but it's good to be back here and among the Lord's people that I missed so much. So, take your Bibles and open them to James chapter four. James chapter four. I'll read the text, we'll pray, and then we will get to work. James writes this. Verse 13 of chapter four. Come now. You who say today or tomorrow we'll go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to the one who knows the right thing and does not do it, to him, it is sin. Father, this morning we thank you so much for these words, words that you've given us through your Holy Spirit to your servant, James, who recorded them on the page, that they would be preserved here for all the ages, that your church in every age would benefit from this. Father, even though these words were written over 2,000 years ago, They are relevant to us today. They matter to us today because they are your words and we are your people. Open our heart to it. Help us to understand it and to obey it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In Psalm chapter 14, verse one, David said this. The wicked fool says in his heart, There is no God. They act corruptly. They commit abominable deeds. There is no one who does good. Similarly, the Bible tells us that the wicked boasts about the counsel of his own heart and refuses to seek God because he doesn't think that God exists. Psalm 10 verses 3 and 4, it said, for the wicked boasts of his soul's desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns Yahweh. The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. Now whether these people that we've been reading about and talking about here very briefly actually believe in the existence of God or not, their actions show that they don't really believe He's there. In both those Psalms, David testifies to us what a practicing atheist does. He takes counsel in himself. He refuses to acknowledge God or to acknowledge God's will. He boasts about his own plans, and then he acts in accordance with those plans. Those actions are always evil. An old friend of mine every April 1st sends me an email reminding me that on April 1st, hope you catch that, April 1st it is National Atheist Day. Some of you got it. April Fool's National Atheist Day. You'll catch it. Because it is the fool who has said in his heart, there is no God. Now we would expect this kind of behavior, the kind of behavior that we've been reading about from the unsaved, we would expect that from those who have no regard for God. They want to plan their own ways. They want to ignore the commands of God. They want to ignore that He is sovereign over all things. They want to ignore His complete dominion. That is what an atheist is and that is what an atheist does. But what if I told you that very often Christians, perhaps even you, do the exact same thing. Oh, we come to church every Sunday, we worship God, we sing His praises. We've done that this morning, haven't we? We pray to Him. We put money in the plate. We even patiently listen while the sermon is preached, and then we leave church and live the rest of life as if God did not exist. What if I told you that you can be a Christian and live like an atheist at the same time? I wonder how many of us are practicing atheists. In the last part of James chapter four, James has been calling his readers to submit to God. In chapter four, verse seven, he says, be subject to God. Chapter four, verse eight, draw near to God. Verse 10, humble yourselves before God. Verse 11, don't slander one another. This is obviously a paraphrase, but he says, don't slander one another because when you do that, you slander and you judge God. So verse 12, when you do that, who do you think you are? And now in verses 13 to 17, James confronts these Jewish Christians and calls them to submit to the sovereignty of God. And what he's doing here is he's really calling out the practicing atheist. He's calling out the person who claims to be a believer and yet does not practically recognize God's sovereignty in his life or over his life. In fact, the central idea that I want you to see this morning, and if you're writing notes, you probably want to take this down. The central idea is that the practicing atheist ignores God's sovereignty and declares his own independence. The practicing atheist ignores God's sovereignty and declares his own independence. And as James discusses this in verses 13 through 17, he is going to expose, he's going to correct, and he's going to reprove the practicing atheist. So for this morning, you can probably guess there's going to be three headings. Heading number one, we're gonna call this, Exposing the Practical Atheist. This is verses 13 and 14, look at it again. Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow, we'll go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. James begins verse 13 with an interjection. It's a call for them to pay attention to him. He wants them to listen well. In fact, some commentators translate this as, now listen, you. You could also translate this, come on, you. James is shocked that some of his readers, some of those who claim the name of Christ, some of those who are within the Jewish church have slipped to this point in their Christian walk. This is, as James begins verse 13, not an invitation to reason with someone and come to a compromise. This is James trying to call them to their senses. He's trying to shake them to realize how great their pride had become. And they didn't even know it. And when you look at James' charge to them, When you look at this, it doesn't seem so bad at first when you're looking at verse 13. I mean, these are businessmen after all that he's