Refuse to Presume - James 4:13-17

A message by Tyler Sanborn on James 4:13-17.

South Valley Student Ministry is a ministry of Compass Bible Church South Valley located in Kuna, ID. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, please visit compassbiblesv.org.

Transcript

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Please open your Bibles again to the book of James, and we'll be in chapter four. This is our last sermon in the fourth chapter. And next week we'll move on to chapter five. It's been a highly applicational study so far. What to do, what not to do, commands to follow, track this way, avoid that, stay here, avoid these dangers. And that's a great, a great place for us to be as we're starting to wrestle and try to understand what it is that God would want me to do with my life. Many of you in the room have seen a lot of life, decades of life, and some of you have only seen just over just over one decade of life. And everywhere in between, we are we're looking to James to give us again tonight some caution. He's going to direct us, he's going to guide us and lead us in what not to do. What not to do. Maybe you've been out fishing, or maybe you've been somewhere with a with a plan, a very strong plan on how you're going to accomplish a big goal. Maybe you're thinking about how to how to get something done, how to get on a certain team, how to achieve a certain milestone in your life. And you're making plans, and I want you to think about something that you've actually had a lot of success in. Maybe you've been someone that's competing and you've won some awards. Maybe you've uh you've had high achievements, and maybe it's socially, it's easy for you to make friends. It's you're just assuming that you can do that and re repeat the process over and over again. And um I'd like to draw our attention to an illustration to open up our sermon this this evening. I'd like you to think about the last time you went fishing. How many of you have have never been fishing before? Raise your hand. Well done. We've got some anglers in the room. Got some parents that are teaching you how to catch a fish. That makes me smile. That's awesome. So imagine, imagine you're a successful angler, which you are, and imagine that you know how to catch a fish, which you do, and you're thinking, I just want to, you know, I want to go bigger. I want to go better. I want to get something that I can throw in the freezer, I want something that I can make maybe a poke bowl with. Maybe you're thinking like some fillets, and you're thinking like these little stocked bluegill and and rainbow trout in town, like they're they're just not cutting it. Like I could catch those all day long. No big deal. I want something bigger, I want a challenge, I want something that is really going to uh be a thrill. So you go out and buy a bigger rod. You go out and buy a bigger net. You're like, all right, I'm prepared. This fish, when I get this fish in close, I'm gonna scoop them up with this big net. And you got your permit in place. You got your Idaho fishing license, and you got a steelhead endorsement, and you got a salmon endorsement, and you're gonna go to the clear water, you're gonna go to the salmon, you're gonna go down to the snake river, and you're gonna say, I'm gonna get the big one. I got my vacuum sealer on, I'm ready to go. I got my chest freezer, I got everything that I need in order to make this happen. I'm gonna stack up my freezer and we're gonna have smoked salmon for a long time. It's gonna be great. My neighbors are gonna come over, it's gonna be a great time. It's gonna be a block party, it's gonna be a church barbecue. We are gonna we're gonna make it happen. Now, as you're making these plans, you're presuming a lot. You're making plans with an anticipation that surely it's gonna happen. And you're willing to put money and time and planning and effort into thinking about thinking about where you're gonna go, where you're gonna park, who you're gonna bring with you, what cooler are you gonna bring, what do you all the steps in between, between you leaving your house, you landing this fish, and bringing it back and just stacking it in your freezer. You you'd have to presume some things. And James today is going to caution us that we should really be careful. We should really think twice about presuming, about assuming what tomorrow can bring. Assuming what tomorrow can bring. And just be careful about what kind of plans you make and how you make them. That's that's what James is going to draw our attention to. And that's something that I want you to be listening for as we work through the last handful of verses in chapter four. That's what I want us to look at this evening. So let's look to our text. James chapter 4, verses 13 to 17. James chapter 4, verses 13 to 17. Let's let's pay close attention to see what James is talking about, assuming, presuming, thinking that we have the future figured out, because it's going to apply to us tonight. Verse 13. