A Blueprint for Christianity and You

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Well, I want you to turn with me this morning to James chapter 4.

James 4 · chapter mention

And boy, am I excited about this new series.

David said the other day, Well, you're excited about every series.

I am.

I'm excited about the Word of God.

I really am.

And this new series on how we can have an impact, how we can be an influence, how we can build our community for righteousness.

And God knows America needs it.

Can I get an amen?

The tragedies.

I know you've been praying for the families of the people that were killed in the theater and people that was shot in Chattanooga, my uh home, second home.

And uh it's just been unreal to see the ungodliness and the just the uh wickedness of people, uh, how they can just start killing people, innocent people for no reason at all.

You say, why is that?

Well, I'll tell you why.

It's because we've lost our righteous influence in our communities, in our cities, and in our states, and ultimately in our country.

If, hey, it is time for revival in America.

And it must start in each little community, like Westover and Chelsea.

And so these next 68 weeks, we're gonna be looking at how we can build our community for righteousness.

How we can build our community, hey, with righteousness.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.

Amen.

And that is what we are praying for for our city, our city, Westover, our city, Chelsea, and all the surrounding communities, that God will let us influence them.

That we will be a blueprint.

We will be a blueprint for what we want to see God do and what we want to be for God in our community.

So, with that said, I want us to look at the first message this morning is a blueprint for our community, which really starts with Christianity and your life.

It starts with Christianity and your life.

And if you do not have a worship guide, raise your, we're out.

Well, that's a good problem.

We're out.

But anyway, uh, take good notes.

But here we go.

Listen, Christianity and your life.

You know, these words in James are powerful.

In verse, and I want to pick up at the last uh four or five verses dealing with temptation and the humanists boasting about their self-sufficiency.

Let me tell you what's happened to America.

We have boasted so much about our self-sufficiency and that we are the reason for all the success that America has accomplished in the last 215 years, that I'm beginning to believe that we're beginning to see the fall of humanists.

Now, I mean, what is a humanist?

A humanist is someone that believes that they ultimately, and here's the quickest definition for me to give to you, can ultimately do anything they can want to do without God's help, and personally, absolutely, to some part, can even become a God themselves.

God help us.

God help us.

So James is dealing with that, and he deals with this temptation of boasting about you being all that you want to be instead of you being all that God wants you to be.

And he picks up in verse 13 and he says, 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.

In other words, self-sufficiency is planning.

They're planning their future without God.

God's not even seen in the picture at all.

It's what they want to do.

And then verse 14, whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow.

James says, but hey, you're planning all this without God, but you don't even know if you're gonna be alive tomorrow.

And this is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible.

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life?

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

In other words, self-sufficiency is failure to recognize the uncertainty of life.

And we're gonna be looking at that.

And then verse 15, for that ye ought to say.

In other words, he said, instead of you planning what you want to do, how you want to do it, and what you're gonna do, you ought to start saying, Lord, is this your will for my life?

Or bringing God into the equation, saying, Lord, is this what you would have me to do with my life?

Is this where you want me to go as a missionary?

Is this where you want me to plan a church?

Is this the job you want me to have?

Is this the school, the college you want me to go to?

God, what is your will for my life?

Not your will, but God's will.

And boy, he hits it pretty hard.

He says, for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live or do this or that.

And then look at verse, in other words, self-sufficiency, what he's saying there is our self-sufficiency is failure to acknowledge God.

And then, and by the way, that's where America is.

We've tried to kick God out of everything that we're doing.

God help us.

And then he goes on and he says, but now ye rejoice in your boastings, and such rejoicing is evil.

In other words, your self-sufficiency is boasting, bragging, and showing arrogance.

In other words, look at us.

Not giving God any of the credit.

And then verse 17.

Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and to do it not, to him it is sin.

In other words, self-sufficiency is nothing more than sin.

Sin.

So, with that said, I want us to look at, I think, how does this Christian life that we live affect us?

Christianity and your life, Christianity and my life.

Well, here are some words that I think that we've got to realize.

Notice what he said in verse 14.

That's the key verse.

What is your life?

I want to ask you this morning, what is your life?

What are you living for?

What are you living for?

That's the key.

What are you living for?

Proverbs 27 says, Blessed is the man who walks in his integrity, his character, his children will be blessed after him.

In other words, are you living to be an influence to your family?

Are you living to be an influence to your community?

Are you living to be an influence in your school teenagers?

Are you living to be an influence in your work arena?

Ladies and gentlemen, what are you living for?

It's either one for yourself or two for the Son, the Son of God, Jesus.

There's no in-between.

So, what is your life?

In other words, what's the nature of your life?

What is the character, as you see in the introduction there?

What is the nature or the character of your life?

