In your life

Turn with me this morning in your Bibles to James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

Do you feel it?

God's presence.

Oh, what a beautiful, beautiful thing.

God loves his house.

God loves his people.

God loves his church.

This morning I want us to look at the second message in our series on everyday Christianity.

And today we're going to be looking at everyday Christianity and you.

Everyday Christianity and me.

And then next week we're going to be looking at everyday Christianity and our faith.

Then the following week, we'll be looking at everyday Christianity and our church.

Boy, it's exciting.

It's getting exciting around here.

It really is.

God is so good.

All the time.

And all the time.

Let's do that again.

God is good.

And all the time.

Yes, he is.

Yes, he is.

But today we want to look at everyday Christianity and your life and my life.

And in verses 13 through 17, this paragraph teaches us what everyday Christianity is in us.

And that's the foundation.

And we started out laying the foundation of being light and salt.

So we know everyday Christianity to each of us means to be light and salt to our community.

But there's some things that we have to understand in order to be that light and salt, we are faced every day with really an attack from Satan in some areas.

But here's what we got to realize.

The whole proposition this morning is this.

Ladies and gentlemen, life is short.

Say that with me.

Life is short.

But I don't think we comprehend that.

Because if we did, we would do a better job in being that light and salt to our community, to our friends, to our neighbors, and to, hey, our workers, to our fellow students, everywhere we were, we are and we go, we would be more intentional in being that light and salt.

Amen.

So this is the context in which James is writing.

Here are the words that are addressed to men and women, basically, in this paragraph, that try to live their life without God.

They try to live their life without Christ.

The whole context here is devastating because it gives us the exposure.

He says, these things are really devastating to you as a person if you don't know Christ, or if you do know Christ, they're devastating in trying to prohibit you from being that light in salt.

And he says it's materialism and worldly mindedness.

Boy, is that not true?

Can I get an amen?

And it's been in every age.

James right here confronts you and me today, and here's what he asks.

Look at verse 14.

For what is your life?

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, then it vanishes away.

What is your life?

Say that with me, church.

What is my life?

What is my life?

Now the word what there?

Ploios, and here's what it means.

It denotes the idea of nature and character.

In fact, the question might be phrased: what is the nature and character of your life in regards to God and this world?

What's your character?

In other words, I wrote to my own self, and I really believe this.

It says in Proverbs 27, blessed is a man whose integrity is what?

Like God.

Blessed is the man who walks in his integrity.

His children, his church, his business, his life, his home will be blessed after him.

That's very important.

Proverbs 27.

So what is he saying?

Are we giving God's will for our life top priority?

That's what he's saying.

And then secondly, and this is what James addresses, he's saying, and I love this, how much of your life is God involved in?

Hello?

Come on now.

Think about it.

How much is God involved in your life, in my life?

And you know, the first answer to that was I love the Lord.

Well, it's more than just saying you love the Lord.

We know how much he loves us.

He gave his life for us, amen.

But how much do we love you?

That's the question.

How much do we have?

But you are in control of your life in your face.

That's what humanism really is.

So we see that he asks the question of what is life.

Then look, then the practical man then answers his own question.

Look what he says.

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, then it vanishes away.

Now, herein is the solemn truth.

And we must examine the full significance of what God is saying about our Christianity and our life in this really phrase, when he says, it is even a vapor that appeared for a little time, then vanishes away.

First thing I want you to look at in your notes.

Number one, what is life?

What is our life?

It's three things this morning.

Number one, we want to look at the duration of our life.

It is even a vapor that appeared for a little time, then watched, then it vanishes away, verse 14.

In this mad world in which we live, notice, with its emphasis on the here and now.

Everybody wants them, right?

What can what can I what can I get now?

What's in it for me now?

It's not about yesterday, it's not about tomorrow, but it's right now.

What can can we get in this political madness going on?

All the cannons, one of their main emphases is what they can give you.

Well, my question this morning, here's my political speech.

What can you give back to God?

What can you give to God?

What can you give to Jesus?

It's not about what you get, it's about what you give.

And Jesus, whoo! It's more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts 20.

Amen.

It's more blessed to give than to receive.

And then Jesus said, hey, that when you give, God gives back to you many times more.

And we're going to be looking at that.

But the duration.

Notice what he says.

