Untitled Sermon

You will stand against the foe. In the dark, you will be a glory, a protector of God.

In the dark, you will be a protector of God. Perfectly made, Holy Spirit, show the world. Make it clear, Holy Spirit, come.

Perfectly made, in the dark, you will be a protector of God. In the dark.

James chapter 4. James chapter 4. Also, while you're turning, an update on the Bliss House. That was an awesome time last week. And we had a report this morning that the house is finished. That they're just doing the final finishing touches inside. The floor covers were supposed to go down. And they should be ready to hopefully move in this weekend. So, just an awesome time.

We praise God for all your prayer and all the people that came over and helped in whatever capacity. A lot of things happened as a result of that. There's an article from the Independence paper on the board out there. There was a good story on the news on Channel 12 that Saturday night. We have the video of that. I hoped to show it this morning, but we didn't get a projector in time.

But anyhow, just an exciting move of God's hand. And we're going to see more of this kind of thing happening. Maybe not building houses so much as the body drawing together, though, to help with the needs of one another within the fellowship, within the body of Christ. So. Be open to that. God's given you gifts. And we want to encourage the exercise of those gifts.

This morning, let's look again at this last section in James chapter 4. And again, to tie us together, let's look at verses 11 through 17 together, if you would, as I read. Brothers, James says, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.

There's only one law. One law. One lawgiver and judge. The one who is able to save and destroy. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor? Now, listen, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go to this or that city and spend a year there and carry on business and make money. But you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Instead, you ought to say, if it's the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast and brag. And all such boasting is evil. Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do. And doesn't do it, sins. We are looking at this section in chapter 4 with the emphasis of being able to release our hold on the world, knowing that that's what the enemy wants us to be focused on is the world, the world system, the world goals, the worldly attitudes.

Follow the direction of the world. Follow the course of the world. Follow the people around us. That's what the enemy wants us to do. God wants us to release our hold on this world. Amen. This place is not our home, and yet we seek to make it as comfortable as possible. But that's what Jesus meant when he told his disciples that birds have nests and foxes have

holes, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Now, did he not sleep at night? Of course he did. Did he not eat during the day? Of course he did. But he didn't put down roots here because this place was not his home. Neither should it be ours. And that's hard to come to the point of that as believers. It's a struggle. It's a fight. And God understood that. James understands that. James

is telling us that there are certain things we need to do to be able to release our hold on the world. The first part of chapter 4, he tells us that that involves, first of all, drawing near to God. Drawing near to God. And we've already been through all of that. Secondly, to release our hold on the world, we have to, as we draw near to God, rely on his power. And that's what we've been

looking at in this last part of chapter 4, is relying on the power of God. And ultimately, it's relying on the power of God that allows us to be obedient to his will. We don't use God as a genie. We don't use the power of God to get things for us. We don't use the power of God to bring about healing. Healing comes as God providentially decides to heal. But we allow the power of God to live in and through

us and rely on it so that we might be obedient to his will. So that we might be obedient to his will. And we've started in this last section looking at the idea of relying on God's power to be obedient to his will, understanding that there are three things we can do with God's will. We can ignore it, we can disobey it, or we can choose to obey it. And we saw when we looked at ignoring it that that's stupid. It's foolish to ignore God's will

because it brings about a withholding of God's grace and a releasing of his restraint of evil in our particular sphere of existence. God, as we ignore his will, he withholds his grace and he removes his restraint of evil and allows us to be obedient to his will. And that's what we're the enemy to touch us to come in almost like a flood in our lives, in the areas of our life. We saw four things in verses 11 through, well, this last part kind of interwoven in verses 11 through 16 that reveal how stupid it is to ignore God's will. First, we saw in verses 11 through 13,

the complexity of life, that life is so complex, we cannot figure it out even with computers. Computers make it more complex. I've been trying, I've had all kinds of problems getting on, back on the net, back on the ground, back on the ground, back on the ground. I've been trying to with my computer and I've called different people and they didn't know what to do and God blessed and I finally got back in there. But you know, sometimes I wonder if that's not causing more

problems than it's worth. Life is complex and it's foolish to ignore God's will with how complex life is. Secondly, we saw it's foolish in the first part of verse 14 because of the uncertainty of life. Life is uncertain. And James says here in verse 14, why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes.