With that said, I want us to look at three powerful, and I want us to examine the significance here of what God is saying about Christianity or being a Christian and who we are in our life.

It consists of three things.

Number one, if you're taking notes.

First of all, I want us to look at the duration of our life.

The duration.

Notice what he said in verse 14.

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

See, in this mad world in which we live, there is the emphasis on, are you ready?

The now, right now.

I have never seen so many people that I mean, I can't go and stop at a red light without everybody around me.

And it's illegal.

They don't care.

What's more important is them telling somebody something or seeing what somebody's telling them.

We are living in a now, right now.

I am terrible.

I'm impatient.

Don't say amen, honey.

And some of y'all looking at me, you're not saying anything.

You know why?

Because you're just that way.

I mean, we are so used right now, and I won't say anything, sis, but we are right now, listen, listen, listen.

Right now, we want it right now.

Now, not tomorrow.

Now, right now.

You know why?

Because we have the ability and we have the technology to do it right now.

We never disconnect.

You know what I loved about Michigan?

I disconnected because I had no choice, because we couldn't get Wi-Fi.

Hello.

In fact, the first night I got upset.

I said, shoot, I don't even know what's going on.

Next night I said, this isn't good.

Third night I said, this is heavenly.

Amen.

Amen.

That's the truth.

And this is what James is dealing with.

He's trying to say, we are so caught up in the now.

We tend to forget that there is, are you ready, an appointed time.

There's a duration in our life.

We live as if we're gonna live forever.

And we're really not even, hey, we're really not even worried about tomorrow.

It's right now.

I want what I can get.

Hey, right now.

I want what I want when I want it now.

Would you not agree?

Can we say o me together?

And that is so true.

And here's what he's saying.

We tend to forget that life has an appointed duration.

In fact, listen to what he says in Hebrews 9.27.

And as it is, in fact, I want you to say this with me.

We have an appointed time.

Say it with me.

We have an appointed time.

Now let me prove that.

And as it is appointed unto man, once to die, hey, now we all believe we're going to die.

We understand death.

We just don't think it's going to happen now.

Hello?

Amen?

You didn't wake up saying, Well, I'm going to die today.

In fact, you woke up hopefully saying, Thank you, Lord, for another day.

Amen.

But we don't think about it.

We don't want to think about it.

Because it can be uneasy.

It can be frightening.

It can be uncertain.

Well, I got good news today.

Death does not have to be uncertain.

But let me also say for certain, death is coming.

And as it is appointed unto men, say it with me, once to die.

Unless the rapture of the church takes place, everyone in this building right now, listening to my voice, will die.

And we have an appointed time.

Oh, yes.

Let me show you.

Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

To everything there is a season.

To every person there is a life, hey, expectancy.

There is a time expectancy.

Hey, there's a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Look at verse 2.

I love this.

There's a time to be born and there's a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

Amen?

So we want to look at this.

This is so important.

You have a life, a span, and that span, I love that, is to plant.

And the word plant there means to be productive.

What's wrong with America?

We've got 49% of the people that aren't being productive.

They're living on government assistance.

Hello?

And the government is their God instead of the God.

God help us.

God help us.

We can't survive if we continue that way.

There's no way.

God meant us to work.

See, that's not popular.

What I just said, God meant us to work.

That's not popular today.

Amen.

God meant us to work, folks.

And he meant us to be an influence.

Part of our working is being influential in our communities.

Can I get an amen?

Amen, Mayor.

There's mayor.

It is.

It's so important.

We, hey, and then there's going to be a time to pluck.

There is.

There's going to be a reward.

Anytime you plant a harvest, there's a reward.

Amen.

Always.

So with that said, I want us to look at two things that deal with the duration of our life.

Number one, life is short.

Amen.

Life is short.

I am 61 years old.

Somebody say, Pastor, you don't look 61.

Make me feel good.

Please lie.

That's the only time I don't really lie.

Well, yeah, lie in that time.

My wife said, she comes out and she said this morning, how do I look?

Well, how do I win on that?

There's only one way to do it.

You look lovely.

And she did.

Smoking.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But that's why I don't like to go with my wife shopping when she's trying on clothes.

I mean, now how do you win that when she comes out?

She says, What do you think?

Hello.

I mean, I'm not real bright, but I'm not stupid.

Honey, that looks however you want it to look.

You like it, I like it.

Amen.

You don't like it, I don't like it.

Early in my life, I'd say, honey, that doesn't look where flip on you.

Guess what?

That's a wrong answer.

Amen.

That's the wrong answer, folks.

But seriously, we've got to realize that our life is such a short time.

It's a vapor.

In fact, there's with life being short, there's two things I think that we need to understand about life being short.