We tend to forget, we tend to forget that life has an appointed duration.

Did you know that?

Look at what he says in Hebrews 9.27.

And as it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.

Sooner or later life will end.

This is the whole thrust of the text here.

James is telling us that, hey, there's a time to be born and there's a time to die.

Ecclesiastes 3.2.

There's a time to plant and there's a time to work and there's a time to harvest.

Ecclesiastes 3.17.

In other words, hey, once you come to that age of accountability and you give your life to Christ, that is a time from then till you die that you are to work and to fulfill what God has for your life.

I don't care if you're seven or eight, Wyatt, and you get saved.

Hey, but the time you get saved, you are then accountable to fulfill what God wants in your life and to do it with all your heart, soul, and mind, putting your hands to the plow, not looking back until you go home to be with the Lord.

And you don't know that timetable.

Jenny's about to go home to be with the Lord, and she's 48 years old.

I had friends, my former music director's daughter, going home at the age of 18, fixing to leave and come to Liberty University on a scholarship, singing scholarship, which God had allowed us to help her get.

And she came going around the curve a mile from her house, eased over the line, and the other car coming around the curve head on, threw her out the passenger's window.

She did not have her seatbelt on, broke her neck instantly as she went through the windshield, dead when she hit the ground at 18 years old.

I did her funeral.

You don't know.

Why?

Your life is short.

In fact, get ready.

Here's what I want you to do.

Number one, under the duration of her life, life is short.

Look at what it says.

It's a vapor.

Have you ever seen a mist early in the morning?

I mean, you love to wake up when we're up in the mountains.

We love the mountains.

I'm more of a mountain guy than a beach guy, sorry.

So in the early in the mornings, I like to get out on the deck with my coffee and my Bible and watch the mist, you know, settling in the trees in the little kind of fog.

And you sit there, but you know, less than an hour, or as soon as the sun comes, you know, comes up a little bit, and it just all of a sudden it it's the brightness of the sun starts coming through the fog and the mist, and it's gone.

Now watch this.

It doesn't mean that it's not still there.

But it's gone.

That's your life.

That's the analogy right here.

It's short.

You appear in time, we see you, we know you, we love you, and then almost without warning, a voice from heaven calls you home.

You're gone, Darren.

I want you to see this.

Turn in your Bibles.

Or they'll throw it up, maybe.

Psalms 90.

I read this and I got concerned.

I'm 66 years old.

I know I don't look it.

Thank you very much.

I don't feel 66 most of the time.

Yes.

But when I read this, I thought to myself, this was a, you know, this was kind of a wake-up call.

I want you to see what the context is Moses is praying to God for the nation of Israel because they rebel against God.

They're in the wilderness, they're being punished because they disobeyed God.

They didn't listen to the two spies, Joshua and Caleb, and go into the promised land.

So for 40 years they wandered.

And so in this context, Moses is saying, he's praying for them.

And notice what he says in verse 10, he says, and boy, this is so, so powerful.

The days of our lives are 70 years, and if by reason of strength they are 80 years, yet we labor and sorrow with, hey, then disappear and we fly away.

Uh-oh, wait a minute.

Now wait a minute.

Now, did I get that right?

How many years?

70 or 80 years or even more?

Or but a drop in the bucket to eternity.

Are you listening?

Paul's philosophy was this in Philippians 1.21.

For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.

For me to live is what?

You gotta do better than that.

For me to live is what?

And then to die is gain.

There's a proposition there.

If you live for Christ, when you die, you gain.

Amen.

There's accountability there.

From the moment you get saved till you die, what are you to do?

Live for Christ, which lived out being sought and light in your community, in your home, in your school, in your job.

No me time.

So look at it.

Look at it, folks.

This is so good.

Now watch this.

Look at what else he says.

Yet, verse 10, is there strength and labor and sorrow?

You know what he says?

You gotta work.

You gotta come on, you gotta work.

There's nothing free, church.

There's nothing free.

You gotta work.

And then he says, there's gonna be some tough times.

There's gonna be good, there's gonna be bad, and there's gonna be ugly.

Get ready.

But if you're living for Christ and walking with Christ, guess what?

He's there all the time.

And then notice what else he says.

This is so good.

Then he says, Hey, it's filled with labor, sorrow.

Life does not go on forever.

