Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM- Care For A Slice Of Humble Pie - James 4:1-17 - Pastor Jarrod Doyal

Well, good morning. Hey, look at you guys. I love it. Good morning. Glad you guys are here. I want to welcome you and invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started. Father, we come before you today, Lord, and we just thank you for allowing us to be here. We just thank you for your word. Thank you for the opportunity to spend some time in worship this morning. And if we just ask your blessing upon this time, would help

us to sit everything that's going on in our lives aside and to focus on you and to lavish praise upon you this morning, Lord. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Just a quick word of caution. I'm a little froggy this morning, so you'll have to forgive me. It ain't going to be quite like it usually is. Who breaks the power of sin and darkness? Whose love is mighty and so much

stronger? The King of glory, the King above all kings. Who sheds the whole earth with holy thunder and leaves us breathless in awe and wonder? The King of glory, the King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is a family who would take my place. That I would be. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Brings our chaos back into order. A son and daughter, the King of glory, the King of glory. With truth and justice, shines like

the sun in all of its brilliance. The King of glory, the King above all kings. This is amazing grace.

This is a family love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. I sing for all that you've done for me. Who conquered the grave? Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. He is the King who conquered. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Who conquered the grave? Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy is the King who conquered. What has God been going for? His kingdom has begun for us. We still have to give the

last speck of cardinal. to accepted power and heresy. We all know that God has robed us. The name, the City over us. We'd come behind you for God be with us. Amen. Amen. I count but and should both stay in the dead Christ my God.

I chose to sacrifice them to his blood. Oh, bids me come and die and find that I may truly live. Oh, by grace you're near to bless your name.

Saw where such love once composed so rich a dough.

And find me true by grace you're near. And bless your name. Sing that again. Hold and find me truly the fat free. Far too small.

So ends my soul, my life, my all.

Oh, bids me come and die. And find that I may truly live. Oh, by grace you're near. Oh, bids me come and die. And find me truly the fat free. Oh, by grace you're near. Oh, Lord God, we just thank you for that wonderful cross. And Lord God, help us to take up our cross daily, Lord. And to follow you, to lay down our life, Lord, to find it in you, Lord God. Amen.

Jesus, Lord of heaven, I do not deserve the grace that you have given. The promise of your word. But I sit and wonder at the sacrifice you make. Mercy beyond measure. My debt you freely pay. And the heavens reach it beyond the stars. And the stars in the sky. Jesus, your love has no bounds. Jesus, your love has no bounds. Jesus, your love has no bounds. Jesus, your love has no bounds.

Jesus, Lord of heaven, I deserve the grace that you have given. And Lord God, we just thank you for that wonderful cross. And to follow you, to pray for you. And to help make love our kind, our divine. My bane.

Jesus, you're near. As someone standing on the road displayed by their hat, You've made me dead to you. You've made love a living sacrifice. You've made mercy beyond measure. has no bounds jesus your love has no higher each in the stars in the sky ocean then in the sky

jesus your love has no jesus your love has no bounds jesus your love has no bounds jesus your love has no truly your love is deeper than any ocean and higher than any mountain lord god lord your love truly has no bounds lord god lord you saw the ugliest parts of us you saw the ugliest parts of me lord and you still chose to go to the cross for me lord god what an awesome love what a deep and mighty love that is lord god and we just thank you for how much you are for how much you love us lord we thank you for for how good of a father you are to us lord god just go and stand with me for the last one reason what you think you're like but i heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night and you tell me that you're pleased and that i never

you're a good good father it's who you are it's who you are it's who you are and i'm loved by you it's who i am it's who i am it's who i am far because you know just what's saved by you it's who i am it's who i am it's who i am we thank you for how good you are to us and father we thank you for how good you are to us we thank you for how good you are to us you for how faithful you are to us. Lord, even when we're not, even when we fall short, Lord God, you are still faithful, and you are still good. Lord, we just thank you for allowing us to be here this morning, and now as we open your word, I just pray that your Holy Spirit would move mightily this morning. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive your word this morning.