Number one, it's the ignorance of the future.

We are ignorant of the future.

What I mean by that is one day every knee's gonna bow, every tongue's gonna confess to the Lord Jesus Christ for how we have lived our life.

We're gonna give an account, folks.

It's coming.

We're ignorant of that.

And then the second thing is, I I feel uh like that the interests, the interests of our life, we are so involved in so many things other than what things the Lord would have us to be invested in, that we're missing the whole purpose of our life.

Now we may be living in pleasure.

Hey, and I'm not against pleasure, we had a pleasurable vacation.

But the key is if all we live for, and this is what James is talking about, is pleasure and what we want, when we want it, how we want it, how to get it, how to keep it, then we are missing life.

We are missing the purpose of our life.

As a Christian.

We're missing it.

We're missing it.

And this is what he's talking about.

And it's so powerful right here.

In fact, you know what?

When we'd get up in Upper Michigan off Lake Michigan, Lake Haran, and Lake Superior, we'd get up early in the morning because we do, and we'd see this mist.

Every once in a while you can see it coming over from Ember and see it on the mountains, that little, that kind of a mist.

It's really gorgeous.

I love it.

And it's there.

Beautiful.

But about an hour when the sun really gets up, what?

It's gone.

That's the exact word used here.

It's like a mist.

It's like we're just here for a little time.

Then we're gone.

Do you get that, church?

Job, Job 8, 9 says, For we are but of yesterday and know nothing because our days upon the earth are as a shadow.

Have you ever, yeah, you know, growing up, we used to love to get by a wall, and if we'd be on our little bicycles, and we could see the shadow of us riding our bikes.

But you know, as that sun got higher, it didn't take long, all of a sudden there's no shadow.

It's gone.

That is your life, and that is my life.

I told Susan, I I look at my grandkids now, and uh, and my little grandson from California called uh Stephanie called me yesterday and said, all he sees is he sees, he sees your picture and and Nana's picture, and he says, Poppy.

No, he doesn't say poppy.

He says papa.

So I guess I'm gonna be papa now, because that's all he can say.

But papa, papa, and that gets me so excited.

But I turned to Susan, I said, I can remember when Stephanie was saying, Daddy.

Where have those 50 something years gone?

I can remember that.

And maybe I'm I'm having a midlife, well, maybe I'm a little older than midlife crisis, but but but I mean, I'm it just dawned on me.

Boom.

Hey, I'm 61 years old.

I don't feel like it.

Every once in a while I do.

But but but I mean, boom, my life, it's almost gone.

I'm just a vapor, I'm just a shadow.

The key is what is it?

What what has it been?

What is it today, and what will it be till I go to be with Jesus?

Wow, that's unbelievable to think how quick we're here.

Hey, Proverbs 27, 1, listen to what he says.

Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou dost not know what a day may bring forth.

Listen, you may be gone tomorrow.

So let me ask you.

Let me just ask this question.

I ask myself this if I knew I was gonna die by the end of this week, today's Sunday, if I was going home to be with the Lord on Friday, would I live my life any differently than I'm living it right now?

Now, the right answer should be if we're living, hey, for God's purpose in our life and not our own purpose, it shouldn't change a lot.

You might want to spend more time with those that are closest to you, yes.

But it shouldn't change a lot.

Why?

Because you've been living to fulfill God's will in your life.

You've been living to please him and not yourself, and that's the hardest thing for a Christian.

Now we know a lost person's gonna live for himself anyway, because they're they're lost.

The natural man receives not the things of God, 2 Corinthians 2.14.

But for the Christian, we ought to be living to please him.

And when we're living to please him, we are being a benefit, we are being a blueprint for our community to see Christ's likeness.

Can I get an amen?

So, again, what is your life?

It's short.

Notice the second thing.

Our life is significant, it is significant.

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

While you and I here upon earth, and we appear before men and women for, hey, but we are worth something.

Our worth is real.

We are worth something.

God didn't just make us to put us here to say, whoo, look what I made.

That's not what he put us here for.

That's not why he made us.

He made us to worship him, to have a connection with him, to love him.

And when we worship him in spirit and in truth, we work for him with all our talents.

Can I get an amen?

And so that's what he's saying here.

Life is short, but it, hey, hey, short as our life is, it makes its own impact.

You and I have an impact on people that we are around.

We have an impact by our behavior, by our influence, by our service, and by our sacrifice.

You have an impact.

It'll either be good or it'll be bad.

You will have an influence on this community.

It'll be for good or it'll be for bad.

You say, Well, I don't have any influence.

Yes, you do.

More than you think you do.

That's what most people allow Satan to disguise to them is that they really don't have a Purpose.

That's why people commit suicide.

Do you know why people commit suicide?

