
[19:12] And they're soon gone and will fly away.
[19:15] And then he says in verse 12,
[19:16] so teach us the number of our days
[19:21] that we may get a heart of wisdom.
[19:23] Teach us the number of our days
[19:28] that we may get a heart of wisdom.
[19:34] And it changes everything if we think through that.
[19:37] Yes, our life is passing.
[19:38] But Lord, teach me to number my days
[19:44] because I want to have wisdom,
[19:46] which he talked about in the beginning of James, remember?
[19:48] So, what should we do?
[19:57] Our life is brief.
[20:01] Okay, we get it, James.
[20:03] We're not gonna be here long.
[20:04] We're all gonna die, so thanks.
[20:06] Now what?
[20:07] Right?
[20:08] I think one of the answers is just stop,
[20:10] and James already spoke into this.
[20:12] Stop with worldly wisdom that says,
[20:14] listen, fulfill your desires.
[20:18] Right?
[20:19] The world says get what belongs to you.
[20:20] Go get, go do now.
[20:23] Eat, drink, and be merry.
[20:27] Get all the toys you can now.
[20:31] That's what the world says.
[20:34] God is like, hmm, life's pretty short.
[20:41] So he says, James says to us,
[20:46] he says to the businessmen that he's talking to,
[20:49] you're making a lot of assumptions.
[20:51] Right?
[20:52] You're presuming not only on tomorrow,
[20:53] but on all your tomorrows.
[20:54] And that if you're going to assume those things, right,
[20:59] you're gonna become, you know,
[21:10] you're gonna assume that you're gonna have this time.
[21:13] That I think it's important that you face up
[21:17] to what you do not know.
[21:19] James is like, there's some things you don't know.
[21:24] You need to understand this.
[21:25] If that's what you're gonna assume,
[21:26] you're gonna make these assumptions,
[21:28] then you need to face up to what you do not know.
[21:32] You do not know about tomorrow.
[21:34] None of us do.
[21:34] You have to face up, right, on the frailty of life.
[21:43] I find it just,
[21:44] I know we've had this conversation before, right?
[21:46] I find it fascinating
[21:47] that Christians don't talk about death more.
[21:51] Right?
[21:52] Like, it's like we avoid it.
[21:57] And I get it.
[21:57] I mean, pardon me, I get it.
[21:58] I'm sort of sad, right?
[22:00] That part, I understand more than a lot of people, right?
[22:05] Lost a lot of loved ones in my life.
[22:08] I get that part.
[22:10] But there was a time in culture
[22:15] that it wasn't shocking when people died, right?
[22:18] And so there was a talk of death, right?
[22:22] We don't want people to die.
[22:24] Totally get that, right?
[22:26] I don't want anybody to die.
[22:27] I hope all of us in here live full and long lives.
[22:30] Everybody.
[22:31] But the Bible talks about death, right?
[22:36] And so should we.
[22:37] Because when we understand that death is coming, right?
[22:45] You know, click along at 100%, all right?
[22:50] Besides for a couple of people in the Bible, you know,
[22:53] since then.
[22:53] But when we understand that,
[22:59] our lives have to look different, right?
[23:01] We're not going to live for the today.
[23:03] And we're not going to go, oh, you know, I'm doing this.
[23:05] I'm going to do this.
[23:06] I'm going to go by.
[23:07] I'm going to move into this house.
[23:08] I'm going to have three houses.
[23:09] I'm going to, you know, I'm going to have this job.
[23:11] I'm going to make this much money.
[23:12] I'm going to do all this stuff without God.
[23:14] What is your life?
[23:15] You're missed.
[23:18] And so it's important that we,
[23:22] as we talk about this,
[23:23] that we all form this idea of humility
[23:27] when facing the sovereignty of God, right?
[23:30] Well, humility when planning the future,
[23:36] because it's going to be a reality.
[23:38] It's going to be a reality.
[23:39] It's going to be a reality.
[23:41] It's going to be a reality.
[23:43] The future, because of the sovereignty of God.
[23:45] No decisions we should make as Christians
[23:50] should ever just be whatever,
[23:53] but especially big decisions.
