Intervention

1. James 4:1-10 Intervention (Page 1026 in pew Bibles)

2. James 4:1-10 (Page 1026 in pew Bibles) • What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? • You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. • You ask and don’t receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure.

3. Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. • Or do you think it’s without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit He has caused to live in us yearns jealously?

4. But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble • Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. • Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!

5. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. • Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

6. James 4:1-10 Intervention

7. A person is saved when he commits all that he knows about himself to all that he knows about Jesus All that I Know About Myself To All that I Know About God >

8. Christian growth takes place as I learn more about myself or more about Jesus – and adjust my commitment level accordingly All that I Know About Myself To All that I Know About God >

9. When God wakes me up to a huge gap And I make adjustments, that is personal revival All that I Know About Myself To All that I Know About God >

10. James 4:1-10 God’s Crisis Intervention -- Alerting Us to a Huge Gap

11. The Presenting Problem: Interpersonal Conflict • Vs. 1 “What is the source of the wars and the fights among you?” • The Message: “Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from?” >

12. The Underlying Cause: Internal Desires • Vs. 1 “Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? >

13. Underlying Cause: Internal Desires • Vs. 1 “Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? Word where we get, Hedonist (Someone who lives for pleasure) Def >

14. Underlying Cause: Internal Desires • Vs. 1 “Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? • William Barclay: “The craving for pleasure drives men to shameful deeds… He may restrain himself from the things that the desire for pleasure incites him to do; but so long as that desire is in his heart he is not safe. It may at any time explode into ruinous action.” photo >

15. xx Def >

16. Underlying Cause: Internal Desires • Vs. 1 “Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? Def >

17. Underlying Cause: Internal Desires • Vs. 1 “Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? Word where we get, Strategy, and refers to an encamped army within >

18. A Vicious Cycle: Desire… Frustration… Conflict • Vs. 2 “You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.” >

19. Spiritual Problem:Living Independently From God • Vs. 2 “…You do not have because you do not ask.” >

20. Spiritual Problem: Trying to Use God • Vs. 3 NLT: “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” >

21. Confrontation: A Word Picture • Vs. 4 “Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.” • Vs. 5 “Or do you think it’s without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit He has caused to live in us yearns jealously?” • The Message: “And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that ‘he's a fiercely jealous lover.’” >

22. Confrontation: A Crisis • Vs. 5 “But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” • Amplified: “But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully)…” • Wuest: “…God sets himself in battle array against the arrogant and haughty but gives grace to the humble and lowly.” • Take your choice . >

23. James 4:1-10 Seven Steps of Recovery

24. Submit to God 1 • Vs. 8 “Therefore, submit to God…” To place or arrange under British Missionaries in Israel, Dove… God doesn’t adjust to us; we adjust to Him .>

25. Resist the Devil 2 • Vs. 8 “But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.” To bravely take one’s stand against . >

26. Draw Near to God 3 • Vs. 8 “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” • Exodus 19:22 “The priests who come near the Lord must purify themselves” • Don’t feel close to God? Then, draw near to God! • This is a conscious choice and a deliberate act • This is a command with a promise! >

27. Clean Up Your Act 4 • Vs. 8 “Cleanse your hands, sinners” • Psalms 24:3-4 “Who may ascend in [the Lord’s] holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart…” >

28. Purify Your Hearts 5 • Vs. 8 “Purify your hearts, double-minded people!” • I need to make up my mind what I am about! .>

29. Enter a Grief Process 6 • Vs. 9 “Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow.” Q>

30. How People GrowCloud & Townsend “One of the most important processes in life is grief. God has designed grief to get over things. …we basically digest experience…. We have to be able to work through that experience and move on, leaving our hearts available for new experiences and relationships. We get rid of the hurt and pain by grieving and then keep the learning experiences that come with it.” Q> Page 136

31. How People GrowCloud & Townsend “Another important reason people cannot grieve the way they need to is that they lack the resources. In short, grief is a letting-down and a letting-go. And we cannot let down and let go if we are not being held up. If there is not enough love to sustain us, both inside and out, we cannot let go of anything, even something bad.” Q> Page 233

32. How People GrowCloud & Townsend “This is the answer to the age-old question that people ask every day, “Why doesn’t she just let it go?” Or, “Why doesn’t he just get over it?” The reality is that often they can’t because they don’t have the resources, either internal or external, to do it. A good analogy is the trapeze: You can only let go of one trapeze if there is another to grab onto.” .> Page 233

33. Humble Yourself 7 • Vs. 10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” • The path to the best solution is the path that requires the most humility Def>

34. Humility 7 Humility is the process of coming to see myself accurately in relation to God and to the people around me. Humility is when I recognize that God is superior to me and stop usurping His right to decide how I will live. It is recognizing that others are equally created in the image of God and coming to appreciate their value. Humility is not thinking badly of myself; it is shifting my focus from myself to God and to others. HL>

35. Humble Yourself 7 • Vs. 10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” • If you want to humble yourself, get a good look at God – that will humble you. ..

36. James 4:1-10 Intervention