Sermon Transcript

You guys can go ahead and take a seat.

My name is Pastor Stone.

I'm the youth pastor here, and I am super excited to continue on the series that we've been going through.

We are the entire month of June going through the book of James, which is such a practical and this text gives so many tangible things for us to go and do as Christians.

I heard it

a long time ago when i was a student i heard it called like christianity 101 it gives so many practical simple foundational truths and tools to go and live the life that the lord is calling us to live so today we're going to be going through chapter 4. if you've missed anything leading up to today we had pastor andrew pastor steph we had josh come last week it's been phenomenal all month long so if you

missed out on any of that, go back.

It's on our YouTube.

It's on Apple Music and Spotify and all that stuff if you want to listen.

But check all of those out.

Today, we are starting in chapter four.

So something that I think we struggle with as Christians sometimes is living in the humility that the Lord calls us to.

And the root, I believe, of all sin is pride.

There's no sin that you can talk about or no sin that you can think of that isn't somehow rooted in pride.

And in chapter 4 of James, he talks a lot about pride and he talks about the importance of humility.

So that's what we're going to be going through today.

I feel like to just go ahead and pray.

I know Jake just did, but let's just pray, prepare our hearts for what the Lord has.

Lord, we thank you for this time.

We thank you for this space.

We thank you for your word, God.

We thank you that your word doesn't return void.

We thank you that your word is powerful.

We thank you that it's living and active, that it's sharper than any two-edged sword, Lord.

We thank you that you're here with us.

Holy Spirit, we invite you in.

We just invite you to break down walls.

We invite you to soften hearts, Lord, because we know that your word is a good seed that wants to be planted in fertile soil, Lord.

So I just pray that people's hearts today

would be that fertile soil, that you would break up the rocks, that you would break up stony hearts, Lord, that we would receive the word that you have for us today.

God, you want to break off anything of the enemy, Lord.

You want to break chains.

You want to bring freedom.

You want to bring deliverance.

You want to bring the dominion that you died for, Lord.

So I pray right now in this space, in this room, in the city of Omaha, that the church...

would start to stand up and live in the dominion that you have for us, that we would submit, that we would die to ourselves and submit to you, Lord, because your way is greater, your way is higher.

So, Lord, in this time, in this space, we just pray that you would come, that you would be with us, that you would speak, and that we would listen.

Lord, we thank you.

We honor you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

James chapter 4.

I'm going to start right off in verse 1.

It says, where do wars and fights come from among you?

Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

You lust and do not have.

You murder and covet and cannot obtain.

You fight and war.

So there's this idea of the flesh, the desires of the flesh.

which is rooted in what?

Pride, because we want what we want more than we want what God wants, right?

So these are the fleshly desires, the desire for pleasure you murder and covet and cannot obtain.

We're always grasping for more.

We're trying to hold on so tight to what we have, and we're trying to

So maybe you read that verse.

You do not have because you do not ask.

Maybe your first instinct to that is, Lord, I've been asking.

I've been asking.

I have my list of things that I want.

But what does he say?

He says, you ask and do not receive.

Why?

Because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

So I was just talking to Nate Baker this morning, and he's an extraordinary man of God, and he was talking about this idea that we –

ask for the desires of our heart, but the issue is that the desires of our heart often do not match the desires of God's heart.

And what scripture says is that he wants to give us the desires of our heart, but he also wants to renew our hearts.

He wants to give us a new heart that matches his.

So we're called to ask and pray, and prayer is important, and we should be in prayer constantly.

Ephesians 6 talks about how we should be in constant prayer.

But what Nate said this morning is that what you pray and how you pray is just as important or maybe even more important than just the fact that you pray.

Be praying all the time.

The Lord wants to hear your voice.

The Lord wants to be with you no matter what.

However, you can't step into dominion.

You can't step into the things that he has for you.

You can't receive blessings if, like what this verse says, you are asking amiss.

