Planning the Future with God at the Center

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle

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Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her king.

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Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry, and today

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I'm glad to be with you. I guess I'm glad to be with you every day. Glad to be alive, and I'd like to talk today.

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I'd like to preach about today. I'd like to speak to you today about what God told me last night in my dreams.

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I've been having some real doozies, I'll tell you that much. I don't know if it's what I'm eating at the very end of the night.

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I kind of like to have some frozen blueberries at the end of the night with a little bit of fat -free half and half and some

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Truvia on top. Mix it all up. It tastes good, but boy, that really gives you wild dreams.

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So, by the way, I remember Richard Baxter said, the famous semi -Puritan pastor from Kidderminster, England, when asked this question,

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I found his response interesting. What if you sin, they ask him, Pastor Richard, what if you sin in your dreams?

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Do you have to repent of those sins? And what would you say? Well, what

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Richard Baxter said was, if you're putting horrible things into your mind right before you go to bed, contemporary culture, if you're reading pornography before you go to bed and reading things that you ought not to or some horrible movie, and then you dream about some kind of something similar in the night that would be sinful, then that would be shame on you.

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So repent of those things earlier, and then your unconscious will not have anything to use.

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Okay, back to the show. No Compromise Radio. I'd like to talk about self -reliance today.

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Travel planning, living in light of God, the sovereign king. When you hear this,

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I'll probably already be back, but I was planning the trip to Israel and Egypt this year for No Compromise Radio ministry,

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Bethlehem Bible Church, Omaha Bible Church. There's about 35 people going. By the way, in two years, we're gonna be planning in February of 2013, mark your calendars, the

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Paul's Second Missionary Journeys cruise. I think we're gonna do that. So sign up now, send in your shekels.

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I guess there are no shekels there where Paul was. Send in your euros. Would even not be euros in 2013.

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But we are planning on going to Israel for about nine days, and then a few days extension down to the

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Sinai, Red Sea, and then the pyramids and Cairo. Well, as you know, all the stuff going on with Egypt, and for discretion being the better part of valor, we had to cancel that trip, plus you can't fly out of Cairo.

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So we had to change things. And we need to live, you need to live, in light of God's sovereign hand.

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It is good to make plans. It is good to work. It is good to be thorough. It's good to save.

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It's good to plan for the future. But God alone knows the future. He knows alone what will happen the next moment, hour, day, year, et cetera.

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And we are a people who are full of independence, who are full of get up and go, who are full of self -reliance.

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We stand on our own two feet, and that's what we try to do. We are people who go for the gold.

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We are the captain of our own ships. We are an island. We are Marlboro men. We are

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Virginia Slims ladies. And we suck the marrow out of life, and we are too prideful.

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And therefore, when we're prideful, we become dependent upon ourself, and we don't live in the light of God's sovereign hand.

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And James chapter four addresses that very issue. Reminds me of the story about the battle of the wilderness in the

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Civil War. Union General John Sedwick was inspecting his troops.

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At one point, he came to a parapet over which he gazed out in the direction of the enemy. His officer suggested that this was unwise, and perhaps he ought to duck while passing the parapet.

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"'Nonsense,' snapped the general. "'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.'"

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And before he could say the word distance, he was fatally wounded. And so pride does come before the fall.

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We don't say as Christians very often, "'I hate you, God,' or, "'God, how could you?'

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But sometimes we just forget God. It's just leaving God out of our plans. So how about your plans for the day?

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Are you saying to yourself, Lord willing, I'll get these things done? The plans,

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I still have plans to go to Israel. I leave tomorrow as I'm taping this show, but I don't know if I'm gonna actually make it there or not.

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These are the plans. You can read in Proverbs chapter 19 about, and you know, we have many plans, but the

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Lord himself directs our steps. And so we today at No Compromise Radio want you to look at James four to see the sin of self -sufficiency, and then see the joy and see the pleasure of trusting in Jesus Christ, the all -sufficient one.

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If you have a day timer, what does your day timer look like? And have you planned those days in light of God's sovereignty?

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I always remember George Whitefield when asked, if Jesus were going to come back next week, what would you do?

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And he handed the person his little paper day timer on his schedule of what he would do because he's living in light of the soon return of Christ, and he didn't have to change anything.

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Boy, that would be a great way to live. If Jesus was coming back in a week, what would you do differently? For Whitefield, he wouldn't do anything differently.

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For me, for you, we probably had a lot of things we should change. And so today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, we are going to look at self -sufficiency, self -dependence, selfishness, which all comes from or leads to pride.