And then he says, Look, soon you're cut off.

Oh.

Life ends quickly, even if we live many, many years.

Methuselah lived to be 969 years.

He said that's a long time.

Not compared to eternity.

Think about that.

Yes.

And then he says, look, we fly away.

I love that.

There's a good description.

Moses is talking about the prayer of God of the rapture.

One day, folks, if we live long enough, hey, we're gonna fly away.

The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the ark angel, the dead in Christ shall rise first.

That's the only time it pays to be dead.

You rise first.

But hey, we're gonna fly away.

And then notice what else he says.

Then, hey, the question is where do we go when we die and when we fly away?

And then scripture informs us that once we do fly away, we stay there for an eternity.

And then look at what he says.

The first prayer request had to do with the stewardship of the life.

Now, in view of the fact that it's short, listen to what he says.

Look at verse 12.

Number our days.

We're not going to live forever.

In fact, we will not live long compared to eternity.

Can I say 80 or long more years is not long compared to eternity?

In fact, you know what it's like?

That's it.

Gone.

Did you get that?

Who can do your thumb?

All right.

Everybody get ready.

Everybody hold your thumbs up.

We're gonna click them.

Wait till I say three and we're gonna click them.

I want you to hear this.

Everybody, get ready.

One, two, three.

There's always a smart aleck in the bunch.

Oh, it's Sean back here.

He's trying to get a beat going.

Hey, hey! Did you hear that?

You're gone! You're gone, folks!

I want you next week all week.

Every so often I want you to do that.

That's how long you're here.

And then you ask your question.

Right after you claim, hey, snap your finger, here's what you ask.

What am I doing for Christ?

What is my life doing for Christ?

Think about that.

What is my life doing for Christ?

Because that's the whole premise of this whole proposition here.

Look at what he says.

And then look, verse 12, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

What is he saying here?

That we have the right attitude.

That, hey, hey, that the attitude is whatever we do, we do for Christ, because we only allotted a short period of time, and misusing one's time is a great tragedy.

Yet so many of us waste our time for the frivolous and not for the essential and eternal.

And then look, verse 14, satisfy us early with thy mercy, oh, that we may rejoice and be glad in all our days.

He's saying is if you live your life in that short period of time, that you're going to be happy, you're going to be, hey, satisfied, and you're going to be successful.

And what Moses was praying to God and praying for those people was that they would realize their problem was they had rebelled against God, living in sin, wasting their time, and now they were paying for it.

But he wanted them to repent and ask God to forgive them so that they could be, hey, again, restored and renewed with the joy and the glory of God.

Wow.

Wow.

And then watch what he says.

Verse 16.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants.

In other words, God, reveal your work for me.

Reveal your work for your children.

Reveal God's will for your life every day.

The reason you go to the Word of God in prayer, you ask God, God, show me your will for my life.

Show me your work for my life.

And then you get in the Word of God and He shows you, He guides you, He directs you through the Word.

Show me the work you want me to do.

Show me who you want me to witness to.

Show me where you want me to work.

Show me where you want me to go.

Show me what you want me to do in my church.

Show me God.

That's what it means for God to be involved in your life.

That you're talking to Him moment by moment.

Dave, do you know every day if something comes into my heart and I'm thinking, or I gotta do something, I'm constantly, subconsciously saying, Lord, what would you do?

What do you want me to do?

I'm telling you, I really do.

Susan Tanya, I say, I just don't feel like this is what the Lord wants us to do.

Or I say, Lord, I and I don't jump to y'all, a lot of people think I'm spontaneity, isn't that the word?

That means you think before you act.

I mean you don't think before you act.

But but when it comes to when I'm when I'm in tune and walking and I I get in the word every morning and I memorize scripture, and then when they I say, Lord, I I need your guidance.

Let me tell you, the Holy Spirit confirms what he wants you to do.

If you're walking with him.

Now, if you're not, guess what?

You're going to make the decision.

And I'm not saying your decision might be a bad decision, but I can tell you this: it won't be the best decision if God's not in it.

That I can assure you.

It can be a good, but let me ask something.

You got a choice.

You want the, hey, you want a good decision, you want the best decision.

It's your choice.

If you want the best decision, God better be in it.

For, hey, the people of Israel, God wasn't in it.

