Family Still Matters

How Can God Bless America?

James 4:7-10

1. Submit to God

• to comply with the will of someone of higher rank
• His Word must be the ultimate authority

2. Resist the Devil

• We usually resist God and tolerate the Devil

3. Draw Near to God

• genuine faith
• coming to God in humble contrition and reverent worship

4. Cleanse Your Hands

• Repent - put away your sin

5. Purify Your Hearts

• receive the cleansing God offers

6. Lament

• speaks of misery and affliction. It describes the heartache we should feel when we realize our own wretchedness as sinners

• we don’t deserve divine blessing. It is the cry of the heart that knows it has offended the righteousness of God and has no hope apart from God’s mercy.

7. Mourn

• speaks of the deep grief and remorse that comes with understanding how sinful we are and feeling our own responsibility for our guilt.

8. Weep

• Weeping is the natural manifestation of true misery and mourning.

• Our misery, our mourning, and our tears must flow from true sorrow over the fact of our sin, not a superficial regret over sin’s consequences.

9. Get Serious

• when we contemplate our own sin, it ought to make us sorrowful, sober, and serious-minded.

10. Humble Yourselves

• Will you do these steps?