You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

I think of Jesus when he was preparing in the garden to go and be crucified.

He said, Lord, not my will, but your will be done.

He knew that what he had ahead was not easy.

He knew that it wasn't comfortable, but he said, Lord, I want your will to be done more than mine because I know that you have a purpose for the things that you have planned for my life.

You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Lay down your pleasures.

Die to yourself and begin asking in accordance with the word of God, with his will.

He says, adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is an enmity with God?

Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.

The spirit is living inside of us, yet he still yearns because our flesh is going after its own desires.

But we're called to die to our flesh.

We're called to set the flesh aside and let the spirit within us flourish.

flow through us, overflow in us, and we should be going after the desires of God's heart, the desires of the Spirit, rather than the desires of our flesh.

So we need to pay attention to this yearning that the Spirit has because he is jealous for us.

If we keep reading, it says, but he gives more grace.

Actually, back up.

The spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.

Jealously, he is jealous for us, but he gives more grace.

Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

So I want to break down this passage just a little bit.

Something that I read to the students all the time is Ephesians chapters 4 and 5.

And it breaks down this idea of living for the world versus living for the Lord.

Because what does that James passage say?

We cannot be friends of the world and friends with God.

Those are mutually exclusive concepts.

If we want to be a friend of God, we have to reject the world.

We have to step away from the world, step away from our flesh, and begin living solely for the Lord.

That's what he talks about in Revelation.

You're neither hot nor cold.

You're not one or the other.

You have to choose.

And we're called to choose the Lord, to walk in full obedience and submission to him.

So Ephesians chapter 4, I'm going to start in verse 17.

He talks about walking in the spirit.

Ephesians 4, 17,

That's what happens when you're walking in the world, when you're walking in the flesh, these evil desires, what do they do?

They alienate you from the life of God.

And what is the root of that?

What are we talking about?

Pride.

Because we think that our way is better than God's way.

But when we start living our own way, when we start living according to the world, when we start living according to the flesh, it alienates us from God.

So maybe some of you in this room right now are wondering, why do I feel disconnected from God?

Why do I not hear him speaking?

Why do I not feel him close to me?

Maybe, potentially, the issue is that you are walking with the world and have alienated yourself through your sin from him.

So what's the solution to that?

Repentance, turning away, saying, I don't want to live this way anymore.

I want to live in accordance with what God's word says.

I want to be within the boundary of what he says is good and pure so that I can be connected with him, so that I can live under the blessings, so that I can experience what true intimacy with him means.

As we keep reading verse 20, but I have a lot of scripture today, by the way, so get your Bibles open.

It's going to be a good day.

Come on.

Verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and

and holiness.

There's an old life, and there's a new life, and what Satan tries to do, and what pride does in our hearts, is tell us that it's okay to go back to the old man.

What Satan tries to do, when we are baptized, what happens when we go under the water?

It's

a prophetic act of dying to yourself, being buried with Christ, and then being raised to new life.

So what pride does and what Satan tries to do is get you to go back into the grave so that you live in the darkness and the death that he wants for you, but he wants to raise you to new life.

He wants you to live according to the new man, according to the spirit, and not keep going back to the evil desires of your heart.

Keep going back to the darkness of the enemy.

the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, according to our pride, according to the flesh, and he renewed in the spirit of your mind.

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

We're called to be renewed, and that's a continual process.

There is, when you give your life to Christ, there is a sharp cutoff point where you have your old man and your new man.

But from that point forward, there is a process.

It's called sanctification, or we talk about discipleship.

It's the process of becoming more like Jesus every single day.

That's what we're called to do.

We're called to constantly renew our mind.

In another place in scripture, it talks about taking thoughts captive and being transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That's what we're called to do.

Put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

Verse 25.

Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Be angry and do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

Let him who stole steal no longer, and rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good.

that he may have something to give him who has need.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

We're called to edify.

We're called to build up.

We're called to impart grace.

So what is your language doing?

