11/8/2015 A Summary Of James Part 2 – Book of James - Steve Mixsell

Deuteronomy and Philippians Readings on God’s Covenant Faithfulness

On page 127 of your registry Bible, and our New Testament passage will be in 1 Corinthians 1, 27, and going to chapter 3, verse 13. And that is found on page 790 of your registry Bible. So when you arrive at Deuteronomy 4, or 6, 4 through 19, please stand with me and read from the Gospel.

He who is filled, the Lord your our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them to the feet of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall bind them as a sign on your head, and they shall be as a compass which shows your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates. It shall be when the Lord your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, that your home shall be a large and beautiful city which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, hewn out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant.

When you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest you forget the Lord your God, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him, and shall take oath in his name.

You shall not go out after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you, for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massa. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, his testimonies and his statutes which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord has sworn to your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

And now let's go to Philippians chapter 1, verse 1 -7. Be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye can act in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now fear in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done with your selfish ambition or conceit, but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, for being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the point of a bond-sergeant and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance of the man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth, and of those on earth.

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Amen. Thank you, Lord. Yes, Lord. May mercy save you. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Amen. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Amen. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Amen. Amen. Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Amen. Amen. Again, not because of any inadequacy of Joseph's prayer, but just because I think it's a wise habit, I feel compelled to go to the Lord in prayer.

Prayer for the Sermon and the Final Retrospective on James

Dear Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, I just humbly ask that you will do your good for your people through the word which I attempt to proclaim well, and with the due glory and honor that you properly deserve, Father.

I'm acutely aware of my weakness, my many failings, not just of my abilities, but my efforts, which never arise to the level that you deserved. But I'm thankful that your word promises mercy, that your word promises to give us what we ask for when we ask in Jesus' name for his purposes.

So I humbly ask that in Jesus' name for his purposes that his kingdom may be strengthened, that you'll let this word go forth clearly and powerfully, Father, that it might strengthen your people unto service for your kingdom and unto their eternal reward.

And I humbly ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this really is the last of James, and it's kind of a mixed emotion that I stand before you today, and Lord willing, bring you the second and final part of our retrospective on the book of James, and bid farewell to this epistle of gold.

For the benefit of those of you who were not here last week, and by way of review for those who were, I spent part one of this retrospective, this look back, with some takeaways. Nothing new here, just things that I really would like for you to take away, if there could only be a few things that you take away from James.

I began it by attempting to show the greatness of our God by showing the richness, the greatness of God to his people, the richness and fullness of a life serving him, by pointing out the unswerving loyalty and faithfulness of our great, immutable God and Father towards his very changeable and mutable servants, to show that on the day of our greatest trials, as the day of our greatest triumphs, and as in our worst day and most disobedient day and most rebellious day, he is as for us as he is on our best and most faithful day.

I'm not going to cite the scripture verses. I believe all of the messages are available, and for the sake of brevity, I will leave that. Well, no, no, I guess I think I'd better, for those of you who aren't here.

In James chapter one, when it says, Every good and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variation or shadow of turning, I've shown, I think well, over the course of the past messages, that this is not just saying the same thing about God, that there's no variation or shadow of turning, not saying he's unchangeable and he's really unchangeable, but it's saying, not only is he unchangeable, immutable, but he doesn't change his disposition to we who are.

And what a great truth that is. There is no variation or shadow of turning away from you, on the day of your greatest trial or on your worst day. Now, a caveat, which I hope to by the end to have shown you, is that that does not make our obedience unimportant at all, but it should be a great comfort, and I hope a great incentive, for you to be honest before God, to be willing to lay yourself bare before his word, and let it show you today for what you truly are, because your sin need never, the sin that it will reveal in you, need never be your ruin, and it will never make God against you.

So that first point, God is for you on your best day, on your worst day as on your best day. The second was to show the greatness of God, and the fullness and richness of life in his kingdom, by emphasizing that not only is our God for us, but that he loves the least of his servants, with a passionate, fierce, jealous, and interventional love.

A love that commands all of his servants to treat the least of his servants, as they would treat the Lord himself. In one sense, giving the honor, the same honor, which belongs alone to our Lord, to the least, our least favorite of his servants.