[23:55] We've got like, if you're married,
[24:01] it should be you and your spouse together going before God.
[24:05] So when I moved to North Carolina, I got out of the Navy.
[24:08] My wife and I were in, I was in military in Maine.
[24:12] And I got in the Navy.
[24:13] And my mom got sick.
[24:15] She had cancer.
[24:16] And so I decided to get out.
[24:17] I didn't offer one prayer.
[24:21] No, one, no, I have,
[24:22] Lori probably did because that's how, who she is.
[24:24] But I never did.
[24:25] I was like, oh, we're getting out.
[24:26] I didn't seem like a good idea.
[24:27] They were going to ship me to Guam.
[24:28] Lori and I had to Guam.
[24:29] And I want to be close to my mom for that.
[24:31] Never, we don't want she was going to die
[24:32] because she had been diagnosed with, you know,
[24:35] it was over basically.
[24:35] So I said, I'm going, I'm getting out.
[24:39] Never prayed about it.
[24:41] Now, I don't know.
[24:43] It would be any different.
[24:44] God is gracious.
[24:46] No, he's not going all right.
[24:48] Wait, you didn't ask me about it.
[24:49] So now all your life's going to fail, right?
[24:51] God is gracious.
[24:52] And so I don't, you know, I mean,
[24:57] I got out and we struggled mightily.
[24:59] I mean, mightily, like financially and everything else.
[25:03] But I was there for my mom's death.
[25:05] So that was good, right?
[25:07] But I don't know.
[25:08] And I don't have to think about it.
[25:09] Like I never, that big decision, I never went before God.
[25:13] The Lord helped me.
[25:13] I need wisdom.
[25:14] I don't know what I'm doing.
[25:15] I was 20 something years old.
[25:17] I knew nothing about anything.
[25:19] The older we decided I lost my position postal
[25:24] in Pennsylvania.
[25:26] They removed my position, a bunch of positions
[25:28] and I could have stayed in Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania.
[25:32] But you know, we thought maybe this is the time to move.
[25:35] We just both of us had this idea that maybe it was time.
[25:39] And so we brought the kids in and we said, make a list.
[25:41] You know, what would North Carolina be better
[25:42] than Pennsylvania, duh, duh, duh.
[25:44] I didn't even have a job yet.
[25:44] We were just talking about it.
[25:46] And so they made their list.
[25:46] And I think it was still happening somewhere.
[25:48] We gave it to you, I don't know.
[25:49] But they're funny, funny list.
[25:50] But Lori and I are great.
[25:52] I mean, I beg.
[25:54] But I mean, to pull your kids, your four kids, you know,
[25:58] when they're in high school, middle school,
[26:00] all out of the school and bring them to another state.
[26:04] That's right.
[26:06] You can do some damage if you don't do it, right?
[26:08] And so, we prayed.
[26:11] We prayed, I said, Lord, close doors.
[26:13] Like, just make, 'cause I'm thick-headed, right, Lord?
[26:15] I know, he's not gonna come tap me on the shoulder
[26:17] and go, hmm, not today, right?
[26:19] But he's gonna show 'em.
[26:20] Through doors that are open or closed.
[26:26] Or through circumstances, right?
[26:28] Through the reading of the word,
[26:29] the conviction of the spirit.
[26:31] And we just prayed and we prayed.
[26:33] And we just really were at peace at it, you know?
[26:35] So I moved down by myself.
[26:38] And 'cause I made a cellar house.
[26:40] I was like, man, we're not in a cellar house, you know?
[26:42] Months are going by and I'm still down here
[26:44] going home every other weekend.
[26:45] And I'm praying, Lord, is this it?
[26:47] Is this, are you telling me not to be down here?
[26:49] 'Cause, you know, I got the job in North Carolina.
[26:51] So I got a job, that's a big door.
[26:52] It's gonna close on me right there.
[26:53] No job, okay, well, thanks, right?
[26:55] Gives me a good job and I'm like working down here.
[26:57] And I'm like, is this, am I not supposed to be down here?
