James - Week 7 w/Scott McConnell

My name's Scott. I have a hard time. Thank you,

sir. I have a hard time staying warm, so I usually

stay pretty bundled up, but I'll put the hood

down for you all. But it's good to see everybody

today. I've been coming to the house here for

about three years and enjoy being here very much.

And from time to time, about every week, eight

weeks, get a chance to share. So I'm going to

go ahead and do that today. Do you like to clean?

Let's get a few answers. Who says yes? All right,

I see some cleaners. Why do you like to clean

and what do you like to clean? We got a labeler,

ladies and gentlemen. We need the labelers. My

wife loves labelers. My wife's got a basket and

a label for everything under the sun. Another

cleaner. I need another cleaner. Only when angry.

Yeah, your mother -in -law is? Awesome. We have

some cleaners back here at this table. What do

you like to clean? What was it? Papers? Awesome.

Very good. So we got some great helpers in here.

Who hates to clean? I mean, hates it. Yeah, Shannon

and I talked about that this week. We got a couple.

It's a bit tricky when two people live together

and neither one likes to clean, huh? But that

happens. That happens. Show me. Where's one of

my non -cleaners and what do you hate about it?

I don't like to clean bathrooms. Bathrooms, yes.

No one likes to usually pick. I mean, some people

would, right? How many of you like to clean your

bathroom? Anybody like to clean? Yes. Okay, I

got one. I got a couple. Exactly. You like it

to be clean. He likes to clean, so it works.

All right. That's great. Thank you very much

for that. I like to clean, but my abilities to

clean are limited these days. So what I do is

have people follow me around and I point to things.

And I feel bad, but it's just the reality of

the situation. So I had two people in my garage

the other day, and I love my garage to be clean.

So I was just pointing away and had people moving

all over. And I enjoyed it. I had a good time.

They were sweating because it was about 90 degrees

in the garage, and most people don't like cleaning

your garage, but I was having a great time. Now,

sometimes we need a little bit of a reminder

to clean. We need a little bit of a push to clean.

And sometimes you get a few reminders, but then

it gets more serious. When you're growing up

and you hear your middle name, that's when you

know you've ignored the cleaning for a little

too long. My mom's here today and she might say,

you know, Scott, would you please clean up your

room? Scott, your room still needs clean. Scott,

I've asked you a couple times now. Scott Thomas

McConnell. You're not going to do anything else

until you get that room clean. Yes, amen. And

it worked, Mom. I kind of like to clean now.

So it worked pretty good. Sometimes we might

clean one area but not another one. You might

have a junk drawer. Everything else looks clean,

but then there's one spot where everything goes

that you're not sure where to put it. You might

have maybe a really clean car, but then a messy

closet. Sometimes different ones of us, you might

even have a room that's the messy room that you

keep the door closed when people come over. Or

a closet when people come in and see the living

room. it looks one way, but if they were to open

up a closet, they would see something else. Everything

that had gone in there. Drink break. Now, one

TV show I like to watch is a show where... It's

not just casual cleaning, but things get out

of control in someone's life when it comes to

that. It gets to the point where clutter starts

to take over, collections start to take over,

and then trash starts to build up until it's

something that person can no longer control.

And I want to read a couple words to you about

it. It can lead to shame. It can lead to isolation.

It can lead to deception where people try to

hide whatever it is they have going on. And it

can lead to denial where people don't want to

admit what that problem is. And it can become,

start to become harmful and interrupt the relationships

they have around them. At that point, it's more

than a messy closet. It's more than a messy room.

Sometimes messes get out of control and they

can start to damage things in our lives. If we

think of our spiritual lives as a backpack, a

desk, a car, a house, sometimes there's a spot

in our spiritual life where things start to build

up. They start to get cluttered. And when something

really builds up, it might even start to stink.

Do you ever find there's a part of your life

that starts to stink? People know that they should

probably stay away from it or you keep it hidden

altogether. It starts to cause isolation. You

start to push people away. You might start to

feel shame about that. That's where we're going

today. We're shifting a little bit from that

casual cleaning that might need picked up to

that place where, things start to interfere in

our lives and that figurative sense where things

build up. And I think about that show that I

like to watch. And on that show that I like to

watch, when things start to get unmanageable,

there comes a crisis point. Sometimes it's families

saying, I can't stand it anymore. You have to

make a change or I might not stick around. Or

it might be the city comes in or some type of

official or landlord and says, if you don't make

some changes, if you don't make some changes,

then you might not be able to stay. Someone else

might come in and clean this mess out for you.

And so the steps that usually happen are that

that person has to open up their home, let their

mess be seen. have it be confronted, no longer

be able to be in denial, and then they have to

receive help taking care of that. There's places

in our lives where we have to receive help to

be able to get it cleaned up. We can't handle

it by ourselves. Have you ever had an area that

you've been planning to clean up for days, then

weeks, then months? Then years. How many of us

have a garage or some area, a closet in our room

that has been on our list for a very long time?

And the reality is that if someone else doesn't

step in and help us out with it, it probably

won't get done. And so sometimes we need that

place. Why are you shaking your head, Tashiana?

We argue. You can't say argue. My wife is Tashiana.

We talk a lot about the basement, the closets

in the different areas. Those places where we

might need to hear our middle name to know what

change needs to happen. Scott Thomas McConnell,

that needs cleaned up. What's somebody up? Chris,

do you mind sharing your middle name? Christopher

Michael. Yeah, right. Christopher Michael Olson.

Now, I got a little bit ahead of myself. We're

going to look at the passage now today that we're

looking at. It comes from James. And I'm going

to warn you that in this passage, James. is trying

to get their attention to let them know some

things need cleaned up. Before this passage,

a lot of the places, James is saying, my dear

brothers and sisters, you need to know this.