And a love that promises swift action, should we ever despise or dishonor the least of his servants. Their angels always see the face of your Father in heaven, with the idea that at a twitch, at a raised eyebrow, or a gesture that the angels of those little ones you may despise, might wing their way towards you.

The third was to show the greatness of our God and of life in his kingdom, by the immeasurable resources which our Lord has put at our disposal, if we will but truly serve him, by asking for things in faith, and by asking for things in his name, rightly understood to mean asking for things for his purposes, and not our own.

And finally, I close with a brief preview of where I believe the chief enemy lies, or the chief defect lies, which prevents, I fear, most of his children from realizing, more than a pale shadow, of the richness of life in his kingdom, which he desires for us to have.

The defect lies in our divided hearts and our double-mindedness, which will not wholeheartedly seek his kingdom, but instead insists on seeking our own self-interest. Our own divided hearts and double minds, which are not governed wholly by heavenly wisdom, but instead are heavenly influenced by worldly wisdom, and desires to be a friend of the world.

And I promised in the second look back at the book of James to try and give you some key takeaways concerning how to go about defeating our divided hearts and our double minds, so that we may partake of the fullness and richness of life in his kingdom, which he has made available for us, if we will but believe and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to him, and pursuing his glory, his purposes, with a whole united heart.

The whole united heart that our great and glorious Lord deserves and warrants. The first point I would like to make is that our enemy is within each of us. I've already stated it, but let me state it again.

It lies in our own hearts and minds, in our own desires and our own will, which, if left unchecked, ever asserts itself against the will and purposes of our Father, and prevents us from truly endeavoring things and asking for things in prayer for his purposes, because we are, with a divided heart and double minds, also seeking our own purposes.

This truth can be seen in chapter 1, verse 13 and 14. The truth that there is an enemy within us, which seeks to rob us of this richness of fullness of life in him, which wholeheartedly asks for things in his name.

Remember that came from chapter 5, where he, in essence, tells us that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, and then uses the example of Elijah, a miraculous intervention of prayer, and then makes the point that Elijah is a man with a nature like ours, to make sure we understand that a righteous man should be understood not as someone who's achieved some level of freedom from flaw, but one who truly does pray effectually.

It's descriptive of one who prays effectually, with praying effectually to be understood as asking for things according to his revealed will, with a faith that comes from knowing that you're asking things according to his revealed will, for his word will never pass away.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. He's not a man that he can lie. And so when we ask for things according to his revealed will, we can be confident that we have them, but also who asks for things in his name, or for his purposes.

And we can see that in John chapter, I believe it was chapter 9, Jesus constantly promising to do things. Whatever we ask in his name, he will do. So what stops us from seeing this fullness in our lives?

Double-mindedness. We don't ask for things truly in his name. We ask in our own name for our own purposes. James chapter 1, verse 13 through 14 shows this. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. So what makes our trials difficult is the fact that our own desires are still there and at work, and are drawing us away and enticing us.

We can see this truth also in the fact that worldly wisdom is characterized chiefly by self-seeking, by the promotion of our own self-interest, as chapter 3, verse 13 through 16 tells us. Who is wise and understanding among you?

Let him show by his good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and everything is there. Worldly wisdom, if you could distill it into one descriptive phrase, is a self-seeking wisdom, rather than a wisdom that seeks after, or a will that seeks after his purposes.

It seeks after one's own benefit and one's own purposes. And make no mistake, our old man, who is not yet fully dead in one sense, he has the power to trouble us, and must still be put to death, done violence to, is a self-interested party.

And the world around us and its wisdom will ever be influencing us towards self-interest, towards looking out for number one, seeking our own. This is a powerful opponent to truly seeking God's will for doing things, praying, endeavoring things, and praying for things for his purposes, and seeing, therefore, God's mighty moving.

We can also see this enemy in chapter 4, alluded to in chapter 4, verse 1 through 3, where we see that it, where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members you lust and you do not have?

You murder and covet and do not obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. This letter to brothers, to brethren, informs us that our own pleasures, our own desires for pleasures, cause wars and fights among us, even wars within ourselves.

Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members? I believe referring to almost within our very being. So we've got this war going on where we have a very resourceful and resilient will that desires to do, to seek our own rather than his will, seek our own purposes rather than his purposes.

