My name's Scott. I have a hard time. Thank you,
sir. I have a hard time staying warm, so I usually
stay pretty bundled up, but I'll put the hood
down for you all. But it's good to see everybody
today. I've been coming to the house here for
about three years and enjoy being here very much.
And from time to time, about every week, eight
weeks, get a chance to share. So I'm going to
go ahead and do that today. Do you like to clean?
Let's get a few answers. Who says yes? All right,
I see some cleaners. Why do you like to clean
and what do you like to clean? We got a labeler,
ladies and gentlemen. We need the labelers. My
wife loves labelers. My wife's got a basket and
a label for everything under the sun. Another
cleaner. I need another cleaner. Only when angry.
Yeah, your mother -in -law is? Awesome. We have
some cleaners back here at this table. What do
you like to clean? What was it? Papers? Awesome.
Very good. So we got some great helpers in here.
Who hates to clean? I mean, hates it. Yeah, Shannon
and I talked about that this week. We got a couple.
It's a bit tricky when two people live together
and neither one likes to clean, huh? But that
happens. That happens. Show me. Where's one of
my non -cleaners and what do you hate about it?
I don't like to clean bathrooms. Bathrooms, yes.
No one likes to usually pick. I mean, some people
would, right? How many of you like to clean your
bathroom? Anybody like to clean? Yes. Okay, I
got one. I got a couple. Exactly. You like it
to be clean. He likes to clean, so it works.
All right. That's great. Thank you very much
for that. I like to clean, but my abilities to
clean are limited these days. So what I do is
have people follow me around and I point to things.
And I feel bad, but it's just the reality of
the situation. So I had two people in my garage
the other day, and I love my garage to be clean.
So I was just pointing away and had people moving
all over. And I enjoyed it. I had a good time.
They were sweating because it was about 90 degrees
in the garage, and most people don't like cleaning
your garage, but I was having a great time. Now,
sometimes we need a little bit of a reminder
to clean. We need a little bit of a push to clean.
And sometimes you get a few reminders, but then
it gets more serious. When you're growing up
and you hear your middle name, that's when you
know you've ignored the cleaning for a little
too long. My mom's here today and she might say,
you know, Scott, would you please clean up your
room? Scott, your room still needs clean. Scott,
I've asked you a couple times now. Scott Thomas
McConnell. You're not going to do anything else
until you get that room clean. Yes, amen. And
it worked, Mom. I kind of like to clean now.
So it worked pretty good. Sometimes we might
clean one area but not another one. You might
have a junk drawer. Everything else looks clean,
but then there's one spot where everything goes
that you're not sure where to put it. You might
have maybe a really clean car, but then a messy
closet. Sometimes different ones of us, you might
even have a room that's the messy room that you
keep the door closed when people come over. Or
a closet when people come in and see the living
room. it looks one way, but if they were to open
up a closet, they would see something else. Everything
that had gone in there. Drink break. Now, one
TV show I like to watch is a show where... It's
not just casual cleaning, but things get out
of control in someone's life when it comes to
that. It gets to the point where clutter starts
to take over, collections start to take over,
and then trash starts to build up until it's
something that person can no longer control.
And I want to read a couple words to you about
it. It can lead to shame. It can lead to isolation.
It can lead to deception where people try to
hide whatever it is they have going on. And it
can lead to denial where people don't want to
admit what that problem is. And it can become,
start to become harmful and interrupt the relationships
they have around them. At that point, it's more
than a messy closet. It's more than a messy room.
Sometimes messes get out of control and they
can start to damage things in our lives. If we
think of our spiritual lives as a backpack, a
desk, a car, a house, sometimes there's a spot
in our spiritual life where things start to build
up. They start to get cluttered. And when something
really builds up, it might even start to stink.
Do you ever find there's a part of your life
that starts to stink? People know that they should
probably stay away from it or you keep it hidden
altogether. It starts to cause isolation. You
start to push people away. You might start to
feel shame about that. That's where we're going
today. We're shifting a little bit from that
casual cleaning that might need picked up to
that place where, things start to interfere in
our lives and that figurative sense where things
build up. And I think about that show that I
like to watch. And on that show that I like to
watch, when things start to get unmanageable,
there comes a crisis point. Sometimes it's families
saying, I can't stand it anymore. You have to
make a change or I might not stick around. Or
it might be the city comes in or some type of
official or landlord and says, if you don't make
some changes, if you don't make some changes,
then you might not be able to stay. Someone else
might come in and clean this mess out for you.
And so the steps that usually happen are that
that person has to open up their home, let their
mess be seen. have it be confronted, no longer
be able to be in denial, and then they have to
receive help taking care of that. There's places
in our lives where we have to receive help to
be able to get it cleaned up. We can't handle
it by ourselves. Have you ever had an area that
you've been planning to clean up for days, then
weeks, then months? Then years. How many of us
have a garage or some area, a closet in our room
that has been on our list for a very long time?
And the reality is that if someone else doesn't
step in and help us out with it, it probably
won't get done. And so sometimes we need that
place. Why are you shaking your head, Tashiana?
We argue. You can't say argue. My wife is Tashiana.
We talk a lot about the basement, the closets
in the different areas. Those places where we
might need to hear our middle name to know what
change needs to happen. Scott Thomas McConnell,
that needs cleaned up. What's somebody up? Chris,
do you mind sharing your middle name? Christopher
Michael. Yeah, right. Christopher Michael Olson.
Now, I got a little bit ahead of myself. We're
going to look at the passage now today that we're
looking at. It comes from James. And I'm going
to warn you that in this passage, James. is trying
to get their attention to let them know some
things need cleaned up. Before this passage,
a lot of the places, James is saying, my dear
brothers and sisters, you need to know this.
