Life Hacks - Prayer

Today we are finishing up our study of the book of James by looking at a life principle that ultimately gives fuel to our faith and provides the power to follow all the practices – or life hacks – that James has given us.  What helps us in times of trials, gives us the energy to be doers of God’s word, helps us treat all people with dignity and respect, tames our tongue, tempers our temptations, and leads us to wisdom is prayer.  James begins and ends his book by talking about the power of prayer, and so today we are going to end our series by looking at how prayer is the key to a stronger faith, and healthier relationships and a more vital life. 

While I know we have all been learning from the life hacks provided by James, the other life hacks we have shared have been fun too, and I can now say that I am a fan of frozen potato chips.  So here are the final life hacks I have to offer.
1. A tennis ball in dog food makes them eat slower
2. A squeegee can pick up cat hair on furniture and carpets

Back to prayer, prayer has been at the foundation of James principles and practices and we are going to define prayer as simply keeping company with God.  Prayer is spending time with God.  It is both listening to God and talking with God.  It is sharing our hearts and desires with God, and allowing God to shape our hearts and desires.  Many people have asked why we should pray if God already knows everything.  We don’t pray to inform God, we pray to be formed by God, and we pray because God wants to spend time with us.  We pray because God enjoys our company.  We pray because God loves us. 

So here is the first principle about prayer, pray every day - because God enjoys our company.  We don’t pray to just tell God what we want, or what we are sorry for, or even what we are thankful for, we pray to simply be with God.  Prayer is an intentional time where we open ourselves up to the presence of God and it is a reminder that God enjoys the time with us.  This time with God is not only important to God but it is vital our lives and faith. 

Prayer has not only been a part of all the major people we see in the Bible, it has been time in prayer that shaped these people.  Abraham prayed.  Moses prayed.  David prayed.  The prophets Elijah and Elisha prayed.  Mary and Joseph prayed.  Peter and Paul prayed.   Jesus prayed.  Think about that, Jesus prayed, and his prayer life was so powerful that it was the one thing that the disciples specifically asked Jesus to teach them.  They didn’t ask Jesus to teach them how to multiply fish and bread, turn water into wine, or even how to heal the sick, they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray because they understood that prayer was the foundation of Jesus’ life and the fuel for his own faith and connection with God the father.  They wanted to pray like Jesus. 

One of the most important things during any time of prayer is for us to hear God’s message of love.  There are two times we hear God speak during Jesus’ life, and in both situations God says the same thing.  At Jesus’ baptism, a dove descended on Jesus, and the voice of God said, this is my son, whom I love.  With him I am well pleased.  And then later in Jesus’ life God spoke again and said, this is my son, whom I love.  With him I well pleased.  Listen to him. 

Twice it is recorded that Jesus heard God’s words of love.  Twice we know that Jesus heard the affirmation of his father, but I don’t think these were the only two times Jesus heard this message.  Jesus often went off by himself to pray and during those times of prayer Jesus heard again and again that he was loved by God the father.  Again and again Jesus heard that he was chosen, and anointed, and connected to God the father.  If Jesus needed to hear that God loved him, if he needed the affirmation of his heavenly father, how much more do we? 

So one of the most important things for us to hear in any time of prayer is that we are loved and affirmed by God.  We need this reminder daily, so we need to pray every day and allow God’s love to rest upon us.  We need to hear the kind of message that came through the prophet Zephaniah who said…
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.  While this sounds a bit strange to us, God truly does want to rejoice over us with singing.  God delights in our presence.  This is how much God longs for our company and desires us to pray – every day.

The second life principles is this, pray about everything - because God cares about us.  Let’s look at James 5:13-18. 

James says we are to pray when we are in trouble, when we are happy, when we are sick, when we are wrapped up in sin, and when we are experiencing the gift of righteousness.  In all the circumstances of life we are to pray, and we really are to pray about everything because God cares about everything. 

When I was in college, the fellowship I was part of had a Daily Prayer Meeting.  We met in an empty classroom in one of the main buildings on campus and we would pray about everything.  One day a girl in our group came in and said she needed a bike to help her get to classes and work, and so we prayed that God would provide a bike.  I’ll be honest, I was somewhat new to the whole prayer thing and I thought, really?  We are praying for a bike?  But we did and a week later Tracy came to the prayer meeting and said she had gotten a bike.  I’m not saying God will give us everything we ask for when we pray, I am saying we need to pray about everything because if it matters to us – it matters to God.

You would think that I would have learned from that situation to pray for everything, but I forget to pray for things like bikes.  When the sump pump at my parsonage in Lewisburg stopped working one Saturday night – when it was raining hard – I had to set an alarm to go off every 30 minutes so I could go down and trigger the pump to start so my basement wouldn’t flood.  I shared that story in Sunday School the next morning to explain why I was so tired and someone asked me if I prayed for the sump pump.  I laughed and said, no.  They said, why not.  I said, it was a sump pump.  And then I thought about Tracy’s bike.  If it matters to me – it matters to God. 

