Fraud, Waste and Abuse, James 5:1-6

 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! ² Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

The minister, which all Christians are, should speak to both sinners and saints. Not only in an echo chamber to like-minded believers.

James speaks to beloved brothers... and others; adulterers and adulteresses, sinners, double minded. (James 4:4,8).

Jesus said we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15.

So, here James speaks to the filthy rich, emphasis on filthy. Those wealthy by ill-gotten gain.

 James had undoubtedly heard Jesus’ words to the wicked wealthy:

Matthew 23:15-24
 ¹⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁷ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸ And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁹ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 

They weren’t exactly His favorite people.

He went on to call them.

Whitewashed sepulchers full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

Rather than viewing the provision of God to further the work of God, they saw it as a means of gain, to consume upon their lusts.

Jesus condemns them without so much as a call to repentance.

James does the same. Notice he says, weep and howl, not weep and repent. Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you, where there will be weeping and howling and gnashing of teeth.

Their relationship toward God was revealed by their relationship to money.

Where I put my money, paints a picture of my heart.

Good or bad.

It justifies or condemns.

It condemned the filthy rich, the greedy scribes and pharisees, but it justified the woman who put in her two cents worth.

Mark 12:41-44
Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. ⁴² Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.

⁴³ Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. ⁴⁴ For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

Then, she walks outside, bumps into the rich young ruler, it’s love at first sight, they get married and live happily ever after 😉.

The rich young ruler is the one that asked Jesus what good thing he must do to have eternal life.

Jesus told him to obey the commandments.

He said, “I’ve done that since my youth.”

Jesus looked at him, loved him, told him to sell what he had, give to the poor, and follow Him.

The man went away sad because he had great riches.

Then, Jesus told His disciples, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Matthew 19:16-24, Mark 10:17-27

My money trail, paints a picture of my heart.

What does it look like?

Does it show that I love God?

Or...? Fill in the blank.

I love... Food? Clothes? Family? Fun? Travel? Reading? Hobbies? Gardening? Golf? Fishing? Smoking? Drinking? Drugs? ...? Puzzles?

What if entrance through the Pearly Gates required an audit of my discretionary spending to verify my relationship with Jesus.

Would I pass the audit?

Doug, hold on! Get real. You can’t see a heart by looking at a checkbook.

Oh really?

Let’s ask Jesus.

Where your treasure is there your heart will be also. Matt. 6:21.

Well, that settles it.

My relationship toward God is revealed by my relationship to money.

Where I put my money, paints a picture of my heart.

The numbers don’t lie.

Just in case you’re wondering. No, we can’t have both. We can’t love the world and the Lord.

There’s no two-timing God.

Jesus says it like this:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matt. 6:24.

Now, just to be clear. It’s a heart issue, not a money issue.

Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil. 1 Tim. 6:10.

The love of money is why we have overwhelming debt nationally and individually.

The love of money is why we have fraud, waste and abuse, in our nation.

If we could eliminate the love of money we’d fix the dept crisis.

Fraud waste and abuse was also in our text (James 5:4-6), did you see it?  

⁴ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

The Lord of Sabaoth, is not the Lord of Sabbath, but literally the Lord of Hosts. God is Commander in Chief of Heavens Armies.

He hears the cry of those frauded by the filthy rich, lawless, brood of vipers.

Today every tax paying American citizen is being:

Frauded out of free and fair elections.

Frauded out of multiplied billions upon billions of dollars.

Our children are being frauded out of the Truth of a Godly education including:

·       America’s Godly Foundation built on Biblical Judea Christian Principles

·       Biblical Truths regarding marriage, gender, life, liberty.

Fraud is deception.

Deception is of the devil, the father of lies. John 8:44.

The Lord of Hosts knows it and hears our cry.

 ⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

We’ll follow James and Jesus’ example and speak directly to the fraudsters, wasters, abusers.

You know who you are.

You had opportunity to do good, to make a difference, instead you wasted it, on the passing pleasures of sin for a season.

The corrupt treasures you’ve heaped will rise in witness against you.

Your wasted position and wasted life will haunt your wasted soul with the pain of fire eating your flesh, forever.

Such a waste.

 ⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

To cover your own corruption, you abuse, you condemn, you murder, you assassinate, the innocent, and he does not resist you.

But make no mistake, don’t think you got away with your fraud, waste and abuse, your stealing, killing, destroying.

Don’t think he does not resist you out of weakness.

Tremble knowing it’s because you’ve been handed over to the Lord of Sabaoth.