We love you, Lord, and we praise you, and we thank you. All God's people said, amen. Let's take some time and greet one another. Well, good morning. Sure glad you're here. Thanks for joining us this morning. I want to welcome you guys. Welcome to everybody watching online. As I mentioned before we started worship, I'm a little froggy this morning, so you'll have to

bear with me, but we'll get through it. The Lord will get us through. If you have your bulletins, open those up real quick, and just a couple of quick things here. There are no midweek services this week. It's New Year's Eve, so just go home, be with your families, enjoy your time there, and we'll catch you next week, okay? If you're new here or, you know, if you're looking

for a place to get plugged in, there's a whole list of Bible studies on the left-hand side of your bulletin there. I really encourage you to find a place to get plugged in, and if you have any questions, you can feel free to come talk to me or to come talk to Pastor Ryan or any of the other leaders. We'd be happy to help you find a place to get plugged in there. I think that is about it. Oh, a directory pickup. They're available. I think Lauren came in and

printed a bunch more off, and so if you want a church directory, they're out there for you. They're available. They're free, so feel free to pick one up on your way out. Other than that, I believe that is all that we have this morning, all the announcements that I have.

So, yep, Pastor Allen, if you want to go ahead and come on up. For our response to this reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 28. Psalm 28. While you're looking for Psalm 28, if you want to stand with us,

Psalm 28. I'll read the odd verses, and if you'll follow along with Pastor Allen in the even verses. Psalm 28, a psalm of David. To you, O Lord, I call my rock. Do not be deaf to me, for if you are silent to me, I will be like those who go down to the pit. My supplications, when I cry to you for help, when I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary. Do not drag me away with the wicked, and with those who work iniquity,

who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. Requite them according to their work, and according to their evil deeds and practices. Requite them according to their deeds, their hands. Repay them their recompense. Because they do not regard. The works of the Lord, nor the deeds of his hands, he will tear them down and not build them up.

Blessed be the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Therefore, my heart exults, and with my song, I shall thank him. The Lord is their strength, and he is saving defense to his anointed. Save your people and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also. And carry them forever.

Father, we just thank you again for your word. For it is sharp and powerful. Thank you that you are our strength and our shield. Lord, help us to trust in you. Help us to trust in you more and more every day. Lord God, no matter what's going on in our lives. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. And in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

If you have your Bibles with you, go ahead and open them up to James chapter 4. James chapter 4.

I titled the message this morning. I was a little snarky with it, but I titled it, Care First Lies to Humble Pie. You know, I've mentioned this before, but I really like the book of James because it just has a tendency to absolutely wreck my life. It can bring conviction, but it also brings a lot of encouragement too, but a lot of conviction as well. And I think that's what James is going to do.

He's going to do to us here this morning a little bit. So just buckle up, get ready. Here we go. When we last left off in James, we primarily talked about the evidence that comes from faith in Jesus. You know, Paul rightly says that it's by grace that we are saved. And he says that in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. And it's not faith and works. It's not faith and, you know, so many confessions, so many Hail Marys,

anything like that. It's not faith in so many hours of service work that you are saved. It's by faith alone. But I can't tell how many times people have asked me, Jared, how do I know that I'm saved? How do I know that I'm saved? Well, that's where the works come in. Works are the evidence of a changed heart. There's going to be some evidence that Christ has changed,

that he is working in your life. Too many. Too many times. I think people think that salvation is just a simple prayer of asking Jesus into their hearts. And then they can go back to live in the way they were, you know, doing absolutely nothing for the Lord. When it's in fact the opposite. And Paul is so much against this train of thought that in his letter to the church in Rome, he says,

now that we are no longer under the law, but under grace, shall we keep on sinning? By no means, by no means. And if we're going to claim to be followers of Jesus, there needs to be some evidence. Okay. Where's your fruit? And James then closes out chapter three by talking about earthly wisdom versus godly wisdom. Earthly wisdom is envious and it's full of selfish ambition.

That's verse 16 in chapter three. And James goes on to say that when earthly wisdom is present, typically there's also disorder and strife. Which is where we're going to pick up today in chapter four, verse one. And it says this, what is the source of wars and fights among you? Don't they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have.