I should have prayed for my sump pump.  I should have shared with God that situation and prayed.  The sump pump may have started to work, or God could have given me the knowledge about how to get it working, or maybe God would have just blessed me with a sense of peace that I needed for Sunday morning. 

What matters to you right now?  What is important to you today?  Whatever it is, big or small, it matters to God and we need to share it with God.  It may not miraculously get fixed, or be provided, but if it matters to you – it matters to God and we need to share our lives with God.  We need to pray every day because God enjoys our company, and we need to pray about everything because God cares about us. 

Now here’s the thing, most of us know we should pray more often, we even understand that there is power in prayer, but we just don’t do it, so here are three life hacks to help us pray more faithfully. 

Did you know that there is an app we all have on our phones that can help us pray?  Let me show you… (Power button)
1. Power Off.  We need to power off to turn on and tune in to God.  Sometimes all that is needed for us to turn to God in prayer is to turn off the world.  Phones, tablets, computers, and TVs make it very easy for us to start our day tuning into the world instead of tuning into God.  What’s the first thing you do in the morning?  Sometimes before I am even out of bed I have checked my email, scanned the news, and seen what has been posted on facebook.  I’ve tuned into the world before I have tuned into God.  I’m working to try and turn this around so I don’t tune into the world until after I have tuned into God.  I’m trying to power off my devices so I can focus on prayer.

To remain focused and tuned into God during prayer we can also keep a prayer list or a prayer journal.  Sometimes writing down what I share with God helps me stay focused on what matters and it reminds me from day to day what I have and what I want to share with God. 

Setting aside a specific time and place for prayer can also be helpful.  A few years ago I decided to not turn on the TV in the morning to watch the news but to take the time while I was eating breakfast to read the Bible and pray.  So now every morning I am able to sit at a table where I can keep company with God through his word and prayer. 

2. Invite In.  James 5:14.  We not only need to invite God into our lives when we pray, but there is value in inviting others into our prayers as well.  There is power when we pray together.  Jesus said where two or more are gathered in his name, he is there, and when Jesus is there, the power of Jesus is there. 

Praying with others not only brings the power of Jesus, but it can keep us diligent in praying, and it can shape our prayers.  Prayer partners can be a good way to help us be intentional in our times of prayer and keep us going.  Whether we actually meet with someone to pray, or just ask someone to check in with us about our prayer life, the support and accountability in prayer can be powerful. 

Praying with others can also teach us how to pray.  It was praying one on one with the guys in my bible study in college that taught be more about prayer than any class or workshop ever did.  The disciples grew in their desire to pray by simply being with Jesus when he prayed.  .

I hope in your marriages and in your families you are praying together.  If not, introduce it as a practice.  Pray at meal time.  Pray at bedtime with your children.  Pray for your children in the morning or at the start of the day.  Invite God into your lives and invite others into your times of prayer. 

3. Envision Change.  James says, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  In other words, prayer changes things, so what are the changes we want to see in our lives, our relationships, our jobs, our community, and our world?  What change are we looking for?  Can we see it?  Can we name it? 
Envisioning change can be helpful for several reasons.  It can help us check our motives to make sure what we are seeing and wanting is right and pure.  It can also help us see what might need to change in us to bring about a change in others, or the world.  Sometimes the change that comes in prayer is going to take place in us, and so we need to see that, and be willing to accept that. 

Jesus had a strong vision of what he prayed for.  When he taught his disciples to pray he told them to pray, thy kingdom come, and Jesus could clearly see what the kingdom of God was to look like and how he could be part of bringing it in.  Seeing what he was praying for gave direction to Jesus’ life and it can give direction to our lives as well. 

To help us pray we need to power off, invite in, and envision change, but the most important thing is to just pray.  Spend time with God.  Begin a conversation with God.  Listen for God to speak and share and sing over you and know that God enjoys your company.  Prayer is so important because it is the fuel that ignites our faith, it forgives our sin, it helps heals our souls, it restores our relationships, and it fundamentally changes our lives. 
 
Next Steps
Life Hacks – Prayer

Prayer – keeping company with God.


Life Principle
• Pray every day - because God enjoys your company.
• Pray about everything - because God cares about you. 


Life Hacks:

1.  Power Off – to turn on and tune in to God
• What time of the day can you turn off the world (phone, tablet, computers, TV) and tune into God?  Pick a time and place to pray every day.
• Share with God what matters most to you today.
• Listen to what matters most to God.

2. Invite In.
• Ask God to enter into your schedule, your relationships, and your heart.
• Join a small group where others can pray for you, and where you can pray for others.
• In your small groups, being a prayer partner ministry.
• Pray together in your marriage or family.  Start by praying before meals, or at the beginning of your day.