using in the illustration. And what are they saying? What are they saying? They're saying, we will go today or tomorrow. So on a certain day, they've set their date, haven't they? We will go to a certain city. This is the location or the place determined. We will spend a year there. This is the time frame. We will engage in business. That's the activity. In other words, they're going away for a year to start a business. And notice, we will make a profit. That's the outcome. So these people that James are confronting here are independently striking out, they have planned out the details, and they have boldly stated how it's all going to go. They're even so sure of themselves that they are proudly confident of a guaranteed outcome. Now on the one hand, you might look at this and say, that's just good planning. Planning is not what James is condemning here. Business is not what James is condemning here. Making a profit is not what James is condemning here. All those are part of wise planning from a business perspective. None of those are wrong. That's what they're saying. But what does this actually mean? What does James find so wrong with these statements? Well, the problem here is that they have not considered nor bothered to consult God in any way in their planning. They have ignored the reality that God is the one who is sovereign. These kinds of confident statements can only be made by someone who believes that they are in control of their circumstances. Someone who says, I will do this, and I will do that, and I will accomplish this, I will have this outcome. It's the attitude that says, I am in control of the situation. I am in control of my actions. I am in control of all the attendant circumstances thereof. And I will guarantee a certain outcome. These people are making statements as if God does not exist, or if He does, they're the ones who are in control. In other words, they believe that they're sovereign and God is not. They have disregarded God completely. It is their plans that matter to them. And worse still is their self-asserted, guaranteed outcome that shows that their goal is to make money, not glorifying God. They're failing to realize that you can't add one minute to your life, that you can't, as Jesus said, make one hair of your head black or white, that you can't control or thwart the sovereignty of God, that you cannot raise yourself above Him to stop anything that He is doing. This is just like the parable of the rich fool. Leave your finger here in James chapter four and turn over to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, verses 16 to 21. This is Jesus speaking, it says, and he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man was very productive and he began reasoning to himself saying, what shall I do? since I have no place to store my crops. And then he said, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 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? Do you see the attitude? It's the same thing that James is talking about here in James chapter four. Instead of thy kingdom come, thy will be done, it's my kingdom come, my will be done, my prophet made, my name be known. It is really a complete and wretched rejection of the sovereignty of God. And James is accurately addressing what many people think, and he's accurately addressing, I would go so far as to say, sadly, what even many Christians think. That they are the masters of their own destiny. That they can simply exercise their own will. that they can do or accomplish whatever they desire. That kind of attitude assumes either that God's will is whatever their will is, or that they are the ones, as we said before, who are sovereign instead of God. That's a truly rank level of pride, isn't it? It's God who's in charge of everything, not them. It's God who's the sovereign of the universe, not them. It's God who presides over the affairs of men, not them. In fact, there is nothing that doesn't happen apart from His sovereign will. Listen to Psalm 115, verse three. There the psalmist writes, but our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. Did you notice it didn't say, our God is in the heavens. He asks you before He does what He wants. He consults no one. He has determined the end from the beginning, or even before we could say the beginning. Psalm 33, verse 11, it says, the counsel of Yahweh stands forever, the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation, not the thoughts of our heart. In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 24, it says, Yahweh of hosts has sworn saying, surely just as I have intended, so it will happen. And just as I have counseled, so it will stand. Do you see how close these statements are in James 4, verse 13, to the types of statements that only God should be making? Now, if we're being honest here, it's easy to have this kind of mindset, isn't it? And while we're being honest, you need to ask yourself, is this how I think? And do I view myself as sovereign and not even realize I was doing it? Have I been proudly proclaiming, I will do this or I will do that, and I will control the outcome? Dear friends, that's a direct offense to the sovereignty of God. In fact, it's sin. We'll come back, hold on to that. We'll come back to that later when we get to verse 17. And while we're still being brutally honest with ourselves, let's lay out what this utterly obliterates. This utterly destroys, it utterly obliterates the control freak mentality. You know, the person who can't cope if they're not in control. What does this reveal about that person? Maybe that person is you. What does this reveal