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You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. You can go to the website, nocompromiseradio .com.

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It's being updated regularly now, so you can take a look at some of those graphics and your friends over there. You can go to iTunes and get a podcast,

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No Compromise Radio, or you can listen on WVNE 760. Lots of listeners, lots of friends on,

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I guess you can look at Facebook too, lots of friends on Facebook. And so we today want to deal with self -sufficiency and planning for the future.

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So listen to James. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we'll go to such and such and city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.

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And James says, come on now. With attention getting exclamation, with pointed words, the people that say this, it's time for a wake up call.

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You've got your whole life plan, your whole day plan, your whole week plan, five -year plan, 10 -year plan, one -year plan for my life.

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You are so precise in your details. You've got it all worked out. You're a perfectionist.

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You're a detailed person. You who say that, you need to remember that God is sovereign.

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You're not sovereign. It's good to plan, but it's best to plan in light of the sovereignty of God.

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And this particular person that James is talking to kind of has just a bragging self -assurance.

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There's too self -confident. I'm going to go to this city. You can almost see him pointing to a map. And I'm going to spend this amount of time there, one year.

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And then I'm going to engage in business. I'm going to make a lot of money. This is the profit I'm going to make. And I'm going to do

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X, Y, and Z. James is going to try to correct that person and say, of course, plan.

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Of course, work hard. Of course, have some kind of scheme for what you're going to do and how you're going to provide for your family.

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But James says, I want you to mix business with religion. I want you to mix planning with religion.

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I do not want you to take God for granted. I do not want you to have a self -confident, presumptuous attitude.

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Proverbs 16, the plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the

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Lord. How about consulting the Lord? How about having the attitude that if the Lord changes your plans, that's fine?

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It's like these people scurrying to get on an airplane, begging to get on, and then they can't get on.

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They're screaming at the people, the attendants there, and then that plane crashes. You know, if I make it

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Israel, I make it Israel. If I don't, I don't. The plane's canceled, it's canceled. I mean, what am I going to do? I'm not in charge of the world.

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I'm not in charge of Egypt. I'm not in charge of the universe. This is like the rich young ruler who began to say all kinds of things.

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Not the rich young ruler, the rich man in the parable in Luke chapter 12. I've got all these things

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I'm going to do, and I'm going to eat, and I'm going to drink, and I'm going to be merry. That's what I say to my soul.

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You've many goods laid up for many years. But God said to him, you fool. This very night, your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared?

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So we've got to take God into account for our planning, for our career, for our home, for our children.

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Why? Number one, because life is unpredictable. Look at verse 14. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

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You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. This guy had his year planned out, how much money he was going to make planned out, to what city he was going to planned out.

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And James says, you don't even know what your life is going to be like tomorrow. How many days have you gotten up and had certain plans and things are just changed.

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Emergencies come up, issues come up. You've got to help someone. Something's happening with you, or you're sick, or car breaks down.

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James says, you don't even know what your life is going to be like tomorrow. God knows.

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See, that's his point. God knows about the details tomorrow. You don't know anything about those details. God knows a future and only

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He knows a future. Proverbs 27, one, do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

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Amen. That is so true. We might not even be around in a year. James says, you're a vapor that appears for a little while, just a little mist, just a little brief thing, just transitory, just a cloud, just a breath, just a lengthened shadow, and then gone.

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It's like the high -pressure life insurance, man. If you don't want to buy a policy now, think about it tonight and call me in the morning if you wake up.

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But that is true. God is eternal. Man is frail and changing.

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I like to go to cemeteries often for lots of reasons, and one is so that this truth is driven home into my mind.

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We count years in our society, birthdays. They were told in Psalm 90, the

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Jews to teach, it says, so teach us to number our what? Days.

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You ought not to count years, although it's not sinful. Count days. We and our self -sufficiency hurt ourselves because we're not relying on God, and his shoulders, as it were, are only large enough to carry our trouble.

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We need to cast our burdens upon the Lord. We can't be self -sufficient. One, life's unpredictable.

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Two, is you're commanded to see God as the only sovereign. Look at James 4, 15.

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Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that. So it picks up where he left off in verse 13.

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He says you should talk in a different way. Instead of being worldly, instead of being arrogant, instead of having all your plans all mapped out perfectly, instead of living life that you think is in a closed system, you have to say, if God wills.