3. Envision Change.
• What one change are you praying for today?
o Write down what it would look like for God to answer your prayer. 
• What one change might God want in your life? 
o Write down what it would look like for God to answer His prayer.

Life Hacks - Wisdom

The book of James is filled with principles that can make our lives and relationships better - if we will follow them.  The practices that help us follow these life principles we are calling life hacks, because a life hack is a new or novel way of doing something that is better than the old way.  It’s a new practice that can improve our lives.  Last week you heard that I love most kettle cooked chips, what I didn’t know – and here is an amazing life hack – you can freeze potato chips.  I know, it’s crazy, and in my house there are never any leftover chips to freeze, but you can freeze chips and some people say that if you freeze flavored chips and eat them right out of the freezer that the taste is stronger.  

Since communion is today, let me offer this life hack on getting grape juice or wine stains out of clothes.  Soak the stain in equal parts of dawn and hydrogen peroxide and you will see the stain begin to lift.  Or you can try pouring white vinegar over the stain which neutralizes purple and red pigments, then rub in some detergent and wash.  If you spill on carpets, blot out the excess liquid and then pour salt on the carpet.  The salt will pull out the stain.

With many of the life hacks we have offered, there is sound logic behind them.  For example, the salt crystals absorb the stain out of the carpet and the vinegar neutralizes the red pigments.  Sometimes there is science behind the life hack, sometimes it is just looking at something in a new way, like seeing a cup as a hand protector and not just something to drink out of, but with all of them there is a certain amount of wisdom, and James gives us a life principle that deals with wisdom.  James 3:13-18.

James tells us that there are two kinds of wisdom in this world.  The first is a wisdom that comes from above and this is the wisdom that comes from God.  God’s wisdom is pure and leads to a life of humility, peace, and good works.  But there is also a wisdom from below, an earthly wisdom, that James says is unspiritual and if we follow this wisdom our lives become selfish, chaotic, and can lead us into all kinds of evil and problems.      

The wisdom from above is the truth that comes from God, and this can be found in the direction we find in the world of God, the example we see in the life of Jesus, and the strong promptings of God’s Holy Spirit that speak into our hearts and lives.  While there are times we struggle to fully understand God’s wisdom, God has assured us that if we seek His wisdom, we will find it.  If we ask God for true wisdom, God will provide.

The wisdom from below, this earthly wisdom, is found all around us.  It is found in some of the wisdom or advice we get from people.  While much of what we hear might sound good and even seem helpful, it doesn’t always mean that it is from God.  If those sharing their advice and wisdom aren’t followers of Jesus, then we can’t be certain that their wisdom is from God.  If people aren’t informed by the wisdom that comes from above, they can’t share with us God’s wisdom, and so even if what they say sounds good and reasonable, we can’t be certain it is from God.

We also hear earthly wisdom at work and again, while the advice and direction we receive might sound good it doesn’t mean it is from God.  For a few months after college, I sold cable TV subscriptions door to door.  I learned how to talk about cable TV in ways that would motivate people to sign up.  I had one woman already to sign up.  She really wanted cable and my boss and coworkers would have said that it would have been an easy sale.  I could have done it, but then she told me that she needed an operation and she didn’t have money for both.  The wisdom I learned from my employer would have said sign her up and let her figure out the health issues later.  I couldn’t follow that wisdom, it didn’t seem right, so I didn’t sign her up, and began looking for another job.  

Earthly wisdom in relationships says things like, if it feels good – do it.  In finances it says, go ahead and buy it now, you can pay it off later.  Earthly wisdom is found in advertising, music, sports, entertainment, and through all kinds of social media.  There are subtle and not so subtle messages that bombard us in social media that shape our values and our decisions, in fact there are people called social media influencers because their presence on social media and the advice they give influence the decisions of others.  All of this wisdom from below shapes our values and lives if we listen to it and follow it.   

Earthly wisdom is also found in news and politics, and in many ways this is where it’s easy to see how earthly wisdom works.  All across the political spectrum there are people who claim to have the answers to our social problems.  There are dozens of options, solutions, and ideas that are coming at us all the time.  Not all of this wisdom we hear can be right.  Not all the news we get from either Fox or CNN can be trusted all the time because it is filtered through people who have their own unique perspective or agenda.  All of these ideas and information and wisdom comes at us constantly and it doesn’t promote peace but chaos.  

So we have news, politics, entertainment, social media, family, friends, work practices, peers, sports, and our own human desires shouting at our hearts and minds every day.  We are inundated by messages that try to shape our thinking and our values and our decisions, and it is often this earthly wisdom that guides our lives, but if the wisdom is not from God, it is ultimately not good for us.  To experience the life God wants for us we need to learn how to follow the wisdom from above and so here are the three life hacks to help us do that.  

