Willful Thinking James 4:13-17

Good evening!

to see him through his heart.

Grace of the Lord, worthy of praise.

Grace of the Lord, worthy of praise.

Grace of the Lord, now lift up your voice.

Now lift up your voice.

Grace of the Lord.

Grace of the Lord.

I know the Lord is holy and just,

I stand where we trust him above.

I know the Lord is sweet, full and true,

I will see him through his heart.

When I am Lord, I love him for me,

Great are you Lord, worthy of praise.

Great are you Lord, I lift up my voice.

I lift up my voice.

Great are you Lord.

Great are you Lord.

Alright, alright, alright, whacked out simple stuff,

something simple, something basic.

I have some copies for some of your adults in the room who want to know more about what I'm talking about.

First I want to talk to you about the core values.

I'm going to talk to you about two things about the core values and that's it.

I'm not going to tell you what all the core values are.

These are on our website by the way, like I said there's paper copies here.

I've got like my eight copies of this, some adults that want to copy.

First thing I'm going to tell you is what a core value is.

A core value is like something that's at the middle that you value,

that you think is important, that you would not be you without.

So for example, if you think being honest is important, that could be one of your core values.

And if I'm not honest, I don't feel like me.

You think loving someone, loving being a loving person,

is if you're supposed to do that and you don't do that and you don't feel like you,

then we tell that's a core value for you.

So that's what a core value is.

Now I'm briefly going to tell you the story of how we pick these core values as a church.

We were sitting in my living room, pretty much the entire core group, church,

about 20 some people all crammed in my living room sitting all around various places

and I think a couple of people were working in the kitchen bringing drinks back and forth, that kind of thing.

And we were trying to figure out what are the core values of our church.

What are the things the Bible teaches us that we would not want to give up,

that we would want to make, we would want to name as the core values of our church.

And we started with a list of about 100, and we started whittling them down,

and we got down to 12.

And we knew we had to get down to 10.

We couldn't do it unless we did 10.

And then two of them, we just kind of said, well, we're not sure about this.

Then we got down to 10, but 10 is still a lot.

And so then we were praying, my God, is this the 10?

Is this the 10 core values?

You think about it, I think you're pretty late, about 9, 10 o'clock,

kids got to go to school the next day, you know, and stuff, and we're praying.

And Arden was there, and he's not in the room right now, and we won't go on talking about it.

And at that time he was like five.

And he was in there with us, and he'd been praying,

and he'd been pretty faithful with the whole thing continuing.

And he spoke up and he said, you know, it occurs to me that number seven is a lot like number eight,

and number nine is a lot like number 10, and so they're kind of the same thing.

And so, for example, truth and honesty, they're not exactly the same thing,

but they're very close to the same thing.

And he said, so couldn't we just lump those in together,

and then you would have eight instead of 10?

And as soon as he said that, everybody knew that God had spoken through that little boy,

that, you know, just some little kid that was in the room at the time.

And we're all like, that's right, that's true.

So that put us at eight.

Then Deacon Tony, at the time, he was not able to be in the room when we were having this conversation,

and he had been given all the information,

and he had been going back and forth with us on the phone and stuff like that.

And the next day he said, these two core values really speak to me.

They're really the kind of church that we are, really something we need to do.

And so then we came back to the church with the eight, and then also the two,

and the church took all ten.

So that's how we got to where we are right now in having these ten.

These are on our website.

All right, now I was just talking about you a moment ago.

You missed the story of how God spoke through you,

but you probably already know the story, so it's okay.

All right, so I'm going to give you guys, I guarantee you, unless you're on the website reading it.

So if you've never seen it and you want to see it, I've got a few extra.

Don't read it right now, I'm getting distracted by it.

I've got three left, everybody.

I'll just take people.

They're kind of going to the website for you today.

You can take this to your mom.

All right, I've got one left if anybody really wanted it.

All right, so we're going to pray together.

Then we've got one more song, and then we're going to release the children and their teachers.

And then we've got one song after that, and then we're going to the Bible.

I've got a worksheet.

It's kind of a fun, kind of hard to follow, and I'll try to make sure we don't get lost,

but pretty cool, simple, focused Bible study with a worksheet for a little fun, kind of almost like a little maze.

And so we'll do that.

So would you pray with me?

I'm going to lead.

We're all going to pray together.

Okay, let's do that.

Father in heaven, even right now, as voting is going on in the state of Ohio to determine one of the most crucial election questions,

or maybe two of the most crucial election questions that our state has seen about amending our Constitution,

even right now, people are trying to get into and from the voter booths that already voted, or they're rushing to get dinner.

Even right now, people are thinking about Thanksgiving around the corner, or school stuff.

And Northrop kids have been out of school the last couple of days.

A lot of kids are out of school today.

Even as we're thinking about how to get bills paid, how to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas,

how to make sure we make the grade, how to make sure we get to work on time, we recognize this one fact.