They have no hope and they have no purpose.

And the reason they have no hope, they have no purpose.

So they take their lives.

But I got good news.

For Christians, we have a purpose.

And we have a hope.

And the Bible calls it a blessed hope.

Titus 1 2.

That one day, yes, we're going to be with Jesus.

But it matters.

Our life is significant.

You've been fearfully and wonderfully made.

Look how Paul puts it in Romans 14:7.

Romans 14:7

You say, Well, I'm just living for myself.

No, no one lives for the self.

Listen to what Paul said.

For none of us live to himself.

None of us.

You thought you did.

No, you don't.

And no man dies to himself.

You have an influence.

You have, hey, a you can make a difference.

In this sense, each life, hey, each life in this building is tremendously significant.

Some of you right here, you've come today and you don't think you matter.

You matter.

You here today and you say, Well, I don't, I'm not making any significance.

I'm not accomplishing anything.

Yes, you are.

And yes, you can.

My God made you wonderfully, fearfully made you.

And with Christ, I can do all things.

God loves you, and you are special to Him.

And God has a purpose for your life.

Now, here's the interesting thing.

None of us live to ourselves.

No man dies.

The fact that the vapor ceases to appear for just a short time.

Now, I wrote this down.

This is very important.

This really got my attention.

The fact that the vapor ceases to appear does not mean that it ceases to exist.

See, after you and I are gone, we still exist.

For the believer, our existence will be in heaven.

For the non-believer, their existence will be in hell.

So just because that vapor dissipates, hey, doesn't mean it's not still there.

Our life does matter, and it will matter for an eternity.

Say this with me.

My life will matter for an eternity.

Ready?

My life will matter for an eternity.

That's the vision you gotta catch.

That my life will matter for an eternity.

So, for the believer, again, death means heaven.

For the unbeliever, death means hell.

Just, hey, life's ultimate destiny, and I really believe this, when we pass out of sight, and I love this, I wrote this to myself.

And what we are, write this down.

You gotta write this down.

I wrote this to me.

What we are right now in this life, we will experience for an eternity.

The influence that we have will matter in eternity.

You will be rewarded by your life that you're living now.

You don't get to heaven and just say, oh, good, I made it, man.

Hey, yes, thank the Lord you made it.

But if you got saved just to go to heaven and not live for him, not work for him, not have an intimate relationship with him, not to worship him, something's wrong with that decision.

You don't, you don't just get saved and not go to hell.

Now that's a good reason.

But that's not the only reason.

That's not the motivation.

The motivation is you get saved because you want an intimate relationship with an awesome God and that you want God to make something beautiful out of your life.

Can I get an amen?

That's it.

That's why you get saved.

The results from not going to hell is a benefit.

Pretty good benefit.

Amen.

You're with me.

But the purpose is because he loves you.

He died for you, and he wants a relationship.

Do you realize you are so special?

He wants a relationship with you this morning.

Man, that's good.

Man, that's good.

In fact, look at what, and oh by the way, somebody said, and what we are in this lifetime determines what we shall be throughout eternity.

Let me give you a verse for that.

Somebody kind of give me a look, and I thought I had the same thing.

Look at Revelation 22, verse 11.

Revelation 22:11

The Bible says, 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.

Hello.

I'm gonna go ahead and put it right on the table, and it's not a popular statement I'm about to make.

And some of you may get a little upset with me, but I love you anyway.

Because the truth is the truth.

People that live all their life living like the devil, but yet they say they're saved and they know they go to heaven.

I got a major problem with that.

I don't believe that.

My Bible says you shall know them by the fruits that they bear.

Matthew 7-1.

I I believe if for if for you know what?

We were in the cherry capital of the world.

I meant we got fresh cherry.

My wife, she took so many pictures of these cherry trees.

Unbelievable.

Fresh blueberries.

I mean, we ate that every morning.

Every morning.

Cherries, blueberries on my cereal.

I still ate my cereal.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

Just unbelievable.

And I thought to myself, for a cherry to be that beautiful, that ripe, that sweet, it had to have its roots into the right soil, the right nutrition, the right growing.

Now Jesus said a tree that is evil and bad will not produce good fruit.

Hello, hello.

But a tree that is good will produce good fruit.

Because an evil, bad tree can't produce good fruit, and a good fruit can't produce bad fruit.

Amen.

So don't you dare, because you made a decision, you prayed a prayer, maybe even got baptized, and then you didn't have a change in your life, you didn't have a change in your attitude, you didn't have a change in the way you think, the way you walk, the way you talk.

Ladies and gentlemen, you need to examine yourself whether or not you'll be in the faith.

2 Corinthians 13, 5.

Amen.

That's why I love this church.

