JAMES
Lesson 14: Planning without God
Study Guide

James 4:13-17 CSB
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”
14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.

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• Practical Discipleship for Everyone.
• Bible Memorization.
o Psalm 119:11
I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.

Last week’s memory verse:
James 4:7
Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

This week’s memory verse:
James 4:15
Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Proverbs 16:9
A person’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.

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Point 1: Should we keep business and God separate?

“Come now”:
• an interjection
• “an abrupt emphatic exclamation expressing emotion.”
• Come - present imperative - a command calling for the reader to give continual attention to what follows.
• now(nun) – adverb - increases the sense of urgency.

“You who say”:
• the ones continually saying this.
• individuals who habitually live without regard for God’s will.

“Make a profit”:
• (2770)(kerdaino from kerdos = gain).
• ‘kerdos,’ - implies a love of gain.
o Their primary love is making money.

Matthew 16:26
“For what will it benefit (profit) someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?”

The problem isn’t the

of making a profit; it’s when the

Reveal Answer

becomes the overriding

Reveal Answer

.

Verse 14: life is fleeting, calling it a “puff of smoke” or a vapor.

will stop these foolish pursuits of trying to plan a life that doesn’t involve

Reveal Answer

.

James 4:15
Instead, you should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’

Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, 24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.

Add your notes for point 1 here.

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Point 2: The source of the separation

“Boast”:
• (exult, glory)
• someone who is taking pride in their accomplishment.
• All such boasting is evil.

“Arrogance”:
• (212) (alazoneia - related to alazon)
• idea of straying or wandering.

helps you recognize that living a life of faith in God is the ultimate achievement.

Add your notes for point 2 here.

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Key takeaways: The most successful planners

1. Integrate Faith into your Professional/Work Life.
2. Acknowledge the Transience of Life.
3. Seek God’s Leadership.

Don’t plan without God, plan to follow God in every area of your life.