You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures. And these, uh, in these first three verses, James is kind of a, is addressing something here that I think is really all too common in our culture. And even in the church today.

And that's, that's greed and prideful envy, greed and prideful envy. My goodness. It's, isn't that what drives our entire economy? Greed and prideful envy. I mean, we just got through Christmas, but every day since probably a day or two before Halloween, what's all the commercial has been about black Friday, right? Hit these black Friday sales, you know, um,

it's all, it's all about stuff to make us look and feel good. Every other commercial is a car commercial telling you this holiday holiday season, get into a brand new F one 50, you know, or, uh, get into a brand new car. And it's all playing into this pride, this, uh, this carnal prideful envy that we all deal with sometimes. You know, growing up, I don't know if you guys ever used to do this, but growing up, I used to watch the news on black Friday just to see who got into fights at Walmart.

You know, it never failed every year. There was always somebody that got in a fight at Walmart over the last 60 inch TV. That's, it never fails. And it's just, it's really, it's really almost comical. Um, but, uh, you know, for me though, one, just being transparent here, you know, I, I really like you. I really like to look at, um, like houses. I like to look at people's houses on like Zillow or some,

some site like that, you know? And, you know, I would get on there like day after day after day to just to see whose house was up for sale and what it looked like inside. you know, and then I'd sit there and think, but Lord, if you could just bless me with this house, this nice house, I could get out of this old, this old shanty that I'm living in, you know, and, and I'd be perfectly happy. I'd be perfectly happy.

I'd be perfectly, I'd be perfectly happy. Did you catch, did you catch that last part there? I'd be perfectly happy. Where's the focus? Where's my focus? It's not on, it's not on God. It's not on others. It's squarely on me. The focus is on me and what I want and what, what, what would make me happy. It's that prideful and selfish envy that is at the root of everything there.

You know, and I'd ask the Lord like, Lord, would you, would you give me an upgrade here? You know, I'd love to have a bigger house. Love to have, you know, 3000 square feet, five bedrooms, three, three and a half baths, you know, you know, give me a, put me on a little, on a little ranch or something like that. It'd be awesome, you know, but I would ask, I would ask for those things, but I would ask for the wrong motives.

You know, it was all, it was all for my kingdom and my glory and my happiness, not for his, you know, so, and so many, so many fights and divisions within our culture and even within the church are all rooted in this, in this, this greed and this prideful envy here, this selfish desire to further our kingdom and to further our glory rather than God's. Okay. And what it really is, it, it, when you boil it all down to what it boils all down to is it's the flesh. It's the flesh that's at war with the Holy Spirit within us.

All right. Notice verse four here. James says, you adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God. So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. Or do you think it's without reason that the scripture says the spirit, he made to dwell in us envies intensely, but he gives greater grace. Therefore he says,

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. James kind of really nails us to the wall here. You know, he calls us an adulterous people. Now, those are some pretty harsh words, you know, in my opinion, you know, I don't, I don't know that I've ever committed adultery, or at least, you know, not the actual act of it, but I mean, we've all, we've all fallen short.

But if you think about us, if you think about it, really, though, many of us have made, let's, I'm just using this as an example. Many of us have made the American dream, our God, rather than God himself. Many of us have made the American put the American dream in a place in our lives, and only God is meant to be. Okay, we, as believers, are the bride of Christ.

And if we love anything or anyone more than Jesus, then that's considered adultery. It's considered spiritual adultery. You know, you think about this. If you read through the Old Testament, Israel constantly chased other gods. They constantly chase other gods. They chased anything but God. They committed spiritual adultery constantly. And it really truly doesn't seem all that different today.

Our gods just look a little bit different. You know, we're obsessed with building our own kingdom. We're obsessed again with the American dream of having that perfect house, having brand new cars in the driveway, two and a half kids and a tan beauty on our arm, you know, and we'll work in an insane amount of hours, you know, and take on insane amounts of debt just in order to be able to live that kind of life, in order to be able to live that good life. In order to build our kingdom and all all that we can think about is how we can accumulate more more money, more cars, more houses, more land, more this, more, more that, you know, you name it.

