Choosing Your Destiny | James Pt 10 | Mike Prah Sermons

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CHOOSING YOUR DESTINY
JAMES: PRACTICAL GRACE-FILLED LIVING Series- Pt 10
James 4:13-17 | Mike Prah | August 7, 2022

“I set before you today life and prosperity, or death and destruction. … If you love the Lord your God and walk in His ways, and keep His commands, then you’ll live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you … BUT if your hearts turn away from Me …you will not live long … I have set before you life or death, blessings or curses.  Now CHOOSE LIFE, so that you and your children may live!”  Deuteronomy 30:15-19 (NIV)

 “Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and [we will] make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.” 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” James 4:13-17 (NLT)

 COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID & THE SOLUTIONS

 MISTAKE #1: MAKING PLANS WITHOUT GOD

 “You who say, “Today or tomorrow WE ARE GOING to a certain town and WILL stay there a year. WE WILL do business there and [WE WILL] make a profit.” James 4:13 (NLT)

 “What king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? Luke 14:31 (NLT)

 “If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job.” Luke 14:28 (GN)

 “A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn’t and even brags about it!” Proverbs 13:16 (LB)

 SOLUTION: TO HAVE GOD’S BLESSING, I MUST INVOLVE GOD IN MY PLANS

 “Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:15 (NIV)

 “We may make our plans, but God has the last word.  You may think everything you do is right, but the Lord judges your motives.  Ask the Lord to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out.  Everything the Lord has made has its DESTINY!” Proverbs 16:1-4a (GN)

 “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”  Proverbs. 16:9 (NLT)

 “Your road led by a pathway through the sea—a pathway no one knew was there!” Psalm 77:19 (LB)

 MISTAKE #2: PRESUMING ABOUT THE FUTURE

 “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. … you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.”  James 4:14 & 16 (NLT)

 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”  Proverbs 27:1 (NIV)

 SOLUTION: LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME!

“So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” Matthew 6:34 (LB)

 “I am trusting You, O Lord, You are my God! My future is in your hands.” Psalm 31:14-15 (NLT)

 MISTAKE #3: PUTTING OFF DOING WHAT’S RIGHT  

   “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James 4:17 (NIV)

 “For I was hungry and you wouldn’t feed me; thirsty, and you wouldn’t give me anything to drink; a stranger, and you refused me hospitality; naked, and you wouldn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.” Matthew 25:42-43 (NLT)

 SOLUTION:  WHATEVER IT IS, DO IT NOW WHILE YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY!

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you.” Proverbs 3:27-28 (NIV)

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