Life is uncertain and we don't know what's going to happen. And the best thing we can do is follow God's will. Seek it and be obedient to it. And it's foolish to ignore it. It's foolish not to seek it, not to be obedient to it. Third, we saw that it's foolish to ignore God's will because of the shortness of life. And there's the last part of verse 14 that we just looked at. You are a mist

that appears for a little while and vanishes. If you've ever taken the time to sit down and go through a family album or if your family, extended, has put together a family history, a history of how your family got here, you know, got to this country. If you have some time, take time to do that. It gives you not only your heritage and how you got to be here and got to be who you are name-wise, but it also, to me, it emphasizes how brief life is. So look at all these names and how they came here and did this

and then they died. I mean, it doesn't matter how great they may have been or how insignificant they may have just been an individual who wasn't famous, wasn't a director of anything. They just had a family and they put down roots and they farmed or whatever, but then they were gone. And you need to realize the brevity of your life. Please don't ignore that. It's not morbid to

acknowledge that your life is brief, but the world ignores it. The world moves on as though tomorrow will never come and that we don't have to worry about those things. And then all of a sudden it's too late. And that time has come. So it's foolish to ignore God's will, knowing the shortness of life, that we're just a mist that's here and gone. And then fourth, we saw that it's foolish to

ignore God's will because of the frailty of man. Verse 16, as it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. We're frail. We've got nothing to boast about. I mean, you know, anything we may accomplish on this dirt is insignificant apart from the Lord, apart from the Lord's calling, directing, and empowering us. And so, you know, it's foolish to ignore

God's will. And so, James tells us, consider, consider how foolish it is to ignore God's will because of the complexity of life, the uncertainty of life, the shortness of life, and the frailty of man. Now, today we look at, I want us to look at the second part of this area of God's will, and that's in the area of disobeying God's will. There's a difference between ignoring it and disobeying it. Ignoring it says, I just don't want to have anything to do with it. I'm just

going to try and go through life on my own and forget that God's there. Now, that's impossible because you're confronted with God and you're not going to be able to do anything about it. So, you know, you're going to have to ignore it. You're going to have to ignore it. You're going to have to every day on every side in every way. But disobeying God's will is even more detrimental

because you have an understanding somewhat of it, that there are things you understand that you should and shouldn't do. And you know, there's a background to that that's God ordained. And yet you choose not to do it. That's disobedience to God's will. Look at verse 17. James says, anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins. A disobedience,

disobedience to God's will. Now, why in the world will we ever want to disobey God's will? Let me give you three reasons. Let me give you three reasons. The first one we've already seen back up in the area of ignoring God's will in verse 16, and that's pride. That's pride. Pride is the number one reason why, well, it runs a close tie with the next one, but it's one of the main reasons

why we disobey God's will. Look at verse 16 again. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. I want to be in control of my life. It's the natural tendency of man. Emphasis upon natural. We want to be in control. We want to call the shots. We don't want anybody else telling us what to do. Therefore, we rebel against authority. Any authority. Parents, governmental leaders,

police officers, military personnel, anybody in authority we rebel against because we want to be in control of our lives. You want to be in control. You aren't going to tell me what to do. I want to control my own destiny. I want to make my mark in the world. The only problem is when we say that, when we feel that way, the only mark in the world we're going to make is a little blob on the floor when God

crushes us. But each area of life we face each day, you and I are going to be faced with that control. I want to control it. I want to control when I go and when I come. I want to control what I eat and what I don't eat. I want to control, you know, every area. Of family life, of job life, of school life. I want to be in control because I want to do it. And it's real hard to surrender that. It's real hard to surrender that to the providential hand

of God. It's real hard to let God have control of it no matter what the circumstances are and just seek to be a servant to those around. It's very difficult to do that. But see, that's what God's called us to, to be servants, to love one another by serving one another. If anyone will be great among you, he must be great among you. If anyone will be great among you, he must be