Josh did a phenomenal job last week of talking about the power of the tongue, the power of our language.

What are you using your words for?

What are you allowing to come out of your mouth?

Is it for edification and the building up of the church, building up other believers?

Or are you tearing people down?

Are you tearing yourself down?

Are you tearing your family down by the things that you speak, even if you don't realize it?

We need to change our language to an edifying language, to the language of God.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, verse 30.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption.

He has sealed us.

One of the hardest things to do if you're operating in pride is forgive.

But that is such a core, central pillar of who Jesus is.

He is a God of forgiveness.

And it says in Scripture, if we don't forgive, our forgiveness that we give to others determines God's forgiveness towards us.

It says, forgive that you may be forgiven.

So central to who we're called to be in Christ.

Chapter 5, therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us in offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.

Put fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for the saints.

Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks.

For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

We're going to talk a lot about idolatry today.

If you are an idolater, you have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Verse 6.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Therefore do not be partakers with them.

It says, don't even let these things be named among you.

Do not be partakers with them.

There's a separation.

What does it mean to be holy?

The word holy means separate.

We're called to be separated from the world.

We're called to be separated from all of these fleshly desires, all of these evil behaviors.

Why?

Because God has something better for us.

We're called to be separate.

We're called to be set apart.

That is who God created us to be.

That's what heaven is, by the way.

People get so frustrated about that concept.

That is what heaven is.

It's the separation of the holy from the unholy.

It's the separation of the righteous from the unrighteous, and it's by the blood of Jesus that we're made righteous, and we need to continue in obedience and submission to him that we would remain within that boundary, within the blessing, so that when the day of separation comes, we get to go and be with him rather than separated from him for eternity.

There it is again.

But rather, expose them.

For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.

But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

Therefore, he says, So many in the church today are asleep.

So many are living in the darkness.

So many are living in what the enemy has convinced us of.

But God is calling us out of darkness and into the light.

He says, He says,

I don't want you living in the dark anymore.

You need to arise.

You need to awake.

I feel like every single time I preach, I talk about the story in Ezekiel of the dry bones being awakened.

But I talk about that story so much because it's so true of the church today.

There are so many dry churches.

There are so many Christians who are living in dryness, in death, and they don't know why.

They don't understand why they can't get ahead.

They don't understand why they keep feeling depressed.

beat down by the devil over and over again.

But the Lord is saying, if you would submit to me, if you would lay down the old man, if you would lay down the desires of your flesh, and you would choose to submit to me in all things, I will give you blessings.

I will give you life and life abundantly.

We don't have to wait until we die and go to heaven for things to be okay.

He has life and life abundantly for us now right here on earth.

And that's what he desires for us.

That's what he wants us to live in so badly.

People get upset.

They say, God wants me to be down.

God wants me to be poor.

God wants me to be depressed.

That is not true.

Where in scripture does it say that?

Nowhere.

He says he wants to give life.

He says he gives peace and joy abundantly.

Those are the things he has for us.

And the reason we're not experiencing them is because we're living in sin.

We're living in death.

We keep going back.

to the old man, but he says, die to the old man, be raised to new life in me.

And he exposes, it says, verse 11.

So who is the light?

Jesus Christ is the light when you are living in intimacy with Jesus he will light up and expose the darkness within you and then it's on us it's our responsibility to go and repent say Lord I don't want this darkness in me anymore I don't want to be living in the darkness anymore this is not a condemning message this is a message of hope because you have the choice you get to choose to repent to let the light of Jesus Christ let the light of the Holy Spirit living within you

light up all of those dark places so that you can live in him rather than continuing to be beat down by the enemy.

He has life for you.

There is hope.

There is joy.

There are all good things if you turn to him and submit and live a life of humility, chasing after Jesus every single day.

Another thing that it said in that James passage, I know I'm supposed to be preaching on James today, but...

Ephesians goes crazy.

Another thing it says in that passage from James is it talks about the jealousy of God, the yearning of the Spirit.

