sermon for tomorrow 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?[a] 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”[b] james does not mince words. the reason for fighting is that selfishness and rebellion against God. why are there fights because you fight because you do not get what you want. so you will do all kinds of crazy things to try to get your way. we even start to pray crazy prayers with the intent of getting God to do what we want him to do
but instead if we would ask God...and what are we to ask for? From the LORD's Prayer
May you receive glory
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
Give us our daily bread,Forgive us we give forgiveness,Lead us not into temptation then we will understand that god has a purpose for our life, and he mostly wants us to trust him. so the question i have today is, what will we ask god for? dont give me riches, i may forget you gave it to me. dont give me poverty, i may be tempted to steal. instead give me just what i need
do you remember the story of the Israelites making their way through the desert. every day they got manna. just enough for that day, except on friday they got enough for friday and saturday.
and if they tried to store up more, it would get ruined. we can learn so much from this as a church.
God gives us each out own path to walk. Sometimes we think it would be more fun to walk someone elses path. We get jealous. Like a two year old. rules for toys If I have it, its mine
If I was playing with it earlier today, its mine
If I put it down, and you pick it up, but I still want it, its mine
If you are playing with it, but I want it, its mine The problem comes when we apply these rules to adulthood. If I have it, its mine,
If I had it at any point in my life, it should still be mine
If I give it away, and want it back, its mine
If it belongs to you, but I really want it, its mine. I deserve it. So then we pray twisted prayers - dear God, I really want that...give it to me. God doesn't answer, so we take it a set further we turn to the world. and in so doing we become enemies to God. That is what James says. To be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God. I read a quote this week. We no longer plant churches in America. We create worship services. And a friend added "we don't even plant worship services, we create entertainment centers." How do we avoid this? We recognize that we are fighting a battle. A battle that begins inside. We want something. Sometimes it is even a good thing. But God withholds it, so we get mad. We pout. We stomp. We get grumpy. All the while we are not realizing that God has put us here for a reason. There is a lesson to learn. And if we will humble ourselves, and pray that his will would be done, then the situation we are in becomes bearable. It becomes a place of joy and peace. We root out the bitter root, and begin to experience the deeper life we all long for.
Church is a place not to be entertained, but to experience God, to enter his presence. When we come in with that attitude, the differences between us are no longer a big deal. God calls us to unity. Let us ask him to lead us.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?[a] 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”[b] james does not mince words. the reason for fighting is that selfishness and rebellion against God. why are there fights because you fight because you do not get what you want. so you will do all kinds of crazy things to try to get your way. we even start to pray crazy prayers with the intent of getting God to do what we want him to do
but instead if we would ask God...and what are we to ask for? From the LORD's Prayer
May you receive glory
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
Give us our daily bread,Forgive us we give forgiveness,Lead us not into temptation then we will understand that god has a purpose for our life, and he mostly wants us to trust him. so the question i have today is, what will we ask god for? dont give me riches, i may forget you gave it to me. dont give me poverty, i may be tempted to steal. instead give me just what i need
do you remember the story of the Israelites making their way through the desert. every day they got manna. just enough for that day, except on friday they got enough for friday and saturday.
and if they tried to store up more, it would get ruined. we can learn so much from this as a church.
God gives us each out own path to walk. Sometimes we think it would be more fun to walk someone elses path. We get jealous. Like a two year old. rules for toys If I have it, its mine
If I was playing with it earlier today, its mine
If I put it down, and you pick it up, but I still want it, its mine
If you are playing with it, but I want it, its mine The problem comes when we apply these rules to adulthood. If I have it, its mine,
If I had it at any point in my life, it should still be mine
If I give it away, and want it back, its mine
If it belongs to you, but I really want it, its mine. I deserve it. So then we pray twisted prayers - dear God, I really want that...give it to me. God doesn't answer, so we take it a set further we turn to the world. and in so doing we become enemies to God. That is what James says. To be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God. I read a quote this week. We no longer plant churches in America. We create worship services. And a friend added "we don't even plant worship services, we create entertainment centers." How do we avoid this? We recognize that we are fighting a battle. A battle that begins inside. We want something. Sometimes it is even a good thing. But God withholds it, so we get mad. We pout. We stomp. We get grumpy. All the while we are not realizing that God has put us here for a reason. There is a lesson to learn. And if we will humble ourselves, and pray that his will would be done, then the situation we are in becomes bearable. It becomes a place of joy and peace. We root out the bitter root, and begin to experience the deeper life we all long for.
Church is a place not to be entertained, but to experience God, to enter his presence. When we come in with that attitude, the differences between us are no longer a big deal. God calls us to unity. Let us ask him to lead us.
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