And look what happened to them 40 years of wandering.

Nine miles from the promised land.

That's right.

So, there we go.

Now, watch what else.

And then I'm getting hung up too much here.

Boy, this is powerful though.

Then he says, Let the glory be unto thy children in verse 16.

In other words, when you live that will of God through your life, during that period of life, from the moment you get saved to God calls you home.

It will be an unbelievable testimony for your children.

And then they will fulfill your footsteps.

And that's what Revelation 14 means.

Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for their labors do follow after them, or their legacy does follow after them.

And how does that happen?

Through their children and their children.

You want your children to be happy.

Do you want them to be successful?

You say, preacher, that's a dumb question.

Well, can I tell you something?

If you live for God 100%, and God's always on your heart, on your mind, in your home, listen, God would be a liar if you didn't bless your children.

Hello.

You think giving them the best education, you think giving them everything they want, a car and all, that's that had that's in fact that can burn them.

That's worldliness.

That's materialism.

What you need is to give them Jesus.

And show them Jesus.

Give them Jesus.

Live Jesus.

Talk Jesus.

Hey, behave like Jesus.

And then they'll be like Jesus.

Labor in vain that build it.

Psalms 127.

And that's going to be a message.

Everyday Christianity in our home.

That's coming.

So, life is short.

And then notice, and let me finish, and then we got to go.

And then he says, look at verse 17.

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.

You know what that means?

Let me just tell you what that means.

That means that the shekana, glory of God, his presence, his protection, his perseverance, everything that he is is on you.

Wow.

He opens the windows of heaven and he pours you out a blessing.

That's what it means.

That's exactly what it means.

So, life is short.

Number two, life is significant under the duration of your life.

It's a vapor that appears for a little time.

Now, watch this.

Whoo, this is powerful truth.

While you and I here upon earth, notice the word appear.

Before men and women, we appear.

And we appear for what you and I are worth, what we are.

Short as our life is, hey, it still makes an impact.

Say this: my life makes an impact.

Come on.

My life makes an impact.

As short as that is, your life makes an impact.

Now watch this.

It's either for good or bad.

There's no in between.

You say, Well, I don't bother anybody.

Well, that means you have no impact.

Hello.

No impact.

But actually, even if you don't do anything, you do have an impact.

You know what that is?

Nothing.

And it's very negative.

So watch.

Man, this is good.

So, your life is short, my life, as short as it is, it is significant.

Hey, hey, it makes an impact in terms of behavior, influence, service, and sacrifice.

My children grew up watching their mom and dad in those areas.

Every one of them.

In fact, I wrote it down, put a star.

They saw our behavior, they saw our influence, they saw our service, and they saw our sacrifice.

They saw how we would sacrifice for what God told us to do.

Even if he said, give a van, give this, over and over, and I don't like to say a whole lot about what I did because people think I'm bragging.

But God, when he tells us to do something, we did it.

And a large portion of those times we really had to sacrifice.

We had to give sometimes when we didn't have it to give, but God said, do it, and we trusted God to provide.

And he always did.

Not one time has he failed us.

Not once.

The only time I failed is when I made the decision without God.

Hello.

Can I get a that's good preaching, preacher?

I know I will's watching driving home to Florida, so hey, thank you, I will.

Paul put it this way.

Look at this, Romans 14, 7.

None of us live to ourselves.

Did you hear that?

None of us live to ourselves.

Hey, the word life appears for a little time and then ceases to appear.

It goes on, and none of us, Paul said, lives to himself.

No man dies to himself.

Did you hear that?

Not only do we not live to ourselves, we don't even die to ourselves.

Man, I got to thinking about that.

My mind got to going.

And first of all, for the believer, death means heaven.

For the unbeliever, death means hell.

One or the other.

But here's what God taught me.

And then he gave me a verse that I had preached when I was preaching through the book of Revelation.

And I thought about this first, Revelation 22, 11.

And even when I was preaching that verse a couple of years ago, the context, I was having a little problem with the application, but now I see it.

When Paul says you don't live unto yourself and you don't die unto yourself, this is where it fits.

In other words, and what we are in this life determines.

Now what's this?

What we shall be in eternity.

Hello.

Hello.

Now watch Revelation 22, 11.

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.

And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.

And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.

And he that is holy, let him be holy still.

