Am I a friend with the world?
Yesterday
We began to zoom in on the conflict with God.
Today
We will LOOK at being a friend with the world, which puts us in conflict with God.
Open GODcha to the Book of James.
NOTE:
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Let’s Pray
O Lord, we pray Your Spirit would instruct us from Your Holy Word today. We pray You, Holy Spirit, would make the Word vivid and real to us. And we ask that You would give us hearts that would desire to please You and obey You as we hear.
LOOK at What God Says
Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.
What will you do first?
READ God’s Word
Read James Ch 4:1-5 asking the 5W’s and H.
Remember, this is the most critical skill you could ever learn.
Now, focus on James 1:4 and concentrate.
What is an adulteress’s relationship to God?
Describe friendship with the world?
KEEP LOOKING
Incorporate All Our Strategies
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4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?”
Unlock the Meaning 
Do you remember what friend means?
It’s just a tap away!
Let’s crack open ‘the World’.
Let’s LOOK at what God says, and reason through the Scriptures.
Because the question is this. . .
if someone is a ‘friend’ of Christ, can they be a ‘friend’ of the world too?
Understand God’s Words
Check Out the Meaning
World, kósmos; Noun probably from koméō, to tend, to take care of. In the Jewish mode of speaking: the present world, the present order of things, as opposed to the kingdom of Christ; and hence, always with the idea of transience, worthlessness, and evil both physical and moral, the seat of cares, temptations, irregular desires. Specifically: the wealth and enjoyments of this world, this life’s goods (Mt 16:26; Mk 8:36; Lk 9:25; 1Co 3:22; 7:31, 33, 34; Gal 6:14; Jas 4:4; 1Jn 2:17).
We see: The world is an ungodly system that’s values, lifestyles, and philosophies oppose God.
Understand: God and the world are in opposition to one another.
Understand: to be a friend of the world is to adopt the interests of the world, putting one in opposition to God.
LISTEN…
Have I adopted any of the world’s values, lifestyles, and/or philosophies?
Has my thinking and belief put me in opposition to God?
Respond to God. . .LIVE it out!
Let Truth Explain Truth About
The World
Cross References Tutorial>And Fine Tune Your Ears!
Let’s understand those who are friends of the world that oppose God.
1. What do you discover about friendship with the world?
James tells us that friendship with the world is hostility toward God; to be a friend of the world makes one an enemy of God. (Jam 4:4)
LISTEN…
Do I say I am a believer, but I am a friend of the world?
If a friend of the world, do I understand then I am hostile toward God?
Why would I want to be God’s enemy?
Respond to God…LIVE it out!
2. Why is friendship with the world, hostility toward God?
THINK: What is a believer’s relationship to the world?
a. Those with genuine faith formerly lived according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air ( Satan’s course). He is the ruler of this world. (Eph 2:1-2); (Joh16:11).
b. . . . the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1Jo 5:19)
c. Jesus chose believers out of the world, and the world hates us because we are NOT of the world. (Joh 15:18-21; 17:14)
d. Believer’s have NOT received the spirit of this world. (1Co 2:12)
e. Believer’s have DIED to the world. (Gal 6:14)
We see: this world is a system of evil under Satan’s control.
Understand: Genuine faith in Christ is NOT of this world, therefore denies the world’s philosophies and values.
LISTEN…
How do I live?
Do I live according to God’s will and ways, denying the world’s philosophies and values?
Does the world hate me, persecute me, because I deny it’s thinking and ways?
Respond to God…LIVE it out!
3. What is true if one loves the world?
If anyone loves the world the Father is not in him. (1Jo 2:15-17)
4. Can a person love God and the world too?
One CANNOT serve 2 masters – you love one and hate the other. (Mat 6:6; 24)
We see: if you love God, you CANNOT love the world.
We see: If you love the world, then you CANNOT really love God!
LISTEN…
Am I trying to serve 2 masters?