your leader, commander, controller. No, your servant. That's hard. And although we know the text that says it, it's probably done very little during the course of a day in each of our lives because we want to direct. I want to tell you what to do for my benefit, where to go. We will do this or that, he says in verse 15. You who say tomorrow we're going to go to this or that city and do this

or that and carry on business so that we can boast and brag that we've got it in control. Second reason we disobey God is, the word that's you hear maybe every now and then, it's because of expedience. Expedience, the easy, what's the easiest thing to do? Survival, the path of least resistance. That's why I said that runs a close second to pride. Pride, I want to be in control. Expedience, I don't want to rock

the boat. I don't want to make waves. I don't want to be thought of a fool or crazy or stand out. That's usually in peer groups, either at work or at school or wherever your spheres of existence are. I don't want to stand out. I don't want to make anybody upset with me. I want everybody to like me and so I'm going to just kind of flow. I just want to come in and be

insignificant. Just don't even know that I'm here. I just flow with what's going on. I sit at the back of the room. In school, they fight for the back of the room. In church, they fight for the back of the room. Anywhere you go, you fight for the, why? Because I just want to be insignificant. I don't want anybody to know I'm there. I just want to be here and flow. Why? Because it's a path of least,

resistance. And it's just, it's, it's, I feel it's the expedient thing to do. Paul says that's not the case. Doing, doing that kind of stuff is not expedient. It's not expedient for me. It's not the best way for me to go to do that kind of stuff. Obedience to the Lord is difficult unless we rely on his power to do it. You and I will fight for the easy way. We'll fight for the way of

least resistance. It takes effort to love. It's easier to ignore. It takes effort to show compassion to someone who has hurt you. It's easier to run away, to withdraw, to pull away. It's difficult. It takes, it takes effort to pray for. It takes effort to confront. It's easier to just think, well, I'll let them go their way and I'll go my way and we'll just stay away. It's hard to be

obedient. Jonah took the easy way, he thought. God wanted him to go to Nineveh and proclaim the fact of soon coming judgment. Jonah didn't want to go. He didn't like the Ninevites. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to go to Syria, up to around Nineveh. He didn't want to do it. So he ran away. He took the expedient way, what he thought was the expedient way. He took the easy way out and ran

down and jumped in a boat and ran away from God. And you know the rest of the story. It got worse, detrimental, almost cost the lives of those around him. And see, that's what happens with us in the body of Christ. If we don't function as the body of Christ, if we don't seek to love one another, to be servants, to give up, to deny self, if we seek to take the way of least resistance,

we're going to hurt one another. We'll end up hurting those around us. And it's detrimental to do that. How about you? Have you been hurt or disappointed? God wants you to pray for this person or this circumstance or this situation or these individuals. He wants you to do good to them. He wants you to bless them. He doesn't want you to slander them, just as he said in the first part

of James. He doesn't want you to tell others how bad you think they are. He wants you to do those things and yet it seems difficult and it's hard. And are you doing those things? Are you taking the way of least resistance? We have several examples in scripture. Daniel, David, Jeremiah, who did the things that God commanded them to do obediently unto him, whether the circumstances were right or

not, as far as they were concerned, they didn't care. They were obedient unto the Lord, trusting him for the consequences, trusting him in the midst of those circumstances. So pride or expedience will keep us from obeying God's will. Pride or expedience will cause us to disobey God's will. But there's a third thing, a third thing that maybe most of us can identify

with. We may be hesitant to identify with the other two, but the third one is probably pretty predominant and that's the ignorance of the nature of God's will. We are ignorant of the nature of God's will. What do I mean by that? I mean, what I mean by that is man acts, we act, you and I, I act at times as though it really doesn't make any difference, you know, what I do. God's going

to do what God's going to do and he is. And so being obedient to God's will is an option that you can either accept or reject. It's like, okay, sirah, sirah, what will be, will be. But see, obeying God's will is not an option. It's an obligation. God calls us to that and you can't take it or leave it. Here in James, the sin that's stressed here is the sin of omission, it's called, not commission. It's

not something that's been committed. It's not like stealing or adultery or murder that's been committed. It's something that's been omitted. It's something that you know you're to do that you've omitted. And if we take it in the context of James, which is the way we should take it, because although it can apply to different other areas, what James has been talking about is those workings of faith, trusting God in the midst of the trials,