You get the truth, nothing but the truth, the whole truth.

So help me, God.

Amen.

And that's what James is saying.

It's so beautifully.

He's saying you're significant, but let me say, that's why you're like a vapor.

And that's why he says in Proverbs 3, 6, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.

Because you only live for a little time.

And he wants you to be as influential as you can in that short period of time.

So that one day you'll be able to bow that knee and hear him say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter to the joy of the Lord.

Amen.

What a day that will be when Jesus I shall see.

When he takes me by the hand and leads me into the promised land, what a day.

Glorious day.

That will be.

Amen.

Secondly, not only do we see the duration of our life, we see the danger.

The danger of our life.

In fact, though, and let me just say here, look at what he says in verse 13.

Go to now.

Ye that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there for a whole year, buy and sell, get gain.

In other words, we're gonna go and sell and make profit.

I want you to see, I think I put the verse up there.

Jason, go to Matthew 6, 19 and 20.

I think I put it, it wasn't on there to start with, but I want you to see this.

Here's the danger.

What is he saying in verse 13?

Here's what he's saying.

I'm gonna go and lay up treasures on earth for me.

God's not even in this decision.

Hey, did he ask the Lord, do you want me to stay a year?

You want me to stay a month?

Lord, is it your will for me to go and do this?

Not at all.

This is what I'm gonna do.

We're gonna see this in a minute, in this the danger.

We're going to Luke 6.

But hey, hey, where moth and rust does corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.

In other words, you can work all you want to do and, hey, store up, enjoy the pleasure, enjoy all that you want to, but it's not worth a dime.

It's not gonna last.

It's gonna vanish away.

Why?

Because your life is a vapor.

You vanish away, and you can't take anything with you except what you've invested for God.

Watch verse 20.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

Where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

Is that good, or is that good?

Now, here's what I wrote, and I wrote it to me.

Here's what we do: we either waste our time or we invest our time.

We either waste our time in concern for heaven, or we invest our time knowing we're going to heaven.

Woo! That's good, preacher.

Where's I vote?

Now thank you.

Amen.

We waste it or we invest it.

Which are we doing?

God help the church at Chelsea, Westover.

And for the mayor, the church at Westover, Chelsea.

Did I get a brownie point there, mayor?

Okay.

Thank you.

Hey, hey, let us be investing our time and our treasures.

Hey, in heaven?

Why do you think 29%, hopefully 50% one day or soon, we'll be invested in mission work?

And that includes at home and abroad.

Amen?

Reaching out.

Why do we want to have a Christian day camp next year so we can reach the hundreds, thousands of young kids in this area?

Sadaka, we already got it striped off.

It's time we want to do tournaments and basketball and volleyball tournaments and uh soccer up with soccer, all that.

Why?

One reason.

We want to invest that land, our monies in reaching kids and families with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Can I get an Amen, church?

Amen.

Yes.

Give him a hand.

That's what we're doing.

This is not about Pastor Danny or any of us, the counseling, no, it's about him.

And we make decisions here for so we can have an A-team, put together a team that can, hey, hey, we don't have time to waste.

And I'm 61 and I thought I was coming out here to take it easy.

I'm I'm geared up, fired up, and we're just ready to put it in overdrive.

We're going.

We're gonna jump start this sucker this year.

We're starting day camp next summer.

Alex, all those kids will be coming to a Christian day camp.

Instead of a daycare during the summer, can I get an amen?

They'll be playing a wand, they'll be playing bat, they'll be learning the word of God, memorizing scripture, taking heights and trails and seeing how nature relates to God.

Can I get an amen?

We want the, hey, if we're gonna change our community, we gotta change the young families.

Are you hearing me older?

50 and up.

Can I get them an amen?

You say, well, what does that have to do with me?

Mine are groaning.

No, your grandkids are coming.

And you say, Well, what am I gonna do?

I need your money.

The young couples don't have any money.

You have the money now.

We gotta help, we gotta show them right, teach them right, lead them right.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

We're gonna invest.

When you die around here, you're gonna know you've invested in the kingdom.

God gave this little church 91 acres.

A beautiful place.

Do you understand?

He didn't just give it to us to let it lay there and look at it and waste it.

Hello, God.

You say, what does that mean?

That means we're gonna go to work.

Need your help.

We need your help.

It's gonna be exciting.

Your grandkids are gonna grow up in a Christian environment.

I ought to have the roof going, Amen.

Hey, I don't know.

I can't help Birmingham.

I can't help those other.

Well, we can, but I can't help these other things.

But hey, we can make a difference in Westover and Chelsea.

We can make a difference.

Bless God, we're gonna make a difference.

Couples will want to come here because they know we're trying to come alongside them and help them.