This affected D.

L.

Moody, one of the greatest evangelists that ever lived, so greatly that he chose for his life verse, 1 John 2, 17, he that does the will of God abideth forever.

In other words, his whole life was to be completely consumed with Jesus.

Wow.

Wow.

And I had somebody ask me one time, is it really fun being sold out for Jesus?

I mean, you don't get to do anything.

I said, who told you that?

Who told you that?

Well, you know, preacher, the fun stuff.

I said, what do you find fun stuff?

I said, there's a difference.

Jesus says, I've come to give you life and give it more abundantly.

I said, if you live for Jesus, your life would be so much fun, so exciting, so uh blessed that you won't even be able to comprehend it.

He looked at me and said, Really?

I said, Really?

How do you know?

I said, I did it.

I'm living it right now, but I did it.

I changed my life at 20 years of age.

I did it, I've been there, I've been all over the world, I've done this.

God's allowed me to do this.

I've been and he's going.

Yes.

Little boy from Sylvester, Georgia.

Town of about 4,000 people.

Voted the most likely not to succeed.

And I wouldn't have.

I wouldn't have if God hadn't changed my life.

And then he said, I'm gonna make something beautiful out of your life.

And he did.

He did.

He took me out of the muck.

He took me out of the mud.

He took me out of the sinful life.

And he put my feet on a rock.

He put a new song in my heart.

A new life to live.

Whew! That's what he did.

Buckle up.

Susan wanted when we got married.

I said, I have, I'm not the best looking.

I don't have any money.

But your life will never be boring.

38 years.

Has it been boring, baby?

Not one bit.

Buckle up.

That's what God does for you.

When you totally give him everything.

You want to live a good life?

You want to live a life you don't you will never live any other way?

Just totally radically sell out for Jesus.

Teenagers, listen to me.

Kids, listen.

Trust me.

Trust me.

Trust me.

Just do it.

And see what happens.

Don't compromise.

Don't let people take you the wrong direction.

Just put your hands to the plow and don't look back.

Well, I'll be laughed at.

Yeah, but guess who's gonna get the laugh?

Hey, the last laugh!

Number two.

Woo! Man! Number two.

The danger of our life.

You ready?

We're talking about making an impact in our community.

We're talking about living out our Christianity.

Right there, everyday Christianity.

What it does.

But now here's the danger.

First of all, say this my life is short, but my life is significant.

Yes.

You're somebody for Jesus.

You may only have a little time, but you can change everything around you with the Shekana glory of God.

You can light up the room.

For God's glory.

Amen.

Light it up.

The danger, look at verse 13.

Back in James 4.

Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain.

And then verse 17, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth not to him sin.

Now this is powerful because what he's saying right here is the supreme danger of your life in my life is to live without God.

So if that's the supreme danger, it must be very important that we understand what God wants in our life.

Amen.

And we know what that is, and that is to be light and salt.

So how does that transpire?

How does that take place?

Well, here we go.

Here's the danger of keeping that light and salt, or putting that light under a bushel, or that salt not working.

Number one, living selfishly.

Look at verse 13.

Notice again, go now.

Yea, they say, today and tomorrow, we will go into a city, continue their year, buy and sell, and get game.

Now watch what is look what's going on in the context.

Remember?

Humanism and worldliness and worldly mindedness.

Watch this.

When men and women take their time and their talents into their own hands, what happens is they dethrone God and they enthrone themselves.

The scripture clearly teaches that we cannot boast about tomorrow, for we know not what tomorrow brings.

Would you not agree?

Proverbs 27:1.

Proverbs 27:1

We're bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, your spirits with your gods.

Now notice in this one verse.

Don't miss this.

Look at this self-sufficiency.

You know what's wrong with most of us?

We're self-sufficient.

What does that mean?

Let me tell you what I wrote.

In fact, I really, because I have a tendency to, I can do it.

But you know what really self-sufficiency is?

Here it is.

Self-sufficiency is planning without God.

You don't even bring him into the equation.

Now watch.

Watch in this one verse.

Look what happened.

Here it is.

The person in this verse plans his day of departure.

I know when I'm going to go.

He plans to seek his future in a certain city.

He plans how long he will seek success in his efforts for a year.

Then he plans and projects his cost and profits he can expect at the end of the year.