Or my dear brothers and sisters, you might need
to make some changes in this area. But in this
passage, it gets a little bit different. He uses
their middle name. He comes in and confronts
them to let them know that this isn't something
that can be put aside for another day, another
week, another year to be dealt with. So I'm going
to have my friend Kenneth come up and read that
passage to you. It's in James chapter 4, verses
1 through 10. I should have given you a little
more heads up to look at that, but you just have
to listen really closely. What causes fights
and quarrels among you? Don't they come from
your desires that battle within you? You desire
but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you
cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and
fight. You do not have because you do not ask
God. When you ask, you do not receive because
you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend
what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous
people. Don't you know that friendship with the
world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone
who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes
an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says,
without reason, that he as jealously longs for
the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But
he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture
says, God opposes the proud, but shows favor
to the humble. Submit yourselves then to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come
near to God and he will come near to you. Wash
your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts,
you double -minded. Grieve and mourn and wail.
Change your laughter to mourning and your joy
to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and
he will lift you up. Well, that was kind of mean.
You couldn't have read a happier passage? Thank
you very much for reading that. See, that's part
of why I set that up for you. Because in this
passage, he's calling them murderers and adulterers.
Not because they've killed. Not because they've
literally committed adultery. But because in
their spirits, in their hearts, things have gotten
to a place that are unmanageable and a change
needs to happen. In verses 7 through 10, he says,
Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil
and he will flee from you. Come near to God and
he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you
sinners, and purify your hearts, you double -minded.
Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter
to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves
before the Lord and He will lift you up. Sometimes
we have to take a moment to get serious about
something happening in our life. That needs to
be dealt with. Because God cares. He doesn't
want you to live with a mess in your life that's
causing you isolation. He doesn't want you to
live with something in your life that's causing
separation between you and him. Or you and others.
It's not for his benefit. It's not to make him
feel good. It's because he cares and is concerned
about us. When my mom would use my middle name,
she wants to make sure that I'm taking care of
what God has given me. She doesn't want me to
live in a mess, does she? God doesn't want us
to live in a mess. He doesn't want us to have
a place in our life that stinks, where things
are building up. The good news is that James
does not say, you fix this. This is on you. You
clean it up. He says, come before God humbly.
Come before God seriously, and he will lift you
up. He has enough grace to take care of this.
The goal isn't for it to be just a you thing.
Part of why I like that show that I was talking
about is that it's not a thing where they go
in to make that person feel bad and then leave
them and say, okay, now you fix it. Fix this
mess that's going on in your house. They come
in trained with a... psychologist, with a cleaning
team, with an organizer to say, we're going to
help you get this straight. We're going to help
you get this right. And that's what the Holy
Spirit does. That's how God works in us. Let
me look through my notes here for a moment. I
want to make sure I'm not skipping anything out
on you, but I do want to wrap up. Okay. I'm leaving
some things out, but I feel like you guys get
it. We're going to go old school today. We're
going to go a little bit old school. And how
many of you grew up in a church where there was
an altar? Yep. There's a church where there's
an altar and sometimes there was an altar call.
Some of us might have heard of an altar call.
And that's where the person preaching gave you
an opportunity to come and pray. And oftentimes
for someone to come and pray with you. and I
want to offer that opportunity today. And, Connie,
if you would come up and come over to this side.
And, Gary, if you'd come over to this side. And,
Mom, once Gary finds a spot that he likes, can
you pull that chair over for him to be able to
have a seat? And these are two people that I
have a lot of respect for and two people that
love to pray. And pray for people. And Pastor
Jen. Where's Pastor Jen? Oh, she stepped out.
Oh, OK. That's OK. Myself and Pastor Jen, too,
will be available. And so. What are we trying
to do here? What we're trying to do is take a
moment to respond to what God wants to do in
our lives by taking a moment to come forward
and ask someone to pray with us. And I want to
offer that opportunity. It's not something that
you have to do for God to work in your life,
but it's a special way to say, God, I want you
to do something. I want you to help me address
something. It could be a place where there is
selfishness or jealousy in our lives that needs
cleaned up. It could be a habit. It could be
a relationship. It could be a lot of places,
a lot of things. You say, well, what if I come
up, Scott? Do I need to pour my heart out or
share personal information? No. No. You can say
a word. You can say two words. But you can give
some, enough for that person to be able to pray
with you. I would like God to help me clean up
my language. I would like God to help me deal
with some anger. That I've had for a while that
I think he wants to deal with. So that's the
idea. I'm going to give I'm going to set my timer
after I pray here a moment. And we'll give we'll
give 60 seconds. A prayer time. And if you'd
like to come up during that time to receive prayer,
you can do that. And if that's not something
that folks are looking for or feeling today.
Then we'll go ahead and do communion and close
up the service. It won't be a long, drawn -out
thing. We won't pressure anybody, but that'll
just be the opportunity. Now, once somebody comes
up, if you decide you'd like to come up as well,
you're welcome to do that. It's not like the
60 -second timer closes off and you can't come
up for prayer anymore. But I want to help you
understand that it's not something that's going
to drag out. We're not going to lock the doors
until everybody comes up. I'm going to go ahead
and pray. And then I'll open that up. Father,
I thank you for today. I thank you that you care
enough about us. That you don't want us to just
be stuck where we are. And especially when we
have places in our lives. That are causing us
to feel isolated or separated. That are coming
between us and you. Us and other people. That
you love us enough to say our middle name. And
say, hey, let's do something about that. And
one way, God, that you give us a chance to do
that is to ask for prayer. To support and show
love to each other on a Sunday morning. So I
pray that you would help us to be obedient. Not
to feel pressure, not to feel guilt. But to be
willing to be obedient as you lead. In Jesus
name. Amen.