And I think a lot of people are confused about this idea of God being jealous.

Because they're like, what does that mean?

Jealousy is kind of construed as a negative thing.

How can God be jealous?

But what we're talking about, this idea of

Darkness versus light or living according to his will versus your own will.

God is jealous for you because he loves you and he knows that his way is better than any other way.

So when he sees, when the father sees a son or daughter going their own way and he sees that the path that they're on is leading to destruction, he's jealous because he knows that his way will lead to life and life abundantly.

So he is calling out, like it says in James, he is yearning for

for us to turn, not because he wants to control us, not because he wants us to lose our free will or whatever, but he is jealous for us because he knows that if we live in humility and submission to him, we can experience the blessings that he has for us.

So the jealousy of God, go to Jeremiah chapter 7, starting in verse 23.

It says, but this is what I commanded them, saying, obey my voice and I will be your God and you shall be my people.

That's a conditional statement.

If you obey my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people.

Our intimacy with God is dependent on our obedience to his voice and to his word.

If you feel disconnected from God, if you feel like you are lacking in intimacy, ask yourself,

Where have I allowed sin to creep into my life?

And that's not a shameful thought.

That is courage and boldness to say, I understand and I see that I am living a way that God has not called me to live, but I know that God is gracious.

I know that he loves me.

So I'm going to choose in hope and in joy and in peace to turn back to him.

Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.

And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.

Same thing again.

If you walk in the ways I've commanded you, if you're obedient, then it will be well with you.

You'll experience the blessing.

You'll experience the joy.

If we jump down a little bit, let's see.

What do I want to read?

Go to verse 28.

So you shall say to them, this is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God, nor receive correction.

We need to be humble enough to receive correction, both from the Lord and from people of authority over us, whether it's pastors, parents, whatever.

We need to be able, we need to be

submitted enough and humble enough to accept correction.

Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

Cut off your hair and cast it away and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights.

For the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord.

They have set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name to pollute it.

And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom,

to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my heart.

There are things that we do that the Lord did not command that did not come into the heart of God.

So when you are living, when you are operating outside of what is in the heart of God, you get cut off from him.

Not because...

God hates you, not because God wants bad things for you, but because he is incapable of being in darkness, right?

He is the light.

It says in John 1 that the light cannot comprehend, or the darkness cannot comprehend the light.

So if you are living in darkness, you are disconnecting yourself from the presence of God.

Jump forward a little bit, still in Jeremiah, to chapter 9, and look at this.

This is

Verse, where are we gonna go?

Go to verse 23.

It says, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord.

Don't glory in the things of the flesh, the things of the world, in your own wisdom.

Even good things.

God loves wisdom.

God loves might.

God loves riches.

God loves all of these things.

But when we choose to glory in those things, when we choose to elevate those things above who Jesus is, what happens?

It disconnects us from him.

Because what should be our top priority?

What should be the top thing that we are striving for?

What should be the thing that we glory in?

Knowing the Lord.

that he understands and knows me.

In these things I delight, says the Lord.

Behold, the days are coming that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised.

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness.

For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their hearts.

You may act like you're living in holiness, but the Lord knows your heart.

That's what we just talked about with light and darkness.

He will expose the truth that is in your heart, the truth of the way that you're living.

He already knows.

So come to him in that humility so that he can restore you.

I wish I would have made a slide to illustrate this, but there's this cycle, I think,

from fleshly desires to destruction, from disconnection with God, from eternally being separated from him.

It starts with a desire, and a desire is not sin until you act on it.

The enemy will come and try to tempt you and try to get you to live in sin, but temptation itself is not sin.

So we have these fleshly desires, and then from that point, when we get tempted, that is a point where we have to make a decision.

We have to make the choice.

Are we going to give in to this desire or are we going to remain submitted to the Lord?

And if we remain submitted to the Lord, then all those good things become true of our lives.

We receive the blessing.