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. For him, it is sin. James is addressing people, Jewish believers, who it sounds like they've had success. It sounds like they they know how to be successful. They know how to make a profit. They've they've been there and tried that and worked some things out. Now we have some some business owner, business owner adults in the room, and some of you can be connecting to this, like, yeah, I know how to make a profit. I know I've learned what not to do, I've learned what to do, I've learned how to interact with people, I know how to how to trade, I know how to invest, I know how to help people in a way that's helpful to them, and in return, I can make a profit and it's it's a win-win. James is talking to people that are assuming. They're assuming they're confident in their own power, in their own experience, in their own ability, as if everything depended on them. Everything depended on them. He's saying, be careful. Be careful. You're making plans. You're thinking, profit is ahead. I can't wait. I'm gonna spend a year here. I'm gonna come back with a pocket full of cash. I've done it before, I can do it again. I can't wait to go. I can't wait. To those that he's speaking to, he's speaking to those with an arrogant and boastful and proud kind of confidence that looks within and says, I got this. I got this. The kind of confidence that says, it all depends on me, and I'm gonna do it. So therefore, it's gonna get done because I'm gonna make it happen. Have you ever been there? Have you ever had that kind of excitement inside that you're like, ooh, I know exactly what path to take on this track. I know exactly how to cross this person up on the court, I know exactly how these cows operate. I'm gonna make it happen. I'm gonna come in first place. There's no way it's not gonna happen. I've I can visualize it, I can see it, I can smell it, I can taste it. It's all I have to do is just do it and it's mine. That's the kind of perspective that James is speaking to. James is speaking to a people that are making plans and God is not in them. God's not in the plans, God's not acknowledged, God isn't depended on in any sort of way. It all depends on the experience, it all depends on the hard work, it all depends on the expertise that they've gained over a set amount of time. They have a skill set that is bulletproof. These people are excited to go out, go out and make a profit. And he's warning them, come here, come take a listen. Come here. Come here. Do you do you hold tomorrow in your hands? Is that something that you have control over? Do you do you know what tomorrow is gonna bring? Now we've we've been there before, we've we've made plans before. We we've made plans beyond today. Um maybe you made plans to to uh to do a project on your truck. You gotta replace some parts. You think you've watched enough YouTube videos? You know, you've watched, you've you've read enough comments, you've you've understood, okay, I just gotta make sure I don't do this, don't do this, and it's all it's all good. It's easy. It's easy. I can make this happen. All I gotta do is just have the right tools, and it's job done. Easy, easy to do. And then you get into it, and then you realize, well, actually, I don't know what I'm doing, and actually that's the tool that I don't have that all of a sudden I do need. And uh back to YouTube, back to the internet. How do I solve this problem? How do I solve this problem? What initially began as a four-hour project became more like a four-day project. Um, that that sprinkler project turned in from like an hour or two to like now it's taken the whole weekend, and I'm I'd rather be doing other things, but uh now I'm here in the mud and I have to fix this or else there's gonna be a flood in my yard. And uh just yeah, we just don't know really, guys. We don't know what tomorrow is gonna bring. We don't know the future. As much as we'd like to believe it, as much as we have a confidence in our understanding and intellect and perspective about the future, we just don't know. And that's what James is trying to draw his attention, the reader's attention to. He's like, listen, guys, take a step back, look around. You don't know as much as you do. You can't control the future like you think you can. It's not that simple. You guys are forgetting the most critical factor in your plans. You're make you're making plans as if you are God, and all you have to do is just imagine it, and then it becomes reality. All I have to do is just imagine the shot and it's gonna go in. All I have to do is just uh imagine the kind of friends I want, and and then I'll just make them for myself. It's as easy as that. No, we're more nearsighted than than we're give ourselves credit for. We're we're we're thinking often in in such a short term that all we can see is our plans for our future, um, for our gain. We take an inventory of our lives, we look at the supply, and we think, uh, you know, as long as I do this, this, and this, I'm gonna get to exactly where I want, and I'm gonna retire, and that's gonna be that, and uh ride off into the sunset. As I just get that one job, and uh, and that's just gonna pay the bills for the rest of my life. It's gonna be that easy. No, James is calling his his uh readers to think about how they are the created and how they are not the creator. How they are not the creator. He's he's calling their attention to to stop and pause and think. Think about their lives, think about what's really going on. How much control do you actually have, guys? Pump the brakes, time out. Take an assessment of your life. Who are you to say that you're going to predict the future and you get to control it because you said you're going to do it? Does that make sense? He's trying to slow these people down that are taking so much confidence and placing it in themselves. You're gonna spend a year here, a year there, we're gonna make a product, and