[26:59] Like, well, I don't understand, you know?
[27:01] And so, at the time, Lori's mom is dying.
[27:03] There's cancer and she's dying.
[27:04] She only has so much time left on this earth.
[27:07] And Lori is trying to take care of four kids
[27:09] and take care of her mom and, you know, all this stuff.
[27:12] But, and so, you know, I mean, we're both praying.
[27:15] I come back every two weeks and Lori and I would talk
[27:16] about it and we'd be like, you know,
[27:17] you want me to just, I'll just quit.
[27:19] I'll just come up here and we'll figure it out.
[27:21] You know, like, I'm not, I mean, Lord, I don't,
[27:23] I know that I'm not supposed to be away from my family
[27:25] for a long period of time and I just keep praying.
[27:27] But it kept giving me peace.
[27:28] Like, I just felt like, and it wasn't about a job.
[27:31] It wasn't about it.
[27:32] It's just like, okay, I'm supposed to be here.
[27:34] I really felt that peace.
[27:35] And other people I talked to, you know, you seek wisdom
[27:37] and throw the people and they were like, you know,
[27:40] I mean, if you, the peace of God is a, is a awesome thing.
[27:44] And if you have it, then you have it, you know?
[27:46] Anyway, all that to say.
[27:48] So I finally say, Lord, I don't know.
[27:54] I mean, I just, like, I got to, I got to go, right?
[27:57] I got to go back with my family.
[27:59] And that's my house cells, my house cells, right?
[28:03] More than, you know, I thought it would, which is crazy.
[28:06] But more importantly than that, right?
[28:08] Lori never had a left leave her mom, right?
[28:13] I went back to Pennsylvania the last month,
[28:15] maybe a month and a half, right?
[28:18] Stay up there and help with the move
[28:20] and get the house ready and all that stuff.
[28:21] They let me work from up there.
[28:23] And Lori's mom died during that time.
[28:25] And I was, couldn't help but think, right?
[28:31] Well, life is short, right?
[28:33] She wasn't, you know, she's 62 years old.
[28:36] No.
[28:39] Imagine if Montlory had to be in North Carolina
[28:43] while her mom was dying, right?
[28:46] And so she had been praying and I had been praying
[28:51] and man, you know, God's timing and you don't see it in it.
[28:55] But after, we look back and we say, thank you, God.
[29:00] Thank you, God, right?
[29:02] Thank you, God.
[29:04] Now, if you ask any of my kids,
[29:07] we say, you know, do they wish we would have stayed?
[29:12] Man, they don't even wanna go back on a visit.
[29:13] Okay. (laughs)
[29:16] I married beautiful women, right?
[29:20] They're just, and wonderful women.
[29:22] My daughter's doing wonderful in Michigan,
[29:25] but she did great down here when she was here.
[29:28] And I don't know, it doesn't always work out that way.
[29:30] I understand that.
[29:31] But I wonder, like, I saw the difference, right?
[29:33] I moved two different places and two different nights.
[29:35] Well, I have that comparison.
[29:36] One, I didn't even think about it.
[29:38] Bring it to God.
[29:39] One, I did, I mean, constantly.
[29:41] And one, I could look at my life and go,
[29:45] man, that time was brutal, right?
[29:47] 'Cause I mean, it just, things were just chaos
[29:49] and wrong and just messed up.
[29:52] And the other time was peace.
[29:55] And then when we look back at it, we see God's timing.
[29:58] But life is short, and so we go to God with our decisions.
[30:03] We are humble in our decisions.
[30:06] Somebody do me a favor.
[30:08] Who has a phone?
[30:08] Look at the phone.
[30:09] I want you to read this.
[30:10] We're almost done.
[30:11] You got a phone?
[30:12] You wanna hook it up?
[30:13] Look up, and it's a poem called Solomon Grundy.
[30:15] Grundy, Solomon Grundy, all right?
[30:18] Look up a poem called Solomon Grundy.
[30:21] Anybody know this poem?
[30:23] All right? (laughs)
[30:24] All right.
[30:25] Oh, did you, what's that?