It's built into every single one of us. We want more of the world. But what is James? But look what James says here in in verse four. Don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? No wonder he calls us an adulterous people again. If you read through the Old Testament, you'll see you'll see Israel was constantly seeking to be more like the world.

You know, they wanted a king just like the rest of the world. So the Lord gave him one. Remember how that turned out? You know, with King Saul didn't turn out very well for them. They wanted to worship just like the rest of the world. So they did. They would practice child sacrifice. And other grotesque idol worship practices. They exchanged the one true God for a false God.

And honestly, it's really again, it's not that different today. We still we even still practice child sacrifice. Believe it or not. We just dressed it up a little different and call it. We call it choice. We still worship faith. We still worship false idols today. They just look a little different. They look like sports look like money. They look like status.

They look like possessions. They look like convenience. You know, I think James is absolutely right. He's spot on here and calling us an adulterous people because many times, myself included have put anything in anyone and not special place in our heart where God is only meant to be.

We want everything out of a selfish desire to build our own kingdom and for our own pleasures. Therefore, we're in this constant war with our flesh. Notice verse five is his. Do you think that it's without reason that the scripture says the spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely understand that when we become believers and followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is placed inside of us and dwells within us.

The problem that we see the problem that we see is that the Holy Spirit is constantly at war with our flesh. The flesh seeks its own pleasures and it seeks to build our own kingdom while the Holy Spirit seeks seeks his glory and hit it to build his kingdom. Paul in Romans seven, he puts it perfectly when he says, I do what I do not want to do and what I what I want to do. I do not do everything within us that seeks our own selfish, prideful, envious desires.

The flesh cannot be at peace with the spirit. Within us because because the spirit is doing nothing but seeking to glorify God and build his kingdom within our lives and on on on the earth. So the question becomes the question becomes how do we overcome the flesh? How do we overcome these selfish and these selfish desires, these envious, these prideful desires of ours?

And it's it's by God's grace. It's purely by God's grace, which is greater. It's by his unmerited favor. Notice verse six here. He says, but he gives greater grace. Therefore, he said, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. That word resists there in the Greek is is entitaso, which means to take up a battle position.

He's taken up a battle position against those who are prideful. Those and those are really two contrasting. These statements here. David Guzik's commentary puts it like this. Grace and pride are eternal enemies. Grace and pride are eternal enemies. And if we come before God demanding things of him like he's Santa Claus, you know, guess what? God's gonna he's gonna force feed you that slice of humble pie.

Okay, he's gonna force feed you that slice of humble pie. You know, I've been I've been around some awful prideful people. They act like they're the best thing. Since sliced bread, you know, they act like their mere existence here on this earth makes my life better. You know, and I've seen some awful things happen in the name of pride. We have an entire month dedicated to it.

We have entire leagues of pro athletes. We have entire leagues of pro athletes whose pride makes them think that just because they can dribble a ball or throw a football that they're that they're invincible. That you know that they're that they're just the best thing ever.

Quick story. I actually went to I went to high school with a guy who was very very good at football. And as he was so so well, he did so well at it. He got a full ride to Oklahoma State. He did very well there. Did so well. In fact that he was actually drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars. And he played played for about two years for Jacksonville as a wide receiver and going in.

He was one of the top receivers in the NFL. He was amazing. You know, however, his pride became a really really big problem in his life in his mind. He thought because he could catch a football and run faster than the guy chasing him, you know, and the and the fact that he made stupid money. You know, he could do whatever he wanted. He thought he could have whoever he wanted and party constantly.

And then all of a sudden, then all of a sudden the drugs and alcohol and all the party and it finally caught up to him.

He stopped performing as well. And eventually the Jags just cut him. He hasn't played it down a football since and probably 10 years. And the root of it all was his was his simple pride. His pride told him that he was the best not God his pride told him he could have anything. He wanted and do anything he wanted. His pride told him that nothing. Nothing was off-limits.

Strangely enough. I knew this guy to be a believer in high school, you know, and therefore because he he was a believer. God eventually had to deal with his pride. He wouldn't humble himself. But so God finally did God had to force feed this guy a slice of humble pie. Everything he knew went away football. Well fame. All of that went away and God took up a battle position against him because of his pride.