That you've never missed a deadline.

You've never failed.

Keep a promise.

You are a sovereign God and powerful and capable, and you are intervening in the lives of men.

The truth is, as sad as it is, our nation, society in general, according to your word, bound to drift in the wrong direction.

Even it says that many will fall away listening to the doctrine of demons.

That's a terrible thing.

That's not because you're not in charge, but there is an open rebellion against you.

And Lord, we are grateful that even amidst that, amidst that rebellion and the trouble and the problems and all the worries and the efforts and the concerns,

that we know we belong to you.

There may be somebody in this room, Lord, that does not know you, that has not chosen you and the chosen body of you.

We believe they may be chosen by you and they're not willing to shoot you back before they leave this place, that they would sell that matter.

As we go to the Word later, we pray that we'll learn something, learn something about what it means to be doing the right thing.

And why we know we can't.

As the kids go to their lesson, we pray that the Sherri's got a powerful, fun word for them.

They're walking out of there saying, well, that was cool.

Good to be with. Good to learn about God.

As we sing these next two songs, we pray that the notes will strike, the voices will uplift, and as we sing in that last song,

we know that you are worthy of glory.

Let us shine a light on you right here, right now.

Music

Night and night will laugh unto my feet and a cry unto my death.

When I feel afraid and think of lost my way, still not there right beside me.

Nothing will harm me as long as you are near, leading me into the end.

Night and night will laugh unto my feet and a cry unto my death.

I will never let you unlove for me when yet my heart forever is wandering.

Jesus be my life and one into your soul and I will love you unto the end.

Night and night will laugh unto my feet and a cry unto my death.

Night and night will laugh unto my feet and a cry unto my death.

Music

Good-bye children, go be good.

Walk, learn, and enjoy.

Music

Faith, we move the mountain, let the mountains move. We come with expectation, waiting here for you.

Waiting here for you.

You're the Lord of all creation and still you know my heart. You're the author of salvation. You come from the start.

Waiting here for you. With the help of his eyes in praise.

With the help of his eyes in praise.

Music

You are everything he promised. Faithfulness is true and we're desperate for your presence. All we need is you.

Waiting here for you. With the help of his eyes in praise.

With the help of his eyes in praise. All we need is you. We adore, singing Hallelujah.

Waiting here for you. The Lord is here with you. We're singing Hallelujah.

Singing Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Waiting here for you. With the help of his eyes in praise.

With the help of his eyes in praise. All we need is you. We adore, singing Hallelujah.

Waiting here for you. With the help of his eyes in praise.

With the help of his eyes in praise. All we need is you. We adore, singing Hallelujah.

Music

Okay, that's nice. I didn't bring along the answers so that'll be fine. It's all good. I know the answers. We'll be fine.

The pen cup is not up here. Hi Trina. She's got the pen cup. Okay, that's all good.

Hey, while she's passing out the worksheets, while Josh and Alicia are passing out the worksheets, do we need more?

Do we not have enough? Oh, she's got more. We're good. Okay, while they're finishing that up, I just want to share with you something that the Lord touched my heart while I was standing there.

That song that we just sang where it says, with our hands lifted high, and it says that multiple times, and then eventually it says, with our hands lifted high in praise.

There is a word in the Hebrew talking about worship where you lift your hands in praise to God like this.

There is a different word where you lift your hands in praise to God like this. This is, we need you. We need your help. Fill us Lord.

This is that kind of thing. We praise God and we're asking for help. This is, we recognize you Lord, you're holy and glorious and awesome.

It's kind of like the sign for surrender. We surrender you're an awesome God.

If you see people raising their hand in worship and they know that, you'll actually see them on the praise song.

If we're praising God, you'll see them, they'll have their hands like this and people think, well, they just turned their hands over because their arms are getting tired.

But if it's like this is praise God, we recognize how awesome he is and this is God fill me up, give me help.

There is a difference and I didn't make it up. That comes from the Hebrew words for worship in the Old Testament, especially in Psalms.

We've got two main passages of scripture that we're going to look at this evening.

And so if you'll look on your page right there where it says start and it has a little face on the left hand side,

up above that, there's a little picture of the man is thinking about something.

And right above that, it says the empty box or empty line there is James. We're going to the book of James and it's chapter four.

And then after the colon goes 13. So it's James 413. That's where we're starting at today.

And so if you've got a Bible and you want to turn to James chapter four verses 13 and following, you can do that.

Praise the Lord. This is God's word. OK. And we will go 13 through 17.

And then if you'll notice down on the right hand side down there in the box, it says the abbreviation for Ephesians.

And I wrote the kind of like a just a little quick summary of those verses in the box for you.

So at that time, you'll need your Bibles to go to Ephesians chapter two. OK.

And then there's at least one other reference on the page as well. All right.