And, of course, we've got a world of setting an example of seeking its own, which is a very powerful influence on us. So how do we combat this enemy within our own hearts and minds? Which makes us, as chapter 1, verse 6 through 8 says, a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, who should not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

A stark contrast to the promise of one who, if one will pray effectually, will receive what he asks for. How do we, as chapter 4, verse 7 through 8 tells us, submit to God and resist the devil so that he will flee from us and draw near to God by cleansing our sinful hands and purifying our double hearts, double-minded hearts?

As I go through all of these practical tips on how to overcome our native double-mindedness, our own fleshly mind, our own native self-will, keep this overarching theme in mind. The Christian life, if properly lived, the true Christian life, truly serving his glory, his purposes, and his kingdom, and therefore a life rich in sweet fellowship with our Lord and in power to achieve things for his kingdom, meaningful things which will never pass away, including rewards which one cannot lose, this Christian life is a life of submission, a life of being willing and eager to yield.

If we are to begin experiencing the richness of life in his kingdom, we must learn to say no to ourselves, to our own desires. We must cultivate and develop a spirit and a habit of submission, for in submitting, only in submitting do we truly become free.

Receiving the Implanted Word with Meekness

This submission begins first by submitting to his word with a spirit of meekness. As chapter 1, verse 21 tells us, we must therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, which characterizes our own will, I might add, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.

Receive with mildness of disposition a gentle spirit and meekness, that word which seeks to implant itself in you and engraft itself in you. We are commanded to receive this word with meekness in part because meekness is required to receive his word by his spirit as this word will convict and a soul which lacks meekness will not allow itself to be convicted.

The first way we submit to his word is by letting it say what it says. Even though what it says convicts us as guilty before God and worthy of wrath, I really want you to note, brethren, that just because you have been delivered from wrath and condemnation by the precious blood of Christ, if you have truly believed, and know this truth, just because you know this truth, that does not mean that you no longer have a native dislike of being found guilty by his word.

Even though wrath is not forthcoming, we still like to think of ourselves as not deserving of wrath today. Brothers and sisters, everyone in this room is deserving of wrath this day based on the deeds of this day, the thoughts of this day.

And if we truly receive with meekness the living and implanted word of God, it will tell us anew each and every day that this is true, that we fall short and remain deserving of wrath today and utterly dependent on grace bought through the precious blood of the great I Am, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, including my own sins of today and tomorrow.

I urge you to combat this native desire to justify ourselves, to reach the verdict that we are undeserving of wrath today, but are instead worthy of blessing by agreeing with what the word says about your heart, that it is deceitful and desperately wicked so that you cannot know it, Jeremiah 17 .9, and that there is no one truly good save God, Matthew 19 .17.

Pray that He will show you that He will allow you to taste the blessedness of no longer blanching and cringing at having your sin exposed by His word, because you have truly begun to experience the wonder at His grace towards you with each sin that His word exposes.

It is not for nothing that the word of God tells us in Psalm 51 .17 that the sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit which He will not despise, and also tells us in Isaiah 66 .1 -3 that the one upon whom the Lord will look with favor, let me let Isaiah tell you, let God through the prophet Isaiah, thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and Earth is my footstool.

Where is the house that you will build for me? And where is the place of my rest? For all these things my hand has made, and all those things exist, says the Lord, but on this one will I look, understanding that this is the one I will look with favor, on him who is of poor and contrite spirit and who trembles at my word.

So learn, ask God to give you the blessedness. It does not come easily or automatically. The blessedness of being excited at having your sin pointed out to you by His word. And don't be satisfied with anything less than having the right landing place for your emotions, and that is awe at His grace and mercy.

With every new sin that is exposed, His grace is magnified more. You become more and more a lover of grace and a lover of mercy. You become one who more and more the goodness of God leads to repentance.

This is true repentance. It's a shame. It's not having been caught or having something not work. It's a shame at the deep profound cosmic wrongness of you falling short of the Lord who is so good in every way.

Who's working all things for your good. When you sense His good, when you taste His good in a new way, a new sin is exposed and you realize that sin has no power to condemn you. Christ bled. Christ bore the weight of all sin to free you from that condemnation.