He's just planning everything.

Where's God in this?

God's not in it.

Oh, let me give you an example that's going to ring your bell.

Go to Luke 12 real quick.

The parable of the rich man.

And he said unto them, verse 15.

Oh boy.

And he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness.

Now when God tells you to take heed, that means perk up.

That means listen carefully.

But notice after he said, take heed, whoo, this is good.

Then he says, beware.

You know what beware means?

It means to be ready because the enemy is coming.

Wow.

He says, listen, be cautious, but now beware.

Hey, you're going to be attacked by the enemy.

He's coming.

And what is that enemy?

Covetousness.

And what is covetousness?

It's self-sufficiency.

He's saying, beware, because you and I have a tendency to be self-sufficient.

How do you know that?

Are you ready?

What's this?

Then he says, for man's life consists not of the abundance of things which he possesses.

Can I say something right here?

Your possessions will not make you happy or successful.

Oh, you'll be successful in man's eyes and the world's eyes, but not God's.

So whose eyes do you want to be successful in?

It's your choice.

Now watch what takes place next, real quick.

And then he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man, hey, brought forth plentifully.

Now listen, I want you to see something here.

He's already rich.

Now he's going to get richer.

Sound familiar?

That's the downfall of America right now.

The love of money.

Everything you see going on in America, it's all about power and money, hey, money.

Now he's rich, but instead of using his richness for God and helping people, he wants to get richer.

And look what happens.

And he thought within himself, uh oh, that's a good word.

His richness didn't bring him peace.

Can I get an amen?

Didn't bring him peace.

He's worried.

He's concerned.

I'm making, I got all this money.

I'm making a lot of money.

What am I gonna do with it?

I got a I got an idea.

Give it to missions, give it to the church, give it to people, help people.

And then he thought within himself, what shall watch?

I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits.

And he said, This will I do.

I will pull down my barn, my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, now he's even controlling his soul.

What's this?

Thou hast much goods laid up for many years.

Take, oh now.

Oh, I'm gonna eat.

I'm gonna eat, I'm gonna dance, I'm gonna be merry.

I got all, I'm gonna buy all the cars I want, all the homes I want, or or or or just I'm just gonna spend it anyway.

I I I'm gonna be so happy.

The only problem was he's already rich and he's already done have peace, but now he thinks that if he gets richer, he'll have peace.

Doesn't work that way.

And then look what happens.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, uh-oh, the rich man's a fool.

Hello.

That night, thy soul that he thought he controlled shall be required of thee.

Then whose shall these things be which thou hast provided?

Then he says, Jesus says, So is he that layeth up treasures for himself.

In other words, that's what happens when you self-sufficient and is not rich toward God.

Folks, when we are living out our Christianity, it's not about things.

It's about people.

God blesses you so you can help people.

Say amen.

God prospers you so you can help people.

I've made a promise a long time ago.

I never had the whole life when we started out.

But Susan, I'll tell you, we both, we didn't come, I came from a very, very poor family.

But I'm gonna tell you what my parents and my grandparents taught me to do.

They taught me to work hard.

And all my ministry till I came here, I worked, Susan, I worked three jobs.

I was the dean of the seminary, president of the seminary.

I taught full time, and every weekend I was an evangelist all over the country.

Seven days a week.

He said, Moy, you got worn out.

No, I was juiced up on the Holy Spirit of God.

It was, you remember what I said, given everything, everything we did was centered on him.

We loved it.

We traveled all over the country, all over the world.

God let us see the world.

Because we were working for him.

We did things that people will never do.

We went to Israel, we've been to countries that people never get to go.

Why?

Not because we could afford it, but because we were his child and his ambassador, and he sent us and he paid the bill.

It's pretty good.

And then the second thing danger is living sinfully.

Living sinfully.

Verse 17 To him that knoweth to do good, doeth it not.

Here's what it bottom line I don't have to go into a whole lot of detail.

But you cannot live in sin and be disobedient at what God wants you to be, and that's To be holy, to be light, to be sought, and to be an ambassador for him.

You cannot live with sin in your life and accomplish that.

You have to confess daily.

Do I get an amen?

You got to live holy.

Be ye holy in all manner of conversation, for it is written, be holy, for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:15, 20.

1 Peter 1:15

Benji accorded the verse.