1. Stop... and care for others first.  Twice James connects selfish ambition with the wisdom that comes from the world, so if we can stop thinking about ourselves first, if we can break the hold selfishness has on our lives, then the door is opened for God’s wisdom to enter and shape our hearts.  Opportunities to serve and care for others are all around us, we just have to be willing to step out and take them.  Most of us know someone who could use some support, love, and attention.  If we will step out to care for them, God will reshape our thinking.  

Coming back later this afternoon to high five kids in the hallway as they come to the first night of VBS shows families that we are a community that loves and cares for both children and Jesus.  Praying for those serving this week at VBS is one way to care about others.  All of you were so generous in your donations of snack crackers for Centre county foster children, but let’s not stop there, we will have a container in the back parking lot that will need to get filled to send to Belize to help people in need there.  We can all play a part in this mission and this is one more way to stop and care about others first.  Working at being less selfish and self-absorbed begins to reshape our thinking and helps us focus on wisdom from above. 

2. Look... at what we have and not at what we don’t have.  Wisdom from God says we are blessed, and that we need to be content with what we and have not constantly wanting more.  What we need to do is learn how to be content with what we get and discontent with what we give.  

The wisdom from God says that a good and faithful life is found when we learn to give ourselves away.  God’s word says it is more blessed to give than to receive, and Jesus said, those who try to keep their lives will lose it, but those who give their lives away will find real life.  In other words, true life is found not in what we get and accumulate in life, but in how we give ourselves away.  

At the end of life, earthly wisdom counts up what we have gotten in life and directs where that will go, Godly wisdom considers what we have given.  What we give are the treasures in heaven that ultimately make a difference.  What is God asking us to give this week?  Is it our time, our talents, our treasure?  If we can give more today, and store up treasure in heaven?  When we do, the wisdom that comes from God will shape our hearts and lives.  

3. Listen… to God first.  We live in a world with so many voices coming at us that it is hard to know who to listen to, so we have to set aside time every day to intentionally listen to God.  Before we seek wisdom from family and friends, before we go searching for direction online or in the world, can we ask God for wisdom, and then listen to God in prayer?  Can we listen to what God has shared with us through his word?  Can we examine the life of Jesus to see the example that he has given us?  Can we quiet ourselves and allow God’s spirit to speak directly to our hearts?  

It is not easy to silence the voices around us long enough to listen to God, but we can.  We can limit the influence of social media, limit screen time with ourselves and our children.  We can stop listening to all the news and fake news which comes with its own bias and agenda.  We can silence some of the voices around us and when we do we have the opportunity to hear more clearly the voice of God.  

Our VBS theme is ROAR and it centers on the idea that while Life is wild – God is good.  When life gets scary, when events in our life are unfair, in the midst of unwelcome change, and when tragedy comes and life is sad, the world offers its own perspective, advice, and wisdom, but the wisdom from God says this – when all of that happens – God is good.  The wisdom from above says that God is always good and that God is always working for good in the lives of those who love him.  God’s wisdom doesn’t say everything in our lives is good, but that God can use it for good, and that the God working in us is good.  Can we quiet the voices around us so that we can hear the roar of God’s love and grace?  At times God’s voice thunders like a lion, and sometimes God’s voice whispers like the wind in the trees, but we will never hear that voice until we silence our hearts and minds and learn to listen.  

So to begin to hear and follow the wisdom from God, we need to stop.  Stop living for ourselves first and break the grip that selfish ambition has on our lives.  We need to look.  Look at what we have and what we have been given and not just what we want.  And we need to listen.  Listen to God first.  We need to silence the many voices around us so we can hear the roar of God’s love.  When we do stop, look, and listen, it is the wisdom from above that shapes our lives and leads us to a life of God’s goodness and peace.  

Next Steps

Life Hacks – Wisdom

Life Principle

There are two kinds of wisdom, one comes from above and one comes from below.  Read James 3:13-18.

Life Hacks

1.  Stop.  Stop and care for others first.

• Find one person to serve this week.

2. Look.  Look at what you have and not what you want.

• Learn to be discontent with your giving by giving in some new way this week.

• Give a mosquito net to the VBS Offering to help eradicate malaria.

• Give to the Belize container project.

3. Listen.  Listen to God first.

• What voices do you need to turn off so you can hear God roar?

• What practices do you need to start so you can hear God whisper?

• Commit time each day to reading God’s word.

• Make time in your prayers to be quiet and listen.

