"Overcoming Worldly Wickedness" | Pastor Steve Gaines

james chapter 4 verses 1 through 10 today i want to ask you have you ever considered how many different ways the word world is used in the bible i've read the bible multiple times and i have seen at least three ways that the word world is used first of all it refers to the people who are in the world most famous bible verse i believe of all is john 3 16. jesus was speaking at night to a man named nicodemus and he said these famous words let's read it off the screen and boy we've got a big screen to read it off of for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life god loves the world he loves everybody in the world jesus died for everybody in the world anyone can be saved god loves people he loves people and that's one way the word world is used but there's a second way and that is to talk about the planet earth the world is used that way yesterday i read in my quiet time my devotional time my time with the lord psalm 24 well right out of the gate verse 1 says this the earth is the lord's and all it contains and then he explains that this is hebrew parallelism where he makes a statement at the beginning and then explains it at the end the statement again is the earth is the lord's and all it contains the world and those who dwell in it that's the people of the world you and i are part of the world all of mankind is connected and i i think this is a good place for me to say that there's only one race the human race there's only one race there's only one race the human race we are biologically connected now my wife has gotten on to me before because i say we're kind to one another and she said say biologically connected okay i'll say biologically connected but guess what we're kin to each other too all right and i'm telling you we all stepped off of the boat of noah every one of us we all go back to adam and eve we are united and we talk about blacks and whites there's nobody in here that's white i asked my granddaughter am i white she said i said are you white she said no i'm khaki got any khaki people here today yeah that's what you're not white and really there's nobody black we're all different shades of brown and we all came from noah who came from adam and eve so we're all connected to one another and we're part of the world so quit talking about my group and my stop that we're all connected if you don't like that take it up with god okay i can't help that but there's a third way that the phrase world is the world is used in scripture and that is the evil world system it is anti anti-god anti-everything that we think is good anti-jesus anti-church the evil world system that hates christ hates his church hates us gathering together hates us speaking about the word of god hates the fact that there is truth that only comes through jesus christ and we are not to love the evil world system we're to love the people of the world we're to love the planet i i don't worship the planet but i love the plant don't don't don't you thank god for nature don't you thank god for beautiful uh mountains and for streams and all of that and and we we love the the the earth we do that we don't worship the earth but we do love the earth because god created it and we love people as well but we do not love the evil world system we do not love the devil we do not who is over that evil world system we do not love how it divides and tears up families and how it destroys people's lives and how the enemy uses it to tempt people to sin it's the evil world system paul talked about it in romans 12 verse 2 don't be conformed to the what say it out loud the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove or discern what the will of god is and the will of god is three things good acceptable and perfect that's the will of god john said in first john 2 15-17 don't love the world nor the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that's in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life is not from the father but it's from the world and the world is passing away and also it's lust but the new one but the one who does the will of god lives forever how many of you know the world is passing away how many of you own a mirror how many of you have ever bought a car and within a month somebody had opened their door on it and put a little ding in it anybody out there yeah or maybe you got to go to kroger or some other grocery store piggly wiggly wherever and somebody let go of one of those little shopping carts and it ran into the side of it you know anything you get you think's going to make you happy it won't make you happy if christ is not in it so the world is this system that the devil is all behind and it's the aspect that james is talking about today as we talk about overcoming worldly wickedness look at james chapter four beginning at verse one what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members you lust and you don't have so you commit murder you are envious you cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel you don't have because you don't ask you ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures you adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward god could we read that phrase together friendship with the world is hostility toward god let's all read it together friendship with the world is hostility toward god therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose he jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us but he gives us a greater grace therefore it says god is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble submit therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to god and he will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be miserable mourn weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom and humble yourself in the presence of the lord and he not you he will exalt you father let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight o lord our rock and our redeemer open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things from thy law in jesus name we pray and if you agree say amen well as we talk about worldly wickedness and overcoming let's talk about the reality of worldly wickedness is it really out there and and when it's part of our lives what