we're gonna sell it, we're gonna be profitable, and then we're gonna go to the next town, and then we're gonna go to the next town, and then we'll come back and we'll take some time off and enjoy the sourdough from the lady next door. I can get as much as I want with all the money that I'm gonna make. I'm gonna I'm gonna go and just eat cinnamon cinnamon rolls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because you know what? It's just gonna be vacation mode for me. It's gonna be vacation mode. Their prize possession is their plans and their and their attitude and their focus on them determining their future. Be careful. Be careful. Verse 14 says, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. You do not know. You do not know what tomorrow's gonna bring. Only God does. We often look at time as if it's just a consumable resource. All we need to do is just get out there and do it. Just like air. Time is on our side. All I gotta do is commit the right amount of time, and then it's mine. All I have to do is just put enough time in and I will get A's. All I have to do is just do the hard work and then I will get promoted. All I have to do is do what my parents say, and then I get to get whatever I want. I get to go to my favorite show. I get to go to my favorite sports game, my favorite movie. I control my future. My question for you tonight at this moment is, is God in your plans? That's what James is trying to call his readers' attention to. Have you said, God, I I really would love to do this? I would really love to go in this direction. I I think I think I have the skills and abilities to, but I know that it's not gonna happen unless you, unless you're with me. I know it's not gonna happen unless you provide for me. You provide the people that are gonna come with the money and pay me to do the job that I'm I'm hoping to do. Are you considering God? Is God in your plans? That's what James is trying to ask his his readers. Is God there? If God's not in your plans, you're it you're doing it in your own strength. You're doing it in your own might, in a proud way that says, I got this. Doesn't matter who else is there, I'm gonna make it happen. It's all about my my intellect, my abilities, my strategizing. Have you ever gotten to the point when you're making a plan and it just falls apart? And that do you ever get frustrated? It's like, wait a minute. This was bulletproof. This was the most genius plan ever. How did it fail? What in the world? Sometimes I can get into this position where things don't go the exact way that I want them to. So I kind of just like, well, what's the point? What's the point making these plans if they just keep falling apart? What is the point? What is the point in this? You you get maybe a little apathetic, you get a little down on yourself, you get bummed out, and you kind of play a pity party. You throw a pity party for yourself. Hmm, man. I make these plans and it just never works out. If you're ever in that attitude, I'd I'd challenge you and encourage you. Why are you making it about you? Why why are you so bummed out? Sometimes when you make a plan, you you pray to God, you ask God for for certain provisions and it doesn't work. Maybe it's a wait. Maybe it's a no, that's not that's not what is best for you right now. That's not what is gonna grow you the most right now. Um I was I was talking to uh a brother recently and he was just saying, with my plans, with my future job, with my future relationships, I just it's up to God. If he wants it to work out, it's gonna work out. I'm just gonna rest in that. I was greatly encouraged by that. Yeah, is God in your plans? If you hold your plan your plans that you're making with closed fists, that that's a good indicator. If you're if you're if your grasp on your plans in your heart is like this, I would challenge you to to ask God, is this something that that you want from me? Is this something that would be honoring to you? Uh and I would challenge you and encourage you to hold your plans with an open hand. Like, God, if you want it to work, it's gonna work. If not, take it away. Put something else there. God, I want to walk with you through this. I want to please you as I'm seeking to live my life, as I'm seeking to make a profit. Now, now James is not by any means saying it's wrong to have a good business plan. It's wrong to go and have a good strategy to make money, it's wrong to be successful in business. No, that's not what James is saying. James is trying to trying to grab the collar of his listeners and say, please, please submit your plans to God. Please invite him into them. Please. Don't make it about you. Make it about God. Trust him that he will establish the plans that he has for you. If you get frustrated when a plan doesn't work, that's a good, that's like a check engine light. A check engine light for your heart. If you make a plan and it just falls apart, take a moment and just think about how you respond. Think about what's going on in your mind. That's also a good indicator of of your heart's attitude towards the Lord as you make these plans. As you make these plans. We want to honor God in all the things that we say and do. That's that's something that should be a priority for you. And if you're not, I want to challenge you to ask yourself, why? Why am I not thinking about God as I'm I'm thinking about my future? He holds it. He he he formed you in your mother's womb. He knows exactly how many days you will walk