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November 4 - James 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it's Tuesday.
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  It's the 4th of November and if you are in Australia, today is
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  the day where we have a little horse race that stops the
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  nation. Quite literally everyone stops,
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  turns on the telly and cheers on some random horse that they got
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  in the sweep at work. Or you might be way more
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  sophisticated than I am, but what I think is brilliant is
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  that not only is this this day that everyone pays attention to
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  the industry of horse racing, but it's also use your common
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  sense day. Isn't that a perfect
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  combination? So use your common sense, folks.
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  And in case you're wondering, Gee, what should I be doing?
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  Well, that's why we're reading through the book of James.
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  That's a pretty poor Segway, but we're going to work with it.
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  We are going to read today about drawing closer to God and about
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  not judging. Other peoples are being overly
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  confident. So if you're wanting some good
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  common sense, I reckon this is even better than common sense.
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  This is godly sense. So with all that said and done,
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  Holy Spirit, open up our hearts so that we can hear your word
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  and be guided by your truth. Let's do it, friends.
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  Let us read together James chapter 4.
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  What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?
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  Don't they come from the evil desire at war within you?
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  You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it.
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  You were jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so
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  you fight and wage war to take it away from them.
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  Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for
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  it. And even when you ask, you don't
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  get it because your motives are all wrong.
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  You want only what will give you pleasure.
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  You adulterers, don't you realise that friendship with the
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  world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, if you want to
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  be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
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  Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning?
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  They say that God is passionate, that the Spirit He has placed
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  within us should be faithful to Him, and he gives grace
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  generously, as the Scriptures say.
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  God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
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  So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will
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  flee from you. Come close to God and God will
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  come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners.
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  Purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God
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  and the world. Let there be tears for what you
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  have done. Let there be sorrow and deep
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  grief. Let there be sadness instead of
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  laughter and gloom instead of joy.
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  Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up in
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  honour. Don't speak evil against each
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  other. Dear brothers and sisters, if
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  you criticise and judge each other, then you're criticising
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  and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law,
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  not to judge whether it applies to you.
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  God alone, who gave the law is the judge.
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  He alone has the power to save or to destroy.
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  So what right do you have to judge your neighbour?
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  Look here, you who say today or tomorrow we are going to a
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  certain town and will stay there a year, we will do business
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  there and make a profit. How do you know what your life
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  will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning
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  fog. It's here a little while, then
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  it's gone. What you ought to say is, if the
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  Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.
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  Otherwise you were boasting about your own pretentious
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  plans, and all such boasting is evil.
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  Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do
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  it. Oh Jesus, what confronting
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  scripture we read today because we are confronted with the fact
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  that our world is so different from your priorities and the
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  constant osmosis that changes us because of the world that we
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  live in. We need to push back against.
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  Friendship with the world is not friendship with you.
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  So Jesus, I pray that today you help us choose friendship with
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  you. You help us choose that way of
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  humility rather than self confidence and pride, that way
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  of generosity rather than the way of criticism and judgement.
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  We want to be your people, bringing about your ways in this
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  broken world. Help us continually find our
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  identity in you, Jesus, as your brother or sister, as a child of
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  the living God, not of the citizen of the space in which we
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  live, in this temporal world that will be gone like the
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  morning fog disappears. You are eternal, loving,
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  righteous and wonderful God. We commit ourselves to you.
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  And pray all of this in your precious name, Jesus, Amen.