does it result in well worldly wickedness first of all according to our text leads to a life of struggle if you're wrapped up in worldly things you're going to struggle spiritually look at verse one what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you is not the source your pleasures which wage war in your members now the word quarrels is a greek word polymas polemis and it means literally conflict literally war or battle a fight but figuratively which is how it's used here it's talking about people fussing and this conflict and quarreling with one having strife and it's where we get the english word polemic the definition in the dictionary of polemic is a polemic is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and undermining of the opposing position that's a fancy way of saying a polemic is a knock-down drag-out fight with words it's words these words that are polemical they're critical they're hostile they're cutting they're sarcastic they're caustic they're bitter that kind of speech is what he's taught me don't be involved in quarrels what is the source of your polemos your quarrels your fighting your conflict what is it and then he uses not just the word quarrels polemos but also conflicts which is a word that means battle and disputing and quarreling so he uses these two words the opposite of the fruit of the spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control it's the it's the works of the flesh it's all this battling and disputing and quarreling and conflicting and it's waging war in our members that is in the church within the body of christ why are you quarreling and arguing within the church why is this infighting going on in our churches why does the devil want to destroy denominations like the southern baptist convention with quarreling and bickering and pettiness why does he want to do that because he wants to undermine the preaching of the gospel of jesus christ and its effectiveness because if we continue to argue and fuss we ruin our witness with the lost world and we can preach all we want to but they don't want to listen because they don't believe that we really believe what we're talking about that's what the devil's up to it's waging war in our members in the body of christ quarrels so worldly wickedness leads to a life of struggle it also leads to a life of sin a life of sin look at verse two you lust but you don't have so you commit murder you're envious you cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel you don't have because you don't ask look at verse two you lust epithelia strong strong word for wanting something that you should not have wanting something that you should not have jesus used it about men lusting for women in the sermon on the mount he talked about it matthew 5 28. he said you're yearning for something that you should not have you're lusting for things he's referring to someone who is determined they're resolved to sin in a heinous manner that's the sinful life that worldliness leads to verse two you lust epithelia and then you commit murder when you can't get what you want you'll even kill for it you might just assassinate somebody's character but you will murder you'll commit murder this picture someone completely out of control their temper is completely out of control and their speech becomes a lethal weapon at best it depicts character assassination with words but it can also actually lead to somebody being hurt or even killed i want to say this to you your tongue can do a lot of damage and we've talked a lot about that he talks a lot about that you can murder somebody in the sense of tearing them down and destroying their uh their the way that they're perceived by people by just talking negatively about them and then he says in verse two you are envious you're full of jealousy you're bitter you're resenting other people and that leads to murder it's jealousy he says here led to the first murder if you think about it i mean why was cain why did he kill his brother abel because abel's sacrifice was accepted by god keynes was not cain got jealous and jealousy caused the first murder now you you say well i'm not killing anybody are you killing people their reputation with your tongue are you killing them with your bad report about them not physically killing them but you're killing their effectiveness you're destroying part of their lives you're fighting and you're quarreling again in verse two he mentions it again referring to those who love to fuss love to fight i i'm telling you man you got to be careful with this especially in our day there are people all over social media that just love to fuss they love to fight they they just they wake up and say who am i going to slander today this is going to be awesome can you imagine that i heard about a guy he said i know somebody they wake up and they brush their teeth and sharpen their tongue at the same time don't be like that don't slander people worldly wickedness lust murder envy jealousy fighting quarreling it's a life of sin worldly wickedness also leads to a life of shortage notice what happens in verse two people that live like this they never have enough whatever they receive is just not quite enough you lust and you do not have so you commit murder you are envious and you cannot obtain so you fight in quarrel you don't have because you don't ask he says you don't have it you're lusting for it but you just can't get it you just never seem to get what you want you lust but you don't have you're envious and you really want these things but you can't obtain them you don't have because you're not asking and when you ask you don't ask for the right reason these three phases talk about the lack that comes from someone who is worldly living in worldliness and what they're wanting only god can provide only god can fulfill your ultimate desires and the reason when you get something you say i want a car you get the car and the car doesn't satisfy you well i want a spouse you get the spouse and you use them up and you say well that's that's not well i want children well they come and you don't realize you got to change diapers now and so that's not all that great either you know and so everything you get you think that's you get this job you get that job some people can never keep a job