loving in the different relationships without bias, without partiality, not using our tongue as a machine for destruction, but as a dispenser of grace and mercy. Drawing near to God instead of being entangled in the things in the world. If we're not doing those things, that's what James is talking about, for him who knows to do good and he doesn't do it, sins, that's disobedience. And we have this idea that, well, if I don't spend time with the Lord, you know, that's okay. God understands. And we get down on people that encourage us or tell us

we need to because you're condemning me and I'm going to end up spending time with God out of feeling it. It's a duty. And if it's a duty, I'm not going to get anything out of it. So why do it? And so we excuse ourselves from spending time with God. Our lives get draggy. We get draggy in the Lord. You know, we doubt the Lord. We get kind of cantankerous and irritable and we don't know why. And we feel

like our walk with the Lord is really slack. And it's because we're not doing what he's told us to do. And we know, but we're not just ignoring it. We're disobedient in it. If you and I aren't spending time with God, we're not doing what he's told us to do. And we know, but we're not just in regular time with the Lord. We're sinning, let alone missing out on the wonder of the

relationship with him. Please understand. I don't want to condemn you into the duty of spending time with God, but I don't want to just let you off thinking it's an option you can do to take or leave. It's not. Please understand that. It's something you know you should do. It's something you should do. It's something you should do. It's something you should do. It's

God calls us to. It's something that is necessary for our own health, both spiritual and physical. And when we don't do it, we sin. And the same things apply that apply to being ignorant of his will. He withholds grace. He releases his restraint of evil. Why? To discipline us and bring us back to that point where we call upon him, where we sit before him and cry,

that we get back to that place that we know we need to be. Don't be ignorant of the nature of God's will. He will chasten, but he chastens in love. He knows the best place for you and I is to be at his feet, just to dwell in his presence, to draw from his strength, to be able to move each day from glory to glory, not from circumstance to circumstance, from glory to glory, just keeping our eyes focused on him in the middle of the circumstances.

To draw from his presence, to rely on his power. And it's not an option. And he will chasten us until we come back to that point because we need it. And to know that and not to do it is detrimental for your health. So be aware of that. I mean, you set aside time, you chisel out time for doctor's appointments, for school functions, and for job requirements. And come hell or high

water, you'll get to those things. I mean, we've been there, done that. You've got a school, a program to go to, and it's blowing and rainy. You pile into the car and you drive through it, you know, to get there. And you're dedicated to that. And jobs. We do that for jobs. Icy in the morning and cold below zero, freezing. And you're getting in your car and you drive to work. And

you're sitting there thinking, of course, it's ludicrous. If I don't go to work, I don't get paid. Get the same thinking about your time with the Lord. If you don't spend time with the Lord, you are dead meat. You'll get chewed up and spit out before noon with the attitudes of the world. Overcome you. Chisel out the time. See it as the same need and necessity as the most

important things in your day. Because it is. It's even more important than that. Let's look at obeying God's will. Obeying God's will. Verse 15, James writes, instead, instead of having the pride and the ignorance of the brevity of life, the complexity of life, your frailty and all, instead of being blatantly disobedient to God's will, knowing what you should do and not doing it,

instead of that, obey. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. And see, that's a hard attitude. First of all, it's not just a flippant statement. It's easy for us as Christians to get into flippant Christian statements. Well, if it's God's will, you know, that'll happen. And then what happens? You know, we say that kind of flippantly. Well, if it's God's will, it'll be there. If it's not God's

will, it won't. And then when it's not there, we go, God, what are you doing? You know, where is it? Well, what happened to the, if it's God's will thing back when he said, see, it's not, it's not just a statement. It's a heart attitude. In John chapter four, verse 34, when the disciples come back to the well there at Samaria, after going into town to get some food, they see Jesus standing there and he's been talking with this woman. And evidently he has

a vibrancy about him as he's speaking with her. He's probably, you know, whenever, whenever you and I are given the opportunity to share with other people about the Lord, you know, it really doesn't make any difference how tired you are, how hungry you are. It's like the spirit kicks in and all of a sudden you just kind of light up and you've got that second wind and you're just, you're anxious because you realize what's going on here, the dynamic of the situation. And you're having an opportunity to present life to somebody. And it's exciting. And they, they evidently come

