So in a moment I'm going to ask all of you here to repeat a prayer. You can remain seated as you repeat this prayer. It will appear on the scene. Would you just pray with me?

Lord Jesus Christ, by an act of my will, I open my heart to hear you, and as you speak to me,

I will respond.

In your name, amen.

So our text today comes from James chapter 4, beginning in verse 13 through 17.

And I want to focus on that and get right into the word that Lord has given me.

Come now, you who say tomorrow or today we will go to such and such a city,

spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what

you will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

Therefore, to him to note who knows to do good it does not do it to him it is sin

John 1010 says the thief comes only except to steal, kill, and to destroy. I've come that you may have life and to have it

more abundantly. The title of my message today is The Precious Gift. I call it Precious The

message is the precious gift I call it precious because the word precious means unique

it means to be set aside. It means that it is something very unique that is given to each

one of us. So I use the word precious. I'm talking about the life that God has given you. So I want to

just begin sort of into the message and into the text as the text does today. He says, come down. It's an invitation to sit down and talk. It's

an invitation to let's just reason together today.

And so I want to invite you just to reason together as the Lord through the Holy Spirit

speaks through my voice.

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