However, notice what it says though about those who humble themselves. Those who humble themselves before God God gives grace. To the humble. He gives grace to the humble. He gives his unmerited favor. Now, please don't understand that that if you are humbling yourself that you are earning grace. You can't do that. The that goes against the. Very definition definition of grace,

which is unmerited favor unearned favor. You cannot do anything to earn God's grace. But by humbling yourself. You put yourself in a position to receive that grace understand. You put yourself in a position to receive that grace. It's like if you're praying for rain. Wouldn't you go? Wouldn't you normally go out and prepare the ground for that rain for? When it eventually does come you put you put yourself in a position to receive that rain.

We humble ourselves. Excuse me. It's that way when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we humble ourselves before God and we realize that we are we are great sinners. And that Christ is a great Savior. And that apart from Christ, we are nothing and deserve nothing. We realize our great need of Christ in our lives and we put ourselves when we do when we come to this realization.

We put ourselves in a position to receive that grace. Paul said it well when he said we are no longer under the law, but under grace. When you come to Jesus, you're no longer under the law, but under under grace, you put yourself in a position to receive his grace. You know, I've been I've been around some of y'all long enough to know that pride is a problem.

And just know that. God won't put up with your pride for long. And may I suggest it might be time to to humble yourself up a little bit. Humble yourself up or God will do it for you. So moving on here, verse 7 says, therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands sinners and purify your hearts.

You double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. So if you're here this morning and you consider yourself a particularly prideful person, the question becomes what is the cure for my pride? How do I how do I fix this this problem in my life?

If you look at verse 7 here, says therefore, submit to God and resist the devil. He will flee from you. James tells us the answer right there in verse 7 submit to God and resist the devil. Submit to God. The question becomes are you so prideful that you can't that you that you can't submit? Or can you? How prideful are you? Are you so prideful and worried about your own image and what others will think of you that you cannot that you cannot surrender your life that you cannot surrender your life?

that you cannot surrender your pride to God because that is the cure for pride. It's surrender. The cure for pride is surrender. The question becomes, will you finally set your pride aside and come before God and humbly say, God, I can't do it. I know that I'll never be good enough.

I know that no amount of possessions will ever make me happy. And I know that apart from you, I am not good enough. No amount of talent or good deeds will ever be good enough to satisfy your righteous standards. I need you. I need you, Jesus, to come into my life. And I surrender to you.

Step one in the cure for pride is surrender. Surrender your pride. Submit your life to God. Step two, resist the devil. Resist the devil. When we come to faith in Jesus, if you think about this, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we're coming to this realization that we are not only in desperate need of a savior, but we're also coming to the realization

that no amount of worldliness, no amount of possessions, no amount of pride, no amount of money, none of that can fulfill us. Therefore, when the devil comes against us to tempt us to find our fulfillment in worldly things, such as money, possessions, whatever, you name it, we are to resist those things. Satan is of the world. Therefore, we are to resist him.

Take a stand against it.

Now, understand that I'm not saying, I'm not saying that, you know, if money or possessions are your God, that you need to go, that you need to go sell everything that you own and go live as a homeless person. That's not necessarily what I'm saying here, but whatever it is, it is your God. If that is, become your God rather than God himself, then maybe it's time to make some changes in your life. Maybe it's time that you surrender those things to him and come into submission to God's will and surrender whatever it is that is taking over your life other than God to God.

Maybe it's time to, what it says here, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. As we submit ourselves to him, as we surrender our lives to him, draw near to him, come close to him. Spend time in his word. Maybe it's time to set the iPhone down for a while and pick up that dusty Bible off the shelf

and spend time in his word. You know, I can't tell you how many of my youth kids come to me and say, Jared, I feel like God is distant. I don't feel him anymore. Well, my question is always, how much time are you spending in his word? How much time are you spending in prayer? Are you drawing close to him? Because if you are, he'll draw close to you.