Life Hacks - Temptation

This summer, we are studying the book of James, and James gives us several principles by which we need to live our lives, and with these principles James provides some practical advice.  We are calling this advice, life hacks, because a life hack is a new of doing something that is better than the old way.  It’s been fun looking at life hacks that can improve simple things in our lives and I’m told several people started fires last week using Doritos, so I can tell you that life hack works.  Today I want to share a very timely hack. 
1. Use cups to protect hands from sparklers.
2. Sugar & water paste removes grass stains


Again, these are fun and useful, but what we really want to focus on is how to make our faith stronger and our lives better, so let’s go back to the book of James.  One of the reasons James is so powerful is that it is universal.  James doesn’t talk about issues that are important to just a few people, James addresses issues that impact ALL people.  For example, how many of us ever find ourselves tempted?  Whether it is food, money, or a desire for new stuff, new experiences, or new relationships, we all face different temptations.  James 1:13-14. 

Notice that James says “when” we are tempted because he knows that temptation is universal and we all struggle with temptation because it comes from selfish desires, and in case you haven’t noticed it, everyone is selfish.  Our family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and everyone around us only seem to be looking out for themselves.  But if that is true then if we stop and think about it, we must be selfish as well.  We are selfish, and James says that it is our selfishness, our own self-centered desires, that lead us into temptation.

So temptation is something we all face and there are two principles about temptation we need to understand.

1. We can KNOW the right thing to do but then DO the wrong thing. 
This tells us that temptation never comes as a surprise.  We know what we should and should not do, we just don’t always do it.  Adam and Eve knew that they were not to eat from the tree of knowledge, so it’s not like they suddenly came across this tree with amazing looking fruit and wondered if they should eat it or not.  They knew about this tree.  They knew the fruit would look good and they knew it was bad for them.  There was no surprise here.  They knew the right thing but then did the wrong thing, and this is how temptation works in our lives.  We know the right thing to do, but then still do the wrong thing. 

Just like with Adam and Eve, there are certain foods that tempt us all.  We know these foods aren’t good for us and we know we shouldn’t eat them, but then we do the wrong thing and not only buy the food but eat it anyway, and sometimes we eat a lot.  I love potato chips.  Not just any chips, (I am not a fan of Middlesworth chips, and I know some of you will now look at me differently because of that confession, please don’t judge me), I love kettle cooked chips.  But here is the problem with chips, I can’t eat just one, or two, or a handful, or even a coffee filter full.  When I get a bag, I eat the whole thing, and then feel just like this guy. 

I know that eating a full bag of chips is not healthy.  I know that after I eat the bag, it will sit in my stomach and make me feel lousy.  I know I won’t feel good the next morning because of all the fat and cholesterol coursing through my body, and because the empty bag will remind me that I have no self-control.  I know all of this.  I know the right thing to do, but I still do the wrong thing. 

Maybe for you it’s not potato chips but Oreos.  You tell yourself just a few, ok just one row, and then you stop and have to ask yourself what happened to the bag.  Or maybe it is that king size candy bar you buy to eat over the course of a few days, but then eat in one sitting.  Or maybe it’s fast food like BK or McDonalds. We know it has a lot of fat and cholesterol and we go in telling ourselves that we will have the grilled chicken salad, but then walk out with a Big Mac, fries, and those fabulous fried apple pies.  Don’t judge, we all know the right thing to do but then don’t do it. 

But it is not just food, it’s just that food is easy to talk about, and it makes us smile because we all have our weaknesses, but there are more serious temptations we face, like alcohol, gambling, and pornography.  We know these things can be bad, we know they can destroy our relationships and our lives, but we still do them.  Sometimes the temptation is to cheat in order to get ahead at work or in school, or it’s pursuing that relationship we know is dangerous to our marriage if our spouse were to find out, but we go down that road anyway.  Or it’s buying that new toy, or those new clothes thinking that our lives will be better, but we just end up deeper in debt. 

We know that all of these things are bad for us, but we do them anyway, and then we are left with the consequences.  And this is the second life principle, there are always consequences. 

2. We can choose to FALL but we can’t choose the FALLOUT.  
We can choose to do the wrong thing, we can choose to fall, but when we do, we can’t choose the fallout.  When we give in to temptation, we don’t always get to choose the consequences.  We can choose to give to excess drinking and drugs, but we don’t get to choose the effects of that abuse.  Maybe it’s the DUI we thought we would never get because we tell ourselves we don’t drink that much.  Maybe it is the loss of our job because the drug use made our work less productive, or we missed too many days.  Maybe it’s the loss of our marriage and family because we crossed a line in a relationship with a friend.

Part of the fallout from giving in to temptation that we don’t think about is our weakened relationship with God.  Every time we do something we know is wrong it is called sin, and sin moves us farther away from God, and it’s not that God moved, and it’s not that God tempts us, James says God cannot tempt us, it is our own selfishness that tempts us and leads us away from God. 

So what are the practices that James gives us to overcome temptation?  Let’s look at James 4:7-8a
1. Resist It.  The first practice to help us overcome temptation is to resist it.  We can’t just stand against it, we need to fight against it.  When it comes to temptation, we are in a battle, and a battle means we have to fight.  It’s not always easy to walk away from the chip aisle in the grocery store, but if I don’t walk down that aisle then I don’t buy the chips.  We can’t get drunk if we don’t buy the alcohol.  We can’t lose our money if we don’t make that trip to the casino.  No matter what the temptation is, we can resist it and we can flee from it, but we need to be ready for a fight because we are in a battle.