This can put me to the test because I made this worksheet, but I left the one that I put the answers in in the office.

So as long as I remember all the answers will be in great shape. All right.

So we're starting right there in the middle, James 413. OK. And you see a man thinking there.

What does it look like he's thinking about in the picture? Some guys walking.

What is that on the right hand side? Anybody want to decipher my fancy drawing?

That's a town for an hour, a walled town. Right. OK. Good.

OK. So I'm going to read the passage of scripture verse by verse.

And we're going to work through the worksheet and see if we can get it to make sense.

And if not, you can blame it all on me because of the way I did it. That's all right. All right.

So in James 413, it says, Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. OK.

And so if you know, you see him thinking there, he's got it by going to the town. And so the blank is go. All right.

And I submit to you that a lot of times we get a look at you. No. Yes. That has the answers.

Well done. Or or you didn't trust me. One or the other. Which was it?

Oh, thank you very much. That's good. That's the right answer right there. That's my grandson.

OK. All right. So go goes in the first blank there and then it says there's a plus sign and there's an hourglass. That's my kind of drawing of an hourglass.

And it says work and spend goes under that under the hourglass spend.

I chose spend particularly because notice it says that they will be there for a year and it says they will work and buy and sell what they're going to trade.

OK. And people do a lot of spending. You don't only spend money contrary to what people think. And there's all things as time is money.

And so spending money and time are the two primary ways we think about spending. But if you understand that is by no means the limit.

We spend a lot of other things other than time and money. Those two things are kind of like the big ones.

Or maybe you spend time, you spend it in a variety of different ways or whatever.

But the bottom line is they would spend their work and they would spend their time there.

And then over to the right it says that they that would equal profit.

So they're what they have said is that if they go and spend time and work there they will achieve profit.

Anybody ever do that? Have you ever done that? If we work hard we'll make money. Right.

That's kind of like the capitalistic society way isn't it?

I'm going to even raid my candy stash. OK. I guess I'm going to pull out some pizzi rolls to throw at teenagers in a minute.

All right. So we've got the person who says that, come now, pay attention, look here.

Let's get this straight in verse 13 says come now you who say today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.

Fourteen says 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.

And so the author James of the book of James is saying this is what you think.

But now follow the arrow down. OK. We're going down and around to the left.

There's our life as a vapor. It just comes and goes. Right.

Now we think people live 50 years. We think that's a long time.

But the truth is 50 years is not really very long. Right.

It's long when you're living it. But then when you get to the end of it you think that's not really all that long. Right.

If you live a hundred years, the time you get to a hundred years might think I lived a long time.

But you would think the person who died at 50 died way too young. Right.

So we have a different perception of time. Bottom line is that life is like a vapor.

Because life is like a vapor and it just goes away, the author says that we should do something different.

We go back to the text for a second. It says yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You're just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Verse 15 says instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and also do this or that.

Okay. So the blanks on the right next to the equal sign is if the Lord wills.

Now if there is one thing in all of scripture that I could say that you could do to help yourself on a daily basis,

it would be to install those four words in your thought process in every way.

If you say I'll be there at four o'clock you should think if the Lord wills.

I think I'll have cake instead of meat for lunch if the Lord wills.

I'll tell the truth. I'll lie if the Lord wills. Right.

Which one of those is the will of the Lord? The truth. Right.

And so if you could instill if the Lord wills in your life you would do well.

So basically realize that 13 through 15 what we have so far is he's saying what they're doing is wrong.

Did you catch it? They're saying you can't do that.

You can't say if I go there and I spend my time and work out that'll equal profit.

That is not the right way to look at life. That is a mistake.

Because your life is just a vapor.

So if you say I'm going to do that and we'll come back a little bit more on this when we go the other direction.

If you say you're going to do that you're missing the fact if the Lord wills.

Any one of us could die in a car accident on the way home from this Bible study.

Right. Now God forbid that that would happen.

But if it did happen at least you spent the last hour you know an hour out of the last hour and 15 minutes of your life studying the Bible.

You know something. But the bottom line is anything can happen from our perspective.

God knows what's going to happen. That's why we say if the Lord wills.

Follow the arrow down to the left.

And this is in the same verse that we just read.

And it says notice it says live plus.

And then the first little blank under the plus sign is do the blank down to the left is this and the blank over to the other side of or is that.

So it's do this or that.

Guys pause for a second.

Nicole what do you got under the hourglass.

OK. Nice catch.

So we're training up future softball players and we do this and catching all this stuff.

All right. Very good. Let's see.

Karina you write notes.

What do you got under the pile of money.

All right. Coming at you.

It was a pretty bad throw.

OK. So there's where we're at.

We're following it down.

But here's what I want you to realize.

Most people who study this passage scripture or look at this this is what they do.

Your life is like a vapor.

So you should say if the Lord wills we'll go there and do this or that.

That's how most people think of this passage of scripture.

