Lord’s Day Message: James 4 (ESV)
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”– 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Message Outline:
- How to meet the need of our living? (1~10)
- We all have our basic daily needs, however, if we are not careful, these may become our covetousness to bind us and trap us into sins.
- To satisfy the covetousness, the worldly way is to quarrel, to fight, to war, and even to murder
- The reproaching and teaching of James
a. Why not ask God? Why ask wrongly?
b. To be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God
4. The God who we believe in is
a. Dwelling is us and yearning jealously
b. Being able to give us more grace
5. The way to receive grace
a. Yield to God and draw near to God
b. Cleanse our hands and purify our hearts
c. Repent and be humble before God
- Who are we to judge others (11~12)
- Here it refers to speaking evil of others
- Only God is the lawgiver and the judge
- Only God can save and destroy
- Who controls our future? (13~16)
- Tomorrow is not in our hands, but God’s
- Learn to pray “If the Lord wills…”, because it shows our humility and trust toward God
- Do not boast what we can do
- We must do what we know (17)
Next Topics: James 5
Church Meetings/Time/Place
Home Meeting: 14/9 Mon., 7:30pm, (Dinner @ 7:00pm) Richard & Flora’s
Young Professions Meeting: 15/9 Tue. 7:30pm, Thomas & Lena’s
Sisters Meeting: 16/9 Wed. 10am, Anne’s
Prayer Meeting: 16/9 Wed. 7:30pm, Meeting Hall
Pursuing of Words: 18/9 Fri., 8:00pm, Richard Chen’s
Young People Meeting/Pursuing for Adults：12/9 Sat. 7:30pm, Thomas & Lena’s
Announcements:
- We welcome all the new ones who are joining us today and hope that you can leave your information for us to contact you in the future.
- In the afternoon the church will have a spring cleaning. We hope many brothers and sisters can participate. Brothers Patrick and Sam will arrange the details.
- On October 3~5 (Saturday to Monday) there will be a church conference. We will invite Brother Rex Beck. He will share on “the faith and the science” for the gospel message and the parable of sowing in Matthew 13 for the growth of the Christians. We encourage all the brothers and sisters to join and to invite friends to come.
- On September 26, Saturday morning the church plan to go to Chatswood to preach the gospel and distribute the tracts. We welcome brothers and sisters to participate.
- October 3 (Saturday) after the gospel meeting in the morning (1st message in the conference) the church plan to have baptism. If any gospel friend is willing to receive the salvation and to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, please contact Brother Yu-Lin Wang.
<Reminder>
- Please take the Bible Reading Supplement for your daily Bible reading.
- Please come on time for the meeting. During the meeting, please turn off your mobile phone or put the volume on silence.
- When you prepare the love feast for Lord’s Day lunch, please do not prepare any food containing nuts as someone may have food allergy. After the love feast, please remember to bring back your plates.
Intercession:
- We have more than 30 gospel friends who are coming regularly to our gatherings recently. Pray that the Lord will bless them to receive His salvation earlier and they may become a member in God’s family. Also pray that the Lord will keep us fervent in spirit to have more learning in the work of the gospel.
- Pray for the new believers that the Lord will lead them to grow and be built in the church life so they may become a blessing and testimony for the church.
- Pray for those young people in year twelve. May the Lord give them wisdom and grace in their preparation for exams.
- Pray for the brothers and sisters who are weak in body or spirit. May the Lord care for them and give them grace. Also pray for some relatives of our brothers and sisters (Jack, Susan, Brett) that the Lord may heal and care for them.
Serving Today: (Sep. 13)
- Sharing: Yulin Wang
- Breaking the Bread: David Tan & Patrick Li
- Serving Bread and Cup: Sam Li, Jason Wang & Richard Cui
- Pianist: Hannah Cui
- Cleaning: All brothers and sisters
Serving Next Week: (Sep. 20)
- Sharing: Yulin Wang
- Breaking the Bread: Richard Chen & Richard Cui
- Serving Bread and Cup: Olsen Yu, Sam Li, & Patrick Li
- Pianist: Hannah Cui
- Cleaning: Jason & Susan Family, Andy & Ann Family, Benchu Guo Family, Yulin & Jessica Family
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