this earth. Go to him and ask him. God, I I don't know if this is gonna be best. God, will you just make sure it works out if it is? If not, just completely destroy it. Don't don't don't make this happen if it's if it's gonna be about me. Just scrap it before it gets off the ground, please. Well, we need to have this attitude. Let's write this down for point number one. Commit your plans to God. In your times of thought, your quiet time, and times of prayer, as you as you look to God in scripture, commit your plans to Him. Isaiah 46, 9 through 10, this prophet is drawing our attention to the one, the only one who knows the future. Isaiah says, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none other. I am God, there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done. God declares what happened in the beginning. He spoke everything into existence. God has written the conclusion in Revelation. God is the victor. Every enemy will be under his foot. It's written. He controls that. He knows what has not yet happened, and he controls and dictates what will happen. What is your life? James is asking his readers, what is your life? What is your life? Is it really up to you? Is it really your life? What is your life? Take an assessment. Take a look around. Take a look around. What is your life? For you are a mist. I was gonna bring a spray bottle in here, but I think you, if you uh, if you know, if you've seen a sprinkler, if you've seen fog on a morning, if you've seen Windex hit a hit a window pane, you know that what you see coming out of the spray bottle lasts for a second or two. You know that just like the snow that lands in the Treasure Valley, it sticks for about 24 hours and it's gone. Gone. What is your life? It's such a just a brief blip in the timeline of eternity. For those of you in in geometry, it's your life is a ray. A point on a line. You have a birth and you will just continue on. A line segment physically. Your physical self has a start and a finish. Your spiritual self, your soul, has a start, and it just keeps going and going and going. Your physical self will only last for so long, but your soul will go on for eternity. James is concerned about the souls of the people that he's talking to and where they will be for eternity. In the presence of God, worshiping him, entering into the rest, the glory of God, or weeping and gnashing of teeth. Apart from God. You're either gonna be in God's presence, worshiping him, with him forever. Or you're not James is concerned. He's concerned about his readers. If you're making it all about this life, about your success here and now, the things that you can control, you're not thinking about God or acknowledging him or bringing him into your plans. Your life is a vapor. You could be gone tomorrow. Like the imagery that we've seen so far in James, grass, flowers, wind. Our lives are only, the Bible says, a mere few hand widths in light of eternity. Such a short time. We're just a vapor. Like the grass of the field. Our lives are fleeting. Our lives are so brief. How many of you like the Fourth of July? I love it. I love watching things blow up in the sky, the different colors. I love the smell. I love how the concussion just vibrates your chest cavity. The firework show only lasts for 10 minutes, 15 minutes. If you're at a great show, maybe 20, 30 minutes max, and then it's over. And then it's done. It's full of excitement, no doubt, like a firework show, but it's so brief. It goes by so quickly. James in chapter one, he says, like a flower of the grass, the man he will pass away, for the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass. Its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. We need to be thinking long term. We need to be thinking long game. Where is God in your plans? Where is God in your plans for tomorrow? Where is he for your plans for next week, next month, this summer? Is he there? Is he in your plans? You need to be calling out to the one who determines the number and the length of your days. You need to be submitting to him. You need to call out to the Lord and say, God, I only want to do what you want me to do. And the great thing is that he's going to show you. He's going to show us exactly what he wants us to do. James is talking to his listeners. He says, Instead, instead of saying, I'm going to go here, I'm going to do this, I'm going to go to that town, I'm going to go to Eagle, and I'm going to go to Boise, and then I'm going to go to Starr, and I'm going to come back in a year, and I will stack up my profits. No, James is saying, instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. If the Lord wills, we're going to go and do this. If not, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Open-handed. Write your plans down in pencil. Does that make sense? Write your plans down in pencil. Subject to change. God, if you want to change them, erase it all and we'll start over. Write your plans down in pencil. Prayerfully, dependently on God. God, if you want to, if you want to wipe this plan out, please show me where else I should go. Write your plans in pencil. It's best for us to seek after the one who knows all things. It's best for us to seek after the Lord's will. And where do we find that? Well, we find that in the Word. We find this relationship between the creation and the Creator. We find that Christians are often spoken to as children. Christians are spoken and described as the created servants, followers. There's