What are some of the areas of your life that you try to control?

The Pressure to Be in Control

James 4:13-17

What are some of the areas of your life that you try to control?

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The Pressure to Be in Control

James 4:13-17

• James 4:13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."

I. Planning Without God

• They choose their own time - today or tomorrow• They choose their own location - this or that city• They choose their own duration - spend a year there• They choose their own enterprise - carry on business• They chose their own goal - make money

I. Planning Without God

II. Ultimate Reality

• James 4:14 Why, 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.

II. Ultimate Reality

• You Can’t Know the Future

• You Don’t Know When You’ll Die – Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

III. Planning God’s Way

• James 4:15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.“

• “If it is the Lord’s will…”– Acts 18:21 But as he left, he promised, "I will come

back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.– 1 Corinthians 4:19 But I will come to you very soon, if

the Lord is willing…– John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to

do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

III. Planning God’s Way

• Proverbs 14:22 Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.

1. Be the person God wants you to be2. Plan with “ultimate reality” in mind3. Hold you plans with an open hand

IV. The Real Problem: A Wrong View of God

• James 4:16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

IV. The Real Problem: A Wrong View of God

• 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

V. The Real Solution: Do God’s Will

• James 4:17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

V. The Real Solution: Do God’s Will

• Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

Personal Application