Take some time. Spend some time in his word. Spend some time in prayer. Take some time out of your day to talk to the one who created you. Guess what? He wants to hear from you. You know, God wants to hear from his children. Draw near to him and he'll draw near to you, believer. Believer, if you've been casual towards God, if you've been distant from God, maybe it's time

to set some things aside in your life and draw near to him. Maybe it's time to put God back where he belongs in your life and to open up his word and spend some time in it and spend some time in prayer and draw near to him and surrender whatever it is that's holding you back from following him. And as James says, as James says here in verse nine, he says, be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourself before the Lord and he will exalt you. Now, understand, this doesn't mean that God wants you to walk around just all depressed and mopey. That's not necessarily what that means. What it does mean is that God wants you to walk around and He wants to see true repentance. He wants to see true brokenness over your sin. He wants to see us that, He wants to see that we are truly sorry

and broken over our sin and rebellion. Jesus in Matthew five said in the sermon on the Mount, He says, blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Those who know that without Jesus, they are spiritually bankrupt. And blessed are those who mourn over their sin

and their spiritual bankruptcy. Believer, believer, are you broken over your sin? Have you come to this place of realizing that your pride is what may be holding you back from following Jesus with all of your heart? And if not, it's time to lay down that pride. It's time to surrender to Him and repent and to be truly sorry and broken over your sin and rebellion before Him.

This is what walking humbly before Him looks like. And laying down your pride and humbling yourself before God, you'll put yourself again in a position to receive grace. And as verse 10 says, He will exalt you. God will lift you up. God will lift you up, not you. I've seen some of y'all try to lift yourselves up and it ain't pretty. Let God lift you up. Let God exalt you.

Let God be the one who builds you up, not you. Verse 11. Excuse me. Apologize. Verse 11. Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer, defames and judges the law. And if you don't, don't judge. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. And there is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and destroy.

But who are you to judge your neighbor? And laying down our pride and humbling ourselves before God. It also means that we are to humble ourselves before others and to change how we act, to change how we talk to and talk about other people. You know, one of my favorite Christmas movies is a Muppet Christmas Carol. And in this, everybody's heard the story. We've all seen the movie and we've read the books

and so on and so forth. But you know, the main character in the movie is Scrooge, you know, and he has all this wealth. He has all this money and power and influence, but yet at the beginning of the movie, you know, he's an awful human being to be around, you know? You know, he's an awful human being to be around, you know? You know, he's an awful human being to be around, you know?

He talks down to people like they were beneath him. He talks very, very poorly about people. But after he is humbled by his experience with these three ghosts, you know, his whole demeanor changes. Yes, he still has all his money, but he's different. He's kind, he's generous to everyone. There's a noticeable change and in coming to Christ and humbling ourselves, there will, guess what?

There's gonna be a noticeable change. It may take a little bit of time, but there will eventually be a noticeable change in you. I'm gonna be transparent here with you guys. You know, growing up, you know, I grew up in Newkirk for about the first 11 years of my life, and I was never exposed to, you know, a lot of homelessness. You know, we just, it was Newkirk.

We didn't have any homeless people. And after I moved, I ended up moving to Ardmore, Oklahoma, which is way down by Texas. Never saw any homeless people there either, only on TV. And my thought, my whole opinion on homeless people was that if they wanted grace and love and mercy from me, then they needed to earn it. They needed to get off their butt, go out and get a job

and take care of themselves. I'd be a lot more, a lot more apt to help them out. Now, my junior year of high school, I took a missions trip to Houston, Texas. And while we were there, we went to the inner city Houston and we helped serve the homeless community there. That was really my first experience with homelessness. It was an eyeopening experience, but overall it didn't really change my opinions much.

You know? Fast forward to June of 2008, I got my second major exposure to homelessness. I took an independent study in college where we went to Kolkata, India, city of about 15 or 20 million people. And we spent two weeks there, just documenting all kinds of stuff. From the time I walked out the front door of the airport in Kolkata to the time I walked back through it

two weeks later, had dozens upon dozens, dozens and dozens and dozens of people come up to me begging for money, begging me to help them out. Me, I was a broke college kid from Oklahoma. I had no money. I was there on somebody else's dime. I had no money. And y'all, I figured out, guys, it was such an eye-opening experience. It changed my life forever, changed my view on

on this whole subject forever. Y'all, there in India, people will actually rent babies out for the purposes of begging. We took a, while we were there, we took a trip to the far side of the city along the Ganges River to this homeless community. And it was nothing but miles of scrap metal, tarps, cardboard, whatever people could find and slap together to make a little shelter.