[30:28] Oh, I did.
[30:30] Yeah, that's it?
[30:31] I didn't know.
[30:32] So we got it?
[30:35] - I got all kinds of things.
[30:38] Wikipedia, here we go, lyrics.
[30:42] - Yeah. - Yeah.
[30:43] - You wanna read it?
[30:44] - Sure.
[30:44] Solomon Grundy, born on Monday.
[30:47] Christendom Tuesday, married on Wednesday.
[30:50] Took ill on Thursday,
[30:51] reversed on Friday,
[30:53] died on Saturday, buried on Sunday.
[30:56] That was the end of Solomon Grundy.
[30:58] (laughs)
[31:01] - All right, I just find that hilarious
[31:02] because I'm like, that's what Paul,
[31:04] that's what James is talking about.
[31:06] All right, that's pretty quick, right?
[31:07] I mean, obviously, right?
[31:09] First of all, you know, he's born on Monday
[31:11] and he's, you know, married on Wednesday.
[31:13] That's awkward.
[31:14] That's true.
[31:16] It doesn't say on him any Monday.
[31:17] But the idea is the brevity of life.
[31:20] James keeps going.
[31:25] I just wanna make sure we wrap this up here properly.
[31:28] He says this.
[31:29] Your life is amiss.
[31:33] It appears for a little time.
[31:33] It vanishes.
[31:34] Instead, you ought to say if the Lord wills, we will live.
[31:37] If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
[31:40] Now, I've heard people take that literally and say,
[31:43] we're supposed to do everything we say
[31:45] every time we do something.
[31:46] Lord wills it.
[31:47] Now, Laura and I kind of do it for fun now in the house,
[31:49] you know, like other guys, should I show her the crew?
[31:51] She goes, if the Lord wills it, right?
[31:53] That's what she does to me.
[31:55] That's not what he's talking about here, you know?
[31:59] We probably should say it more,
[32:00] but it's the way we live is what he's talking about, right?
[32:04] Do we live, do we have a mindset, right?
[32:07] That says, I need the grace of God
[32:09] and I am dependent on him and his mercy every day.
[32:13] I'm dependent on the will of God for the entirety of my life.
[32:21] That's what that means, if he wills it.
[32:24] Again, it's this idea of great humility
[32:32] before the sovereignty of God.
[32:33] He says in verse 16, as it is, you boast in your arrogance
[32:42] and all such boasting is evil.
[32:44] As I listen, you want to brag about what you're doing?
[32:50] It's not just wrong, it's evil, he calls it.
[32:52] You want to make plans without talking to your creator,
[32:57] without seeking his will for your life?
[33:01] Evil.
[33:02] James saying, listen, understanding it is important
[33:07] that you understand that every accomplishment,
[33:09] every activity, literally every breath,
[33:12] we acknowledge that I am alive or I am working
[33:16] and I am here only by the sovereign grace of God.
[33:20] That's it.
[33:21] And I love how James wraps it up in 17, he says,
[33:25] so whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it,
[33:28] for him it is sin.
[33:29] Now, some people take that verse
[33:30] and kind of break it down by itself, right?
[33:33] And they talk about sins of commission
[33:35] and sins of omission, right?
[33:36] And you have that whole thing, which, you know, that's fine.
[33:38] You can probably, that probably fits here.
[33:40] But really, I think James is going,
[33:42] everything that I'm talking about here,
[33:44] you may not have known this, you may not have known,
[33:46] all right, about the severity of understanding
[33:49] how short your life is and how we should be going to God
[33:52] and that he is, you know, we should be seeking his will
[33:55] for all of life.
[33:56] You may not have known that, but you know now.
[33:58] Now that you know, and if you don't do it,
[34:02] for you it is sin.
[34:03] Now, there's others who would say, okay, well,
[34:07] let's talk about the sins of omission, sins of commission,
[34:10] and that's fine.
[34:11] You may hear that message sometime on James
[34:13] and there's nothing wrong with that.
[34:15] But I believe that he's speaking as part of this letter
[34:19] to what he's already said.