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If the Lord wills. We like to say God -willing. Here, it's actually Lord -willing, kurios, the absolute sovereign, the one who alone has authority, the one who alone is the master, the king, the

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Lord. Don't ignore providence. Don't ignore sovereignty. You ought to pencil in all your plans for the future.

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Why? Because God can change anything he wants. And so God here, through James, says, plan your future, yes, but plan your future with me involved, with the umbrella of the sovereignty of God.

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Your motto, if you're a Christian, ought to be, if. You make plans in the morning, and by the p .m.,

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they're all awry. I remember I had plans to teach a Bible study after Luke was going to be born.

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We'd already had one child and kind of knew the drill, and so Luke was born, where I was gonna say, you know, hello to Luke, make sure everything was fine, stay at the hospital for several hours, and then the night, go home and teach my

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Bible study. Well, when he was born, he almost didn't make it, and so much for the Bible study.

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Things are iffy when it comes to our plans. Only God is sovereign.

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It's good to plan when you recognize the sovereign hand of God in your life and in your future.

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Calvin said this, a fixed principle in their minds that they could do nothing without the permission of God.

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That's the fixed principle that should be in your mind, and you pray, and you say, you know, if God wills,

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Paul did it, Acts 18, I will return to you again if God wills, he set sail for Ephesus.

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1 Corinthians 4, but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills. 1 Corinthians 16,

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I hope to remain with you for some time if the Lord permits. The writer of Hebrews, and this we shall do if God permits.

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The Methodists used to sign their letters with the initials DV, Latin for Dio Valente, God willing.

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And so people say DV. I think the Puritans then pick that up. You need to make sure in a life that is unpredictable that you realize

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God alone is sovereign. Why should you be self -sufficient? Number three, because pride is evil.

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Because pride is evil. When we plan without God, when we plan without recognizing God as sovereign, it is an evil thing.

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Pride jumps up. By the way, you should read The Sovereign of God by Arthur Pink. That would be the book that you should read to confirm in your heart that God is sovereign, that he can take control and can control the future.

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Here, James 4 .16, but as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

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This is the real root of the problem. Pride, arrogance.

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This word arrogance used to describe someone who was a snake oil salesman, some medicinal salesman back in the old day where they boasted of having a cure for something, but it didn't cure them of anything.

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That's what arrogance is. That's what self -confidence is. That's what I am the center of the universe is, this bragging self -centeredness.

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It's wrong to do that. It's wrong to be self -sufficient because it's prideful, it's arrogance.

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Fourth reason not to be self -sufficient. Verse 17, because if you are, it's sin.

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That makes it pretty easy, doesn't it? We're No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Abendroth here. We're talking about the sin of self -sufficiency and how we are dependent upon the

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Lord, and the sooner we recognize that in the morning, the better it is. One more reason why when you get up in the morning, you should read your

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Bible and you should say to yourself and then to the Lord, I am dependent upon you for every good thing.

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For anything that happens today, it's gonna be by your good pleasure, as you will, as only you will, and as often as you will.

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It's wrong to be self -sufficient because it's an unpredictable life. God's only sovereign pride is evil, and it's sin.

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Therefore, verse 17, this is one of those verses taken out of context all too often. To the one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin.

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Let me repeat that. Therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

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So James abruptly switches here to third person, and he says, if you know what's good, you know what's morally excellent, you know what's praiseworthy, which is seeing

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God in the future, planning God to have him in the future, overriding, overseeing everything, not being self -sufficient, recognizing

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God is in charge, recognizing that the life that you live is unpredictable. When you fail to recognize that, you fail to do what you should do in light of that, then it's sinful.

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You miss the mark. He's told you what the truth is. Barclay says he's planted it right before your very eyes.

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So then do it. Don't procrastinate. Delayed obedience is disobedience.

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Procrastination in this is sin. I like this little poem of Gloria Pitzer. Procrastination is my sin.

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It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will. Don't neglect

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God. Be humble. If you'd like to get a new job, a new home, can't say a new wife, go back to school at night, sell things, stocks, investments, finances, small decisions, important decisions, where to live, what to do, just ask the

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Lord for wisdom. Talk to the Lord about it. Seek counsel from the scriptures. And remember, you know, when we think about this, there is a great liberty in submitting.

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You know, when things go wrong, isn't it much better to say, you know, the Lord's in charge of all these things?

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I had the burden of trying to control my life for 29 years as an unbeliever.

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You know how much stress that causes? You know how much angst that causes? When you say,

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Lord, it's just all yours. Take my life, take everything, and help me live in light of who you are.

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That's a stress decreaser. Dependency upon self increases stress.