You taste in a new way the great love your Lord has for you and the great goodness of your Lord. And please note, my brethren, that truly submitting to God's word also means submitting to agree with it in your deepest heart and mind, allowing yourself, your deepest being, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind in accordance with His word.

Submitting your desires, your beliefs, your thoughts, your logic, your likes, your dislikes, your will, your preferences, all submitting them to His word. As the Holy Spirit tells us in Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

It's reasonable in light of the greatness of your Lord, to present your whole being as a sacrifice, to submit as it were your whole being to Him. And do not be conformed to this world with its wisdom pressing you, pressing you, showing you the example, coercing you to be conformed to it in its thoughts and wisdom.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable will of God. We are not merely studying His word to learn a bunch of rules or even to learn cold theological truth.

We are attempting to learn the mind of God so that we may have that mind. Our mind is renewed. One of the great things about God's law, why is God's law the delight of the psalmist? It's because God's law reveals His likes and dislikes.

It reveals His heart. It reveals His glory. That is why the psalmist in Psalm 19 and Psalm 119 can delight in the law of the Lord and meditate it day and night. And if you recall, as I referred to this, to truly be able to do the will of your Father and to be able to endeavor confidently for things, you must know His heart and mind.

Not just the rules, not just the things He said to do and not do. You must seek to learn the mind of the Lord. Doing those things is important, but it's so easy to succumb to mere outward observance. And further note that truly submitting to God's word means doing it.

Not just hearing it, not just knowing it, not just knowing it well enough to teach it, but knowing it in order to do it, as chapter 1, verse 22 and 25 tells us. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror. For he observes himself, then goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. We can see that we're promised that not only is God glorified when we're doers of the word, but we are benefited because this tool, because the word of God makes it clear that doing it glorifies God and benefits the doer.

And it also makes clear, and I want you to see this, that it's in a sense anything short of a knowledge of God's word which leads to performing it is merely self-deception. It's a false knowledge that in essence doesn't really know.

The second point. So I think we're all very well aware, most of us here, that God's word is central. But I just wanted to emphasize the spirit of meekness before that word. It's so easy to not be correctable before his word, to go into it with the idea of having better resources to correct others, to impress others with your knowledge, but never be satisfied with spending time before God's word if it's not convicting you.

The second point, the second tip, in striving to overcome our natural self-seeking hearts and minds and to become submissive to God's will and his word, we should seek to gain control of our heart and mind using that great tool of our tongue.

The Tongue as a Rudder for the Whole Person

This can be seen in chapter 3, verses 1 through 12, which tells us that not only is the tongue a great barometer of what lies in the heart, we know that from other scriptures, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, but it is also a rudder with the power to steer and govern our entire being, our heart and mind.

We see this in verses 2 through 4, which liken the tongue to the tiny rudders that steer giant ships and to the tiny bits that steer giant horses and informs us that if a man is able to control his tongue so that he does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man able to govern his whole body, his whole being.

If you recall, I think it's worth it. This is such a key point. Lord willing, even though I think I made the point well in the previous message, it's worth briefly recounting. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers.

This is chapter 3, beginning at verse 1. Knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body.

Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships. Although they be so large and driven by such fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. I tried to point out that I think even so is a very weak translation of the word. The word that links verse 4 and 5 could probably be that similarly the tongue is a little member.

Or in like manner, in like manner to the bit and to the rudder, the tongue is a little member which has the power to govern a mighty and large thing. It would also be better understood the sense in which James is speaking to be instead of even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

I think the sense of it would be better translated in like manner the tongue has the same boast. The same boast that the bit and the rudder has. So not only is a tongue a reflection of what's in our hearts, but it has an incredible power, an incredible tool for us to use in controlling our hearts.

If we will control our hearts, we will control our tongues, we will control our whole being. As it tells us that a man who does not stumble in word is a perfect man able to bridle his whole body. And know this, God is after our hearts and minds.

That's why this is so important. The tongue is such an indispensable tool. He would like us to have the mind of Christ and think his thoughts after him. He would have us as the Holy Spirit tells us in Ephesians 4 .15 to come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine but speaking the truth in love to grow up to become mature to grow up into all things into him who is the head Christ.