The guys are saying they're going to go and spend their time in there and make profit.

And he says no you should say if the Lord wills I'll go there spend my time and make profit.

That's how people try to interpret this verse. But when they do that what's missing.

If you say no you should say if the Lord wills go there work and make profit.

What part of it's missing.

It's in big capital letters.

Well three of them are capital.

The other one's just big.

It's live.

You realize that your life is like a vapor.

The first thing you have to realize is if God doesn't say so you don't keep living.

Physically speaking we only continue as long as God wants us to.

You can take that to the extreme and say as long as I'm in the will of the Lord I'm invulnerable.

And that's true.

As long as God has something for you to do next Wednesday you'll be here until next Wednesday.

You can't die from cancer.

You couldn't jump off a cliff.

If God wants you to do something next Wednesday and he says that's going to happen you're going to be here to do that no matter what.

You say no no God will never take away anyone's free will.

That's not true.

The Bible does not say that.

God gives free will so people can be saved.

That's true.

Every person inherently has it.

It's been subjected to sin and evil.

We make bad choices.

You gave up your free will as a sinner.

You already gave that up.

You already got roped into sin and addiction and whatever you were doing.

You already gave your free will up.

Then God can give it back to you.

If he doesn't give it back to you you don't got it.

That's the bottom line.

People who don't get saved they don't get saved because they don't have free will to make the choice.

Then they hear God.

God says look you can get saved.

You can do this.

You can turn your life over to me.

And they start to think well maybe I can.

And they don't have the free will to necessarily decide what they're going to wear or where they're going to go or what they're going to do or what they're going to buy.

But in that moment they have the free will to choose Christ.

To accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Then having done so then they're filled with free will.

And as long as they're in the will of the Lord they will continue to live.

Physically speaking your heart will keep beating as long as God says so and not one second more.

It doesn't matter what your cause of death is going to be.

That's what is said.

If the Lord wills.

Go back to the verse.

Don't miss this because a lot of people do.

You ought to say if the Lord wills.

The first three words are we shall live.

If the Lord wills we shall live.

And do this or that.

Not just we shall do this or that.

But we shall live and do this or that.

So if God is in charge of whether or not you live or not.

Then fundamentally any plans you make for your life are wasted if God says no.

That's why he's saying what he's saying.

Then there's the this or that.

Well what this or that?

Right because we can decide to do all kinds of things can't we?

So then can we just say well we're going to go there.

Spend our time and effort and make some investments whatever and make a profit.

And we can do that right.

If the Lord wills we can do that.

That make sense?

But if he doesn't you could go there.

Spend all your time and effort.

Do all that traveling carry all your stuff.

Get there and not make a profit.

And tons and tons and tons of people do that.

Because they are functioning outside the will of the Lord.

Whether they realize it or not.

Okay so we've already gone as far as 15.

And we're following now you notice whether you live or do this or that.

Both of those two things lead you over here to the right.

And it's James 4.17.

So we'll read through from 15 and 16.

We're going to read it now.

But we're really going to hit it when we go to the top.

Okay instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and also do this or that.

16 says but as it is you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

Okay we'll come back to that in a minute.

17 says therefore to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him it is sin.

If you live because God says so do the right thing.

If you do this or that because it is the will of the Lord.

Then whatever you choose to do that will be the right thing.

Because you're doing it because it's the will of the Lord.

And in the four blanks right there is do the right thing.

Exclamation point.

Do the right thing.

Very simple.

Okay.

So in the middle of the page where it says life and it has a big curly Q and it says equals if the Lord wills.

Natalie what did you write in those four blanks?

Very good.

Coming over.

Oh that's bad.

Somebody grab that.

Way out of bounds.

Come on you can't get it.

It's a tootsie roll.

Oh my goodness.

I'm going to throw it over there.

That is a bad one.

Get one behind you.

You're going to have to do it.

I can't warm up my arm.

My arm is very stiff.

Okay.

Do the right thing.

Now if you look on the bottom here there's some implied truths.

In what we just read there's some things that we should know.

Number one.

You can know what to do.

If it says for the one who knows what to do what's good to do and doesn't do it to him it is sin then what is implied?

You can know what to do.

Right.

Otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to say if you know what to do and you don't do it because you can't know what to do.

That doesn't make any sense.

So you can know what to do.

People can know the right thing.

Know what God wants.

They can say if the Lord wills then I'm going to do this and I can see God clearly does not will this so I'm not going to do it.

You can know what to do.

In fact you do know some.

Nobody knows everything.

Nobody is required or asked to know everything even about your own life.

You don't know for sure if there will be heavy fog on Thursday and school will be canceled.

Right.

You don't know for sure if there will be a fire at Norplas and it won't open on time on your next ship.

You don't really know all of those things for sure.

All you know is what you actually know and you do know some things.

You know some choices that you can make that are right.