back and see this vibrancy on Jesus' face as he's sharing with the woman at the well. She leaves to go to town to tell him what's going on. And they say, you want some food? And he's, he says, no. And they think it said, John says that they assume that somebody must've brought him food. Maybe the woman here must've brought him food. And Jesus says in John 4, 34,

my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. My food, Jesus said, my sustenance is to do the will of God. I am most satisfied in my being when I do the will of God. Now we are most satisfied in our being when we sit down before a banquet of something that we want. You know, we, we always reward ourselves with food. Let's go out tonight as a family.

Fine. What do we do? We go eat. We go to a concert. We go to a movie. We go to something. We go to a school play. And afterwards, what do we do? We go out and eat. We go reward ourselves with food. Food is a rewarder. And yet how often do we go and eat something after that? And well, I wish I hadn't eaten that. Why did I, that's stupid this late at night to eat something like that. Why did I do that? Jesus said, my satisfaction, my food,

that thing that sustains me and satisfies me the most is doing the will of him who sent me. And he says to finish his work. See, we have the earthly, the earthly concept, the concept of the world that God wants us to release our hold of is our work isn't done until we die way out there somewhere. See, our concept of, of life is I am supposed to live until I'm 80, 90, or a hundred.

And my concept of my work in this life is that my work is not complete until I get there 80, 90, or a hundred. And so when someone dies earlier than that, we moan and groan and weep for the loss, but one of the things that inevitably comes out is they were taken before their time. They didn't get to experience kids, experience grandkids, experience Disneyland. What a loss. You see,

because our concept is our work, our job. We think our job is with our kids and with our grandkids and with our great grandkids and with our job at work and with our involvement in the community and with our involvement. The political structure and seeking to make life better for others. Is that his will? Is that what he wants us to do? He wants us to seek him, doesn't he? And to do that, that he wants us to do and

have an open hand held with the things here. Our heart attitude should be daily. Lord, what do you have me to do today? What do you want me to do? What's your will for me today? What do you have that you want me to accomplish? Who do you want to bring into my life? We talked about this when we were in Philippians. That's part of the area of seeing. Interruptions as opportunities to serve Christ, because that's what God's doing in his agenda,

in his schedule of the day. He's interrupting ours for an opportunity for us to serve him by ministering Christ to somebody else. And daily, we need to do that. What is your will for my life today? You've given me today. I woke up. I'm breathing. I'm functioning. I can get up and move. I have something to do that you want me to do. What is that that you want me to do?

And that's difficult to keep in mind, but I encourage you to do that. And that's what I'm going to do that daily. Because you see, God has our days recorded in his book. Now, have you ever thought about that? I mean, you go back to Psalm 139, you read that. For each of our days are recorded in God's book before there was ever one of them. You ever thought about that? You ever

thought about how God determined that? You're in the womb and God's sitting there and he goes, I think Friday, March 24th of 19-whatever is a good day for you to croak. How does God do that? How does God come to that before you ever are born? You see, he has predetermined in his own heart what he's going to do. And that's what I'm going to do. What he wants to do through you. And when that's done, or when there is a point where that he

realizes the heart is hardened to the extent that it's not going to be done, is the day we go. And that's already recorded before we're ever born. Before we ever take a breath, that's recorded. That blows my mind. But it also shows me that he has a plan for my life. Now, I want to be plugged into that. I want my will, my food, my sustenance to be to do his will and to finish

whatever it is he sent me to do. And be ready when he says, that's it, let's go home. I want to be ready for that. I don't want to see it as some bleak and dark day out there. You don't know when it is. God's going to snuff you out. I want to see this when I'm done, I'm done. I want to go home. And the only way to do that is be obedient to his will. You see, you look at the life of Christ and he died at 33. And if anybody, in our opinion,

seemed to have unfinished business, according to our perception, it was Jesus. And that's what a lot of the cults say. That's what Sun Muyung Moon, the leader of the cults, said. He said, well, Jesus died before his time. He died before he could accomplish that that he sought out to bring, world peace. But the Christ has descended upon me and I am now the Christ and I can help