Notice that James doesn’t say we flee from temptation, he says we are to flee from the devil because he is the one who tempts us.  It is the devil who wants us to give in to all our human hungers and desires instead of trusting in God, so when we resist temptation we are resisting the devil and that is always a battle, which means we need to be prepared for the fight.  Look at Ephesians 6:10-18. 

This is what it means to go into battle against temptation.  We need to be fully clothed in the armor of God, trusting in and drawing upon all the faith and power God gives us, and being willing to enlist and engage the people of God in the fight.  Just as we would be foolish to go to war by ourselves, it is foolish to try and fight temptation by ourselves – we need the strength that comes from others and God gives us people to back us up, and fight at our side.

This is the power of groups like weight watchers and AA.  If we try and fight temptation alone, it is too easy to give in, but if we can enlist the help of others who know the battle, who fight the same temptation, we can find with them the strength to overcome. 

There is strength when we are standing with others.  Ecc. 4:9-12.  A strand of three, two people with God, will be strong, so if we want to resist temptation we need to put on the armor of God, enlist others in the battle, and trust God to see us through.  But at times, even when we do all of this, we will still fail, but when we do, all is not lost, look at James 4:8b-10.

2. Own It.  When we fall into temptation, when we know the right thing but do the wrong thing, we don’t give up, we give in to God.  We wash our hands, which means we own up to the fact that our hands our dirty.  We humble ourselves, which means we own up to what we have done wrong.  Instead of trying to place the blame on someone else, or make an excuse for our failure, or try to convince ourselves that it really wasn’t that bad, we need to own up to our failure.  This is what Adam and Eve didn’t do. 

After they gave in to temptation and did what they knew was wrong, both Adam and Eve tried to shift the blame and make excuses.  Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.  They didn’t wash their hands, and they didn’t humble themselves before God.  They didn’t own up to their failure but tried to protect themselves by placing the blame on someone else.  We can never overcome temptation if we aren’t willing to own up to the reality of temptation in our lives.  We can never overcome something that we aren’t willing to admit is a problem in the first place.  Once we own it, we are able to overcome it.  Once we take responsibility for it, we can loosen the grip it has on us, which leads us to the third practice…

3. Confess It.  James 4:9.  James isn’t telling us to just mope around and cry about our situation, he is calling us to confess.  We need to be honest about our situation and confess our sin to God, and maybe confess it to someone else – someone who can stand with us.  Confession is not just good because it cleanses our soul, confession can also lead us to those people who can help us, and it reminds us that we can never overcome temptation in our lives without the help of the Holy Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 10:13 says that while we are all tempted, God will never let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.  God will give us a way out.  Sometimes that way out is the help and support that only comes when we own our sin and confess it.  When we do this, and when we ask God for his help, we are given a new strength and power to go back and resist it. 
You see these three practices, these life hacks to help us overcome temptation, aren’t really steps, they are the cycle of our lives.  We resist it, but if, or when, we fail, we own it, we confess it, and then we go back to resisting it.  Failing when we are tempted isn’t the end, but neither is owning up to our failure and our confession, those practices need to lead us right back into the battle to fight temptation all over again. 

The principle we all live under is this, we can know the right thing to do but then do the wrong thing.  It is a battle to do the right thing, at times a hard fought battle that needs the armor of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the help of God’s people, but God gives us the ability to do the right thing.  If we fail, it’s not the end, we own it, we confess it, and we get right back into the fight, with this prayer, God, lead me away from temptation. 
 

Next Steps
Life Hacks – Temptation

Life Principles:
• We can know the RIGHT thing to do - And still do the WRONG thing.

• We can choose to FALL - But we can’t choose the FALLOUT. 

Life Hacks:

1.  Resist It.
• Read James 1:13-15, James 4:7-10
• Identify the temptations that you need to resist. 
• Read Ephesians 6:10-18
• How can the armor of God help you?  What pieces do you need to put in place first?
• Who can fight the battle with you?  Read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

2. Own It.
• Falling into temptation is not the end.  What failure do you need to own? 
• What failures have you blamed on others, and excused away, that you now need to own?
• Ask God to help you see the seriousness of your sin.

3. Confess It.
• What sin do you need to confess to God? 
• Look for a person God has already placed in your life to share your struggle with and invite them to fight temptation with you. 
• Be a fighter with someone else.  Join their battle when you are asked.

