0:07 And my our memory verse for this last week was, "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy." Oh. I've just been chewing on that for the 0:24 last week. And what happens when you meditate on something like that, that's why I think it's good that we're going through these memory verses. If you spend enough time on it, all of a sudden you you start to deepen your understanding 0:40 of it and the Lord opens more a deeper revelation of it. Kind of like, and this is the the best example I could think of to the best analogy I could think of. I'm one of those eaters that when I see the food in front of me, I'm just 0:57 thinking how quickly can I get it into my mouth and and move on to what's next. I tend to do everything at a high rate of speed as you know. But uh my wife is probably the opposite when it comes to food. She loves to and 1:08 so when she would cook something and spend a lot of time in cooking it and just see me wolf it down, it would be like, "You mean it didn't matter if I put that extra uh herb in there? It wouldn't have mattered at all cuz you didn't even 1:21 spend few seconds to taste it." And we sometimes in our free time we'd watch Food Network and and I watched how they would eat, you know, they would just do this like and they just like take 2 minutes over every bite and uh because they're trying 1:37 to savor all the flavors that are in there and and pick out did you you did you put a even a pinch too much of cumin or uh you or not enough and if you just wolf it down, you miss that because the stomach doesn't have any taste buds. 1:54 The the tongue does and I thought of that picture again with these memory verses that when we spend time on it slowly it says That's and that's what this verse has done for me. going through it. Because for years I I read it as now to him who is able to 2:13 keep you from stumbling now Turn with me to Jude 1. This is Jude 1:24. Maybe we can start there. Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling 2:32 and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy. This is how I used to read it. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling now January 7th, 2018 so that he can make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with 2:51 great joy after he comes or after you die. I put that additional wedge in there as it were. Right now you can keep me from stumbling and if I stumble you'll help me and one of these days I'll get it. And one day I will stand in the presence of your 3:09 glory blameless with great joy. That is true that one day I will but I see that that wedge isn't there. And if God is able to keep me from stumbling today he is also able to make me stand in the presence of his glory blameless with 3:28 great joy today. So my dear brother, dear sister when are you waiting for God to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy? I hope you believe him that he will do it for you today. Today he is able to make you stand in the 3:48 presence of his glory blameless with great joy. Why not? Do you have any scriptural reason? Do you have any spiritual reason why God cannot make you stand right now, right this very moment in the presence of his glory blameless 4:04 with great joy? Absolutely not. So, one of the things that the Lord has been laying on my heart that I And this is the reason I titled it this way. You know, the world in general is full of people who like to make New Year's 4:20 resolutions. And I I have a problem with that. Mostly because I don't know that I've ever made it through an entire year with a New Year's resolution. Uh I I I haven't made any in a long time. And I think the very concept of New 4:37 Year's resolutions are set up for failure. Because you It's like you look at this whole year and says, "I'm going to do this this whole year." And you're set up for failure. It's like me who doesn't work out a lot, all of a sudden says, "I'm going to lift 4:50 1,000 lb." It's just going to come crashing down on me, like many New Year's resolutions do. And I don't believe that God is a god of New Year's resolutions because I don't see in his word that he talks about, "Okay, this year is the year of 5:05 salvation necessarily." There was such a thing as the year of Jubilee, but I don't really see that even in the new covenant necessarily. I'm not trying to put too much on that, but here's what I do see in the new covenant. Today. 5:20 Today is the day of salvation. And so, I think the kind of resolutions that I I believe that the kind of resolutions I want to have and the resolutions we must have as a church are today resolutions. Today's a new day. Are you willing to make a resolution for 5:36 today? Not worrying about tomorrow, not looking at the past. Make a resolution for today. And I want to bring out to you today four things that you can put into practice today. You don't have to wait for God to make you into something or somebody. 5:54 This very day you can fulfill that. Four very simple things and we'll look at that. But I want to start by turning you to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. You know, we read uh we sang those songs that this is the day that the Lord has made. You know, 6:10 that's from Psalm 118. I'll read it for you while you're turning to 2 Corinthians 5. He starts by saying in verse 22 of Psalm 118, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is 6:25 marvelous in our eyes." We've been hearing about that offense. Phil's been speaking on that. But it's right after that that he says in verse 24, "This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." 