We get to live in intimacy with him.

But when we choose the opposite way, when we choose sin, what does that lead to?

It leads to pride because what are we saying when we choose sin over obedience to God?

We're saying, I think I know better than what God tells me to do.

So that is pride.

That's why I said at the beginning, every sin is rooted in pride.

Because you would not choose sin if you were humble before the Lord.

So it goes from a desire to pride, and then after pride comes rebellion.

Because that's us choosing to walk away from the Lord, to rebel from what he has for us, to walk in our own path.

And then from rebellion comes idolatry and adultery.

What he said in James, he called them adulterers.

Why?

Because in the Old Testament, it talks a lot about our connection with God being similar to or illustrated by the concept of marriage.

So if we as the church are the bride of Christ, when we go and disconnect ourselves from Christ and live according to other ways, that is adultery, that is idolatry.

We are separating ourselves from God and connecting ourselves to something else, the flesh, the world, the enemy.

And then what is the result of that then?

Destruction, eternal disconnection from the Lord God.

But at any point in that process, you can choose to repent.

You can choose to return to him, and that's what he's calling all of us to do.

Go back to James 4.

Let's go to verse 7.

Therefore, submit to God.

Simple as that.

Therefore, submit to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Lament and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

You read that and you think, those things are not good.

Why would God want me to weep?

Why would God want me to mourn and lament?

Why would God want me to do these things?

Because he would rather you experience temporary pain, temporary distress, if it leads you back to him.

Read the book of Revelation.

The whole point of all of the crazy things that are happening, the awful things that are happening in the book of Revelation, is so that people would see who God is and return to him.

Because all of those negative things are what happens when we live outside of his blessing.

So he says, return to me and I will protect you from these things.

I will let you live in a new life separate from death and destruction.

But we continue to choose over and over and over again in our pride the ways of our flesh.

So we need to repent.

We need to turn to him in a sense of humility, mourning, weeping,

for the things that we've allowed to creep into our hearts.

God says he's near to the brokenhearted.

I believe if we want to see revival, if we want to see resurrection, if we want to see the things of God, if we want to see and experience the miraculous, we need to have a broken heart.

We need to be so upset, so angry by the things that are not of God that

that we can't even stand to live in them, that we can't stand to think of them, that we can't stand to be in fellowship with those things.

He's calling us to a life of humility under him.

Go to Isaiah.

I want to hit a little bit more on this idea of

In Isaiah chapter 44, this passage, I read this a few days ago.

I wasn't even trying to prep my sermon, but that's how God works.

I wasn't trying to prep my sermon, but I read this passage, and it hit me so hard.

We're going to skip a little bit.

We're going to go ahead and start at verse 6.

It says,

Jesus says he is the firm foundation.

When we build on anything else, it's the sand, and it will lead to destruction.

But there is a rock, and his name is Jesus.

And if we choose to build our life on him,

We will not fall.

We have nothing to be fearful or afraid of.

Verse 9.

Those who make an image, all of them are useless.

That's idolatry.

When we make an idol, when there is something that we see and choose to place above God, that is idolatry.

But what does it say?

All of them are useless and their precious things shall not profit.

The world may say that it has good things for you, but all of those things are a counterfeit of the truth of what God has.

None of it compares to who the Lord is and what he has for you.

There are counterfeit blessings.

There is counterfeit joy.

There is counterfeit peace that the enemy tries to lure you in with.

But what does it say?

They are useless.

Their precious things shall not profit.

They are their own witnesses.

They neither see nor know that they may be ashamed.

Who would form a God or mold an image that profits him nothing?

Surely all his companions would be ashamed, and the workmen, they are mere men.

Let them all be gathered together.

Let them stand up, yet they shall fear.

They shall be ashamed together.

The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms.

Even so, he is hungry and his strength fails.

He drinks no water and is faint.

When we keep...

It's an effortful thing to try and chase after our idols, to chase after the things of this world.