They labor in vain to build it.

Psalms 27, verse 1.

Psalms 27:1

The danger.

Here it is.

You ready?

One, living selfishly.

You know not what tomorrow brings.

Hey, we're bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's 1 Corinthians 6.20.

Now, I want you to see the difference.

I want you to see the difference.

Go to Luke Luke 12.

Take me to Luke 12, Jason.

Oh, you got to see this.

I want you to see the difference.

Hey, I want you to see a guy that invested in, hey, himself, his self-sufficiency.

You got to see this.

Luke 6.

Mm-mm.

Pick up at Luke chapter 12, verse 15.

Luke 12:15

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

What's wrong with America?

We are filled.

What's wrong with, hey, our our our whole religious system today, our whole country is where covetous.

It's all about us and not about Christ.

For man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

And he spake this parable.

The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentiful.

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do?

Because I have no more room where to bestow my fruits.

And he said, This will I do.

I will pull down barns, build greater ones, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, Ho-ho-ho, so thou hast much goods I've done good.

Laid up for many years.

Oh, I'm gonna eat, drink, hey, eat and be happy, do what I want, when I want, how I won't, and hey, be at ease and be merry.

But God said, uh oh.

See, God wasn't in his equation.

Verse 20, but God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.

Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?

Mm-hmm.

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself?

And is not rich toward God.

I want you to I want you to see show you what God told me real quick.

Verse 17.

It was his plan is not God's plan.

Between verse 16 and 21, here's the word I six times.

Ah, six hours.

It was his plan's not God's plan.

Look at verse 18.

Instead of 27, that's what I do.

I will, in other words, I'm gonna build what a box instead of burden, hey, instead of burning and investing in the kingdom of God, oh, and in his church, which I'm sure he didn't have a church, but instead investing in his community to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the community, he said, I'm gonna hoard it, I'm gonna keep it for myself.

Then notice the third thing I saw, he trusted in his wealth.

Look at verse 17.

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do?

Because I have no room.

Hey, where to bestow my fruits, all his wealth.

He was trusted in his wealth.

Listen to me.

The love of money is the root to all evil.

I didn't say money was, I said the love of it.

1 Timothy.

Thank God for businessmen, godly businessmen, godly people that God has blessed and they have a lot of money to give.

And thank God for you businessmen that give to this church and how you help us.

I applaud you, I love you, but I also know God is blessing you because you're given.

Given it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give back unto you.

Luke 6, 38.

You can't outgive God.

Woo! Blessed, yes.

Now, so, and then notice the fourth thing.

He was a pleasure seeker.

Look at verse 19.

And I will say to my soul, soul, has thou not much goods laid up for me many years?

He won't live the pleasures of the world, not giving the, hey, giving the glory to God and giving back to God.

It was all about him and his pleasures.

He was a pleasure seeker.

Let me remind you, the Bible very vividly says in several scriptures, especially Proverbs 21:17 and 1 Timothy 5.6, those who live in pleasure, hey, shall be dead.

Proverbs 21:17

Dead.

Dead inside, not just physically, but dead inside.

There's no joy, there's no happiness, there's no contentment.

And then the last thing the Bible says he was a fool.

He was a fool.

Verse 20.

Living selfishly, number two, living sinfully.

To know to do good and doeth it not.

Now there's two things here.

Verse 16, that hey, when he made that statement in James, this is powerful.

I want you to see this.

Not much longer, but it's so good you can't miss this.

Listen, watch, watch, watch.

When he said, He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin in verse 17.

He's talking about two types of people.

First of all, he's talking about the lost.

Verse 16.

But to know you rejoice in your boasting and such rejoicing is evil.

He said, for you that are lost.

He says, You, hey, you don't understand this.

You're not interested in doing good for God.

You're interested in doing good for you.

But then, if you notice in verse 17, he's talking to the, hey, the saved.

Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin too.

He's saying, But hey, Christians, I'm not gonna let you off either.

I'm not gonna let you off either.

You know what you ought to be doing, you know what you should be doing, and if you're not doing it, it's sin.

Hello.

Can I say the greatest sin for me and you as a Christian is to know the will of God and not to do it?

That's the greatest sin.

Hello.

Now, for the loss, it's blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

And what does that mean?

So many definitely, let me help you.

To blaspheme the Holy Spirit means to reject the Holy Spirit, not to take him, hey, into your heart so that you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

That's what it means.

But for us Christians to know the will of God, not to do it, is the greatest sin for a Christian.

Somebody say oh me.

Now, in fact, number three, and I'm three.

The duration of our life, the danger of our life is to live selfishly and to live sinfully.

The duration of our life.

We saw two things that are so powerful there, and that is that life is short, but life should be significant.