So the next time you're talking with somebody you can choose to tell them what you will get them to think.

What you want them to think.

You can tell them a little gossip.

You can tell them a little slander.

You can lie a little bit.

Right.

Or you can talk about something that isn't important to hide something that is or whatever.

But you know those are not the right things.

Right.

So you could get into slipping a little beer in your schedule in between work or classes or at a meal.

Right.

And then it becomes a little more and a little more and a little more.

And you might not get addicted.

You say I'm not going to get addicted.

Right.

But you know the right thing and you're accountable for the right thing.

The verse said for him who knows what to do and does not do it that is sin.

And sin breaks your fellowship with God.

And sin is basically evil.

It's not what we want.

It's not what we want to do.

You know some things that are wrong.

And if whatever you're thinking about doing you know it's wrong.

You have a responsibility to not do it.

If you're thinking about doing something that is right then you have a responsibility to do that thing even if it's hard.

And that brings me to the next one.

You can do the right thing.

You're a human being.

You can go oh I think I should take the garbage out.

No I don't want to.

I'm just watching 15 more minutes TV.

And if you know that taking the garbage out would be the right thing and you choose to watch 15 more minutes of TV instead that's sin.

Simple as it is.

You can do the right thing.

To go no I don't want to do the right thing.

At least you're being a little bit honest.

Right.

With yourself to say I'm not going to do the right thing even though I know I can and I should and I know what it is.

You can choose between this or that.

The right thing or the wrong thing.

Now in the case of we're going to go here work some and try to yield a profit.

Is that a wrong thing.

No they really weren't talking about doing a wrong thing necessarily right.

They had a problem and their problem was because they had an attitude about it.

They thought I can do it because I say I can do it.

It's nothing to do with God not because God wills not because what God wants or whatever.

So you'll notice that there's an arrow that goes up the side of the page there to the box where we're going to look at Ephesians 2.

But before we look at Ephesians 2 you'll notice that the arrow comes down to the top to the box.

So we've got to do the whole top third of the page yet.

Go back to the money.

See the money.

Follow the arrow up around to the left.

And you're going to see a group of five blanks all up there.

And I'm going to read the verse again.

Verse 16 says, But as it is you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

All such boasting is evil or all such boasts are evil.

If you have a different translation a couple different translations there as a matter of fact.

16 James 5 16.

But as as it is you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

So that's what goes evil or all such boasts are evil whichever way you like to write it's fine.

Okay.

So immediately when my mind reads that I know one of them.

You know what one of them is right.

It's that we're going to go over there and work and make and spend our time and make a profit.

That he said that's you boast.

He said but as it is you boast in your arrogance.

So that's boasting because they weren't saying if the Lord so wills that's boasting.

But I'm immediately asking myself what other kind of boasts are evil.

Right.

That's what it says is all such boasting is evil.

All boasting like that.

Go ahead.

Boasting is kind of like bragging or putting yourself out there in arrogance thinking you're all that in a bag of chips or you're good or whatever.

And so we're going to have some examples of what this boast boast might be like.

And I've got those listed out there for you.

Now I am not all knowing.

I am not perfect.

I do not have everything listed here.

Okay.

So you know in your own life what these things represent and you may have invented what you perceive to be whole new ways of doing exactly what we're talking about.

The first one is when a human being says I will regardless of their knowledge of God.

I.e. I will sleep in rather than going to worship.

I will not study my Bible today because I don't feel like it.

I will not tell them the truth because they'll get mad at me.

Whatever.

If you say I will regardless of whether it is the will of God or not.

Regardless of what you know about God.

That is maybe the supreme boasting and arrogance against God.

That is what the devil did.

He said I will.

That is what Eve did.

She said I will.

I'll take that.

I'm going to take this fruit even though God told me not to take the fruit.

I'm going to do it anyway because it looks good to eat which they all did.

And this one looks good for knowledge and wisdom.

And so she went further with it and she took it.

She said I will regardless of what God said.

I will.

And that is probably the supreme level of boasting.

Especially if you already know you're doing it.

Number two.

I will for profit.

So in other words God says do things his way and you say well yeah this is not expressly against God but it's not really for God either.

But I see it's going to profit me so I will.

I'll work extra hours.

Whatever.

You know what God wants you to do.

I'll stay up late.

I will stay up late because I'll get to watch more TV or because I will spend time with these friends that I know are not going to influence on me.

Because it makes me feel good to be around them.

Because they'll help me out.

I will do what my boss tells me to do even though it's a sin.

He tells me to lie on the invoice.

I will lie on the invoice because he's going to take care of me.

I'm going to get the schedule I want.

I'm going to get the money that I want.

Anything that you would do for profit runs the risk of being a boast that is evil because it's not about profit.

Life is not about profit.

Life is about what God would will.

Back to the middle again.

I will for profit.

I will if I can.

Now that one doesn't sound too bad.

