James 4
October 6, 2020
Happy Day, it’s Tuesday! So grateful for the chance to study with you. This is chapter 4 of 5 in James. Very up close and in your face. I hope we all walk away from this changed people.
James 4 in The Message
Get Serious
1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.
Forgive me, Lord, yes, these words are true. Thank You for all the times You still spend with me despite all the selfishness that still remains. Keep clearing it out, Lord, keep working on and in me. And not just me, but the family You gave me too. There’s not a one of us who doesn’t need You desperately.
Wars are __________________ where do quarrels come from?
Willing to kill… remember, anger kills. Sin leads to death. But anger kills. You don’t actually have to take someone’s life to kill something inside them.
That’s why Ephesians 4:3 says “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
And 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
Wow, two verses in and we’ve already traveled through other books. Let’s return to James 4 now.
The rest of verse 2 and 3:
You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
James 4:3 NIV
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
The why matters. We don’t want to be ‘spoiled children’ we want to be powerful, faithful, and full of the Spirit. When you want, stop and examine yourself. Why do you want something? We are so very blessed and He will give whatever we ask for if we’re asking according to His will.
Read James 4:4-6 MSG
James 4:4 NIV
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
What He gives in love is _______________________ than ________________ else you’ll find.
Read James 4:7-10
Let God work his _______ in you. Purify your _________ ______. Get ___________, really ____________. Get down on your _______ before the Master; it’s the only ______ you’ll get _____ _______ ________.
Read James 4:11-12
I’m fairly certain we never think of this in the heat of the moment. Yet even that term, the heat of the moment, is worldly, not godly.
Who do you think you are to __________ in the _________ of ________?
It is so totally true, the tongue has the power of life or death. Speak life.
Read James 4:13-15
Nothing but a Wisp of Fog
Proverbs 27:1 NIV
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Read James 4:16-17
As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.
James 4:16-17 NIV
As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Forgive us, Lord. Thank You for new mercies every morning and for multiple second chances. Lord, I ask that this chapter has sunk deep within all of us and we would come away wholly new and further drawn to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.