because they're always in this job looking for another job that might be better than the job they got instead of working on the job they've got and so they're always moving around always shifting around well you know maybe over here maybe if i just try i know pastors that just can't stay in one church because they just flip around they say well i've got a better opportunity over here listen to me that's the flesh that is not god god wants us to be content in jesus christ and then all of our other circumstances are secondary you're not going to be fulfilled unless you're fulfilled ultimately in jesus i want to say something to you hey mister your wife is not there to fulfill all your needs either there is something that only jesus can give you sir and you can't get it from your wife and ma'am there's something that your husband can't give you and it is jesus christ and you you can't get out of your husband what only god can put into you do you understand that we can make anything an idol we can make anything idolatrous a life of shortage because we're looking with the lust of the eyes the pride of life and the lust of the flesh that's the world and then it's a life of selfishness look at verse three you ask and you don't receive because you ask with wrong motives what's the wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures god i want this and what you're saying is i want this because i want to be pampered i want to be taken care of i want you to take care of me i want you to please me lord it's all about me it's not about your kingdom lord i don't want to seek first the kingdom i want to seek first mind i want mind now you can't live like that if you're going to be a christian you can't can't have it both ways you can't have the world and the kingdom of god also you can't do it i'm sorry you've got to love jesus with all your heart and not love the evil worldly system of self and idolatry worldly wickedness man it manifests itself in some ugly ways a life of struggle a life of sin a life of shortage and a life of selfish that's the reality of worldly wickedness and that's why there's so much turmoil in our world and there will be until the lord comes back and establishes the 1 000 year millennial reign of peace on earth there will be no peace on earth until the prince of peace comes back to this earth as king of kings and lord of lords so let's now let's move on beyond the reality of worldly wickedness does god punish worldly wickedness absolutely let's talk about the retribution for worldly wickedness look at verses 4 and 5. you adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward god therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose he that is god jealously god is jealous for his children he jealously desires the spirit which he has put in us which is made to dwell in us god jealously desires for his spirit to work in you to make you more like jesus christ that's what he desires not that you might be more worldly worldly christians now this is strong put your seat belt on i'm just going through james all right i'm not mad at anybody but i'm going to preach the bible and i'm not trying to grandstand i'm just telling you i'm going to tell you what it says worldly christians commit spiritual adultery that's what idolatry is when you're worldly you start worshiping the things of the world instead of the one who created the world you get all wrapped up in stuff and this in my opinion is america's greatest sin and look at me it is tempting to me and it's tempting to you as well everybody in the room needs to listen up because i'm talking to me i'm talking to you i'm talking to my family and all of us worldly christians commit spiritual adult when you're worldly and you're a christian you're cheating on god that's what you're doing look at verse 4 right out of the gate you adulteresses and then he ties that adultery to idolatry look at it do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward god you know what jesus said you can't live a double life and enjoy it can't have it both ways you can't have a heart divided between the lord and the world he referred to worldly christians christians that are focused more on the world than they are on the kingdom of god he said you are spiritual adulteresses you're cheating on god because you're engaging in idolatry look at me what is idolatry putting anything else before jesus that's all it is it can be your family it can be your job it can be your money it can be your health i know people that call themselves christians that barely ever read the bible but they are buff man they work out all the time and their body is their god their health is their god i got news for you god can pull the plug on that real quick you tell me you don't have time to read the bible and yet you work out an hour and a half two hours every day something's wrong with that is it quiet in here amen revering and serving something other than jesus that's idolatry adultery is being immoral and unfaithful to your spouse idolatry is being immoral and unfaithful to god it's friendship with the world and it's unholy idolatry is a blatant act of spiritual unfaithfulness do you remember by the way in the old testament whenever there is idolatry immorality is soon to show up you remember when they were worshiping the golden calf while moses was getting the ten commandments one of which talked about adultery and he's up here on the mountain with god and they're down here making a golden idol and his brother aaron when moses asked about it what what happened he said you know these people i just threw their gold into the fire and out came this calf that's the dumbest thing i've ever read in my life that's exactly what it says huh i had a but as soon as they start worshiping this calf then they have a time of immorality and that's putting it mildly they went off the rails and committed serious sexual sin idolatry and immorality go hand in hand in the bible when you start lusting for the things of this world it won't be long that you'll start lusting for people that you should not be lusting after just the way it works worldly christians commit spiritual adultery it happens all the time worldly christians also cause divine jealousy god is jealous for his children i hear some people say god