He's after our heart. True submission and obedience is not achieved in external obedience to his commands. Even if you should be able to obey them all outwardly, true obedience is achieved by agreeing with God's thoughts, his testimonies, and his will.

This is why we see Jesus warning the Pharisees who had an unbelievable knack for obeying commands externally, even additional commands made by men. He says in Matthew 23 beginning at verse 23,. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrite.

You pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone, blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish that the outside may be clean also.

So brothers, if you want to make the inside of the cup clean, if you want to deal with your heart and mind, which is the enemy, that double-minded heart, gain control of your tongue so that you might gain control of your heart.

A good place to start, and some of you know, I'm sure, where I'm going, a good place to start, this little innocuous text, chapter 4, verse 13 through 16. Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit.

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So I urge you, and it doesn't have to be this text, but since I personally have experienced such an incredible blessing by trying to, in faith, begin to obey this text as a young Christian, even though I didn't understand it, I had no idea why God would want me to talk this way, this way that will make me looked at strangely by everyone around me, including people in the church.

Begin learning to control and submit your heart and mind to God and His will by submitting your tongue, by acknowledging, as this verse tells us, His sovereignty over your next breath in all of your daily conversation so that this truth may sink deep into your heart and mind and begin to shape your thinking concerning how you do even the most mundane tasks.

If you'll do this, you'll take a giant step towards obeying Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, trusting the Lord with all your heart, leaning not into your own understanding because in all your ways you acknowledge Him so that He may direct your paths.

Begin by receiving with meekness this portion of God's Word which clearly tells us, it's mystifying to me, the expositors will not exposit this, there might be one or two out there who've touched on it, but this text I just read clearly tells us that failing to acknowledge His sovereignty over your next breath in your everyday speech is evil boasting.

And if you will do this, you'll become like David. If you remember that little picture that I tried to share with you, I think it's a tremendous insight, the mighty man of God, the man after God's own heart who was willing to face an unbeatable foe and make no mistake, I can't remember how tall, I did the research and laid it out to you, how big Goliath was and not a cumbersome bigness like you might have seen some of the people with giantism, but if any of you had ever seen Andre the Giant when he was 17 years old, who lifted cars, and this is smaller than Goliath, my point is he had the agility of you or I and the size of, you know, double our size, the text goes in and shows the size of his shield, and most importantly, the way we know he was in essence an unbeatable foe is the mighty men of Israel who'd slain thousands and tens of thousands would not a one of them would face him, zero.

He taunted them day after day after day. Well, there was one young man who would face him even though he was a shepherd, and in speaking to others and to Goliath, he gives an insight into why he would face him.

He in essence tells him, when I was a shepherd guarding my father's sheep and a lion or a wolf or a bear would come among the sheep, I took that animal and I killed it. I struck it and I killed it. The Lord delivered that animal into my hand as I went about obeying my duty as a shepherd, and just the way the Lord delivered the lion into my hand, the bear into my hand, the wolf into my hand, he will deliver you into my hand.

The size is not the issue. The fact of the matter is he had a deep understanding of God's sovereignty over that encounter with the wolf or the bear. Most of us would think we're quite the warrior or quite the shepherd if we struck the bear down.

David did not think that. He said, the Lord delivered the bear into my hand. The Lord will deliver, and he reasoned therefore because his understanding of God's sovereignty over the smallest events of his lives was so great that he did not blanch at the size and the skill and the agility of this warrior because he knew that the Lord would deliver him into his hands.

I almost wish, and I think that I do penetrate the mind of David. I don't go overboard. If he had defeated the weasel, the tiny little weasel which might defeat a sheep, he would have understood the Lord delivered the weasel into my hands.

There is nothing, no small thing when you understand that unless the Lord wills, you will not live and do this or that. I will not live and walk down this pulpit, Lord willing, when I'm finished. Unless the Lord wills, that will not happen.

That smallest thing in my life. When you let that truth sink deep into your mind that you will not have a successful conversation with your brother if there's something you need to confront him over, that you will not have a successful conversation with your co-worker unless the Lord grants you the things he must grant you in order for you to make your point, you begin to be very prayerful.

You begin to think differently. This different way of thinking is what we're after. I urge you to pick some text. They don't have to be texts you even understand God's rationale. Isn't it wonderful? This is the perfect mind who created all things and sustains all things.