Who do I love? What do I love?
Do I really love God?
Or, do I love the world?
Respond to God…LIVE it out!
5. What would you say friendship with the world looks like?
THINK about this question.
The world applauds sin.
What would those sins be?
LISTEN…
Do I applaud sin?
Do I turn a blind eye to sin?
How do I support sin?
The world is immersed in materialism.
LISTEN…
Am I preoccupied with material things?
What are my wants?
Do I accumulate more and more stuff?
Am I consumed with making money?
Am I into buying – bigger and better; prettier and nicer?
Where do I spend my time and money?
The world is interested in values not virtues.
For example: one can say they hold to the value of honesty, but they are not honest!
LISTEN…
Am I a person of integrity and character?
The world is steeped in man’s theories and philosophies, NOT God’s Truth!
LISTEN…
Am I deceived by the world’s empty philosophies?
6. What do believer’s do with the world?
a. Believer’s set their minds on the things above, NOT on the things of this earth. (Col 3:2)
b. Believer’s renew their minds through God’s Word, changing their mind’s from the world’s thinking to God’s thinking.
Thus, they will NOT be conformed to this world, BUT they will be transformed and set their mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Rom 12:2)
c. God’s grace instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. (Tit 2:12)
Remember all we have to do is ask God for His wisdom and help.
STOP – Unplug Your Ears!
LISTEN…
If others look at my life, would they say I am a friend of the world, or God?
Do I profess to be a believer, but…
I love the world that is opposed to God?
I find my security in my family, my home, my job, a strong bank account, and the abundance of stuff?
Why do I pursue the things of this world that can never save or satisfy?
Or,
Have I truly died to the world and what it offers?
What is the evidence that I have died to the world and it’s pleasures?
How am I being tempted by the world?
What am I doing to no longer be conformed to this world, live sensibly and set my mind on the things above?
What transformation has taken place over this last yr when it comes to ungodliness and worldly desires?
Respond to God…LIVE it out!
What Did We LEARN
Sum Up It Up!
We LEARN:
The World:
Is under Satan’s control.
Is in opposition to God (values, lifestyles, philosophies).
We LEARN:
Believers Relationship to the World
Formerly lived according to this world.
Are chosen out of the world, no longer of this world.
Died to the world.
Believers Relationship to God and Christ
Are now bound to Christ.
Are friends of the Lord Jesus – if we do what He commands, not the world.
Are no longer being conformed to the world.
Renewing their minds, and are being transformed.
Love God and Hate the world.
That’s It For Today!
Ponder all that God is teaching us about being a friend with the world.
How can you and I live in the world, without becoming part of it?
How do we stay faithful to God?
Save in Your Notes
These are such vital Truths that you don’t want to forget.
Take the time to type them in your Notes.
It will help you bury God’s Word down deep into your head and heart.
You will want to put the Definitions and Cross References next to these verses in your hardbound Bible.
Turn What You LEARNED into a Prayer
Perhaps. . .
GRACIOUS HEAVENLY FATHER, thank you for Your Word of Truth to us today! Help us to comprehend and know those of us with true genuine faith formerly lived according to the world and it’s ways. We were under Satan’s control, living in total opposition to You. But we praise You and are ever so grateful that You chose us out of the world, and we have died to the world, now loving You and hating the world and what it has to offer. Help us to be alert to the many voices and ways the the world tries to entice us back, tugging us and nudging us! Protect us from being squeezed back into it’s mold! Father God, if there is anyone with us on this journey who is a part of the world, loving the world, may they understand the serious danger! May they understand they cannot serve 2 masters! Help all of us to be in Your Word daily, clinging to You, letting You reprogram our minds to know Your heart, Your will and ways. Oh, may we remember You are changing each one of us, wanting us to lack nothing, making more and more like Jesus, in whose name we ask these things. Amen!
Check back tomorrow, right here!
Next: we will LOOK at God’s solution to conflict.
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