We're a chosen generation.

Now what?

A royal, and I've already preached on that.

A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people set aside for God to be light and salt, to live out everyday Christianity in our community.

That's what it means.

There is no greater sin in the universe than that of willfully ignoring, neglecting, or rejecting what we know to do.

Right.

For us not to do it.

Did you hear me?

No greater sin.

And then the last thing.

There's the duration of life.

What is it?

Short but strategic.

There's the danger of life.

What is that?

Living selfishly and living sinfully.

Then the last thing, the duty of life.

Verse 15.

You ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.

There it is.

Two things.

This involves two important aspects of our human responsibility.

Number one, acknowledging God's will.

If the Lord will, verse 15.

There was a time when people talked routinely about the will of God.

When's the last time you had a conversation with a person?

When I was growing up, my papa talked about the will of God all the time.

Well, the Lord wants us to do this.

The Lord, even when I was in seminary and all about 2,000 of us at that time, that's how big liberty was.

We were talking about the will of God every day, and you'd hear people talk about the will of God.

When's the last time you sat down with your family and talked about the will of God to them?

Hello?

You okay out there?

That's what Moses was praying about in Psalms 90.

For the will of God to be done, that the people repent and ask God to reveal the will again, the wisdom.

Remember?

The wisdom, reveal the will of God to them again so that they can experience the glory of God again.

Thy will.

Imagine the puny man, that's me, that could live one day, one hour, one moment without regard to the sovereign will of God.

Since the entire universe obeys the divine will, what is man that he should resist God, the Creator, and his will for his life?

We must discover that will by penance and prayerfully studying God's word and relying on God's Holy Spirit to show us.

And then the second thing, once we acknowledge that will, we must accomplish God's will.

If the Lord will, we shall live, he said.

God's will operates in three areas of personal experience, and I'm through.

One salvation.

It's God's will for everybody to be saved.

1 Timothy 2, 3 and 4.

For this is God.

Hey, and hey, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved.

2 Peter 3, 9.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, but is long-suffered, not willing that any should perish.

Then secondly, God's will operates not only in salvation, but in sanctification.

1 Thessalonians 4.3, he says, for this is the will of God that your sanctification, that you, hey, that you be sanctified and that you abstain from sexual immorality.

Sanctification means that you grow in the likeness of Christ and His will for your life.

In other words, the more you understand, hey, acknowledge his will and live his will, the more you become like Christ.

And sanctification is becoming like Christ.

It's a process.

And then when you die, that last part is glorification.

You become like Christ.

But until we die, while we're living, in between the time you get saved and God calls you home in a process of sanctification, being more like Jesus.

Coming to church, coming to Bible study, coming to Iwana, coming to youth group, coming, growing, growing to be more like Him.

And then the last thing is service.

You know the verse, Romans 12, 1 and 2.

I beseech you, I urge you that what?

Here it is, that you fulfill that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

This was the consuming passion of Jesus Christ as man.

He summed it up this way: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me to glorify his name.

So I conclude with this.

We end with where we started.

What's your life?

What's your life?

Where is it?

It's a vapor.

It's short.

But listen to me, church.

It's significant.

It can be so significant.

And that's my prayer for our family.

Our family.

Our church family.

It's when I talked, when we had that meeting with the mayor and our councilman and Clay and Paul and I were sitting there my whole time with, we want to be a blessing to this community.

We want to make a difference in this community.

Was that not what I said?

Vehemently.

We want to be a blessing.

We want to help you make this little town, Westover, and I did throw in Chelsea too.

I said, a place that where when people think about it, they think about, you know, happiness and safety and love and people helping one another.

And I said, that happens would be in Sultan Light.

But there's a danger for our life, and that's to waste it selfishly and sinfully.

And then when we gone, that significance was very little, if any, or maybe even in the wrong direction.

But then there's our duty to acknowledge and accomplish the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

This is what is meant by Christianity, everyday Christianity, and your life.

So, this morning, what is your life?

You're writing a gospel.

Your dad, Benji, loved this.

You're writing a gospel a chapter each day by the deeds that you do and the words that you say.

Men read what you write distorted or true.

What is the gospel?

According to you.

Watch your life.

It's a living testimony for Jesus.

That's what it is.

That's what it should be.