Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: My decisions have to align themselves with God's plan, so that I can have peace of mind, so that I can flow with it. And when disappointment comes, it's not going to destroy me; it is going to make me look up to God and reach for God instead of reaching for something that is phony.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today's lesson continues our series in the book of James, and we're glad you've joined us. Pointing to the shortness of life on this earth, Raul will challenge you to give God full control of your days. When you make the choice to trust the Lord with your future, he will direct your steps in his perfect, loving will and bless you with rich eternal blessings. Let's listen as Raul Ries begins our study in James chapter four.

Raul Ries: James is now going to give us a great example, not only of boastful statements, but he's going to tell us how we cannot make plans apart from the will of God. Maybe you're planning a trip. You can do that. Sometimes people call me a year before or two years before to actually put it on my calendar: "Can you come and speak here? Can you do this? Can you do that?" And I'll say sure.

But I also let them know, I might not be here. If I die, I die, who cares, right? I'll be booked up in heaven, just close me out. But it's amazing how we can make plans for a year, two years, 10 years, 15 years, and yet we don't even know if we have 24 hours left. Think about it. When is the last time that you went home and you said, "You know what? I wonder if I'll stop breathing tonight. I gotta stay awake to make sure I don't stop breathing"?

How many of you have lost sleep concerning that? None of you. And yet there are people in hospitals and in homes that have to have a little machine to keep them breathing or they would die. Think about it. We're not in control; God's in control. Get that in your minds. You're not in control, I am not in control. God has ways of breaking people. God has so many ways of breaking people. Why? Because he wants to align you with his perfect will so that he can use you and he can bless you.

He's the only one that can lead and warn about tomorrow if we constantly are in check with him for his perfect will. That's why we get up in the mornings and we spend time with God. Lord, if this is thy will, awesome. I want to follow it. When we go to bed at night: "Lord, if you allow me to go through this night, tomorrow whatever happens, you already have a plan for me, I will line myself up to do whatever you want me to do." But most people don't think like that.

Most people don't plan their life according to God's will; most people plan their life according to their will. And when it doesn't work out, what happens? Disappointment and bitterness. God is in charge. God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And maybe tonight James, perhaps, is addressing himself through the scriptures to many of us here tonight. Because we thought we were in control and we're not. We're not, not for one moment.

My plans have to be God's plans. My decisions have to align themselves with God's plan, so that I can have peace of mind, so that I can flow with it. And when disappointment comes, it's not going to destroy me; it is going to make me look up to God and reach for God instead of reaching for something that is phony. That's the way it works in this life. That's why God is in control. Check this out in verse 13 of chapter four as we continue our study in this chapter.

The complexity of life. Notice this. Verse 13: "Come now," or literally, "you come now, believers who say, you who are saying today and tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a great profit or make a lot of money." Isn't that the attitude of the world? Yes, it is. And it's the attitude of a lot of people in the church. A lot of Christians. Remember, he's talking to Christians; he's not talking to the world.

Someone has said if you're planning something, don't leave God out. Make sure God's in it. Because if God's not in it, he can't bless it. When you make your plans, align yourself with God's plans. If the Lord wills, I will do it. And if not, whatever God desires, I will do that. And we think we know better than God and what happens is it gets us into a place of great frustration. I mean, who can argue or who can fight against God? Nobody. Not one person.

God, why is it that you're taking my father or taking my mother or you took my son? We don't know; God knows. God knows, God makes the plans. We can make plans too, but we have to make our plans according to his will. We have to put that word "if the Lord wills." Remember that. "If the Lord wills." Very important word. Because if we don't do that, you will be disappointed. You will get bitter towards God.

And this is why James is writing this great epistle here. Because this is what most people say, and yet God interrupts our lives at any time that he wants to. We're not in control; he is in full control of my life. I was asking a lot of questions. Why did a lot of guys in our platoon die and I didn't die? When I went to the wall in Vietnam, I saw those names. Why didn't I die? I was wounded twice, should have died. God had other plans.

And yet when you look at your own personal life like that, then you know that God has a purpose. And those that he takes home early that we love in the Lord, he knows what could happen in the future and sometimes he cuts it short to spare them and to take them right now while they're walking with the Lord. He knows what he's doing. God is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. That's what the scripture says.

And yet there are so many people that are saying, "Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, and buy and sell and make a profit." The word that he uses here, "spend a year there," is "do a year there." And then the profit is how much money can I make, how much money can I get. The whole deal is about money, prosperity. He's talking to rich people here. How the rich are always worried about their money, how much more millions can I make.