Life Hacks - Speech

This summer we are reading through the book of James and looking at some life principles that if we are willing to put into practice, God says our lives and relationships will be better, and our faith stronger.  We are calling these practices life hacks because a life hack is a new or novel way of doing something that is better than the old way.  A life hack is putting a cup of water in the microwave when you reheat pizza, or using a coffee filter to wash your windows and clean your mirrors.  Today we want to share some more life hacks that can improve your summer activities:
1. Use an Onion to clean your grill.
2. Doritos to start a fire
3. Toothpaste to soothe bug bites

Again, these life hacks are fun, but what we really want to focus on are the ways we can practically live out the biblical principles we find in the book of James, and today we are going to talk about how we need to use the most powerful muscle in our body, the tongue. 

Our tongue is the most powerful muscle in our body because it is with the tongue we can create life, and with our tongue we can destroy life.  Our words have the ability to lift people up and tear people down.  Our speech can speak the truth in love or spread lies with an evil intent.  Words are powerful because they shape and direct not only our lives but the lives of others.  It is words that shape and change the direction of our world.  James makes clear to us the power of words in shaping and directing life by using two different images, a bit in a horse’s mouth and a rudder on a boat. 
James 3:3-4

A bit is a small piece of metal that is put into a horse’s mouth and using a harness and reins, the bit can control a horse that weighs 1,000 pounds.  Karen Port gave me this bit to show you and we talked a little bit (no pun intended) about how this small thing gives direction to a horse. 

James also uses the image of a rudder on a boat.  A rudder is a very small thing but when it shifts just slightly in the water it has the ability to turn something thousands of times larger. 

On the Aircraft Carrier USS Roosevelt, there are 2 rudders that are 29’x22’ and they control a ship that is 1,092 feet long (longer than the empire state building is tall) and is over 20 stories high and has a flight deck that is 4.5 acres.  A relatively small rudder sets this entire ship in motion and helps move it to a new location. 

James is saying that it only takes a few words to change the direction of our lives.  A few encouraging words can set a child on the course of success, and a few critical words can keep them down.  When I was young, I heard the words, your fat, and those words shaped my self-image and my self-esteem for years.  My sister was a freshman in HS when her science teacher said, you will never get above a D or C in this class because you are a girl and you are focused on and thinking about other things.  She says that those words kept her from trying harder and reaching for higher goals.  Just a few words can shape our lives.

For all of us, there may have been some critical words that closed doors and kept us down, but my hope is that there were also words of encouragement that fueled our hopes and dreams. Words not only shape our history, but just a few words can shape world history.  Think about the power of these words. (video)

President Kennedy’s words, we choose to go to the moon, changed how we looked at the universe.  They sparked a generation of science that has taken us to the moon and beyond.  His words led to moon landings, space shuttles, mars probes and the exploration of space. 

President Reagan’s words, tear down this wall, changed nations. Not only did the wall come down, and Germany became one nation again, but the entire Eastern Bloc of Europe changed and freedom came to millions of people. 

Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, I have a dream, forever changed our society.  His words continue to shape us as we strive to look at people not by the color of their skin but the content of their character.  We fundamentally see people differently because of his four words. 

Words are powerful and they always have been.  God didn’t create the world with his hands, he spoke it into being with his words.  God said, let there be light, and there was light.  God said, let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly in the sky, and there were birds and fish.  God said, let us make mankind in our image, and men and women were created.  God’s word spoke history into being, and our words continues to shape our history and the history of our world.  Our words are powerful and they can create life or destroy life, but James also says that once our words are spoken they take on a life of their own.  We see this in the third image James uses for our words, fire.  James 3:5b-6

No matter how careful we may be when we start a fire, it always has the potential of becoming uncontrollable and uncontainable.  We see this every year across the mountains of California.  A camp fire left unattended, a match thrown on the ground, even the spark from a car can set entire communities on fire, and the same is true with words once they are spoken.  Once a word is said out loud, we cannot take it back.  We can try and minimize its impact, we can try and give a fuller context to what we were trying to say, and explain what we meant to say, but once a word is spoken we cannot control it and we cannot contain it.  We see this all around us in the world of social media.  Once a word is tweeted, or posted to Facebook or Instagram, we no longer are able to contain it and we are no longer able to control it. 

Which brings me to the reality that when we talk about our words today, we are not just talking about what we say out loud, we are also talking about what we say on social media.  Social media is dangerous because it is like putting a bullhorn up to every word we say and thought we have.  When we post to Facebook and Instagram we might as well be broadcasting to the entire world because we have no idea who will see it or how people will hear it.  With all social media, once the words are spoken we can no longer control them and we can no longer contain them and the consequences of what we have said can be devastating. 

People post all kinds of things about their jobs that they would never say to their boss, but when their boss finds out, and they always do, that person often hears the two words that change their history –you’re fired.  We might think we are sending a private message to a friend on facebook complaining about our spouse, only to find out it was posted for all to see, and suddenly we are trying to find the right words to say, I’m sorry.  Social media simply makes the power of our words that much stronger and it shows us how true this life principle really is: words, once spoken, are uncontrollable and uncontainable. 