a certain loyalty that comes to following Christ. We want to be faithfully committed. Christians are often described as the bride of Christ, the vine, sheep, slaves or bondservants, reflections. We need to be so dependent in understanding of what God says about us. We need to know ourselves in light of what God says. We need to know what He tells us we are. And if you're not in Christ, if you're not an heir, if you're not going to be, if you're listening to the sermon this morning, co-reigning, co-heirs with Christ one day, I'd plead with you to ask yourself, where do you really stand with God? Where am I in relationship? Does he know me? Where am I in relationship with God? Do I know his heart for my life? Do I know what what he loves, what he hates? We look in the book. James is really practical. We talked about this at the beginning. The do's and do-nots. If you want to know what God's will is, look, look to the scripture and as you think, well, what should I do? Well, there's a list of what to do. There's a list of commands that we could look to in the New Testament. James is a great practical book for us to do that in. And the Lord's will also looks like what not to do. Avoid these sins, turn from them, run from them, leave them behind. If you're in Christ, you are a new creation. You have a new heart. And the things that you once did, you turn from those things. You turn from wickedness. You turn from pride, from boasting, from wickedness. As you're making your plans, don't think so much about what you can do to make it happen. Think about what God can provide for you and how He does that. Let's write this down for point number two. Depend on God's provision. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. If the Lord wills for you to live another day, you will. Period. You will continue on living as God plans you to. You will continue on taking breaths with heart full of beats each day. You will have all that you need. God will provide for you. Depend on that. Work hard and depend on God's provision. He's the one that sustains your life. He's the one that provides new spiritual life in Christ. And that's, guys, that's the most important thing. You can have all the things in this world that God could provide you as a common grace. He could provide you good parents. He can provide you good health. You could have a fully functioning body. God can provide you a safe, safe place to live with great friends. But if you don't have eternal life, all those things are secondary. All those things are of second importance. We need to be considering where we are, the life that we have, what is your life? Is your life found in Christ? Or is your life found in your plans, your power, your agenda? If you're not looking to God and saying, God, show me where to go, show me what to do, I need your help. If that's not an attitude or a thought that you're that you're continually having, that might be a good indicator for you to think about, well, do I know God? Am I do I have a new heart that wants to follow Him, that wants to please Him? God provides everything that we need through the Spirit, through a new heart to obey Him. If you're struggling with obedience, I would challenge you to consider and ask yourself, do I have a saving faith? Do I have a new heart that even desires to follow after God? That that desires to depend on God? If that's a wrestling that you have, I just encourage you to talk to your small group leader and say, hey, like I really don't care. I want to, but I don't. We need to be asking for the faith to believe, the faith to pursue after God without a new heart that we can't, we can't do that, guys. We just can't. Without a new heart and the spirit inside of us, it's impossible to please God. It's impossible. We need his help in all things. We need his help. That's the bottom line. Stop trying to make it all about what you can do in your strength, in your power. Go to God and He will graciously provide what you need to please Him. As it is, still speaking to these people, he's gonna double down. James is gonna look here and say, if I haven't made my point, this is the knockout blow. He's telling these people that are making these plans, I got this brilliant bulletproof game plan. I can't believe it. This is so cool. I got this. He's saying to these people, as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. If you're saying, look what I can do, look what I did, that's that's a that's a big problem. Flashing lights, sirens. Your phone is going warning, warning, warning. Losing altitude, you're in a tailspin. You're in a tailspin. James is concerned about his readers. Stop boasting. Take your pride and just kill it. End it now. Stop making it about you and what you can do. Stop, stop. This is a real practical chunk of scripture here, and it's really straightforward here. Stop boasting and embrace humility. Humble yourself before God. Look to Christ, look to the cross. You're not that cool. You're not that great. I thought, you're not. Boasting is rooted in arrogance and it's evil because it's self-exalting. You're looking to elevate self. And when you elevate self, you're saying, God, I don't need you. I can do it. Stop boasting in gifts. You ever you ever found something that was given to you? And you're like, man, this is so cool. I can't believe I I can't believe I work for this.

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What? No way! You wouldn't say that. You would never.