about this person? It reveals that they don't really trust anyone else to be in control except them. And that they only trust in themselves. That's it. And they're only comfortable with themselves. And if this is you, you might find that the Lord will put you into one situation after another in this life, one situation after another in this life, situation after situation where you are not in control. You say, yeah, that's happened to me a lot. It really annoys me. Really? I think we found your problem. And we find that very uncomfortable. And yet the Lord keeps doing that to you, putting you in situation after situation where there is no possible way that you can control it or the outcome. And you say, well, why is the Lord doing that to me? Is it because he likes to cause me pain? No, it's because you need that. It's because you need to know that you are not in control. And that any illusion that you are is just that, it's an illusion. And it's so that you will learn to embrace His control of all things. Have you ever been angry at God or bitter at Him for doing this or that or whatever to you? I would submit to you if you have, then you have an issue with this. And what we need to learn is to be content with Him in control. In fact, you need to learn that it is best when He is in control and not you. And you need to go from just being okay with that to being satisfied with it. And then to go from being satisfied with it to being happy with it. And then to go from being happy with it to being at peace. because you know that he's the one running the show. And that's got to be true of you even if he is doing things that you do not like or that scare you. Now we also need to quickly add he does this also because he loves you. And see what he has chosen for you and is sovereignly enacting is far better for you than what your plan was. That can be hard for us to accept, can't it? But that's a matter of faith. You see, the question is, do you trust him? And he's using the situations that you go through to increase yours. And so the question is, do you trust him to be in control? Because here's the reality, he already is in control. Whether you trust him or not, Your heart attitude in those situations just reveals what you really believe. And if he's good enough to trust for your eternal salvation, can't you trust him with the events and the people in your life? Can't you trust him with yourself? Can't you trust him with your spouse? Can't you trust him with your children? Can't you trust him with your house, with your car, with your job, with the nation? And watch what James does in verse 14 to really rip the Band-Aid off here. He mentions two things. First, first half of verse 14, look at it. James says, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. What's James saying? He said, you can't see what tomorrow's gonna bring. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know the shock or the surprise that's waiting for you tomorrow. When you go to bed tonight and wake up in the morning, you don't know what's gonna be there. You aren't able to have knowledge of what's coming. And even if you could see it, you can't control it. And you certainly can't change it. Proverbs 27 verse 1 says, Now if you want to drive yourself mad, and I mean literally drive yourself to death from anxiety, think about this for a second. Think about all the things that God is sovereign over. And then imagine that you have the capacity to control it all. And I mean literally everything. The sheer number of people, of lives, of circumstances, and all the different things that happen. It is staggering. You would literally need to be infinite and sovereign and God himself to have that kind of capacity. You don't want that control. You want God in control. You need God in control. Now step away from that for a second and think of the peace that it brings for a Christian to realize that he is the one in control. Think of the peace that it brings when you realize that you can rest in that, that you can rest in him. Here's the second reason he mentions in verse 14 that you don't have that kind of control. The first half of verse 14, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. Then look at this second sentence in verse 14. James says, you are a vapor. Let that sink in for a minute. You are a vapor. that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. What's James saying? He's saying your life, its length, its constitution, its durability is a vapor. The word vapor is the Greek word atmos. It means steam or smoke. The word was used of steam that came from something like a tea kettle, from boiling water, or smoke that the wind carried away from an outdoor fire. It graphically depicts the transience of life, doesn't it? That's what this life is. It's a vapor. At best, we are only ever one heartbeat away from death. That is at best. Our lives are like, James says, a puff of smoke, where the breath that you see on a cold winter day, you exhale and then it's gone. We need to come to grips with this. In Job 8, verse 9, it says, For we are only of yesterday, and we know nothing, because our days on earth are but a shadow. Psalm 90 verse 10, it says, it's for the days of our life, this is Moses writing, it's for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to might, 80 years. Yet their pride is but labor and wickedness, for soon it is gone and we fly away. In comparison, to Yahweh, who is sovereign. Our lives are a breath. They're a shadow. The psalmist and Job tell us. How could we possibly think that we could be sovereign? Listen to this, Isaiah chapter 40, verses 7 and 8. This is a text that you have heard many times, but I want you to think about it Hopefully with new eyes, to read this with new eyes. Isaiah 40, verses seven and eight. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of Yahweh blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of Yahweh stands forever. What's Isaiah saying? He's saying that even Yahweh's breath, His word will endure forever. His word, rather His breath is longer than your life could ever be. Psalm 103 verses 15 and 16. It says this, for man, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flowers. When the wind passes over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. Look, here in New England, we think of grass, right? It's the stuff that grows in our yards. It sprouts up in spring, it lives for the summer, it dies in the fall when winter comes, and that's it. But that's not even the brevity that David is talking, that the psalmist is writing about here. The grass that David is talking about is a grass that literally sprang up in the morning, and it flowered before noon. And it was a beautiful grass, but you know what happened? There was a hard Palestinian wind, a hard hot wind that would blow across it, and by nightfall, that grass that sprang up in the morning and had a beautiful flower was dead. It got one day. One day. That's it. And David says, that's what we're like. The person who brags about themselves, who brags about what they can do, the authority they have, the outcome that they think that they can guarantee from any situation. David says, no, you're like grass. You're a breath, you're a vapor, and then you're gone. In many ways, this is just a continuation of what James said in verse 12, where he says, who do you think you are? It's humbling, isn't it? So you don't know the future, the first part of verse 14, and the second part of verse 14, your life's a vapor. So how can you boast about anything or have the arrogance to ignore God's sovereignty and proclaim your own? That's the height of pride, isn't it? It's arrogance to the extreme. And this is part of the reason why God so often must humble us. We've either forgotten who He is or how weak we are, one of the two. And so James tells this person, this practicing atheist, who isn't concerned about God, who thinks they're in control of everything, and God is not, this practicing atheist, who lives like there is no God, he's saying, listen, you need to figure this out. You need to know better who you are, and you only know that by understanding who God is. So James is calling this sin out. He's waking them up. He's shaking them from this. And this morning he might even be waking up some of you. He's exposing the practical atheist. Second this morning I want you to see correcting the practical atheist. This is verse 15. Instead. Instead of someone saying today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit and ignoring the sovereignty of God and proclaiming our own. Instead of that, James says, you ought to say, but if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. This is James calling them to renew their mind. to correct their thinking, to change their thinking. In fact, as we said, verse 15 begins with the word instead. Instead of thinking like verse 13, think like this instead. Remove the sinful, proud, man-centered thinking and think this way instead. And what is the right way to think? The right way to think is if the Lord wills. In other words, if it's His desire, if it's His will, if it's His plan, if it's His way, what is this? This is a death to self, isn't it? And it's the welcome embrace of God's sovereignty. It's surrender. It is to acknowledge that God is supreme and the one who's in command of your life It is the recognition that you belong to Him. And it's your and my part to do what He wills with us in His sovereign plan. And all of our desires are to be submissive to Him. The Christian is never to be in a place of a declaration of independence. That's what verse 13 is. That's a declaration of independence from God. That is not your place. We're dependent upon him. We're dependent upon his will. And just like a soldier is responsible to surrender his will and desires to obey the orders of a superior so the objectives that they're trying to reach can be obtained. So also the believer must surrender in the same way to God. And also like the soldier who might have to give his life without hesitation or make any sacrifice, however great. So must the Christian. First James says in verse 15, if the Lord wills, we will live. If the Lord wills, we will live. This is the acceptance that your life, that your circumstances, that every moment that you have, from the moment of your birth to the moment of your death, every single moment that you have, are in Yahweh's hands. This is the acceptance that you are a vapor on this earth. It is the acceptance that we breathe His air. It is the acceptance that the blood that runs through our veins does not belong to us. It is on loan from Him. And we need to know that at any moment He could require those back from us. or deprive them from us. We're slaves of God, that's what we are. We exist to do our master's will. And the beauty of this master that we have is that he is not callous, he is not uncaring, and that he loves us, and all his decrees are for his glory and for our good, even the end of our life. And so however short or long or whatever He has determined we are to do or to live for Him, that's all in His hands. And we need to be content with whatever He decides, don't we? It's not our place to question the Master's will. It's not our place to