But what... Let's keep reading.

and makes it like the figure of a man according to the beauty of a man that it may remain in the house.

When I read that verse, it hit me so hard because that's what we do when we live in idolatry.

We see something

And to us, to our hearts, to our desires, it looks good, and we pretty it up, and we put it in our house.

We make it look cute.

We try and say it's not a big deal.

We say, oh, look how nice it looks on the shelf, this idol that I made, this thing that I worked so hard for.

But if it's not of God, it is not profitable, and it will lead you to destruction.

He makes it like the figure of a man according to the beauty of a man that it may remain in the house.

We need to get it out of the house.

We need to tear down the altars of the enemy that we've built up.

Just because something looks good to us doesn't mean that it's within the will of the Lord.

Just because it looks good doesn't mean it's of God.

We have a book out there that says, good or God.

There are things that may look good.

The enemy will tempt you with things that look good.

But is it what the Lord has for you?

Or is he deceiving you?

The apple may have looked good.

The fruit may have looked good to Eve.

And he uses deceit so well.

And we have our eyes closed.

We read that earlier.

Our eyes are closed to what is truly happening.

But when we open our eyes, when we choose to submit to God and say, Lord, I want to see how you see.

I want to live how you live.

When we submit to him,

what happens?

We see that those things are evil and lead us astray.

According to the beauty of man that it may remain in the house, he cuts down cedars for himself and takes the cypress and the oak.

He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest.

He plants a pine and the rain nourishes it.

Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it to warm himself.

Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread.

So all these things are happening, but I want you to jump down a little bit to verse 18.

They do not know nor understand, for he has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their hearts so they cannot understand.

And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding."

But then jump down further to verse 21.

So that God is calling the nation of Israel to turn away from the idols, to turn away from the things that may look good, because he says, I formed you.

I know what's good for you.

You don't know what's good for you.

Just like a kid.

How many parents in this place right now know that your kid desires things?

Your kid wants things.

I have my nephews in town right now, and one of my nephews wanted like 20 cookies last night.

We said, no, brother, you can't have that many cookies because it's bad for you.

And God is looking at you and saying, you cannot keep living in this sin.

You can't keep chasing these idols.

You can't keep chasing the things that look good and may taste sweet in the moment because I know that what I have for you is better.

I know that the blessing of living in humility and submission to the word of God

brings true joy, brings true blessings.

So we need to live under those things rather than chasing after what we think is good.

There's the pride, is us thinking that we know what's best for us.

We don't, I will be the first to admit right now, I don't know what's best for me because every time I chase my own desires, it leads to

Bad stuff.

But when I choose to submit to the Lord, when I say, God, your way is better, I want to live under you, he leads me into things that are better than I could ever imagine.

Because what does the word of God say?

That he has a good plan to prosper us.

He has a future for us.

He works all things together for our good.

So we need to submit to him and trust that he has a good plan for us.

Submission to him is a choice, and humility is the fruit of that choice.

I'm going to jump around a little bit.

I want to go back to James, and we're going to jump down to verse 13.

Verse 13.

Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.

We like to pretend that we know what will happen tomorrow.

We like to pretend that we know what's best for our lives.

We pretend to know all of these things about our future.

The Lord is outside of time.

He is the author and perfecter of our faith.

He is the one writing our story.

So who are we to say that we know what's best when the Lord formed us, when the Lord loves us, when the Lord created us and knows the path that he has set out for us?

So it is evil when we choose to follow our own path, when we think that we know what is best,

Rather than understanding, and one of the issues is that we don't understand.

That's the problem.

We want to understand.

We want to have control.

We want to see the whole plan laid out before us.

But if you would submit, if you would humble yourself and say, God, I trust you every single step of the way.

I just am going to take one step at a time and trust that you know each and every step.

It's going to be sure-footed.

It's going to be in the right place.

It's going to take me in the right direction because you know the plan for me.

We need to submit and know and trust every single step of the way that he knows what is best.