Your filthy riches, your putrid power, will not help you when you stand before the Judge of the wicked and the dead.

Jesus puts it like this:

Revelation 3:14-22

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: ¹⁵ “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶ So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷ Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 

This is where my flesh thinks the story should end with the filthy rich being vomited into hell.

But the depth of God’s love is beyond understanding, and He’s not done.

¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. ¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. ²¹ To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

²² “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” 

Lord Jesus, thank You for telling us this life is but a vapor, this world is passing away. Thank You for giving all things that pertain to Life and Godliness. Please help keep our priorities straight, with Eternity in view, pressing ever onward closer to You. So that of all those You’ve given us, none are lost.

Thank You.

We love You, forever.

Amen.

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The Outcast Vine, Ezekiel 15

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² “Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?

 ³ Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on?

⁴ Instead, it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work?

⁵ Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

⁶ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ⁷ and I will set My face against them. They will go out from one fire, but another fire shall devour them.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them.

⁸ Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord God.”

In all sorts of ways from about 592 – 586 BC, the Lord warned through Ezekiel: Repent! Judgement is coming, is coming!

Jeremiah and Daniel were warning as well.

Over a century before Isaiah was sounding the same alarm.

God does nothing without first revealing His plans to His prophets. Amos 3:7.

For six years Ezekiel warned.

For six years they rejected.

They thought they were chosen, above correction.

So, once again, the Lord stopped by, to talk to Ezekiel.

This time there are no visions to see, or drama to act, or commands to complete.

Just a simple conversation between Ezekiel and his Lord.

You know what it’s like. That simple yet profound, priceless, powerful, personal, private time, each of us intentionally, purposefully, sets aside, every day, to invest with the Lord.

Like Jesus told us in Matthew 6:6: when we pray (not if), get alone, in secret, and pray to God who sees in secret, and He will reward you openly.

Even if we don’t know what to say, we just do like Dottie Rambo:

I didn't come here to ask You for anything
I just came to talk with you Lord
You've answered a million prayers or more
That I forgot to thank You for
I just came to talk with You Lord

Maybe tomorrow there'll be trouble and sorrow

And a thousand teardrops may fall
But until I face tomorrows task
I have no special favor to ask
I just came to talk with you Lord.

Okay, so, here we are, listening in on a 2,600 year old conversation that’s just as timely and relevant as the day it was spoken.

In a nutshell, the Lord just compared Jerusalem to a fruitless grapevine destined for fire. 

Israel in Scripture is referred to as a grapevine.

Psalm 80:8. You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. (God brought Israel out of Egypt and planted them in the Promise Land).

Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?

Have you ever met anyone with great potential, going to waste?

Countless people packed full of potential, sit in prisons, back alleys, on barstools, recliners, couches, even Church pews, killing time, wasting away, breathing in, breathing out, waiting to die.

Potential unused becomes impotent.

Worse, it becomes sin.

To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17.

Be doers of the Word not hearers only. James 1:22.

Faith without works is dead. James 2:14-26.

We were created by God, in the image of God, with a mandate from God.

Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, have dominion and subdue it. Genesis 1:28.

God created us with Divine Eternal Purpose and Potential and Calling.

He demands faithfulness that leads to fruitfulness.

Israel the nation, born of God, packed plumb full of potential to be the nation to bless all nations.

Israel’s potential came not from their own power or prowess, but from God’s promise.

God saw before time began, a man who would willingly, faithfully, obediently, offer his son, believing the Lord would raise him back to life.

God called that man, Abraham, and made an everlasting, unbreakable covenant promise with him, because of his faith, his Seed would bless all nations of the earth.

And so, along came Isaac, then Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel.  

And Israel, became the nation chosen by God to give birth to the Savior of the world.

In Israel is JerUSAlem, the city destined by God for greatness.

The shining city on a hill.

Where the glory of God dwelt in the temple.

Where king David, a man after God’s own heart, penned beautiful Psalms we read to this day.

Where Solomon ruled with wisdom from above.

The place where the King of kings will return to rule and reign for 1,000 years.

They were blessed by God from sea to shining sea...

As long as they remained faithful to their Founding Father, the Almighty Creator.

But like many, their blessing, became their idol.

They worshipped their leisure, their pleasure, their gold and silver.

They bowed to what they’d been given rather than the Giver.

To whom you yield yourself servant to obey, his servant you are. Rom. 6:16.

Thus, they became barren, fruitless, a worthless vine destined for destruction and fire.