[34:21] 'Cause he's given a lot of things.
[34:23] And he says, you may not have known these, that's fine.
[34:26] But now you know.
[34:27] And if you don't do them, it's sin.
[34:29] And now we know, right?
[34:33] Again, this book is hard.
[34:36] Man, James says we are a mist.
[34:42] That's hard to take.
[34:45] But may I remind you, I wanna wrap up
[34:49] on something encouraging.
[34:51] That God himself reached down to us in Jesus
[35:00] and offered forgiveness.
[35:03] He died to bear the punishment, bear our punishment.
[35:12] He died to wipe our slate clean,
[35:17] to wipe away our guilt and our shame.
[35:20] He offers us a new family.
[35:23] He offers us a future.
[35:27] So that when we ask what is life?
[35:31] We can say my life is passing, yes, right?
[35:34] I am a mist, yes, without a doubt.
[35:36] But my life is also purchased through the blood of Christ.
[35:39] And because of that, my life is powerful through Christ.
[35:42] You see, powerful.
[35:45] Yeah, most people I think sometimes forget
[35:51] what Paul says in Ephesians.
[35:56] He's praying and he offers this prayer and he says,
[35:59] I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
[36:03] in order that you may know, that you may know,
[36:05] that I may know the hope to which he has called you,
[36:09] the riches of his glorious inheritance to his people
[36:12] and his incomparable great power to us who believe.
[36:17] The power is the same.
[36:19] Now listen to what Paul says, 'cause this is insane.
[36:22] The power is the same as the mighty strength
[36:25] he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead
[36:27] and seated him at the right hand in heavenly realms.
[36:30] That's the power that we have through Christ.
[36:37] So yes, that life is a mist.
[36:40] But we can say, thank you, Lord, for saving me,
[36:45] for giving me a new heart and a new life,
[36:48] a new purpose and meaning.
[36:51] And so now I can say, as you've heard before,
[36:57] and hopefully this is our prayer and this is our model
[37:00] and this is what we say as we move forward, only one life.
[37:06] It'll soon be passed.
[37:07] Only what's done for Christ will last.
[37:13] We're gonna sing a song.
[37:16] You guys all know what it's called, "In Christ Alone."
[37:19] I think they sing a lot at Easter time, which is great.
[37:23] But one of the last verses says this,
[37:27] "No guilt in life, no fear in death.
[37:30] This is the power of Christ in me.
[37:33] From life's first cry to final breath,
[37:36] Jesus commands my destiny.
[37:39] No power of hell, no scheme of man
[37:43] can ever pluck me from his hand,
[37:45] till he returns or calls me home
[37:47] here in the power of Christ I'll stand.
[37:49] How can we know?
[37:53] How can we not go to God?
[37:55] How can we not go and say, God, all my decisions
[37:58] I bring to you?
[38:02] What is your will?
[38:04] So as we sing this, would it be your prayer today?
[38:09] There's a lot more to the song with phenomenal lyrics,
[38:14] but will this be your prayer in Christ alone?
[38:18] Let's pray and then we'll sing.
[38:22] Father, thank you for your word.
[38:25] Thank you for your living word.
[38:27] We are all guilty, boasting about tomorrow,
[38:33] of things that we hope to do,
[38:36] or things that we think we're gonna do.
[38:38] Yet we don't even know if we'll be here tomorrow.
[38:41] And so, Father, we ask that you would help us
[38:43] with this passage.
[38:44] You'd give us an understanding of the brevity of life.
[38:49] And in doing so, Father, may we seek your will,
[38:53] your desire for us.
[38:57] May we seek it in humility,
[39:00] knowing that you are over all things.
[39:04] May we be a people in a church, Lord,
[39:10] that wants to do nothing without you.
[39:15] Convict us.
[39:19] Thank you for your son, Jesus,
[39:23] for even when we fail, there's forgiveness.
[39:25] Our lives are in Christ alone.
[39:30] As we sing this, Lord, may you be pleased,
[39:33] may you be honored and glorified through it.
[39:36] We love you.
[39:38] In Christ's name we pray, amen.