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You wouldn't get a gift on Christmas and say, I mean, I can't believe I saved up enough money for this. This is great. I can't wait to play with this. I can't wait to use this. No, gifts are gifts. They're given to you. They're not something that's earned. They're given to you. If it wasn't given to you, it wouldn't be a gift. Stop boasting about the things that are given to you freely. Any kind of ability that you have, any kind of skill that you have, any kind of talent that you have. And God has uniquely given you those abilities to do the things that you do. Thank God for them. Stop thinking that it's you that gets the credit. Give God the credit. Humble yourself and thank the Lord. Thank him. Sometimes we like to think about uh our skills and abilities like the game Hungry, Hungry Hippo. You ever play that? It's really loud. It hurts my ears. All you do is like spam one button, this plastic mechanical arm, and it just like Pac-Man, but like turn up to 12. It it hurts my ears. But the whole point here is like when we when we're boasting in self, we're just getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and it's all about us. It's all about us. What's the motivation behind the honors and the awards that you're seeking to achieve? Is it to make yourself better? Is it to bump yourself up in the ranks to be number one? Is that where you're finding your confidence and your comfort? Is by what you can achieve for yourself. God is in scriptures telling you to work hard with all your might. There's nothing wrong with working hard. There's nothing wrong with sweating. I was talking to a sister the other day, and uh we're just talking about how the how the youngsters just don't know what hard work is anymore. We just don't know. We don't know what what a hard day's work is. And as we think about the the bodies that we have and the abilities and the skill set that we have to even do hard work, sometimes I'm even tempted to be like, man, these these youngsters, man, they don't know. They don't know what it's like. They don't know what it's like to work in the sun all day. They don't know. And I gotta be, I gotta be careful because I'm tempted to to boast in my just physical ability and desire to work hard. That's that's an area that I can that I can struggle with. We want to run the race to win. We want to run the race to win. We want to obtain the prize. Does that sound familiar? We want to obtain the prize, we want to reach after and cross that finish line going full effort, but not for ourselves. Not for ourselves. Well, we want to make high, we want to make known, we want to glorify the name of Jesus Christ. Let's write this down for point number three. Reject pride and humbly chase righteousness. Reject pride. Not today. I'm not gonna boast, I'm not gonna add another accolade to my resume. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna compare myself to other people that that I uh that I beat in the race. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna look to the person who I scored better on the test and be like, hmm, nice try. Maybe next time. The person who uh at the track meet didn't jump as far as you did. They didn't they didn't quite, maybe they tripped and fell. Maybe they their technique wasn't good enough to to jump further than you. Oh yeah. That doesn't honor the Lord. Embrace humility. Reject pride, chase after. There's there's an active sense to this. There's an active sense. Sometimes we like to just think that being passive is is best. No, we we need to be active. We need to go after righteousness. Sometimes knowing the right thing is James shifts gears here. It's like kind of a wild squirrel-brain movement here. Such boasting, all such boasting is evil. And then he goes to say, so whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin. Wait a minute, we were just talking about boasting. Now we're talking about doing the right things or not doing the right things. What's going on here? There, there is a way to not be proud. And actively, what that looks like is doing things and considering other people more important than yourselves, serving other people. Brother or sister next to you, let me fold your laundry. I want to, I want to love on you, I want to serve you. I got my chores done quickly. Let's let's do it together, let's team up. Go after things that please the Lord. Chase after good works, chase after righteousness with humility. Do it humbly. Don't do it to get on mom and dad's good terms so that you can get something back. You know, you just want to be on the good, the good side, the good list, you know. I'm not in trouble like my sister over there. Dessert for me, thank you. Yeah, sometimes we can we can kind of boast in like the good things that we're doing or the track record that we have. Like, well, it looks like I uh didn't get in trouble again this week, and my sister did. One day she'll figure it out. One day, one day she'll learn. No, help them obey, help the people around you pursue righteousness, help them to not be proud. Check them. Hey, it sounds like you're making this all about you. It seems like you want to just look good in front of everybody else. Like, is it is it are you doing okay? Check in with each other, ask each other how they're doing in working to obey and please the Lord. No, we we need to be active. Get going. And and don't don't be passive. Don't sometimes when we we uh just look at other people messing up, sometimes we we miss opportunities to to obey, to to engage with, to chase after the things that God would want us to do. If you're if you're looking left and right and you're and you're seeing opportunities to obey God and you're not doing them, if in your heart you're knowing, like I really should do that, that would please God, and you're like, uh, maybe later, I'll do that later. James is saying, that's it's not a good look. That's sinful. That's sinful. Whoever knows the right thing to do in your heart, if you're knowing, you're knowing what would please the Lord, you you know how to obey God, and you don't do it, it's sinful. Huh. Sometimes we need to keep our eyes open. We need to ask God to help us see the things that we should be doing. We want to be active, we don't want to be numb. We don't want to be just checked out coasting. We