Because words are so powerful and can quickly move beyond our control, James gives us some sound principles that we need to consider.  The first comes from James 1:19-20.  James tells us to listen more, speak less, and to make sure we don’t speak when we are angry, so our first life hack is to shut up when we are angry. 

Now I know that saying shut up is not considered very polite, and I thought about another way of saying this, but then I thought that maybe we need to hear it just this way.  There are times when we all need to learn to keep our mouths shut.  Just because we can say something doesn’t mean we should and not all truth needs to be spoken.  There are times we will serve ourselves well if we will let our tongues remain silent. 

There is a reason God put our tongues behind a set of teeth and two lips, because there are times we need to keep it locked up and silent and this is especially true when we are angry.  When we are angry, there are so many things that we want to say.  We want to vent our frustration.  We want people to know we have been hurt or offended.  We want to shout about how we are right, and while there is a time and place for all of this, we need to be very cautious about when we share any of these words.  There really is value in counting to 10 when we are angry instead of saying the first thing that comes into our mind.

Now this doesn’t mean we avoid talking about our problems, or working to resolve our differences, the Bible also says that we should not let the sun go down on our anger and that we should seek to restore relationships and resolve conflicts, but it is always better to shut up when we are angry and allow God’s spirit to guide us to more peaceful and wise places.   

The second thing we need to learn to do with our speech is to speak up while we have the time.  There are two very important times when we need to do this, when our children are young and when our parents are older.  We only get one chance in life to shape the life of a child and that is when they are a child.  The words we speak to children when they are very young, and the way we encourage and speak to our teens, shapes their hearts and lives.  Our words can ignite their passion and give fuel to their future, or our words can burn down their dreams and destroy their destinies. 

At every turn, we need to encourage our children.  We need to praise them, and love them, and fill their world with a faith and vision that tells them they can do and be anything.  And let me say this to the men here today.  Our children are waiting for, longing for, and needing to hear words of affirmation and love from us.  Women are often better at using words to nurture and encourage, but the words of fathers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles and male friends is desperately needed in the world today. 

If you are a father of children – speak up while you have the chance.  If you are a grandfather or uncle – speak up while you have the chance.  If you are a coach, work with children in any capacity, and have the opportunity to speak words of encouragement to children – speak up while you have the chance.  We will never get this chance again.

And the same is true when we are dealing with our parents or grandparents.  Life is short and we need to say today the things that are important.  We need to say today that we love and appreciate people.  We need to say what we can while we have the chance, and this isn’t just true for our parents, and grandparents, but those we work with as well.  Most people at work are hungry for affirmation.  There is no such thing as too much affirmation as long as our words are genuine and heartfelt.  The words of affirmation we say today might the words that change the direction of a person’s life.

And the last thing we need to do with our words is to clean up what we mess up.  We all say things that we shouldn’t, and whether we said it in anger, or frustration, or we really meant it but now regret it, we need to use new words to clean up what we have messed up.  Jesus talked a lot about forgiveness and much of what we need to be forgiven for is what we have said to, or about others. 

This past week there was a story of a student from the Parkland Florida school who had his acceptance to Harvard rescinded because of hateful words he said to his friends in an email and social media posts when he was 16.  What I appreciated about this young man was that he didn’t blame someone else for his words, he apologized for them, and said they were wrong.  He was trying to clean up what he had messed up.  It may not get him back into Harvard, but he is living out this principle in a more mature and honest way than many people in politics, sports, and entertainment.  Most people who are in trouble for saying something they now regret find someone to blame, but what we need to do is apologize, and begin to clean up what our words have messed up. 

James is clear that our tongue is powerful and our words shape history.  Our words can bring life or death, they can build others up or tear them down, they can point people to Jesus or they can diminish our witness and the glory of God in this world.  Our words are powerful, and once spoken we lose the ability to control them or contain them, so we need to shut up when we are angry, speak up when we have the chance, and clean up what we have messed up. 


Next Steps
Life Hacks – Our Speech

Life Principle: Words, once spoken, are uncontrollable and uncontainable.  (James 1:19-20, 33-12)


Life Hacks:

1.  Shut Up – when you are angry.
• Read James 1:19-20.
• Where do you need to spend more time listening and less time talking?
• When angry, type up an email to vent your frustration and then hit “DELETE”.

2. Speak Up – while you have the time.
• Commit to speaking words of love and encouragement this week to your spouse and children.
• Commit to speaking words of appreciation to parents, coaches, mentors, and friends.
• Find ways to speak words of support at work to all those you work with. 

3. Clean Up – what you have messed up.
• Where have your words created a mess in a relationship?
• How can new words ask for forgiveness?
• How can new words restore relationships?
• Ask God for forgiveness and ask for strength to reconcile all that is broken in your life.