There was no, there was no, there was no running water, no electricity, no sanitation. They were all open sewers.

It was just truly an eye-opening experience. And then the most humbling part of this whole, this whole trip came when we took a, took a visit to one of Mother Teresa's missions where they cared for the poor and sick in the neighborhood. And I don't know if y'all realize this or not, but did you guys know that leprosy still exists today? I didn't know that until, until then. I thought it was just something that the Bible mentioned,

but it still exists. We got a, we got a tour around, around this mission. And, you know, we saw all kinds of, of homeless and sick people and, and they were being cared for there. And they took us upstairs and they were showing us some of these different rooms and they opened, this lady opened the door and over in the corner of this room, there's, there, there sat a man, didn't have any clothes on. He just had strips of cloth all over

his body. And, and she told us that this man has leprosy. And, you know, that I don't want to get too graphic here, but you know, leprosy was taking its course in this man's life. He didn't have a lot of skin left on his body. You know, I could, I could clearly see where, that disease had eaten up quite a, quite a lot of his skin and deformed quite a bit of his body.

And up until that point, like I said, I thought leprosy was something that only existed in biblical times. Guys, from that point on, my whole view on homeless people changed forever. That trip changed my life. You know, growing up here, you know, being around Ark City, homeless person for years and years and years. But now it seems like, you know, we, there, there's,

they're down on the street corner down here at Casey's all the time. And I see, whenever I see these homeless people, my thought is always now is that God loves them too. He loves them just as he might, just as much as he loves me. He loves the unlovable and I can stand there and judge and criticize others. But I myself are becoming the judge. I'm putting myself in the place that

only God is meant to be. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Don't believe me. Look at verse 12. He says, there is one lawgiver and one judge who's able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Who are you to judge a neighbor? When I judge

other people, I'm trying to find fault with them. The problem with it is, is that we all have faults. If you're looking for fault in me, trust me, you'll find plenty of them. You know, therefore I am, who am I to judge? My neighbor and humbling myself and walking with the Lord, walking closely with the Lord, there's going to be a change in how I view and how I speak to other people and how I talk about

other people. There's going to be, there's going to be a change and I won't be so critical of other people. And although I do admittedly still struggle with this, this from time to time, but the longer I walk humbly, keyword humbly with Jesus, the more I see people, the way he sees them, the more I see people, the way that he sees us as sinners in need of a savior. Now, this does not mean that we should not ever judge. There

actually is a time and place for using what the Bible calls discernment. Okay. Jesus himself used the parable of a tree and its fruit. He says that you're going to know a tree by its fruit. You're going to be able to judge what that tree is by its fruit. You know, I can talk with most everyone in here. In here today was, and within about five or 10 minutes, I can tell whether or not you're a

believer, a follower of Jesus, by the way you talk, by the, by what you talk about, by how you act, by how you treat other people. But when it comes to judging others for the purposes of finding fault, if I'm looking for fault in other people, I'm going to find it. Don't worry. But guess what? I'll also find plenty of fault in myself too. If you're looking for fault in me,

you'll find it. But remember, God can certainly find fault in every one of us. But in walking humbly, humbly before him, guess what? There's grace. There's grace. Moving on here. This last section, verse 13. He says, come now you who say today or tomorrow, we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit. You do not know what tomorrow will bring, what your life will be. Yet what your life will be for

you are like a vapor that appears for a little while then vanishes. And instead you should say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil. So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it. In this last section of chapter four, James continues on with this idea of living humbly

before God, of walking humbly before him. He talks about those who in their pride, they'll say, I'm going to pick up and move and go find me a better job. And maybe, just maybe, we'll be happy. You know, I've known folks like this who in their pride, they'll say that they're moving to get a different job. And then three months later, or they'll call me up and say, Jared, I'm moving

