B (4:14)
It means your life is a vapor. It's like when you breathe on a cold glass and it fogs up or on a mirror and then it just quickly goes away. I don't have to explain this to you. Anybody who lives in Southern California understands June gloom. That morning marine layer's gonna burn off by noon. It's not gonna last. And he says, you know what your life is like? That the words that the Bible uses to describe your life are words like breath, wind, shadow, cloud, mist, fog. In other words, it's a puff of smoke. It's like grass. It's like a leaf. It withers quickly. You see, even if you live 100 years, and not everyone is gonna make it 100 years, that's pretty short compared to trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions of years. You're gonna spend an eternity. So what is he saying here? Now, I want you to listen to this. Do not assume you got a lot of. That's what he's saying. Do not assume you have a lot of time left. That is One of the biggest mistakes people make about the future. I got plenty of time to do this. I'll get around to it someday. He says, your life is a miss. You don't know when your time card's gonna be punched. You don't know when your time's up. I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. You're not daring. Better not take tomorrow for granted. Do not assume you've got a lot of time. Would you write this down? I'm only one heartbeat away from eternity. I am only one heartbeat away from eternity. It could turn on a dime just like that. I'm one fall away from paralysis, and so are you. Now, I'm not trying to be maudlin or morose. I'm just trying to be realistic. He's saying your life is short. You don't know how long it's gonna be. And to assume that you've got a lot of time left to get done what you think you've gotta get done in life is false and it's presumptuous. It's presuming about tomorrow. In fact, the Bible says God mocks people who think they've got a lot of time left. I bet you've never seen this verse in the Bible here on the screen. Isaiah 56, verse 12 says, this come cries each one, let's drink our fill of beer and tomorrow will be like today, or even better, it's Miller time. You only go around once in life. You better go with gusto. I suggest you better go with God. Hey, we got all day. We got plenty of time. Let's go have a beer. Jesus talked about a guy who was very successful in his business and he had so much money, he filled his barns with all of the profits and he didn't know what to do with it. Instead of giving it away, he goes, oh, I know what I'll do. I'll build more barns to store my money. And God says, you fool, tonight your soul will be required of you. You don't know when your time's up. I don't know when my time is up. You know anybody with this attitude, though, hey, we got all the time in the world. Let's go party. It's party time in Dana Point. Let's just go have a great time. Now look at these two next two verses. They sound contradictory, but I wanna explain em to you. Proverbs 27, verse 1 says, do not boast about tomorrow. In other words, don't say, well, I'll do it tomorrow for you. Don't know what a Day may bring forth. Okay, and then the next verse says this. A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them. In other words, planning. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. Now, which is it? Don't think about tomorrow, don't boast about tomorrow, or plan for tomorrow and prepare for tomorrow? The answer is both. Here's what he's saying. You must plan for tomorrow, but you can only live in today. You can't live tomorrow. You're not there yet. You can't live yesterday. A lot of people wanna live in the past. You can't live in the past. You can't live in the future. You can't. You can only live today. You are to plan for tomorrow, but you are to live today. Does that make sense? And he says, don't go around saying, well, you know all the stuff I'm gonna do. You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. You build a reputation on what you're doing right now. Now, looking at these two verses, he says, don't boast about tomorrow, but he says, plan. Well, does that mean I shouldn't have any goals for tomorrow and I should at least not even announce it? Cause it might be boasting if I announce my goals. No, no, no, no. You're missing the point. The Bible says you ought to set goals. And when you announce a goal, you're making a statement in faith. Should I not announce my goals for my family? My goals for my education, my goals for my finances? Should I not announce my goals for my business? Should I not announce my goals for our church? Oh, no, no, no, no. Not at all. When you state a goal publicly, it can either be a statement of arrogance or it can be a statement of faith. And the difference is motive. Why are you doing it? Are you doing it to build yourself up? Or you're doing it to say, I believe God wants me to do this and I'm gonna go after it. Even if I fail and even if God changed my plans, that's okay. But I'm gonna do it in faith. Whatever you're gonna do with your life, get on with it now. Don't wait for things around you to change. You change. That's why we're gonna do Decade of Destiny now. Cause we're not gonna wait for anybody else. My life doesn't depend on what the government does. My life doesn't depend on what the economy does. My life depends on my faith in Jesus Christ. According to your faith, it will be Done unto you. So you stop waiting for the world to change. And you change. You make the change. Get your horses ready for the battle. Now, as I said, we can plan for the future, but we can only live in today. James says life is unpredictable and life is brief. Well, just because it's unpredictable and brief doesn't mean you should worry. You should fear or you should be insecure. What it does mean is you should trust God more. You should depend on him more. We do not know what the future holds. We don't know what the next 10 years holds. But we know who holds the future. We don't know what the future holds. We know who holds the future. Psalm 35:15. David says, you're my God. My times are in your hands. Now. There's one other thing, common mistake that James says you need to avoid planning without God presuming about tomorrow. The third is putting off what's right. Putting off what's right. And he says that in verse 17. Anyone who knows the right thing to do but doesn't do it, he puts it off sins. Now this is the third great mistake and we've all done this. It's procrastination. It's delaying, it's postponing. I have every intention of changing, just not now. I'm aiming to do this. I'm aiming to do this. Well, when are you gonna stop aiming? And when are you gonna pull the trigger? Do it now. Procrastination wastes my life. It only brings me sorrow. I know what I must do today, in fact, I will tomorrow. All procrastination does is waste your life. It's killing time. And killing time is suicide. Cause your time is your life. You know what you need to do. He says, don't put it off. Whatever you're gonna do with your life, get on it right now. Don't wait till next year. Don't wait till next decade. Do it now. Cause you are not guaranteed. Now if I were to ask you, how would you define sin? If I said, give me your definition of sin, what would you say? Well, somebody would say, oh, and you start giving me a list of things. Don't commit adultery. Don't murder people. Don't lie, don't cheat. And you'd have your list of don'ts. And you'd say, that's what sin is. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. I don't drink, cuss, smoke, chew or run around with girls that do. Friends, if all the Christian life was, was a system Or a list of don'ts. Then anybody who's dead would qualify as a Christian. Cause they don't do anything. No, actually, the Bible talks about things you don't do as sins. I can sin by not doing anything. In fact, those are the sins. Jesus was more concerned about the sins of omission. The stuff that's right that you ought to do that you don't do. And in Matthew 25 of the judgment, he says, I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty and you didn't give me something to drink. I was sick and I was in prison and you didn't visit me. I was hurting. You didn't help me. It's the good things we know to do. But don't we keep putting it off? One of these days when things settle down, friends, they're not gonna settle down. That's called life. It's not gonna settle down. And if you're waiting for things to settle down before you start serving the Lord, you start making things right with people, you start doing the right thing, you're gonna wait a long time. You can be very proud of all the things you don't do and still be sinning. Now, procrastination is the subtle trap of someday I'll. One of these days. One of these days is none of these days. You know, when I get around to it, one of these days I'm gonna go to the dentist. One of these days I'm gonna spend more time with my family. One of these days I'm gonna give up that bad habit. One of these days I'm gonna get some marriage counseling. One of these days I'm gonna join Saddleback Church. I'm gonna start tithing. I'm gonna get in a small group, you know, whatever. I'm gonna invite that friend I've always intended to invite to church. One of these days is none of these days, because you have no guarantee of tomorrow. Whatever you intend to do with your life, you better get on it right now. The Bible says this in Proverbs, chapter 3. Do not withhold good from those who deserve it. In other words, don't procrastinate. Don't postpone it when it is in your power to act. Don't say to your neighbor, come back later, delay, postpone. I'll give it to you tomorrow when you have it with you. In other words, do it now. Now, you've heard me say this before. There are three things you can do with your life. You can waste your life. You can spend your Life, you can invest your life. If you want to waste your life, there's plenty of ways to waste your life. Entertainment and all kinds of different things. You can just waste your life away. If you want to spend your life, you can spend your life building your career, building your nest egg, building your wealth, building your fame. You're going to leave it all behind. The best use of life is to invest it in that which will outlast it. And you ought to live this day today as if it were your last, because you don't know when your last will be. I remember years ago there was a Peace Corps commercial on television that said, you know, if you're not doing something with your life, it doesn't matter how long it is. If you're not doing something with your life, it doesn't matter how long it is. As your pastor, I've tried to teach you that what is important is not the duration of your life, but the donation of your life, the contribution you make with your life. It's not how long you live that matters, it's how you live that matters. Now, if you're not gonna do anything with your life in the next decade for God, why should God give you another decade? Why didn't God just take you on home right now? If you're just gonna slide into home plate, if you're just gonna kinda coast in for the next 10 years, why should God give you 10 more years? Why don't you just take you on to heaven? He put you on this earth for a purpose. And in Decade of Destiny, we're going to look at how to make the most of what you've been given. Some of you say, you know, one of these days I'm going to really get involved. I'm really going to serve the Lord. I'm going to. No, you're not. It's just an excuse. Just do it now. So today is your day. Now, let me ask you, I don't know if you've even made any plans for your future, but if you have, did you involve God in it? Did you pray about it? Did you say, lord, what do you want me to do? Does God have any say in your schedule? Does God have any say in your finances? Have you said, God, I want you to bless my business? Well, simple. Make him a partner. How do you know if God's a partner in your business? Simple. He gets part of the profits. Partners share the profits. God is saying to you, don't waste another day. Don't presume upon tomorrow. Don't plan Without God. Don't put off what's right. Let's bow our heads. You know, it's sad to meet somebody who says, I don't believe in God. But it's even more tragic to find somebody who does believe in God but lives like he doesn't exist. So let's get specific. Have you asked God what he thinks about your plans to go to school? Have you asked God about your plans for retirement, what he wants you to do with the rest of your life? Have you asked God about your plans to date and marry or to remain single? Have you asked God about your plans and the way you're spending your money or your career decisions? The Bible says none of us has any right to plan tomorrow, next week, or next year without consulting God. That's practical atheism. Are you presuming upon the future you do every time you buy something on credit? That's presuming upon I'll be able to pay this off. Do you take for tomorrow for granted? You know there'll always be time later for my kids, my church, my husband, my wife. Let me ask you this. What have you known is the right thing to do, but you've been putting it off. Would you pray this prayer in your heart? Dear God, I don't want to waste the next 10 years of my life. I want the rest of my life to be the best of my life. I want to prepare for the future. I want to plan, but I don't want to do it on my own. I want to plan with you, and I want you to use me, and I want you to be the desire of my heart. If you've never invited Jesus Christ into your life, say Jesus Christ, come into my life right now. Make yourself real to me. I want to follow you. I want to trust you. I want to believe in you, and I want to learn to love you. In your name I pray. Amen. Hi, everybody, this is Rick, and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me rickastorrick.com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ, and I'll send you some material that'll help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.