The value of the vine is in its fruitfulness.

Jesus cursed the fig tree that looked fruitful but had none, immediately the tree withered. Matthew 21:19.

As the Lord was speaking about the vine being cast into the fire Ezekiel might’ve remembered these words from Isaiah:

Isaiah 5:4-7. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? ⁵ And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:
I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. ⁶ I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

There it is.

That sums it up.

That’s the verdict.

I’ve done all I could, but you refuse to bear good fruit, so I will cast you into the fire.

Now if we stopped the story right here with Israel as the vine, and failing miserably, all we’d have is a great big hopeless ash heap.

But God made a promise.

God is a promise keeper.

So, He did what He’s always done throughout HIStory. He found a Way to weave His scarlet thread of redemption through the wicked ways of man and...

Jesus became the Vine.

 Even though chapters and verses were not necessarily Divinely inspired, perhaps Ezekiel 15:1-8 and John 15:1-8, had a bit of Divine orchestration. The same chapters and verses both talking about the vine. Ezekiel exposes the problem; John reveals the Answer.

John 15:1-8

The True Vine

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

 

Israel, JerUSAlem, you and I, as the vine, have a destiny of fire.

But God made a promise.

Seven times He repeats, if you “abide” in Me, the True Vine, you will bear much fruit, and thus, rather than being thrown into the fire, we will be gathered to His Home.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank You for showing us the hard parts, like Ezekiel 15, and giving us the Good parts, like John 15:1-8. Help us to abide in You. We invite You to abide in us. We ask You to prune us, whatever it takes, so we glorify You by bearing much fruit. So, of all those You’ve given us, none are lost.

Thank You.

We love You, forever.

Amen.

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If the Lord Wills, James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷ Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

OUTLINE:

Ø 13 PLANS

Ø 14 PERSPECTIVE

Ø 15 PRIORITY

Ø 16 PRIDE

Ø 17 PROCRASTINATION

 

13 PLANS

Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit

They say if you want to hear God laugh, just tell Him your plans. Like when AOC said, “I plan to run for president.”

Psalm 2:4, 37:12-13, 59:8, God laughs at the schemes of man against Him.

Other times rather than laugh, He rebukes man’s plans, like in our text today, and the parable Jesus tells in Luke 12:16-20:

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years (golden nest egg, IRA, 401K, retirement); take your ease (move to Florida); eat, drink, and be merry (Play cornhole, golf, lounge by the pool).” ’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

Does that remind you of someone?

Isaiah 14:13-15

For you have said in your heart:

‘I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

I will also sit on the mount of the congregation

On the farthest sides of the north;

¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

I will be like the Most High.’

¹⁵ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,

To the lowest depths of the Pit.

 

So, does that mean we shouldn’t make plans?

Jesus says in, Matthew 6:26:
 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Should we just go with the flow, que sera sera, don’t think about tomorrow, whatever will be will be?

Well, if we only look at cherry-picked verses, it might seem that way. That’s why we must consider the whole context of the Word of God and always consider the context of each text.

The parable of the rich fool in Luke was in response the greed of a man who just told Jesus:

“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Luke 12:13-14.

Then, He told the parable of the rich fool.

In Matthew 6 Jesus was teaching about trusting God and not worrying when He mentioned the birds of the air. The verses before and after read:

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

²⁶ Look at the birds of the air...your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-27, 34.

We’re not supposed to worry about tomorrow.

We’re not supposed to put our faith in tomorrow.

But we are supposed put faith in God as we plan for tomorrow.

Plans: Hebrew: machashabah: cunning work, curious work, imagination, invented, means, purpose, thought.

Proverbs 12:5
The thoughts (machashabah) of the righteous are just, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful

Proverbs 16:3
Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts (machashabah) will be established.

Proverbs 21:5
The plans (machashabah) of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

We should plan (machashabah) for our family, education career, retirement, especially, most importantly, our eternity.

Matthew 6:19-21,33
 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also...

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

God planned (machashabah)for you from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 25:34
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

... (41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels) 

From the foundation of the world?

Whoa. Wow.

That puts it into...

14 PERSPECTIVE

¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Psalm 144:4. Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

1 Peter 1:24. For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

Our life is but a flash in a pan, but God made a Way for that flash. From Eternity past, before the world began, you were a glimmer in God’s eye.

In America, about 8,500 people that were alive yesterday, are not today. About 1 person dies every 10 seconds; that’s around 360 an hour.