But this is true and it can be with the poor too. Doesn't matter who you really are. The Lord knows what he's doing, the Lord knows what he's going to do in each one of our lives, and we have to be open to the Holy Spirit to see what he really wants to do. Look at secondly at verse 14: the uncertainty and brevity of life. We have no assurance for tomorrow. Number one: man's plans are always tentative. Secondly: life is not his own. And thirdly: time is not his own.

That's just the way it is. We gotta get that in our brains. Check this out. Verse 14: "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life?" Here's the question. What is your life? A lot of people think a lot of their life. Ask them that question: what is your life? And then give them the biblical answer: "It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." Have you ever seen vapor? How quick does it vanish away?

You're 10 years old and now you're 60 years old and then 70 years old and then you're gone. Where's life? Quickly. But what do people do? They like to boast. They like to boast about themselves. And here James, in this great statement, is based on the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 27:1 says: "Boast not yourself of tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth." How do you know tomorrow you're not going to get killed on the freeway or your house is going to burn down or you're going to come up with cancer?

We don't know what's there for tomorrow. We gotta thank God for today. And that's why the scripture says that we need to live one day at a time. We can make plans; nothing wrong with planning. But we have to be realistic. I might not be here next Wednesday. The Lord may take me home this week. We have to be real in order to know that God is in full control.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. It's our joy to help you walk more closely in step with God as you grow in your knowledge of his word. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of Bible-based resources. You can also download our free app for convenient access to more studies in the word of God. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Here James is talking to these businessmen and rich people that were making plans for a whole year when they couldn't even see one day. They couldn't even see one day. And think of all the people in the world that have been disappointed because their plans never worked out. Think of even people that plan on retirement but they never make it to retirement. Or somebody will work 30 years, retire, and in one week they're dead. It happens all the time.

We have to be sure "if the Lord wills." That's the key. If the Lord wills. Because people today still do that. They make their plans and they're not aligned with God's plans. We have to be in God's perfect will. They were saying, "We will go, we will stay a year, we will buy, we will sell, we will make a lot of money." Remember the parable in Luke's Gospel chapter 12, verses 16 to 21, the rich young ruler. He made it big in the world and he became so rich, he says, "Man, I'm going to build bigger barns."

And a voice came and said, "Thou fool, tonight I require your soul from you. You're done. Everything will be spent by others. You won't spend it." That's why we have to be wise with our time and money. It's God's; it's not yours. He gave it to us as an investment. Every day the time that you spend is an investment. Think of all the employers that are being cheated by their employees in lacking in work. Too many breaks, too much talk, playing around, but not really working.

And then there's others that work, they don't take extra breaks, extra lunch breaks, whatever it is, but they do their job and what happens? God honors them. And people hate them. People hate them because they have integrity. Please don't forget we're going to stand before God one day and give an account of our lives for our time and our money and everything we do. The Bible says that. That's why it's so important what James is saying to us here.

That rich man said, "I will say to my soul: soul, you have much goods laid up for many years. Kick back, retire, take cruises, fly here, go to Hawaii, go to Fiji." Imagine that. And what does he say to them? "Thou fool, this night your soul will be required from you. You're done." It's over. I had a call this week on Monday going down to the gym, the guy that works out with us, and he called me and he said, "I can't make it, my brother-in-law died last night. 49 years old. Gone."

He didn't go to bed that night saying, "You know what? I think I'm going to die tonight." No, he didn't say that. Nobody does. People just go to bed and some wake up and some don't wake up anymore. You never know when your last breath will come. Your last business transaction, you don't know when it's going to be. The last time you'll hug and kiss your children or your parents. It's a done deal. God's in full control of my life.

Thirdly, watch this. Verse 15: obeying God's will. He says in verse 15, notice James' statement now: "Instead you ought to say," mark this, "if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or do that." I love that. We should memorize that. Make a mark of it in your Bible. This is the way we should be every single day of our lives. If the Lord wills, we shall live, we will do this or that. Getting married, going to work, going on vacation, whatever we do, it should be if the Lord wills, according to God's will.

No Christian is independent of God. No believer is independent of God or from God. We are connected to God and we have to be accountable to God in everything we say, everything we do. Why? Because this should be a constant attitude with every believer. Paul here refers to the will of God as he shared in plans with his friends in the book of Romans chapter 1, verse 10. Paul says: "Making request if by some means now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you."