ask for more time or to doubt His plan for us. To say it simply, Whatever God's will is, that must become our will. His decrees are what we joyfully submit to. Listen to Psalm 39, verses four to seven. Here the psalmist writes this, Yahweh, cause me, listen to this and really think about this, cause me to know my end. And what is the extent of my days? Let me know how transient I am. Behold, you have made my days as hand breaths, and my lifetime is nothing before you. Surely every man, even standing firm, is altogether vanity. Surely every man walks about as a shadow. Surely they make an uproar in vain. He piles up ridges and does not know who will gather them. And now Lord, what do I hope in? My expectation is in you. Isn't that beautiful? Did you notice how David ended verse seven of that text? He's not hoping in himself for life or strength to do anything. What is his hope in? It's in Yahweh. So what does that mean for us? Well, you really have two choices. You really have two choices. Number one, you can spend your life angry at God and trying to assert your will and your way, which is just rebellion and sin. Or you can spend your life in joyful submission to Him. And that's what it is to worship God by your life. So what does that life look like? Listen to this, Colossians chapter 1 verses 9 to 12. You know what, this would be good for you to turn there, keep your finger again here in James 4 and turn over to Colossians chapter 1. Starting in verse 9, there Paul writes this, 9 to 12, for this reason also, Since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you. Oh, that's wonderful, Paul, you're praying for us. What's he praying for? And to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of his will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects. bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. What's Paul saying? He's saying, listen, Colossian Church, we're praying for you. We're praying that you will know the will of God so that you'll walk worthy of the Lord and to please Him in everything. We're praying that you'll be strengthened by the Holy Spirit so you will be steadfast and patient in your service. And that results in thanksgiving coming from you to the Father who has destined us to inherit His kingdom. That sounds like a pretty amazing life, doesn't it? How do you get there? By asserting your own will? By thinking that you are sovereign? By living like a practical atheist and ignoring God? Never. You get there by submitting to His will and His sovereignty. And you do that with joy. That's James' correction for them. That's what he's calling them to. But for right now, they're still living disobediently, aren't they? So, James has to finish his work here and reprove them. That's verses 16 and 17, reproving the practical atheist. That's point number three, reproving the practical atheist. Look again at verses 16 and 17. But as it is, you ought to say, verse 15, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, but as what's going on right now, as it is, You boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to the one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it to him, it is sin. Instead of submitting to the Lord's will and knowing that they can't even see tomorrow, much less control it, and by the time tomorrow comes, their life and ours, might be over. But, that's a word of contrast, but instead of acknowledging God, they just boast in their pride. These are the people who know God exists, but live as if He doesn't, and then boast about themselves instead. They live as if they are God. They're boasters. That word means to be a loud-mouthed bragger. They think they're pretty good. And they want you to think that too. They want to shout out how good they are. They want to shout out how much power they have, how much control they have over their own circumstances. They want to talk about what they've accomplished and all who are under their control. This is the person who, as one commentator says, quote, brags pretentiously about something he doesn't have and can't even obtain. All that kind of boasting and bragging, James says, is evil. The word for evil means morally corrupt, wicked, evil, base, worthless. And you might ask, well, I see this as bad, but why does James think this is so important? Well, I want you to see what this kind of thinking represents. Or perhaps you should say who this kind of thinking represents. See, there is one who originally decided to rebel against God. One who decided that he would assert his sovereignty instead of obeying God's. And he in fact was the first to challenge the sovereignty of God. That one is Satan. And instead of joyfully obeying the will of God, Satan decided that he would ignore God. He decided that he would assert his own will, and he would be as God to himself. Again, keep your finger here in James 4. I know I've asked you to do this twice already, but I want you to do it again a third time, because you need to see this. Turn to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14, verses 13 and 14. The speaker is God, the target audience is Satan. Isaiah 14 verses 13 and 14. See if this has a familiar tone to what we've been reading in James. But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Very quickly where it says, I will ascend to heaven. This is Satan saying, I'm gonna take my place in God's heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. The expression stars of God there is a reference to the angels. I'm going to sit over them. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the recesses of the north. I'm going to take God's throne. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. The clouds there were a way to refer to the glory of God. He's saying my glory is going to be greater than God's. And I will make myself. like the most high. Do you see him asserting his own will, his own independence and establishing himself as sovereign? To assert yourself, to set God aside and then brag about it is to do exactly what Satan did. It's the same type of sin. It may not be on the same magnitude, but it's the same type of sin. That is evil. And when you do that, you're acting like him. But James isn't done. Look at verse 17. Come back to James 4. Therefore, concluding statement for this section, therefore, to the one who knows to do the right thing and does not, to him it is sin. James begins verse 17 with the word therefore. This is his conclusion for this section. And what James describes here is absolutely reprehensible. These are the people who know God's will. They know what is right, they know what is good, they know what is morally excellent, and exactly what they should do. and then they stubbornly, they hard-heartedly refuse to obey it. It is to shake your fist in the face of God and say, I will not. There is nothing that is more clearly sin than to know what God desires and to recalcitrantly make yourself hardened against it. That is intentional outright rebellion and it is shocking that someone could be this blatantly opposed to the sovereignty and the will of God, this blatantly willfully rejecting his commands and still claim to be saved. But again if we're going to be honest have you ever seen this in your heart? So in context of what James is saying what's the right thing to do? It is to submit to the sovereign declared will of God from the scripture. In other words it simply means to obey. You reject your will and your way in order to obey the sovereign will and ways of God. That's death to self, isn't it? So you know what's right, you know what the Bible says, you know what God has revealed, yet there are times when we all disobey and that is sin, James is telling us. The word for right here in verse 17, therefore, for the one who knows to do the right thing, the word for right there is kalos, literally means what is right or good. In other words, what is morally good. And God's command is what is right and good. Submitting to God's sovereignty is what is right and good. Anything else, James tells us, is sin. And if you know God's will, where do you find God's will? I pray and I get an urge. Uh-uh. Where do you find God's will? In the scripture. If you know God's will, and you find it in the scripture, you're obligated to obey it. Anything else, anything else, is an offensive stench in the nostrils of God. Now, for some of us this morning, this sermon, this text, James chapter four, verses 13 to 17, is a reminder to continue on faithfully in obedience and submission to him. But for others of us, it's a warning to turn, to repent of declaring your independence. It's a warning to stop ignoring God. It's a warning to repent of being a practicing atheist. It's the command to surrender your independence, to stop ignoring God, to knowing that He alone is sovereign. To know that God is God and not you. And how do you know when you've really done that? When you can joyfully and submissively say and mean it. Not just some phrase that you tack onto the end of a sentence. If the Lord wills, we will live and if the Lord wills, we will do this or that and I'm content in him and I rest in him and I submit to him whatever he brings in my life and whatever he does with me. I am content and I will be fully satisfied in him and I will be fully satisfied with him." Father, this morning our prayer is simply this, make our hearts like the heart that James calls us to have. One that understands that you're the one who's in control. One who understands that we are only a vapor. Our life is short. We don't know what tomorrow brings and we're here today and we're gone tomorrow. So Father, teach us to number our days, that we may indeed present to you a heart of wisdom, that we may indeed submit to all that you have, all that you are, and to know that you're in command. And help us, Father, wherever we must, in order to fulfill that, to die to self, that you would truly be God in our hearts. and not we ourselves. That's in Jesus' name we ask it. Well, we can find no better example of how to deny ourselves than in the person of Jesus Christ, who showed us how to do that, living his perfect life. Because in Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Let us say, as Jesus said, yet not my will, Father, but yours be done. So please stand and sing with us, Jesus, I my cross have taken. Jesus, I my cross have taken All to leave and follow Thee Destitute, despised, forsaken Thou from hence my all shalt be Perish every fond ambition, All I've sought or hoped or known, Yet how rich is my condition, God and Heaven are still my own. They have left my Savior too. Human hearts and looks deceive me. Thou art not like them untrue. Come abound, O smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might. me. Heaven will bring me sweeter rest. O, tis not in grief to harm me, while thy love is left to me. O, twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unknown. Golden earthly fame and treasure Come disaster, scorn and pain In thy service pain is pleasure With thy favor loss is gain I have called I have stayed my heart on Thee. Storms may howl and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me. So then don't I pull salvation, eyes or sea, station something still to do or think once we