us do that. And I pray that I don't get snuffed out before my time either. Well, that's a duh. The reason people are led astray in those kinds of things is because they don't understand God's will. They don't understand God's providence. They don't understand God's purpose. Everything in the universe operates obediently according to God's laws. Everybody agree with that? Everything

in the universe operates obediently according to God's laws. Everybody agree with that? Everything in the universe operates obediently according to God's laws. Now, if we obey these laws, the universe works with us. If we disobey those laws, the universe will work against us, even causing injury or death. God's law of gravity is a wonderful law. I'm glad we have it, lest we'd be

flying off into space. As I work with that law, the universe works with me. I come to the edge, I take the stairs. Hot dog. Gravity helps me go down, helps me come up. I walk to, the edge of a building or a bridge and take a step off, and the laws of God work against me, and I will die or be severely injured. The same is true with God's will, the will of God. As we

seek to be obedient to the will of God, that works in our lives. God has a specific plan for each of us. His will is that each of us seek him where that's concerned that he can live and work that out through us. Now, you say, well, I don't know what that is. I don't know where I'm supposed to go to school. I don't know who I'm supposed to meet. I don't know where I'm supposed to go to

school. I don't know where I'm supposed to marry. I don't know what job I'm supposed to take. I don't know if I'm supposed to move or not. I don't know if I'm supposed to buy this or that or sell this or that. How am I supposed to know what God's will is and those things? And you see, we get all tied up in that and fail to realize that God has revealed his will specifically

for his people, for believers. And as you and I seek that and seek to be obedient in that, in the things that are revealed, he will show us his will in the things that we don't understand, that we don't see. And when we come to the point of decisions in those areas, and we seek him, we've been seeking his will as he's revealed it to us, and we still don't have a direction, then we step out by faith, believing and trusting his leading in that particular area. But we don't get there without first being obedient to what he has revealed to us. The Bible is filled with God's revealed will for Christians. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 5,

Paul writes that we might be yielded to him, that we might give ourselves to the Lord. Have you done that? Have you given yourself to him? By that, I mean entrusted not only your life to him for salvation, but entrusted your life to him for his providential will, for his providential direction. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3, it's his will, Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica,

that we keep ourselves pure, avoiding sexual immorality. Are you doing that? Is your temple, your vessel, your body surrendered unto him, realizing it's a temple of the Holy Spirit? Keeping it pure sexually. You see, he's given us just these little basic things, and if we're not doing those, why do we think he's going to reveal his will in other areas? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5,

verses 16 through 18, we are told to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice, pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Let me ask you, are you rejoicing in the Lord always? Are you rejoicing in the Lord in the midst of this situation, the thing that is pressuring you, that seems like an obstacle to you? Are you rejoicing in God, that God's in control? Do you

know that? Are you praying without ceasing? Is it something that you do to continue to just talk with the Lord, especially about that? And to know in that talking that he has you there for a reason, for a purpose, to be his mouthpiece, to be his vessel, his servant in this particular area. Are you giving him thanks in everything, in the midst of this situation? Are you thanking him for

his particular will? Are you giving him thanks in everything, in the midst of this situation? Are you giving him thanks in everything, in the midst of this situation? Are you giving him thanks in everything, in the midst of this situation? Are you giving him thanks in everything, in the midst of this situation? For his control, for his empowering, for his restraining of the evil one, for his direction

knowing that beyond this he's got something planned and you just want to get through it, so empower you. Thank you, Lord, for that empowering. You see, if we're not doing those basic things, how can we expect to know what his will is in other areas? But I am amazed at how Christians don't do that. Let me tell you something, the will of God, follow me on this one,

the will of God is revealed only through the word of God, only by the Spirit of God, as you and I are in relationship with God. Let me say that again, the will of God is revealed only through the word of God, only by the Spirit of God, as you and I are in a relationship with God, period. Yet how often do we want to know God's will apart from that? See, often we neglect his word, and we neglect that fellowship with the Spirit, and we neglect the relationship with him, and we come to that, trial, and then we cry out to God, oh God, show me your will, oh God, show me what I need to do in this. We're not seeking him in his word, we're not seeking to let the Spirit direct us, we're not