Then the last thing here is our duty.

And I'm through.

Look at verse 15.

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

If the supreme danger that I just said of our life is that of living without reference or doing the will of God, then the supreme duty of us Christians is to be living with reference and doing the will of God in our life.

Make sense?

Say amen.

Galatians 2.20.

I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Say this with me, church.

I am crucified with Christ.

I am crucified with Christ.

What does that mean?

That means that you are living his will for your life and not yours.

Hello?

Say amen.

That's good, preacher.

To live a crucified life means I'm living the will of God for my life.

Jesus said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.

And what?

Follow me.

What does that mean?

To do his will in your life.

So it's so important.

And there's two things.

Number one, that we acknowledge God's will.

Look at what he said in verse 15.

If the Lord will.

You know why?

Hey, 25 years ago, maybe a little, no, it's been longer than that, honey.

I'm getting older.

But when I was going through Bible school in the early 70s, we heard people talking about the will of God for the life all the time.

All the time.

I haven't heard that kind of conversation going on unless it's been in a Christian circle.

But outside, you know, people talking about what God's doing in the life, we have gotten so scared and so politically correct that we're scared to say anything about the Lord Jesus Christ and His will or His ways.

God help us.

Stand them up.

It's time we take back our country.

It's time we take back what our Constitution was founded on.

Under God, indivisible.

God help us.

Thank God.

You ought to thank God for where you live right in this community.

We still got a God-fearing community.

But there's a lot that have gone south quickly, and they're going south quickly.

Not here.

Not here.

Not here.

We're not going to do it.

We're going to stand for what's right.

Amen.

We're going to be an influence.

Amen.

Let me tell you, you know why I'm so adamant about that?

I read the last chapter, folks.

We win.

I am tired of people just being.

You know, it's a sad day in America when we had five servicemen gunned down in Chattanooga and they couldn't even have a gun themselves.

Something's wrong with this system.

Now I'm not talking about being a vigilante.

Maybe I am.

No, but but but but what I am talking about is hey, we got to protect our liberties.

Amen.

The first thing we'll do is make our guns like.

How are we going to protect ourselves?

Yeah, they're not going to do it in Chelsea, in Westover.

But anyway, watch.

Listen, folks.

Please listen to me.

The duty of our life is acknowledging God's will.

When we find God's will, I haven't started.

Look, Psalms 48.

You gotta see this.

The light has uh self also in watch what he says.

In the will of my God.

Yea, the law is within my heart.

Now watch this.

Very important.

You'll never find the will of God without the law of God, God's word in your heart.

Can I hear it?

Amen.

In fact, Jesus said that in John 7.17.

He says, You shall know my will when you know my doctrine.

When you know my word.

Look at Psalms 143, verse 10.

Psalms 143:10

And he says, Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God, thy spirit is good.

You want a good life, you want a happy life, you want an exciting life, you want a joyful life, you want a life that will not, hey, yes, it'll still be filled with trials and tribulations, but there'll be joy going through them because you know, hey, let me ask you, would you rather be in the storm without God or be in a storm with God?

I rest my case.

Well, you're in the storm if you're doing the will of God.

Hey, if you're not doing the will of God, I'm guaranteed you're gonna be in a storm.

Because it'll get your attention with one.

So, and then the last thing, acknowledging God's will, and then last thing I want to leave with us.

Then we must accomplish God's will.

Accomplishing God's will.

Look at verse 15 again.

You ought to say, if the Lord will, watch, we shall live.

Now, watch this real quick.

This is gonna be liberating, and I'm through.

God's will operate in three areas of our personal life.

You gotta understand that.

I wasn't just gonna tell you, this is so good.

God gave me this other night, other morning, and I was in the campground early in the morning.

I couldn't shout, but I wanted to.

I mean, I oh.

How does he operate in three areas?

Number one, salvation.

Watch this, 1 Timothy 2, 3.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

Look at verse 4.

This is good and acceptable.

In other words, this is God's will.

And in fact, he even says, God who will, God's will, have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know this is this is debatable ground, but that's okay.

I believe God would like for anybody and everybody to be saved.

I don't think he chooses some to be saved and some he chooses to be lost.

I do not believe that.

I believe he gives the opportunity for anybody and everybody to be saved, but we have to make that choice.

Free will.

And I believe in the free will of man.

Now, some good friends would disagree with me.

I've debated it till Jesus comes back, and I will debate it till Jesus comes back.

And when we get into heaven, they're gonna see I was right.

No.

Number two, the will of God is not only for salvation, but number two, sanctification.

Watch this.

By the way, let me go back to that real quick.

Don't get hung up on the stump about does God choose?

Yes, God chooses.

Do I have anything to do with it?

Some say yes, some I say don't.