In fact I asked a guy to come and help me one day.

He said I'll be there at 2 o'clock if I can.

When you say I will if I can that is basically evil.

That's boasting.

If you think it's what God wants you to do then you say I will if the Lord wills.

He said to me, this is what he actually said, he texted me, he said I will if the Lord wills and I can.

That's what he said.

I said well if the Lord wills you can.

You don't need to add that qualifier.

If you make it about whether you're able or not.

Let me just ask a real quick story question.

Is there anybody in this room that's ever done anything because God made them able that otherwise they don't think they would have been able to do?

I see some hands.

Some people are listening.

I see more popping up.

Hands are popping up all over the place.

So if you say I will if I can that's not the qualifier.

That really has almost nothing to do with it.

God says do it, you do it.

If you can't, God forbid if you can't, he told you to do it so there's only two possibilities.

He's going to make you able or in failing essentially to do it he's going to benefit you somehow.

So you're going to try, fail and still wind up in the positive because he told you to.

So I will if I can is a matter of boasting.

I can, so I will.

So I'm able.

I realize I have opportunity here.

The money's on the counter.

No one will ever know if I pick it up.

No teachers around, no other workers around, no cameras here.

I'm strong enough.

For example, I know I can stay up until one and still get up at six for work.

I've done it many times before so I'm going to do that.

No reason, no particular reason.

I just want to and I can so I will.

But is it what God wills?

And it might be.

I've had God have me go out at two, three in the morning when I had to be to work at six.

Because it was something I had to do.

He wanted me to do.

It was an emergency, go to the hospital, whatever.

And if that's what he wants me to do, fine.

And now the truth is I would have said I can't do that.

But he said I say do it and then so I did it.

So if you say I can, so I will, that's a form of boasting.

If you say I want, so I will.

And this is where it starts to get kind of real close to home if you think about it.

I want, so I will.

In other words, I want more money.

I want a better TV.

I want a promotion.

I want a paycheck.

I want praise, whatever.

If you let those be the motivators as to why you do something.

So you say I want, so I will.

That's boasting.

That's boasting.

Because what you want, frankly, and that's kind of painful to say, is kind of irrelevant.

The truth is your wants are badly marred by what your flesh wants.

So you're constantly sorting out.

You probably already know this.

I want this.

I want an extra piece of cake.

I want to stay up too late.

But I know it's not really good for me.

So you're fighting back and forth between what you want and what you want all the time.

So you already know that's messed up.

So for you to say I want, so I will is for you to choose one set of wants, something that you want,

over something else that you might want.

I want to do what God wants me to do.

But when I'm tempted to do what he doesn't want me to do, I certainly can't go with those wants.

I have to go with what God wants me to do.

So when you say I want, so I will, that's boasting.

Then it's what's best for me slash us.

So now I see we have this opportunity and I think it's what's best for me.

Some years ago, Sherry and I had an opportunity, we were planting new heights at the time.

This was about 2014, 2012, something like that.

And Sherry received a job offer in Georgia.

And I was like, I don't know for sure.

And we were trying to say it's what the Lord wills.

If it's what the Lord wills, it's a significant pay increase.

And we move and swarmer near my parents, a lot of positive things about it.

And it seemed like it was what's best for us.

That's what we started thinking.

But we knew enough to say, no God, whatever you want, whatever you want.

Went down there, they offered me a church.

There was a church planter guy, he said, I'll offer you a church.

Get you a building, get you set up, here's money, we'll pay your salary the first couple of years.

It's all taken care of.

So it sure seemed like what's best for us.

We started thinking, this might be it.

Maybe this is what God wants us to do.

We're prayerfully considering it.

So then we were down, they paid for us to stay in a hotel for a weekend.

On Saturday we were supposed to start looking for a house to live in.

We'd be moving away from our family up here, from our current kids.

We had Jason at that time, right?

Whatever year it actually was, Jason was alive.

And we started thinking, this might be what's best for us.

And then Friday afternoon, about 1 o'clock, they called Sherry and they said, we lost the contract.

Your job down here is no good anymore.

So don't panic.

We're going to talk tomorrow morning, but don't bother looking for houses because you ain't moving to Atlanta.

We're like, oh no, she already gave up her job in Toledo.

What are we going to do?

She doesn't have a job back home to go back to.

Now that she doesn't have a job in Atlanta, what are we going to do?

And the next morning they called her and they said, well, here's what we're going to do.

We have a restructure in our entire company.

You can work out of your home in Northwood, which is right over here where we live.

You can work out of your home and we're going to pay you to do basically the same job we were going to move to Atlanta to do,

except we're going to work right from where you are.

So now you're not going to move.

So we have to stay with New Heights, stay with our family, stay local, stay in the same house, all that kind of thing.

That's what was best for us.

But we didn't even know that was possible.

You see what I'm saying?