seeking a relationship with him, we just want out of the circumstances we're in, and so all of a sudden we seek to cry out to the Lord. Yet Colossians chapter 1 verse 9, Paul tells us that God wants us to be filled with the knowledge of his will, filled with all wisdom, and filled with all spiritual understanding. Let me ask you, are you experiencing that in your Christian walk right now? Are you understanding what being filled with the knowledge of his will is? What being filled with all wisdom is? What being filled with all spiritual understanding

is? That's what Paul desires happen to us as believers. That's what God desires for us to happen in our lives, and it will only happen as you and I spend time with him in his will. Only, period, end of discussion, end of story. It won't happen as you sit in a dark room and fold your legs a certain way, and home, home. It doesn't happen that way. Well, what about prayer? Well,

prayer, God works in prayer, absolutely. God works in prayer, and he speaks to our hearts through prayer, but he speaks to our hearts his word. That's why we have to spend time in his word. USA Today, March 28th. One of every five, five Americans say they never read the Bible. Twenty percent of this congregation never reads the word, although 90 percent say they own at least one copy, and 80 percent say the Bible is

the most influential book in human history. Only 17 percent of adults read the Bible daily. Only 17 percent. Twenty-one percent read weekly. Now, if you're here, and you have a Bible, and you're going through it with me, you fall into that category if that's the only time you're ever in the word. And only 17 percent read weekly. Now, if you're here, and you have a Bible, and you're

going through it with me, you fall into that category if that's the only time you're ever in the word. And only 17 percent say they read the Bible monthly. I have a flyer here from a church in the area, and last Sunday, they designated it Bible Sunday. And they said, every member of every family is challenged to bring a Bible to church on the 13th to use in Sunday school and worship. What a novel idea. I mean, they even made it a fun kind of thing. They're going to

give rewards for the most used or tattered Bible, the oldest Bible, the farthest traveled Bible, the neatest family Bible, foreign language Bible. Largest Bible, smallest Bible, most unique Bible accessory. In other words, a bookmark or a cover or whatever. What good will that do where eternity is concerned? Where has the church fallen that we have to designate a particular Sunday out of the year to bring your Bible to church? What's the

function of the church? You will not know the will of God unless you spend time in the word of God and allow the spirit of God to teach you as he brings you into a relationship with God. It's that simple. God wants us to be filled, with all knowledge of his will. He wants us to know it. He's not hiding it from you. He wants you to be filled with all wisdom. He's not hiding that from you. He wants you to be filled with it.

He wants you to be filled with all spiritual understanding. If you feel weak in that particular area, it's not him withholding. It's that we haven't been seeking. He not only wants that in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, he tells us that he wants us to prove his will, not only to know it, but prove it. He tells us to prove it. Do not be conformed. Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, he says, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will. In NIV, it says test and approve. In King James, it says prove. The word literally in the Greek means to prove by experience. God doesn't want you just to memorize verses. God wants you to do what you know and experience. His will. And that's how you learn it. You read who he is and what he does and how he does it and

what he calls us to do. You do that and you find that what his word says is true and you experience his power and his blessing and his presence in the midst of that. And you are proving his will. And when you do that, it's like doing anything else that you do by experience. It becomes easier to do. The first time you got on a bicycle, not training wheels, was a detrimental experience. And you wobbled and waggled all over the place,

but you kept it up for a ways. And what did that give you? Gave you confidence, gave you experience, gave you a desire to go further because you knew you got that far. You can keep it up. This is going to come. Same thing is true with the will of God. It's not some magical thing. He's revealed it in his word. He's revealed it to us through Jesus Christ who is revealed in his word, who is

the word. And the more we're there, brothers and sisters, the more we seek to take what he's told us in NIV. We experience it. You prove his will and you discover what he wants you to do in those circumstances that you face then that are just, I don't know, it's not clear cut. It's not directed, but I know enough about his will to this point that I know if I keep doing that, I can pick one

of the others if he hasn't fully revealed it. And he'll either keep me from going that way or he'll allow me to go this way. And I can trust him with that. And I can rest in that. And I can have confidence in that, that he's faithful in that. Releasing our hold on the world by relying on the power of God. To be obedient to his will. To love as he loves. To trust him for tomorrow. To trust him for the

