December 28, 2025
If the Lord Wills
Pastor Ricky Smith

Sermon Notes

James 4:13–17
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

1. Avoid Making Plans with Prideful Assumptions

The problem is not the planning in and of itself but planning in such a way that God has no place in the plans.

2. Make Plans with Humble Acknowledgment

God’s Sovereignty Isn’t Meant to Make Us Passive and Apathetic, but rather Proactive and Humble.

3. Live with Integrity and Immediate Obedience

Next Steps

• I confess my sin and turn to Jesus as King for the first time.
• I commit to acknowledging God in every decision.
• I choose to start by obeying what I can today rather than waiting until later.

Deep Dive

1. How does James 4:14 challenge the way you view your time and priorities?
2. What are some plans you need to hold more loosely this coming year?
3. How does trusting the Lord’s will affect the urgency with which you obey what you already know God wants you to do?

Springboards

1. What does it practically mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
2. Read 1 John 4:7-12. How does God’s love empower us to love difficult people?
3. Share a story of someone who modeled this kind of wholehearted love for God and others. How can we reflect these attributes in our own lives?