So if we had gone, yeah, Atlanta, yay, woo, right?

No.

We'd have been boasting against God.

And then the last one is hope that drives you.

And you start thinking, it's just got to be, right?

This is painful.

But even, let's say, if you have a disease,

and you start thinking God just has to miraculously heal me, right?

Or you have a loved one who's very sick and God just has to save them.

He has to make it so that they don't die.

Or you have a relationship that's broken between you and somebody else, and you're like God just has to bring them around.

It just has to be.

I have to have that.

You start thinking, man, I don't think I can survive if I can't have that.

And that's all boasting.

Because none of that's true.

There are people serving the Lord who have been through worse than you or I have yet seen.

And they survived it.

And they're living it better after.

Just think about Job for a second, if you would.

Job lost everything.

He got down to where he was sitting in a pile of ashes, scraping the sores on his skin with a pot shard.

The only thing he had left was a wipe.

And she came up to him and said, just curse God and die already, Job.

And Job said, no.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

Basically, he said, if the Lord wills, I'll die.

And if he won't, if he doesn't will, I'll live.

And then he turned out and he got back everything he had lost 12 times over or whatever, ridiculously blessed in this world.

So the bottom line is, you get to that moment where you think, I so want it.

I need it.

Lord, I can't do this unless you do it.

You have to do it.

And like God's got to do it or otherwise I'm not going to believe in you, God.

Or God's got to do it or I'm going to do it myself or I'm going to work it out somehow.

It's just got to happen.

And hope begins to drive you forward to the point you say it's just got to be.

That is boasting.

And according to this text, all such boasting is evil.

And that evil then is sin.

And then you follow the arrow down for victory.

You get victory coming out from two sides.

The bottom was that we can know what to do.

You do know some things to do.

You can do the right thing and you can choose.

You follow the arrow up to the box.

The top is all of this is boasting and we have had those things.

We have done those things and we follow the victory to the box.

And then we're going to look at Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

So if you've got your Bible and you want to flip there, you can.

I did not write the verses.

I wrote the references and then just a little bit of a key of what you'll need to remember when you look at this worksheet later

and what I'll need to remember when I look at it later.

Fold it over.

So Ephesians 2.1 says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

Elsewhere in the Bible says the wages of sin is death.

So we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

So somebody in your own words tell me what that means.

Jason?

Okay, good.

Okay, so because we became a sinner, we're separated from God.

Okay, so does a dead person have choices?

Anybody ever seen a dead person?

Did they have any choices?

No, that's right.

What?

Didn't ask him?

Yeah, I had one time when I was relatively young Christian that I went to a funeral and prayed for the person to come back to life and they didn't.

So that's that.

But anyway, yeah, so dead people got no choices.

You were dead in your trespasses and sins.

You were separated from God and you had no choices.

That's who you were.

Notice that that sentence for the English people in the room is written in the past tense.

If you are saved, then you are no longer dead in your trespasses and sins.

You are now, wait for it, alive.

And who can decide who's alive?

God, right?

That's what we just got there.

Your life is like a vapor.

If the Lord so wills, live.

That's what it says.

And so you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

You had no choices.

Ephesians, skip down to verse five.

Ephesians 2, five then.

The whole passage is really good and I really recommend you read the whole thing, but in the interest of time, we're kind of, we're picking on nuggets.

Okay, so verse four.

But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, that's his motivation, even when we were dead in our transgressions,

when we're stuck in the wrong thing, transgressions when you do something wrong, right?

Even though we were stuck in our transgressions, dead, not really alive, he made us alive together with Christ.

You see that?

So you were dead and stuck, God made you alive with Christ.

Then seven says, in order that in the ages to come, he might show the riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So in other words, God did that so that he could show what?

Show what?

The riches of his grace.

When he gives you something that you don't deserve, that's called grace.

And God was showing off the riches of his grace.

And that's what we're supposed to be doing now.

We should be living to show off the riches of his grace.

Then nine says, not as a result of works that no one should boast.

So let me rephrase it this way.

It is not a result of doing the right thing.

You can know what to do.

You do know some things.

You can do the right thing and you can choose to do the right thing as opposed to the wrong thing.

But often, if you're dead in your trespasses and sins, you will not choose to do the right thing.

You will not choose at all.

You'll just kind of go along and do whatever comes naturally, which is not good if you're dead in your trespasses and sins.

But if God has made you alive with Christ so that he could show the riches of his grace,

remember that you're not saved by your work.

So you're not saved by doing the right thing.

You can and you should.

And if you don't, that's sin.

But you're not saved by doing the right thing.

And then that brings us to verse 10.

For we are his workmanship.

He made us.

Let's go back and finish nine.

I apologize.

Not as a result of works that no one should boast.

Catch that?

So that no one should boast.

What if somebody said, well, let's go there and work hard and for profit we'll take going to heaven when we die.

Can't do it.