strength for today. To deny ourselves. To take up our cross and to follow him. He gives us his power for that. There's a brother who lived in the last century who was a Bible teacher, Bible commentator, Bible scholar. His name was Matthew Henry. He was a Puritan Bible expositor. His life was consumed with the Word of God. Daily he studied and he read and he prayed over and he

meditated upon the Word of God. And the great insights that he discovered are recorded for us in his commentaries. On his deathbed, his life's work complete, Matthew Henry turned to his friend Mr. Illigen and said, quote, you've been used to taking notice of the statements of dying men. This is mine. A life spent in the service of God and in communion with him is the most comfortable

and pleasant life that one can live in the present world. Matthew Henry found great fulfillment and contentment through centering his life around the Word of God. Now compare Matthew Henry's last words to those of Voltaire. Voltaire was an 18th century French rationalist. During his life, he penned many scathing tracts which rebuked the church, claiming among other things that within a hundred years

Christianity would be a thing of the past and that the Bible would be seen as a mere fairy tale. At Voltaire's deathbed, his condition became so bad that his unbelieving associates were afraid to even approach him. Finally, Voltaire turned to face the wall and cried out, I must die, abandon of God and of men. After watching him die, his nurse said, I would not for all the wealth of Europe. I would never,

ever want to be near the bed of a dying infidel again. The experience was so horrible. How different was Voltaire's experience from Matthew Henry's? The one filled with joy and contentment, the other filled with anguish and despair. And what made the difference? The attitude of these two men to the Word of God. One loved it and the other despised it. I'm not saying if you're

neglecting it that you're despising it. What I am saying is that if you're neglecting it, when God wants you to be in it, you're in sin and you're reaping consequences of that, which is a realizing of the withholding of God's grace, a realizing of the restraining power of the evil one is not there. And you're swamped. You're mired. You feel in despair. Asaph felt that until he came into the sanctuary of God,

until he got into the Word of God, until he saw the plan of God. And he was lifted above that. God wants you to obey his will, not just because he's the judge, not just because he's the creator God, but he knows what's best for you. Let's stand together. As we close this morning, maybe you're at that point where you want to start over again with the Lord and with that purposing.

To spend time with him, not to crank out Bible study, not to crank out time, not to just be doing it out of duty, although there, I don't see anything wrong with beginning, understanding the obligation that's there. You do everything else that way. You spend time with your wife and kids that way. If today's a day you want a purpose to begin that with the Lord, then let's do that as we close out. If you want to come down and kneel at the altar and just spend some time with

the Lord, that's fine as we close. I've even closed a little bit early today, so you have time to do that. Just spend some time in prayer with the Lord and make that the priority of your week that you want to spend that time with him. I've mentioned before, things are so hectic. It's because we're in the last days. It will not ease up. It's only going to get more intense. The pressures are only going

to get higher. The area of job difficulty is only going to increase. I don't want to be pessimistic. I'm just telling you that's what the word says is going to happen in the last days, but we're not to be of the world or of darkness, but you and I are of the light, children of the day, that these things might not overtake us as the Lord's preparing to receive us. We're not to be of the

return. We need to be spending time with him. Father, you've shown us, Lord, the things in this section of James that are eye-opening, and I pray revealing to our own lives and our own spiritual condition. Father, we don't want to neglect the blessing of the opportunity to spend with you, and when the enemy lumps that spending of time with you as just part of another schedule of the day that we can take or change or leave, then we're missing out on the very life breath of our God.

So, Father, I pray this week that in each of our hearts, you would give us that desire for you. You would cause us to see the need for you that is as the deer pants for the water, that as we're thirsty and we just are consumed with getting a drink to quench the thirst. So, Lord, this week, we would be consumed with the desire to spend time with you, and that as each one does that this week, Father, we might find such a refreshing time, such an encouraging time with you, such an evident story. Strengthening of our being, Lord, that it begins that time that will not be broken.

Strengthen your church for the days ahead, I pray. Let us see and taste that the Lord is good. It's in Jesus' name that I pray.