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And that's true also when you think about your prayer life. When I am stressed out the most, I know I haven't been praying like I should.

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I know I haven't been going to the throne of grace to get help and mercy in time of need like I should.

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One man said, you know, in light of all this, don't overplan because you need to leave room for God to step in.

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I think that's pretty smart. So we live our lives. Should you have a career goal? Sure, but that goal, you say,

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God, you can do whatever you want with it. This is what I'd like to do. I'd like to get done with school, pay off my bills, get a wife, have some kids, do such and such.

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That's fine, but it's all if the Lord wills. That's exactly what we have to do.

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If the Lord wills. And we have to watch out that we never forget that God has veto power.

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He knows what's best. He's sovereign. There are things that happen in the future. We don't know why they happen, but he knows and he knows what's best.

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Father does know best. I don't want you to have it as a catchphrase in your life, but you should regularly say, if the

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Lord wills. And if somebody's sick and you pray for their healing, you know, if the Lord wills, because sometimes he gets more glory when people don't get healed.

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How about this? Some people make their decisions in life and then they say, God, why don't you just bless that for me?

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I made my decision, now bless it. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Lord, should I make this decision and bless me while I'm trying to work through this?

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God is the architect. God is the king. God is not the younger brother to anyone.

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You know, Tolstoy said that. He said he was God's older brother. Lord Melbourne said, things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life.

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See, God is no deist. God is involved. God's hands on. God's a micromanager. God controls every universe.

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He makes everything and the stars. And he wants us to live quorum Deo, before his face.

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Why? Because he loves us and he's a good father and he's adopted us into his kingdom. All motivated by who

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God is, we want to live a life that pleases him. Ligon Duncan said, the gospel message is not that God forgives, but that God forgives at the price of his son.

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So if you're a Christian today, it's not that just God forgave you, but he forgave you at the price of his son.

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And if God has forgiven you of all your sins, past, present, and future, thought, word, and deed, he's forgiven you of every sin of which just one sin could have damned you, should have damned you.

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Then you say, for that, I want to live in light of you properly, in a holy way, in an upright fashion, in a way that recognizes that you're the sovereign, that you're involved in everything.

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I can't breathe without your sovereign grace. I can't exhale without your sovereign grace.

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I can't process food. I can't live another day. I can't have kids. The list goes on and on and on and on.

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And so God wants us to be cognizant of the fact that he is sovereign. He's sovereign whether we think about it or not.

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But it's good for us to bow our heads and hearts to this very fact. So if you're listening to No Compromise Radio Ministry today,

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I think my plans are to be on this radio show through August, at least.

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Maybe we sign up again. Maybe we don't. Maybe I'm off the air in a week.

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I have no idea. We just try to honor God with what we have today, to please him, to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength today as the

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Spirit enables us to do that. And then we let him take care of the rest. There may be no tomorrow for me.

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Coming up on 51 years old, I have no idea what the future will bring. I might die in a rest home at 95.

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I might die tomorrow. I might die today. I might die in Israel. I guess that's a good place to die.

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If you're gonna die, you might as well die in Israel. So how are you making your plans? What's your day timer look like?

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What's your career path look like? I know many people who have had some wonderful career goal and then they realize the majesty of Christ Jesus in all his splendor and they change everything.

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For me, I realized I couldn't be at the top of the sales ladder because to me, getting to the top of the sales ladder included dishonesty, lying, cutting corners, and I just couldn't do it anymore.

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Once I became a Christian, my sales numbers went down. And so we have to realize that God is in charge and how do we plan our lives?

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How do you plan your life? If you've got questions, why don't you write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

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Most of the time, we're getting positive letters, encouraging letters.

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I got one the other day that said he still likes Todd Friel best, but I'm number two. So he called me the number two wretch.

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So there you go, Todd, you're number one. I'll gladly bequeath you that. I'm sure your

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Facebook friends are 50 times mine. So anyway, we will answer your questions.

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We've got a team of guys that would love to answer your questions. If somebody asked us the other day if the wise men were

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Chinese. Yeah, I just, oh man, people have too much time.

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They have too much time on their hands and they have too many machinations in their mind. I'm telling you, you can write us and we'd love to respond to you and you, would you pray for us?

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I don't know if I've ever asked that before. Would you pray for No Compromise Radio Ministry? Would you pray that the word would go forth boldly and as it ought to?

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Would you pray for me that I'd be faithful and Steve and the rest of the No Compromise team, we'd appreciate that from you.

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God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE its staff or management.