No matter how hard you work.

If you have sin, which you do, all have sin and fall short of the glory of God,

then you can't go to heaven when you die unless God brings you to life because you're trapped in your trespasses and sins.

You're dead in your trespasses and sins.

Okay. So then God brings you to life.

Past tense you were dead.

Now he made you alive with Christ so that he could show we are not saved by our works or choosing the right thing.

But then it says in 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what?

For good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

In other words, he set up the good works in advance so that we can live that way.

So where does choosing the right thing come in?

What benefit is it to you to choose the right thing?

If you get out of bed tomorrow morning and go, I'm going to do the right thing every choice I get today, what benefit is that to you?

It's evil if you don't.

But lots of people do evil and it seems like they're still walking around, still breathing, still doing stuff.

So what benefit is it to you if you do the right thing each time you get opportunity?

Drawing yourself closer to God.

Okay. Beautiful. That's one.

Drawing yourself closer to God.

So as we do what God would have us to do, we are essentially choosing to walk with him.

If Jesus is in you and you go to a brothel, at the very least he's closing his eyes.

You understand what I'm saying?

He does not want to be there.

If Jesus is in you and you lie to your best friend, at the very least he's stopping his ears.

Jesus does not want to be there.

You're making him uncomfortable.

And so when you do the right thing, which you can do, you know what to do, you know some things anyway, you can do the right thing and you can choose.

It's like further inviting him in, further saying, yes, me and you together, right?

Ultimately, you just make the decision this way.

If the Lord wills, I will live and do this or that.

And you choose to do the right thing.

That's the math of the Kingdom of God.

So if someone says to you, do I have to do the right thing to be saved?

What's your answer?

Okay. What right thing?

Tell the truth?

Do I have to tell the truth to be saved?

How about getting out of bed on time?

Do they have to get out of bed on time to be saved?

So what right thing do they have to do to be saved?

Say it again.

Okay, yeah.

Accept Jesus as Lord.

That means you do what he tells you to do and you do it the best of your current ability.

And Savior, he paid the price for your sin.

You have to be a follower of Jesus.

Now, being a follower of Jesus, do you have to get it right all the time?

Do you always have to do the right thing?

No.

No, because it's not by works so that no one will boast.

Because if it was by works, then someone will say,

well, I'm going to go work hard and I'm going to go to heaven when I'm done.

But you can't do that.

God took that possibility away because it's by grace through faith that we're saved.

We believe in Jesus.

We trust in the way that God has made and we get saved.

But know that you can know what to do.

You do know some things and you can do the right thing and you can choose to do the right thing.

And you should because God basically saved you to show the riches of His grace,

to show how powerful it is when a person is saved and chooses to do the right thing.

I can't tell you how many times I've been in a situation where I'm going to do the right thing or the wrong thing.

And the wrong thing is not that wrong.

You know what I'm saying?

It's really not that bad.

But I know what God wants me to do, but the wrong thing is not that wrong.

I mean, it's not really even, I mean, there's not even named in the Bible.

Like it doesn't say it's a sin.

So I can do either one, right?

But I know the right thing I'm supposed to do.

And I know that James 4.17 says, if I know the right thing to do and I don't do it to me, that's sin.

Even though the Bible doesn't say it's sin, specifically, I now know I'm not supposed to do it.

I know I'm supposed to do something different.

So I got to do that or it's sin.

So I might say to myself, well, I can.

So I will.

But that's boasting and it's evil.

And as a Christian, I should not, right?

Because I'm following Jesus.

And when I choose not to, then I'm in that same situation.

I choose not to do the wrong thing and I choose to do the right thing.

Afterwards, in my spirit, I get that attaboy that says, yeah, see, it's me and you.

It's me and you.

And we're going the distance.

And that's that confirmation from Jesus because you did the right thing.

And that concludes our worksheet.

Are there any questions?

And then we're going to pray together.

Going once.

Going twice.

All right.

Well, let's pray together.

And then I would encourage you, if you want to take this worksheet, you can.

I did it this way on purpose and made it kind of like a maze, make it kind of fun to follow and that kind of thing.

But the logic is there in James 4.

It's backed up by what's in Ephesians 2.

And when you're dealing with somebody and they come up to you and say, you can't be a Christian because I saw you do this wrong, you can now explain to them everything they need to know to truly be saved.

And it is not Trina is a good person or RJ is a good person, Dan is a good person.

They don't need to know that to be saved.

However, in seeing the good that you do, they could give God glory.

By the way, what does glory mean?

Anybody know the definition of that word before we pray?

We sang it.

Yeah, kinda.

So look at this way.

It comes from a word that would be like doxa in the Greek.

And it means to shine a light on or to lift up in the light, to lift up in the light.

So when we glory God, we give God glory.

We're shining a light on God.

And you can do that by making the right choices and you are able.

Alright, let's pray together.