Just last week, three kids that we sent Bibles to this past Christmas, could’ve been part of those statistics. They were riding with three other friends, when they felt the urge to get out of the car. They did. Shortly after, the car smashed head on into a tree.

Life is a vapor.

By this time tomorrow, I may be in Eternity.

Before your next breath, you may be.

That should not scare us.

Christians are Eternal beings with a Heavenly Home;

strangers, pilgrims, of whom this world is not worthy.

Whether we live a hundred years, or a hundred days...

Life is a vapor.

A precious, priceless, vapor, that Christ died to save, but a fragile, vapor, nonetheless.

What’s worth losing sleep over?

Not the petty whims and wishes in our plans of vapor.

But fulfilling our Divine Eternal Purpose and Calling, that’s worth losing sleep, that’s worth fighting for, dying for, even more, that’s worth, living for.

What’s that look like?

The lost souls God has given us to reach.

Leave the 99 to search high and low for that one lost sheep.

Turn the house inside out to find the one lost coin.

It’s not God will for any to perish. 2 Peter 3:9

God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Ez. 33:11. Because He knows that once we breathe our last, then comes judgement.

No second chances.

No getting prayed out of purgatory.

Because this life is but a vapor, we must make the most of every opportunity.

NO not for pleasure and good times, but to make an Eternal difference in all those God has given us.

Who has God given you?

Those you can influence.

What have you done to draw them to Him?

What’s your PLAN to do so? TODAY. It can’t wait.

Life is a vapor.

I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to scare them away.

God knows.

Trust Him.

Preprayer (their heart and yours).

Then open your mouth and let God fill it.

He will not let you down.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Serving the Lord is delight, not drudgery.

Delight in Him and He will put the desires in you that He wants you to have. That’s when life gets gloriously, joyfully, awesome, because, then you do what you desire and delight to do, with God’s blessing.

When we have this delightful Devine Eternal Calling to pursue, why do we take our plans so seriously?

Why lose sleep, peace, sanity, over a vapor that vanishes, in a breath.

What if our plans fail? So? Will it make an Eternal difference?

If not, don’t stress.

If so, then we probably have the right perspective. So, stay the course, finish well, don’t get entangled with earthly distractions that pull us from our Heavenly priority.

15 PRIORITY

Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

Once we get our Eternal Perspective correct, the proper Priority should be easy.

If the Lord wills, is simply putting Him first.

Including Him first in our plans, is the surest, way to victorious Christian living.

His plans succeed. 

Our plans fail.

It may not be easy, but it’s always best.

Jesus gave us the best example, in the garden.

“Father, not My will, but Thine be done.” Luke 22:42.

“If the Lord wills...” is not just words tack on a phrase, like we tack, “In Jesus name” on the end of a prayer.

It’s an attitude of the heart.

God first. Period. In everything. No matter what.

The more we mature in Christ, the more dependent upon Him we become.

You don’t want to drive a block without praying for His Protection.

I can never give a message without telling the Lord, I can’t do this without You.

Notice, the plan is still there. If the Lord wills we shall do this or that... today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.

God doesn’t take your life, your plans, your dreams, your desires, He fills them above and beyond all you could ever ask or think.

The devil steals, kills, destroys, Jesus gives abundant Life. John 10:10.

There’s no greater fulfillment, than yielding your will, to His.

James 4:6-7
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Which is great to know because our next point is the devil’s favorite weapon of mass destruction.

16 PRIDE

¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

That word for “arrogance” is only found twice.

The other time is...

1 John 2:15-17
 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Life is but a vapor, we are passing away, the world is passing away, but the will of God abides forever,  thus we must not delay, wait, or procrastinate...

17 PROCRASTINATION

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

We’ve heard this before, just with different words:

Be doers of the Word, not hearers only (James 1:22).

Faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26).

I know it’d be good if I read my Bible, prayed, went to Church, stopped that bad habit...

I will. Later. Tomorrow.

Life is a vapor.

To delay in doing good, to procrastinate, is to miss the mark.

To miss the mark, is sin.

Delayed obedience, is disobedience.

Ephesians 5:15-17
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
¹⁷ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank You for this moment to submit to You our plans, perspectives and priorities, humbly, without delay. Now Lord, please don’t let us confuse submission with slothful. Convict us to get up and be doers of the Good we know to do, that when this vapor has vanished, You’ll find us faithful, soul winners and disciple makers to all those You’ve given us.

Thank You.

We love You, forever.

Amen.

 

 

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