couldn't be jealous jealous jealousy is a sin no jealousy is projected positively in the ten commandments when it's god having jealousy for his children i'll read it to you in a moment god's jealous for those of us who know him as savior i know it's not bad because god is jealous for us you so i i don't commit idolatry brother steve i i don't bow down to molech i don't bow down to baal you don't have to bow down to molech or bale to be an idolater family can be your idol you can be so consumed with your family and always wanting to portray that everything's okay how's your family oh we're wonderful we're so wonderful we are wonderful i mean just look at my facebook look that's how wonderful we are have you ever noticed that they don't take pictures and put it on facebook when they're fussing on the way to church how about don and i on a date we don't like to eat the same kind of food i like food that's probably not real good for you you want to go get a salad no i don't want to go get a salad i want some fried catfish with hush puppies and onion rings well that's not good for you you didn't ask me that you asked me where i would like to go we don't put that on oh let's put this moment on facebook we're having a fuss in the car and don't look so holy that's when family becomes an idol we just put on there like oh look at these 15 wonderful grandchildren and everything's great put that down you're going to kill yourself that's how you talk to your grandchildren a lot of times why are you eating that electrical cord what's wrong with you can i get a witness out there anybody out there yeah anybody real anybody real in the house of god today yeah oh we make an idol out of it though our marriage oh it's just perfect it's perfect i've been married 41 years tomorrow [Applause] i'm just saying praise god amen i'm just you know you know that she's she's kept me this long there's a few days i feel like chunking me out the window amen i think that's enough of that i had another illustration but i'll just stop i'll tell you that god is jealous for us he doesn't want steve loving this world by the bible he wants me loving him that's what he wants and his kingdom exodus 20 1-6 gives the first two commandments and they're about god spoke all these words saying i'm the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt out of the house of slavery i brought you out i'll tell you what to do that's what he's saying here's why i can tell you what to do here's why i can give you ten commandments i brought you out of the house to slavery how many of you god brought you out of the house of slavery of sin amen look at this that means he can tell you what to do you don't tell god what to do he tells you what to do i'm the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt out of the house of slavery therefore you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above on the earth beneath or in the water unto the earth you shall not worship them or serve them for i read this out loud with me please for i the lord your god am a jealous god i visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but i show love and kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments when you commit idolatry when you start loving things instead of god you are being unfaithful to god you are being a spiritual adulterer you are being an idolater and we're all tempted to do it and just like god will punish anybody who is a fornicator or adulterer go read hebrews 13 4 i'll read it to you here it is marriage is to be held in honor among all the marriage bid is to be undefiled fornicators and adulterers god might judge no god will judge and he will also judge not only people who commit adultery and fornication in the literal way he will also do that when you are unfaithful to him as an idolater you've got to overcome worldly wickedness because if you don't there's going to be divine retribution well there's the reality of worldly wickedness the retribution of worldly wickedness are you ready for the remedy anybody ready for the remedy out there all right yeah he said brother steve these sermons boy they're they're tough yeah but they always end good okay and i didn't write this i mean i'm just i'm just the preacher okay i'm not the cook i'm just the little waiter getting it to you okay so it always ends good he tells you what to do after he tells you all the problems and here's the here's the remedy for worldly wickedness it's a seven-fold plan to overcome worldly wickedness i'm telling you if you want to defeat worldly sin here's how to do it write this down if you don't write anything else down write these seven things down and start putting this to work i do it i have to use this every day every day number one submit to god say that with me submit to god look at verse six and seven he gives a greater grace all right how many of you glad that the grace of god is bigger and stronger than our sin amen he gives a bigger a greater grace therefore it says god is opposed to the proud he gives grace to the humble submit therefore to god daily discipline wake up and surrender that's what you do in your prayer time my father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is you're surrendering to god right there pouring out your heart and say god not my will but thine be done today i surrender it's a daily discipline i give you all my rights all my privileges i surrender to the will of god you're in control of my life regardless of what happens today i believe that you're holding me in your sovereign hands and i'm not going to worry about it i believe that you are in control and i die to myself romans 12 1 therefore god says i urge you brethren by the mercies of god present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to god which is your spiritual service worship just put yourself on the altar god i present myself to you as a living and holy sacrifice i die to myself that's what i talked about last week and i'm yours every day i submit and surrender to god number two i resist the devil look at verse seven resist the devil and he maybe just maybe he might flee from you is that what it says resist the devil and he what will flee from you nowadays christians don't they don't even think about that they say well i got saved devil can't bother me