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"Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded... Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." James 4:8, 10

So often we shy away from the word "sin". We try to make it sound better by saying, "mistake," "issue" or "struggle" instead. Rarely do we call it what it really is. But to discover the life that God has for us, we have to admit our sin. Rather than laughing off our "mistakes", James challenges us here to admit our sin and admit it to God.

Sin is a serious issue. So serious in fact, that it cost God the life of his only Son, Jesus Christ. But the good news is that your sin doesn’t have to come between you and God. When you admit to God that you are a sinner; when you fall humbly before Him and ask Him for forgiveness, "He will lift you up."

No longer will you have to be ashamed of your sin. Once you are forgiven, God holds no memory of your transgressions. Nothing on earth has the power to lift you up and give you life like the power of a purified heart before God.

God's...

"But he gives more grace. That is why Scripture says: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, then, to God... Come near to God and he will come near to you." James 4:6-8

When you drill down nearly every emotional, relational and spiritual struggle in your life, you’ll come to one root cause: pride. We all have a tendency to want to be in charge. We want to be our own god, to call the shots. But control is far from ours, no matter how much we may want it.

The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud. So when pride causes you and me to attempt to wrestle the reins of life from God, we end up facing some major opposition.

To get back to a place of peace with God, James tells us to place ourselves in a position of submission. In this context, the word "submit" is a military term. It conveys the idea that we need to get under God’s plan for our lives. He is the one who is in control; He has set forth the battle strategy. And when we submit to His plan rather than trying to follow our own, we will discover victory over every other battle in life.

The real issue is...

"You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God." James 4:2

We are all familiar with our external battles like verbal conflict. But there is another battle that is a bit tougher to identify; our internal struggle for control. This takes place when we’re presented with the choice to either fulfill God’s plan for our lives, or to fulfill our own desires for life separate from God.

We can wear ourselves out by clamoring for dreams and goals that were never meant to be ours. And when we try to claim something that doesn’t belong to us, we are guaranteed a nasty fight. Ultimately, when we desire possessions of this world, we are selling ourselves short of the greatness and grandeur that God has in store.

If you base your value on the have’s or the have-not’s, then you will always find yourself fighting for rank, yet still falling short in the world’s economy. Instead, surrender to the truth of God’s perfect plan and ask Him to take control. He is the only one who truly has your best interest at heart. And remember—in God’s economy, your true value and worth will never waiver.

Proverbs 15:4

Christianity can sometimes get a bad rap due to professed Christians being insincere. They say one thing, yet do another. And it results in one of the biggest excuses people have for not going to church: "It’s full of hypocrites."

The word hypocrite means one who simply acts like a Christian, or one who wears a mask. Many people try to convince the world that they are Christ followers only to turn around and take the mask off when they think no one is looking.

True sincerity, though, is seen when no one is watching. How do you behave behind the scenes when no one you know is watching? Make sure you are sincere in all that you do, even when you think no one is watching—because God always is. And His opinion of you is truly the only one that matters.

Class of 91`

Pastor Todd Bush is in the opening scene and the ending scene...

Pure...

"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure..." James 3:17

When you wake up in the morning, one of the first things you do is look in a mirror. You brush your teeth and comb your hair. But no matter what, people don’t typically leave the house until they’re confident that all basic grooming behaviors have been covered. The goal is to have that polished look—clean, spotless, pure.

It’s ironic that we can spend so much time trying to perfect our outward appearance, yet neglect our most important feature - our hearts.

No matter how well put together we may be on the outside, we will constantly find our lives in disarray if we lack God’s wisdom and guidance in our hearts. Without that, our hearts become dusty, dirty, unkempt, creating a less than desirable living space for the things that matter most.

Spiritually, God is the only one who can make us clean. And when we seek His wisdom, the "wisdom that comes from heaven," we are seeking the one thing that can truly make us pure — inside and out.

True or ...

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies." Psalm 141:3-4

Armed guards and No Access Allowed signs seem to accompany celebrities, high-ranking government officials and professional athletes in order to ensure their safety. But did you know that we need that same type of protection for our mouths?

Saying we have faith in Jesus is a step in the right direction, but true power comes when you’re able to put substance behind those words. When you become a follower of Christ, God calls you to display an authentic faith. And one of the ways you do that is by guarding the words that come out of your mouth.

In the above passage, King David asks God to put a guard over his mouth because he knew that the words he spoke did more than just communicate what was on his mind. The words we choose communicate the truth about our faith in God.