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NASB | James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 4:14 Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air]. |
Bible Question:
Just looking for some insight on this vapor that we call life for a message that I am giving in August. I've never given a sermon before and would do well to get some advise. I feel the Lord calling me to touch on the vapor that we call life. And the gravity of using our time wisely. I like the way this concept is rendered in James 4:14. I will obviously cross reference this passage and continue to dig through the Scripture for other supporting verses on this topic. I am not a seminary student, just a man desiring to be used by our Lord. Thanks for the help, Steve |
Bible Answer: Hello Steve, Here is some info that you will hopefully find helpful. C.H. Spurgeon, the noted 19th-Century "Prince of Preachers", preached 3 sermons over the course of his ministry on or about James 4:14. It may aid you to read and consider what he said- Jas 4:13-17 God's Will About the Future (S2242) Jas 4:14- Pictures of Life (S3126) Jas 4:14- What is Your Life? (S1773) These can be accessed online at www.spurgeon.org. If not, I have the entire library on CD-ROM. He said this (in part) to his students about Sermons- Their Matter: "SERMONS should have real teaching in them, and their doctrine should be solid, substantial, and abundant. We do not enter the pulpit to talk for talk’s sake; we have instructions to convey important to the last degree, and we cannot afford to utter pretty nothings. Our range of subjects is all but boundless, and we cannot, therefore, be excused if our discourses are threadbare and devoid of substance. If we speak as ambassadors for God, we need never complain of want of matter, for our message is full to overflowing. The entire gospel must be presented from the pulpit; the whole faith once delivered to the saints must be proclaimed by us. The truth as it is in Jesus must be instructively declared, so that the people may not merely hear, but know, the joyful sound. We serve not at the altar of “the unknown God,” but we speak to the worshippers of him of whom it is written, “they that know thy name will put their trust in thee.” To divide a sermon well may be a very useful art, but how if there is nothing to divide? A mere division maker is like an excellent carver with an empty dish before him, To be able to deliver an exordium which shall be appropriate and attractive, to be at ease in speaking with propriety during the time allotted for the discourse, and to wind up with a respectable peroration, may appear to mere religious performers to be all that is requisite; but the true minister of Christ knows that the true value of a sermon must lie, not in its fashion and manner, but in the truth which it contains. Nothing can compensate for the absence of teaching; all the rhetoric in the world is but as chaff to the wheat in contrast to the gospel of our salvation. However beautiful the sower’s basket it is a miserable mockery if it be without seed. The grandest discourse ever delivered is an ostentatious failure if the doctrine of the grace of God be absent from it; it sweeps over men’s heads like a cloud, but it distributes no rain upon the thirsty earth; and therefore the remembrance of it to souls taught wisdom by an experience of pressing need is one of disappointment, or worse..." I trust this will be of some help, BradK |
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Questions and/or Subjects for James 4:14 | Author | ||
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AJ1 | ||
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surfin4Jesus | ||
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BradK | ||
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surfin4Jesus | ||
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Rajeeb |