devil can't harass me what i'll try to be as nice what a bad answer the devil bothered jesus the devil bothered paul the devil bothered peter who do you think you are the devil comes after angels even all right so look at me the devil is going to bother you and you've got to resist him when did resist when when did ignore become a synonym for resist we're not to ignore the devil we're to resist him we are in a war he is the enemy people are not the enemy go read ephesians 5. you don't have a problem with anybody it's the demonic spirits behind those people where you need to do the fighting that's the only place you're going to get any victory you've got to resist the devil and he will flee from you first peter 5 8-9 be of sober spirit be on the alert your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour he wants to devour you he wants to devour your marriage he wants to devour your thoughts your mind he wants to devour everything about you because he hates you because you love jesus and he hates jesus he hates the jesus in you the devil in this world hates the jesus in you that's why he's after you that's why he's trying to destroy your marriage that's why he's trying to destroy your children that's why he's just trying to destroy the southern baptist convention and every church that preaches the gospel be of sober spirit be on the alert your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour but resist him firm in your faith mark 3 27 no one can enter the strong man's that's the devil the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house i tell you when you pray you are binding the enemy you're binding him with the blood of jesus the name of jesus the word of god the spirit of god you're plundering his property and you're loosing at the same time love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control when you pray and when you fast you are doing damage to what the enemy wants to do in your life against your family against this nation against this world i want to tell you you need to get in the fight and get on with it put on the whole armor of god and start praying and asking god to use you as a warrior for jesus christ you need to resist the devil that's how you move mountains that's how you fork the schemes of the enemy number three draw near to god now notice you submit to god you resist the devil and as soon as you resist the devil go back to god go back to god go back to god draw near to god and he will do what sit out loud draw near to you you catch that some of you are saying i don't feel god i i god's not talking to me are you talking to god god talks to people that talk to him he said you come to me i'll come to you you draw near to me i'll draw near to you you don't just lay out there in osmosis and and god do something no god's saying you you step out in faith and watch me meet you that's the way it is all over the bible you desire god to be near to you draw near to him number four be purified look at verse eight cleanse your hands you sinners purify your hearts you double-minded get clean with god there's a prayer i pray many times you know you can feel like how many of you know that you can feel like everything's okay between you and god when it's not does anybody know that pray this prayer sometime psalm 139 23-24 just just pray it with me right now let's just pray it right now read it off the screen search me o god and know my heart try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way how many of you think that's a good prayer to pray amen god just show me search me tell me what's going on here is there anything i need to confess and repent of but god wants to cleanse you he wants to purify you psalm 24 i read this yesterday who may ascend into the hill of the lord who may stand in this holy place who has clean or cleansed hands and a purified heart draw nearer to god and then be purified as you forsake your sins and number five be broken i preached a whole sermon on this last week about jacob being broken god broke him so he could bless him look at verse 9. be miserable mourn weep let your laughter be turned in the morning and your joy to gloom nobody likes to have fun more than me i enjoy that i have i love to have fun but i want to tell you something there's a time not to have fun there's a time to weep and to mourn and to be miserable over my sin over the sin of this nation and let my laughter be turned in the morning there are 2 000 babies being absolutely mutilated every day in abortion how can we never mourn for them who's weeping for them the bible says that jesus wept over jerusalem luke 19 41 when he approached jerusalem he saw the city and he wept over who is weeping for memphis tennessee who is weeping for collierville who is weeping for millington who is weeping for cordova if we don't who do you think is going to do it do you think these people out here that have what they call churches and they don't even open the bible they just have a little five-minute talk about something relative to something out there and they call it a church i want to say that if a church like bellevue is not going to weep over lost people and over the lostness of this world who do you think is going to do it who do you think is going to do if you and i don't do it who do you think is going to do it who's weeping over memphis and the lostness of our city be broken and then be humble humble yourselves in the presence of the lord and by the way when you read the word humble in the bible many times it's a reference to fasting many times in the old testament they would humble themselves and everybody humbled themselves on the day of atonement whether they took medicine or not okay you can you can fast at least one meal okay you can even if your doctor says no you can fast at least one meal now i'm telling you we need to humble ourselves and look humble yourself everybody say that with me humble yourself what that means is don't wait for god to do it don't live in disobedience and sin long enough where god has to do it because you won't do it look you're going to be humbled either you're going to humble yourself or god's going to do it don't wait on that humble yourself and then be exalted by god be exalted by god verse 10 he will exalt you it's not that you will exalt you but