Don't get hung up on that argument.

Here's what you do: you don't worry about the argument.

You just go tell everybody you see about Jesus.

And let God work it out.

And I'll tell you what B.R.

Lakin told me and these young preacher boys.

You know what I've learned?

The more I share the gospel with, it seems like more get elected.

That's good.

Somebody say that's good.

Amen.

That is settled you are.

Don't get hung up on the stump.

And then accomplishing.

Hey, salvation, sanctification.

Look what he says in verse 3, 1 Thessalonians 4.

For this is, there's that word again, the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should be absent from fornication.

In other words, quit living ungodly, start living like a real Christian, bearing fruit.

Can I get an amen?

When people look at you and they, yeah, they're gonna see something different.

They're gonna see the joy of the Lord, not the sorrows of the world.

Big difference.

And then number three, and I'm through.

Service.

Service.

Look at Romans 12, 1.

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves, watch, a living sacrifice.

Woo! Watch, holy, acceptable unto God, watch, which is your reasonable service.

Verse 2, don't be conformed to this world, don't be covetous, don't be seeking your will, but be ye transformed, metamorphosis, by, here's how that happens: the renewing of your mind in the Word of God and in prayer and in church.

That's why it's you gotta not miss church.

Small groups, we're excited about small groups coming in a few weeks.

It's gonna be exciting as we grow.

I wana's coming.

We're excited about that.

We're dealing with that right now.

We're so excited.

All this is about to happen.

Renewing your mind that you may prove what is good, accepting the perfect will of God.

Say, I wana, we want your parents involved in awana.

You know why?

You know what I wanna say?

I know, so what does he mean by awana?

2 Timothy 2.15, study to show thyself approved unto God and workman that not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I wana is taking the word of God and putting it in your heart and living it and teaching them how to memorize it, how to live it.

And we want parents involved with their children on a wana night.

Right now, we're probably looking toward Wednesday as the night because we'd want to, we like to just, we we don't want to out every night.

We want Sunday and a Wednesday.

Now, small groups will be different.

You can do it on whatever night you want to do with your group.

If you want to do it on Wednesday night, that'll be okay.

But now listen, here's what I'm saying.

We want parents on Wednesday night involved with their kids.

The greatest thing I ever did with my three kids was take the wanna books and have have what we call.

Are you ready?

Hey, we had time with our kids and the word of God.

We called it family time.

And you know what, you know what I did?

We went through the little wana books with them.

It was phenomenal.

It changed my kids' life.

And it will yourself.

Amen.

And what he'll tell you, well, what he didn't tell you, I tell you, his daughter right now studying at Southwestern Seminary, married a preacher, well, gonna be a professor he wants to teach in seminary, and she's studying for missions.

It works.

But we can't make you be involved, but you should want to be involved after hearing what your life is.

Because you will influence the next generation, your children, and your grandchildren.

I close with this.

Jason, go to Acts 13.

Here's the will of our life.

Right here.

I'm gonna give you our church's will for this church.

Acts 13.

And when he had removed him, God had removed Saul, King Saul, he raised up unto him David to be their king, to whom also he gave testimony.

Now God's given testimony of this young man David.

I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill all of my will.

Not some, not most.

The heartbeat of my wife, myself, Christy, and David, that was the four that started the church.

And then Sonia and Carrie right after that, and then Bob and Jewel.

But our motive is right here.

It's not our will, our heart's desires to fulfill all the will of God right here in this church.

To build a church like the church in Acts.

Loving God and loving people.

Now, look at verse 30.

For David, after he had served his own generation, we all have a generation to serve.

Part of our legacy as the leaders of this church, we have young leaders, we have older leaders, we have middle-aged leaders, is to pass the legacy down.

What is that legacy?

To fulfill God's will, not man's will.

Too many churches.

Why we have splits all the time?

I can tell you, I'll give it to you.

I'm not afraid to say it.

It's their will, not God's will.

It's not God's will for a church to split.

Watch.

After his generation, by the way, hey, he served his own generation by the will of God, then he died.

Church, every morning.

Part of my prayer time.

It's when I end.

Is God, would you please give me strength, good health to fulfill your calling, my will, your will for my life in my generation.

Will you do that?

And then, Lord, I'm ready to go home.

Phil, I'm ready to go.

Then take me.

I don't want to.

Hey, if I'm no longer fulfilling the will of God in my generation, I'm ready to go home.

Because I don't want to lose what I've gained so far.

Can I get an amen?

And the last thing I want to do is be sitting on the sideline.

What about you, church?

I know you are.

I know you're excited.

That's why you're here.

But I want to challenge you.

It's time to go to the next level.

We're going.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at TheChurch at CW.

Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at CW dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.