Nov. 09, 2025

Pastor Don's sermon begins at 12:53 min into the video. The music "Shout to the Lord", "Let My Life Be Like a Love Song",  "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing",  "Word of God Speak, and  "Awesome God" are licensed under CCLI Copyright #2723035 and Streaming Media #22024223 licenses.

You Know What To Do

Guest Pastor Don Rushing opened James 4:13–17 this morning with a simple but challenging truth: God's given us opportunities all around us — the question is, are we taking them? He framed the whole message around doing what we know we should do, not just talking about it.

Opportunities in the Routine of Life

Pastor Don started with the Good Samaritan story — you know, the guy who didn't plan to help anyone that day but saw someone hurting and stopped. "He didn't do open-heart surgery on this man. He just did what he could." Pastor Don's point hit home: we don't have to be heroes; we just need to be available. He shared about his friend who called 911 for the first time after seeing a motorcycle wreck. Nothing dramatic, just directing traffic and staying with an elderly man until help arrived.

Then he got into Matthew 25, where Jesus says when we ignore the hungry, the hurting, the lonely — we're ignoring Him. "If they had recognized this is Jesus that had been hungry... they would have immediately come to His aid." But they didn't, because their schedules mattered more. Ouch.

Getting Your Hands Dirty

Pastor Don confessed he didn't usually work jobs that got his hands physically dirty — except when he laid railroad track once. He laughed about it: "I'm telling you; you better not take anybody's side against God. Not even your children and grandchildren in Virginia." That got some chuckles, but his point was serious: he'd planned to retire near his family, but God said, "Go to Wyoming." And here he is.

He said only 3% of unchurched people will just show up on their own. But when we invite them, share what church means to us? That changes everything. It's about using our gifts in the body of Christ, getting our hands dirty in Jesus' name.

Prayer and the Kingdom

Here's where Pastor Don gave us what he called his "pet peeve." After 50 years of ministry, he said, "I'm sick and tired of just praying for the sick and tired." He clarified quickly — yes, pray for the sick and those struggling financially. But there's so much more: boldness in faith, spiritual growth, missionaries, persecuted believers worldwide. "Somebody could have said amen. If I say the truth, you can say amen."

Closing the Gap — James 4:13–17

Finally, Pastor Don dove into the text itself. James is talking to people who plan their business trips and profits without once consulting God. "Come now you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit." The problem isn't planning or profit — it's presumption. God's irrelevant to them, and James says bluntly: "You are boasting, you are arrogant, and it's evil."

Pastor Don asked, "Is there a hunger for God that doesn't mind being a little bit disenfranchised from your own personal plans?" He painted the picture of people camping overnight in freezing weather for Black Friday deals. Do we want God that badly?

He closed with verse 17, the punch line of the whole message: "Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." Knowing what's right and not doing it — that's the gap. God has abundantly more for us than we could figure out on our own, but we have to surrender our plans for His.

It left us thinking hard about the week ahead and the things we know we should do.