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June 25 - James 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday, it is the 25th of
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  June and you and I are gathering together to put down the hectic
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  pace of the day. Well, maybe your days aren't
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  hectic. Gee, that sounds nice, but to
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  put down whatever your day looks like and to say God, you are
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  welcome in our day as we open up His Word and we allow His Spirit
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  to move inside of us and share something of Him as we continue
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  to read through the book of James.
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  How fantastic. I don't know how long you've
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  been doing this with me. It might be a long time or you
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  might have just joined in, but whoever you are, wherever you
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  are, how many of there you are. Is that even correct English as
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  you gather around the wireless, the iPod.
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  These aren't even things that he went.
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  No one has iPods anymore, do they?
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  The iPhone kind of killed our poor iPod.
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  Ohhh. I still have a very old limited
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  edition U2 iPod from I'm going to stay close to 20 years ago.
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  It's it's a beauty, but now it's more of a a paperweight that I
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  enjoy. But whatever it is that you are
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  gathering around the car stereo, the Bluetooth speaker.
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  Great to have your company today.
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  Whether you just do this a couple of days a week or you are
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  a religious listener, pun intended everyday friends.
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  It's so good to have your company because we are going to
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  continue this journey, reading through this practical manual
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  for living that James gives us. So let's do it, shall we?
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  Let us continue with what we are here to do reading together.
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  James Chapter 4. What is causing the quarrels and
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  fights among you that they come from?
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  The evil desires that 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 are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so
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  you fight and wage war to take it 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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  Ah, 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, God
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  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.
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  If you criticise and judge each other, then you are 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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  O 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 we'll stay there a year, we will do
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  business there and make a profit.
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  How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?
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  Your life is like the morning fog.
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  It's here a little while, then it's gone.
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  What you ought to say is, if the Lord wants us to, we will live
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  and do this or that. Otherwise, you are boasting
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  about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is
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  evil. Remember, it is sin to know what
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  you ought to do and then not do it.
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  Our Lord Jesus, it is so easy to claim the driver's seat of our
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  lives. The world tells us to sit in
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  that seat and to take hold of our destiny and go forward
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  boldly. Ah, but here you tell us that
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  friendship with the world makes an enemy of you because it's not
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  us, ultimately, who was in that driver's seat.
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  And James tells us so clearly that we need you to be the
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  driver. We need to let you be the judge
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  and not take on that role ourselves and that we need to
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  let you hold the future and not try and control everything with
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  their own selfish desires. So Lord Jesus, we unbuckle our
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  seat belt, we open our door and we climb out of the driver's
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  seat. Please, please take residence in
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  that seat as we settle into the passenger seat and knowing that
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  you guide our lives with your immense wisdom and kindness and
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  love and righteousness and justice.
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  You are so much better than us at this.
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  And so we relinquish control and hand our lives to you, our holy,
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  holy Saviour and God, and we pray all of this, and we offer
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  all of this to you and your name, Jesus.
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  Ah, man.