He was in prison. If the Lord allows me to come out of jail, I'll come and see you according to the will of God. Romans 15:32, he says: "That I, Paul, may come to you with joy by the will of God and may be refreshed together with you." And First Corinthians 4:19, Paul again: "But I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up but the power." And then in chapter 16, verse 7 he says: "For I do not wish to see you now on the way but I hope to stay a while with you if the Lord permits it."

Notice if the Lord, if the Lord, if the Lord. We gotta brainwash our minds with that: if the Lord. When we talk to people, if the Lord wills, I'll be there. What a testimony that is. We don't know. We don't know if we're going to be there or not. And yet some people really assure themselves: "Oh, I'll be there, don't worry about that, no matter rain or shine I'll be there." Okay, we'll see. But yet God is so good to each one of us individually, the way he treats our lives and the way he actually proves himself.

And yet God wants his will to be done. Remember what he said in Romans chapter 12, verse 2? He said: "And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Again, the will of God. The perfect will of God. And then what? We must do God's will from the heart. Ephesians 6:6 says: "Not with eyeservice we serve as men-pleasers but as bondservants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart."

And then check this out. This is amazing. Verse 16: the frailty of man. "But now you boast in your arrogance, all such boasting is evil." He's rebuking them. He's rebuking any person that is boasting about tomorrow. Those that are out of God's will. Notice that. You're boasting in something that you really do not know. He says here literally the word "but" here, it says: "The fact is now you boast," or the word in Greek here used for boast is "big mouth." That's what it is.

Big mouth. He says, "But now you big mouth in your arrogance or arrogant bragging, all such boasting is evil before God." Remember Psalm 53:1: "The fool had said in his heart there is no God." Interesting. And yet think of how many people are boasting only to cover their weaknesses. Solomon said in Proverbs 16:33: "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." You see? You can cast the lots, but the Lord calls the shots. It's not by luck. God knows what he's doing.

Men cannot control future events; God does. And yet for man to boast is to sin and to make himself God. "I'm God. I'm in control of my life." Really? I don't think so. Remember that was the sin of Satan, the sin of pride when he fell. We have to be careful not to become boastful in that way, but we need to be careful to be humble. If the Lord wills, we'll do this, we'll do that. We need to submit to the perfect will of God.

And then finally verse 17: disobeying God's will. He says, "Therefore because of all this, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him is sin." Whoa. This is good for all of us tonight. Check this out what he says here. We need to stick to God's word. We cannot go outside of God's word. Because here he's given us not only insight, but he's making us responsible. Literally let me read it to you this way: "Now that I have pointed the matter out to you, you have no excuse of obeying God."

Now that you know "if the Lord wills," I will do this and I will not do that. I want to align myself with the perfect will of God and his word. And if I don't do that, then I'm in deep trouble. Why? I'm full of pride. Man loves to boast that he is the master of his fate and captain of his soul. Is he? No, he's not. God's in control. Full control of each one of our lives individually and outwardly and in every way, my friends.

And then finally let me give you just a little exhortation here. This is so amazing because of Paul the Apostle. The mark of a true Christian is what? Reading the Bible? Well, it could be. Praying? Oh, it could be. But truly the mark of a true Christian is to do God's will. To be obedient. That's the true mark of the child of the light, the child of God.

Guest (Male): Acknowledging a lack of control over the future can be scary, but as we've seen today, that's an all-important first step in surrendering to the loving care and perfect will of God. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We've made today's study available to you in its unedited form for a donation of five dollars or more. To get your copy just call us at 800-634-9165 and when you contact us mention today's study from James chapter four verses 13 through 17.

Now as you consider the decision to fully entrust your life to the Lord, we'd like to tell you about Raul's new series titled Traits of a Christian. It's an eight-part study that's available on both CD and flash drive, with each lesson underscoring God's faithfulness to direct, provide, correct, and strengthen you in all of your ups and downs as you daily submit to him. Connect with us at somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's eight-message series titled Traits of a Christian. We'll send you the flash drive for just 12 dollars, or if you prefer the CD collection for 22 dollars.

That's 800-634-9165. You can also write to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. You're a blessing to us and we're thankful for every gift you give. Your partnership is essential. Join us next time as we return to the book of James to contemplate a very practical way we can show our love for God. We'll see that our financial decisions reflect the true state of our hearts before the Lord, and no matter how many zeros are in our bank accounts, we can all invest in eternity. That's next time on Somebody Loves You Radio.

This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.