again. I'm getting a new job. Well, I'm saying, well, what happened to this last job? Weren't you happy there? No, they were holding out for a management position, but they have it in their head that, that with this new job, that everything's going to work out, that they're going to get a promotion after about a month. And they're going to make tons of money and they're going to be

happy. Everything's going to be, everything's going to be perfect from here on out. But yet three months down the road, it's the same story again. The problem with it is that they're, they're constantly searching the world for something better, only to find that there isn't anything better. That there is nothing better than Jesus. And then they go out and they try to find something

better in the world again, again, and again, only to be disappointed again and again and again. They never stopped to think, is this what God really wants for me? They never stopped. They never stopped to ask, am I doing what God wants me to do? Sometimes that's us. Sometimes that's me. Sometimes I never stopped to think, God, are these plans that I'm making what you

really want? Or am I doing what you really want me to do? Sometimes walking humbly before the Lord involves laying down our pride and asking these hard questions. And friends, just be prepared if you're going to start asking these questions. Be prepared for God to change your life, sometimes in drastic ways. A little more than a year ago, I was working this, I was working, I had one of those sweet work from home gigs.

And I really, I really did enjoy it. I love the people that I worked for. They were Christians and we would, we would talk about the Lord openly. And it was amazing. And I love, I love the people that I work for, but I began to begin to question my, my purpose for being there because I often found myself, you know, without work. I found myself unable, unable to perform a lot of the tasks that they were asking of me.

And I had to rely on a lot of other people to help me countless, you know, countless times, which not nothing, nothing wrong with that necessarily. But, but yet I still began to question my purpose in working that job. And so I began to seek the Lord about it and asking, Lord, is this where you want me? Am I where you want me to be? Am I doing what you want me to do?

Shortly thereafter, you know, the, the need came up here for an associate pastor and to make a long story short over the course of about two to three, three months, um, my name was actually thrown out as a potential candidate. And after seeking the Lord, I asked God, if you want this for me, if this is what you want for me, I need you to make a decision. I need you to make it happen because I want no part of this. If you are not in it.

And he did, he made everything happen. He provided everything I needed. He did everything. He opened every door and I could have stayed in that, that job and probably could have gone on to make more money and, and, and live, live that good life, you know, but in walking with the Lord, I have to, I have to constantly ask myself the question, is this what God wants? I can make all kinds of plans, but if God's not going to be in it,

I don't want any part of it. James says in verse 15, he says, instead, you should say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil. So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it. It's, it's just a constant, constant battle of our will versus God. And I think that's what God wants us to do.

It's God's will. Guys, we're here on earth for a short time. The question is going to become, will you spend your time? Will you spend your time that is given to you seeking to build your own kingdom or God's? Will you, will you follow your own prideful, envious desires, or will you surrender those to God and his will for your life? You know, the new year's, the new year's upon us here.

And it's time for everyone to make those new year's resolutions. It's time to renew your gym memberships, you know? And then the question becomes, how are you going to spend your, this next year? How are you going to spend the new year? How are you going to spend this next year? Will you seek to build your own kingdom or will you seek to build God's? Will you seek,

to walk humbly before God or will you continue walking in your own pride? Amen. Amen. Would you guys stand with me? Go ahead and have the worship team come on up. Come on up. Father, we just thank you for another day. And we thank you for your word this morning. And Lord, if, if, if pride is something that we are dealing with today, Lord, I pray that you would rid us of our pride. Lord,

move mightily in our lives. And,

And God, just bless us today as we leave here. Help us to walk humbly before you, Lord. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. And in Jesus' name, amen. Who am I that the highest king would welcome me? I was lost, but he brought me in. Oh, his love for me. Oh, his love for me. Who the Son sets free. Oh, is free.

I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. Free at last, he has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, he died. For me.

Who the Son sets free. Oh, is free.

A child has died in my father's house. There's a plague.

Yes, I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. For me, not against me. I am who you say I am. I am chosen. I am who you say I am. I am chosen. And Father God, we just ask your blessing upon us as we leave here today. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. And in Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful week. Happy New Year to you. We'll see you next week, next Sunday.

Remember, no Wednesday evening services.