It talks in Luke 12.

I won't read the whole passage.

Actually, yes, I will.

Go to Luke 12.

It's too good to not read.

Luke 12.

This is a phenomenal passage.

Luke 12, starting in verse 22.

Then he said to his disciples, therefore I say to you, do not, this is Jesus speaking, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, nor about the body, what you will put on.

Life is more than food and the body is more than clothing.

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouses nor barn, and God feeds them.

Of how much more value are you than the birds?

And which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature?

If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?

If you are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?

Consider the lilies, how they grow.

They neither toil nor spin.

And yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

It's connected to our faith.

Do we have faith that the Lord loves us?

Do we have faith that he knows what's best for us?

Do we have faith that he's leading us on a good path?

Or are we allowing pride to tear down our faith and make us grasp for control of our own lives?

Do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.

For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.

But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added.

If we would just put God first, if we would just chase after God first, if we would put him at the top where he belongs because he is worthy, we would not have to worry about anything else.

because he provides all things.

Seek first the kingdom, and all these things shall be added to you.

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

That's what he wants.

He desires to give you good things.

Sell what you have and give alms.

Provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.

When you store your treasures in heaven, when you live according to the will, when he gives you blessings, no one can take those things away from you.

The devil can't take those things away from you.

And I feel right now like somebody in this place has been feeling like the enemy has been stealing things from you.

But I want to tell you right now in the name of Jesus that those things are yours to claim.

You have dominion.

You have the keys.

The devil can't steal what is owned by the Lord.

The devil can't steal what is owned by the Lord, so remain submitted to him, and the devil cannot steal good things from you.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Worship team, you guys can come up.

I want to finish with the last verse of James.

James 4, 17 says,

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

God has a lot of grace.

when we are living in a lack of understanding.

People talk all the time about these people who have never heard the gospel and don't have good teachers or pastors to teach the word to them.

God has grace for those people.

But once we do know what is sin, if we still choose to do it, we are held accountable.

And there's a responsibility that comes with that

For all of us as the royal priesthood, go to Malachi really quick.

Malachi chapter 2.

It says, and now, oh priests, this commandment is for you.

We are priests.

We are a royal priesthood.

It says that in Peter, 1 Peter, I believe.

We are the new priests.

We are a royal priesthood.

He says, if you will not hear and if you will not take it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.

Yes, I have cursed them already because you do not take it to heart.

Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces.

God has a covenant of life and peace with us.

That's what we're called to.

the law of truth was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips he walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity for the lips of the priest should keep knowledge and people should seek the law from his mouth for he is the messenger of the lord of hosts we have a responsibility as priests to spread the message of what the lord says is true we have responsibility and i think specifically of parents and their children there is a deep responsibility

to raise up your kids in the way of the Lord.

You are the priest of your home.

You have a responsibility to give the law, to speak the word of the Lord over your family.

It says the lips of the priest should keep knowledge.

You should have that knowledge ready and be sharing it.

And people should seek the law from his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

But you have departed from the way and you have caused many to stumble at the law.

You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.

Therefore, I also made you contemptible and base before all the people because you have not kept my ways, but have shown partiality to the law.

One more verse, I promise it'll be the last one.

Matthew chapter 18, I wanna close with this.

Matthew chapter 18, verses six and seven.

It says, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe to the world because of offenses, for offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes.

We have a responsibility as believers, as the royal priesthood, as the people of God to be living in submission to him, to be living in obedience, to be living in the ways of the Lord, because why?

There are people

apart from him right now, who are looking to the church, who are looking at Christians and saying, why should I give my life to Jesus?

And the unfortunate truth is that so many of those people look at the church today and say the church is no different from the rest of the world.

The church is chasing after idols.

The church is living in sin.

The church is in darkness.

But the Lord says we have a responsibility to chase after Him, to live in submission and humility to Him so that people can come to the royal priesthood and see that there is a difference.