he will exalt you in his own way that's the remedy for overcoming worldly wickedness i want to ask you are you willing to submit to god give him everything are you willing then to stand up in the name of jesus the blood of jesus the word of god the spirit of god and resist the devil are you ready then to draw near to god so he'll draw near to you are you ready to be purified and to be broken and to be humble and to be exalted by god that's how to defeat worldly wickedness how many of you believe the world is getting darker morally and spiritually does anybody believe that how many of you think that over the last few decades the last decade the last decade has it not gotten morally and spiritually more dark in our nation and in our world and do you realize that's going to be the way it is until the coming of the antichrist and the great tribulation jesus is going to take us out in the rapture i believe before that but then jesus will come back and set up peace on earth at the end of the great tribulation he'll set up peace on earth for a thousand years but once in a while once in a while on our way to armageddon over the last 2000 years once in a while god will rally his people to pray and they'll have what the bible calls revival not a revival meeting but revival if my people called by my name will humble themselves if they'll fast and pray and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways i'll hear from heaven i'll forgive their sin and i won't stop there i will what say it with me heal their land how many of you believe america needs healing amen it's only through getting right with god humbling yourselves before god defeating conquering worldly wickedness let's bow just a moment ask god right now to search you say god is there any worldliness in my life is there anything that if you took it away from me anything that you took away from me that it would bother me if i still had you lord is there any any idol in my life have i made my family an idol have i made some possession an idol have i made my job my idol have i made my reputation my idol if people came against me and started putting me down and destroying my reputation am i dead to that and alive to you god is there any idolatry in my life is there any worldliness in my life pray it and then repent of it when he he's already brought it up more than likely he showed you what it is submit to god resist the devil draw near to god be purified broken humble and exalted heavenly father i thank you that you're jealous for us just like i'm jealous for my wife dear god i don't want her with anybody else dear god i i know that you don't want us with the world lord i thank you that you're a jealous god and i think you've showed us how lord to fight this worldliness it's so alluring it's so constant it's so ever-present we're never satisfied with what we have until we realize that we have you and you're all we need oh god in heaven those seven things can simply be merged into one thing love jesus love jesus with all your heart soul mind and strength love jesus that's the remedy for worldly wickedness so show us any idolatry in our hearts dear god anything anything family job money health whatever fitness whatever don't let us have any idols before you and while christians are praying some of you don't know the lord there's no way god would put this many people in one room and at least one of you not be saved no way one of you maybe several of you don't know the lord you're not a christian you have never repented of your sins you've never believed that jesus died on the cross to save you and that he rose from the dead to give you eternal life you have never committed your life to him you've never surrendered to him you've never received him as lord and savior i want you to do that god wants you to do that and you can do it right now just like i would lead a couple not in just some words but in a vow in a promise to one another in their wedding and that's when they get married you can pray a vow if you will to the lord and you can become a christian his vow his promise to you is whosoever shall call upon my name i'll save them will you be saved would you repent would you ask god to forgive you would you receive jesus if so pray with me right now if you're watching online pray right now you're in the balcony on the main floor out in the hallway pray right now just say dear lord jesus i want to be saved you're the only savior i'm sorry for my sin i'm a sinner i repent i turn from my sin i don't want to live like this please forgive me and lord i believe that you died on the cross paid my sin debt i believe they buried you you were dead but god raised you from the dead i believe that and i believe that somehow because of that i can be saved so i receive you i call on your name save me right now lord jesus christ i thank you by faith that you have now i want to just lead you christians in a prayer that you will jettison worldliness for christ's likeness christian you're struggling with the things of this world loving them more than you love god let's pray together just say something like this dear lord jesus forgive me for being spiritually unfaithful to you forgive me for being an idolater forgive me for loving things more than you forgive me for loving people more than you forgive me for loving anything more than you oh god forgive me for being unfaithful to you as an idolater i repent and may i love you with all of my heart soul mind and strength in jesus name and the whole church family said amen let's all stand up let's thank god that he can forgive any sin amen let's thank him right now amen amen even idolatry

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 1,898

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Overcoming Worldly Wickedness, book of James, resist the devil, Bellevue Baptist Church, echurch, online sermons, baptist sermons, southern baptist, BellevueChurch, Bellevue Church, Bellevue Church Memphis, BellevueMemphis, Bellevue Memphis, Bellevue Church sermons, Steve Gaines, Steve Gains, PastorSteveGaines, Pastor Steve Gaines, Pastor Steve Gains, Steve Gaines Bellevue Church, Steve Gaines Sermons, Steve Gains Sermons, SundaySermon

Id: RLihHLl4sD4

Length: 52min 42sec (3162 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 14 2021