want to be actively pursuing, loving, and obeying the Lord, pursuing and chasing after righteousness. It's a target to hit. If we don't have a goal in mind, we don't have a target to hit, where are we going? If you want to get a good grade on your test, you're not just gonna get it by like staring at the wall and just thinking about what happened in class, what you read in the book. No, you're gonna actively work at some problems. You're gonna actively work at constructing some more paragraphs, working on your flow for your essays. You're gonna work on these things. Can you give me a different problem? I need, I need to sharpen my skills here. We need to be sharp. We need to be pursuing after good things. And the more, the more that you do good things, it's like it's like riding a bike. The more that you do it, the better you get. The more that you, the more that you do something well, the more proficient you get at it. And that comes through asking God for help. Ask God for for help to see the things that would please him. God, give me, give me insights, give me perspective, help me to see the things that I should be doing. I don't want to miss. I want to hit the target. I don't want to miss. Sins of omission. We don't want to be like the good Samaritan or the others, rather. We want to be the good Samaritan. We don't want to walk by and be like, huh, poor guy. Someone else will help him. Huh. Sister messed up in the same way again, three days in a row. One day she'll figure it out. No, we want to be active. Do something good to be a benefit to those around you. Please the Lord and encourage someone. Coach someone up. Help them to see why it's important to please the Lord. And as an older sibling, I know it can be hard sometimes. Sometimes there's just an extra weight on you. You have more responsibility, you have more things to do. Yeah. There's a few older siblings or oldest siblings in this room. I get that. I get that. Sometimes it just feels like mom and dad's eyes kind of always on you. You ever feel that way? I can sympathize. I want to encourage you tonight. I want to encourage you. Don't grow weary of doing good. Galatians 6, 9 and 10. And let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have the opportunity, as you're asking God to help you see, as you're looking with your binoculars, you're you're glassing up the hillside, how can I do it? How can I how can I help? How can I do better? God, show me, show me an opportunity. So then as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those in the household of God. The brothers and sisters that you have, if you're a Christian, if you have life in Christ, if you have a new heart, your siblings are, they go beyond your family. They go beyond. They go throughout the church, throughout the globe. If you have been saved by Jesus Christ, if your sins are forgiven, you have siblings all around the world. But but let's start close. Let's start in your own home. Let's start in your neighborhood. Let's start in this church. Let's start, let's start to ask God, show us how I could be a loving brother or a sister to those people around me. Last reference here. I'd like you to write this down. 2 Timothy 2 22. We need each other. We need help. We need God. We need each other to accomplish the work that God has for us. It says, flee youthful lusts or passions and pursue righteousness. Chase after it. Chase after righteousness. Faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. First, you yourself have to have a pure heart to have this prayer stick to you. God, purify my heart. Show me the areas that I'm sinning against you. God, help me not to do that. Help me to turn from them. God, forgive me. Forgive me. I don't want to sin against you. I want to please you. I want to obey you. I want your plan for my life because it's its best and it brings joy. When you're following in the plans that God would have for you, it's not a burden. It's a joy. It's a joy. And how much fun do we get to have when we're doing it with people that we love in this in this church, in this student ministry? There's a lot of joy to be had. There's a lot of a lot of great things that we can do as we're looking to the people in our communities, in our neighborhoods, and thinking, these people don't know Christ. They need to know him. They need to know the Savior. If they don't know him, it's it's not, it's terrible. They need to know. They need to know. So team up with each other, pursue, pursue what is good. Don't grow weary. And do it, do it humbly. Do it for the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you're thinking about plans, if you're thinking about what you want to do with your life, whether it's this summer, next year, once you graduate, make sure that God is in your plans. Don't make plans without him. Don't think that it's all it all depends on you. Have faith that God knows what's best for you and just ask him to show you. Ask him in the word. God, show me what ways I should go. Show me the straight and narrow path. God, help me to make plans that please you. I don't want to be proud. I want to do this with humility. I want to take part in chasing after you and knowing you. That's what's best for us. Please play with me. God, we are we're just people. We're just human beings. We're the we are the created and you are the creator. We had we admit that we fall short. We fall short of your standard. We sin, God, but you you're glorious, you're gracious, you're you're you're merciful, God, and you offer forgiveness. You offer to wash our sin-stained lives, and you offer to give us a new heart. God, we're naturally proud. We're naturally wanting to do things in our own strength. Um, God, help us to see our need for you. God, help these students to see their need for a new heart for a savior, for an advocate, for a help, a helper in the in the Spirit of God. Help them to see their need for you to give them the faith to believe all this. God, be glorified in their lives. God, will you just show them? Will you show them how good you are? Show them the the joys of obedience, of following you and depending on you and not doing it in their own strength. Uh, God, be be glorified in the discussion times tonight, Lord Jesus. We trust your spirit and your word to work in a powerful way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.