Or my dear brothers and sisters, you might need

to make some changes in this area. But in this

passage, it gets a little bit different. He uses

their middle name. He comes in and confronts

them to let them know that this isn't something

that can be put aside for another day, another

week, another year to be dealt with. So I'm going

to have my friend Kenneth come up and read that

passage to you. It's in James chapter 4, verses

James 4:1–10

1 through 10. I should have given you a little

more heads up to look at that, but you just have

to listen really closely. What causes fights

and quarrels among you? Don't they come from

your desires that battle within you? You desire

but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you

cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and

fight. You do not have because you do not ask

God. When you ask, you do not receive because

you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend

what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous

people. Don't you know that friendship with the

world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone

who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes

an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says,

without reason, that he as jealously longs for

the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But

he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture

says, God opposes the proud, but shows favor

to the humble. Submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come

near to God and he will come near to you. Wash

your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts,

you double -minded. Grieve and mourn and wail.

Change your laughter to mourning and your joy

to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and

he will lift you up. Well, that was kind of mean.

You couldn't have read a happier passage? Thank

you very much for reading that. See, that's part

of why I set that up for you. Because in this

passage, he's calling them murderers and adulterers.

Not because they've killed. Not because they've

literally committed adultery. But because in

their spirits, in their hearts, things have gotten

to a place that are unmanageable and a change

needs to happen. In verses 7 through 10, he says,

Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil

and he will flee from you. Come near to God and

he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you

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

Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter

to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves

before the Lord and He will lift you up. Sometimes

we have to take a moment to get serious about

something happening in our life. That needs to

be dealt with. Because God cares. He doesn't

want you to live with a mess in your life that's

causing you isolation. He doesn't want you to

live with something in your life that's causing

separation between you and him. Or you and others.

It's not for his benefit. It's not to make him

feel good. It's because he cares and is concerned

about us. When my mom would use my middle name,

she wants to make sure that I'm taking care of

what God has given me. She doesn't want me to

live in a mess, does she? God doesn't want us

to live in a mess. He doesn't want us to have

a place in our life that stinks, where things

are building up. The good news is that James

does not say, you fix this. This is on you. You

clean it up. He says, come before God humbly.

Come before God seriously, and he will lift you

up. He has enough grace to take care of this.

The goal isn't for it to be just a you thing.

Part of why I like that show that I was talking

about is that it's not a thing where they go

in to make that person feel bad and then leave

them and say, okay, now you fix it. Fix this

mess that's going on in your house. They come

in trained with a... psychologist, with a cleaning

team, with an organizer to say, we're going to

help you get this straight. We're going to help

you get this right. And that's what the Holy

Spirit does. That's how God works in us. Let

me look through my notes here for a moment. I

want to make sure I'm not skipping anything out

on you, but I do want to wrap up. Okay. I'm leaving

some things out, but I feel like you guys get

it. We're going to go old school today. We're

going to go a little bit old school. And how

many of you grew up in a church where there was

an altar? Yep. There's a church where there's

an altar and sometimes there was an altar call.

Some of us might have heard of an altar call.

And that's where the person preaching gave you

an opportunity to come and pray. And oftentimes

for someone to come and pray with you. and I

want to offer that opportunity today. And, Connie,

if you would come up and come over to this side.

And, Gary, if you'd come over to this side. And,

Mom, once Gary finds a spot that he likes, can

you pull that chair over for him to be able to

have a seat? And these are two people that I

have a lot of respect for and two people that

love to pray. And pray for people. And Pastor

Jen. Where's Pastor Jen? Oh, she stepped out.

Oh, OK. That's OK. Myself and Pastor Jen, too,

will be available. And so. What are we trying

to do here? What we're trying to do is take a

moment to respond to what God wants to do in

our lives by taking a moment to come forward

and ask someone to pray with us. And I want to

offer that opportunity. It's not something that

you have to do for God to work in your life,

but it's a special way to say, God, I want you

to do something. I want you to help me address

something. It could be a place where there is

selfishness or jealousy in our lives that needs

cleaned up. It could be a habit. It could be

a relationship. It could be a lot of places,

a lot of things. You say, well, what if I come

up, Scott? Do I need to pour my heart out or

share personal information? No. No. You can say

a word. You can say two words. But you can give

some, enough for that person to be able to pray

with you. I would like God to help me clean up

my language. I would like God to help me deal

with some anger. That I've had for a while that

I think he wants to deal with. So that's the

idea. I'm going to give I'm going to set my timer

after I pray here a moment. And we'll give we'll

give 60 seconds. A prayer time. And if you'd

like to come up during that time to receive prayer,

you can do that. And if that's not something

that folks are looking for or feeling today.

Then we'll go ahead and do communion and close

up the service. It won't be a long, drawn -out

thing. We won't pressure anybody, but that'll

just be the opportunity. Now, once somebody comes

up, if you decide you'd like to come up as well,

you're welcome to do that. It's not like the

60 -second timer closes off and you can't come

up for prayer anymore. But I want to help you

understand that it's not something that's going

to drag out. We're not going to lock the doors

until everybody comes up. I'm going to go ahead

and pray. And then I'll open that up. Father,

I thank you for today. I thank you that you care

enough about us. That you don't want us to just

be stuck where we are. And especially when we

have places in our lives. That are causing us

to feel isolated or separated. That are coming

between us and you. Us and other people. That

you love us enough to say our middle name. And

say, hey, let's do something about that. And

one way, God, that you give us a chance to do

that is to ask for prayer. To support and show

love to each other on a Sunday morning. So I

pray that you would help us to be obedient. Not

to feel pressure, not to feel guilt. But to be

willing to be obedient as you lead. In Jesus

name. Amen.