People want to see the light in your life.

When you give your life to Jesus, He has given you a light.

And it says in His Word that you don't put it under a basket to hide it.

He wants the light within you to shine.

He wants the Holy Spirit within you

to give light to the darkness we're called to go out what did that passage say that we read we are called to expose the darkness we're called to bring light to the darkness and the church can't sit in darkness anymore or sit in fear or sit in this idea of oh i don't wanna i don't wanna offend anybody i don't wanna go and

say these things that make people uncomfortable.

But the word of God is too important to not share it with boldness and in truth.

We can't water down the gospel.

We have to preach and share with people who are lost.

That's the issue is that people are lost and it's not offensive

to bring them back to where they need to be.

It's kind, it's loving.

The most loving thing you can do is call out somebody's sin.

I didn't preach on this specifically, but it talks about judging.

We are told not to judge, but there's a difference between judging and bringing correction.

We are called to bring correction.

We are called to...

expose the darkness and bring light to those situations you can't bring light to something that you want to stay in the darkness you can't bring light to something if you're not willing to bring the light to it we need to lay down the old man we need to live in submission and humility so that the lord can build us up in boldness to go share the light with people and i think the first step in that is to expose the darkness in our own lives

That step one of humility is understanding that we have things that we need to change first in our own lives.

So right now, as we worship, as we come to the Lord, I just want us to pause and examine our hearts.

It says that in scripture too, that we should be examining our hearts.

What is the darkness within you?

Ask the Lord, what darkness is still living within me?

And then...

A lot of people end there.

They see the darkness, they acknowledge the darkness, and then they don't do anything about it, and they keep living in death and destruction the whole rest of their lives.

But the Lord wants repentance for you.

He says, just come to me.

It's not shameful.

People don't think you're weak.

There is strength in coming forward.

and saying, God, I choose to repent.

I choose to turn away from this old life because I know that your ways are better.

I don't want to live this way anymore.

I don't want to live in bondage anymore.

I need to come bring it out into the light.

It says, confess your sins that you may be healed.

We need to come to him.

We need to confess.

We need to repent.

We need to lay down all of the idols.

We need to tear down the altars that we've built to the enemy in our hearts and bring the light to them.

So ministry team, right now, you guys can come forward.

If there is something in your life where you are...

feeling bogged down by the enemy, where you are in bondage to the enemy, something that you want to lay down to God.

Say, God, I want you at the top.

I don't want this thing.

Insert what that is for you.

I don't want that to rule my life anymore.

I want you to rule my life because you are the Lord of Lords.

You are the King of Kings.

You are the Lord God Almighty.

You are worthy.

And therefore, I want to be living under you.

You are holy.

Therefore, I want to be holy.

So in this moment, examine your hearts.

Ask the Lord, God,

Where do you want me to go?

Submit.

Allow the humility of the Lord to enter into your heart and just come to him.

Just receive revelation of who he is, how much he loves you.

It says in Romans 8 that nothing can separate you from the love of God.

And I just feel right now the love of God entering this room.

Accept it.

Accept the love that he has for you.

The enemy hates you.

And when we keep living in darkness, when we keep living in sin, we experience the hate that the enemy has for us.

But lay down those things, submit to the Lord, repent, and live in the love that he wants for you.

me pray lord thank you that you are good thank you that you love us thank you that you have a plan and purpose for every single purpose in this person in this room lord thank you that nobody here is a mistake but you formed each of us in our mother's wombs lord thank you that you have a plan thank you that you know what's best for us thank you that you are good thank you that you are holy thank you that you are worthy lord

Right now, in the name of Jesus, we just break every bondage of the enemy, every chain that the enemy has tried to put on the church, on the people of God.

We break it now in the name of Jesus because, Lord, we know that you have life and life abundantly for us.

Holy Spirit, come enter in this space.

Let your light expose the darkness in our hearts.

Lord, we come to you.

We submit to you.

We love you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.