6:39 And over here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, after he talks about verse 17, you know this verse very well. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now, all things are from God who 6:55 reconciled us to himself, gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Verse 20, "Therefore, we are ambassadors, as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on 7:10 our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him." When? When I die and go to heaven? No. Verse 6, oh, chapter 6, verse 1, "Working together with him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain, 7:28 because he says, 'At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now, today is the day of salvation. So, in essence, my dear church, this is 7:45 what I'm saying. Make a resolution that will that you can put into practice for today, for this very moment. And if you do that and you wake up the next morning says, "Okay, I don't It doesn't matter even if I didn't fulfill that well enough that 8:00 yesterday, January 7th, tomorrow, January 8th, when you wake up and says, "Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation." Not December 31st of the end of this year. Now, today is the day of salvation. And like he says in Hebrews, today if 8:15 you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. So, not New Year's resolutions, but everyday resolutions. I believe if you do that at the end of this year, December 31st, 2018, you'll have found that God fulfilled those resolutions in your year 8:31 in your life everyday. This goes back to what God did in the book of Genesis in Genesis chapter 1, when he created this world. He didn't say, "Okay, I have a plan of over a year." Everyday he spoke, the earth responded, something 8:47 happened. The next day, he spoke, the earth responded, something happened. The next day, he spoke, the earth responded, something happened. So, this was day by day from glory to glory. This is God's doing. Now, what is it that we shall change if we're 9:02 going to if we're going to experience these New Year's resolutions? Shall we change the way we do things? Shall we change our behavior? Shall we change our speech? I want to show you something in Matthew chapter 5 that just came up 9:14 powerfully afresh to me this last week as I was thinking about it. We believe we're we should be, I believe we are to some extent, and we should continue to grow in this area of being a new covenant church. What does it mean to be a new covenant 9:29 church? It means that we're living in this new covenant, and the wineskin that contains this new wine of the new covenant is new wineskins also. That's what the church is. But, I noticed something afresh. I I think I had noticed it before, but not in the 9:47 way that the Lord spoke it to me this week. If you look at Matthew chapter 5, where Jesus begins, as it were, opening up the new covenant. It's like he turns on the light. You want a new covenant life? Do you want a new covenant church? 10:00 Let me turn on the light. He flips the switch. And this is what Matthew 5 verses 3 onwards represents to me. All of a sudden, I'm seeing what the new covenant is all about. But, notice what he says. Blessed are verse 3. Blessed are the 10:17 poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle. We heard about that already this morning. 10:35 The meek, the quiet. For they shall inherit the earth. Notice he doesn't say they shall claim the earth, they shall conquer the earth. They shall inherit. And as you know, with every inheritance, it's given to you by the person who bequeaths it to you, 10:49 who gives you that. They shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 11:07 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. They shall receive revelation of God, if you will. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Et cetera. So, we'll we'll stop there. But, the thing that stood out to me and 11:27 that I believe is the essence of the new covenant is notice how the things that we are called to do. The things that we're called to do doesn't say, "Blessed are those who are righteous." Notice that verse six, we'll just take 11:41 that for example. It says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." It doesn't mean It doesn't say that you should try to be righteous, that you should fulfill a certain expectation of God. It doesn't say, "Blessed are those 11:54 who who are righteous, for they shall get something from God." No. And what in the in the way I read it, and if you read it carefully and ask the Lord to show it to you, what I saw was that the things that we are called 12:08 to do have to do with our attitude. Poor in spirit, that's an attitude I need a change. Mourning, that's an attitude. It's not that I mean I'm always crying and always have tears dripping down my face and always find a reason to cry. No, 12:22 most of the time you see me, I'm not crying. So, what does it mean to mourn? It means that it's an attitude in my heart of mourning. The gentle, the meek, it's an attitude of heart. You can't tell whether I'm meek just by looking at me on the 12:36 outside. You You ought not be to be able to in reality. It might manifest in my behavior a little bit, but this gentleness, this meekness is here in a secret place where you can't even see it. The hunger and thirst for righteousness, 12:50 he like I said, he doesn't even say that you should do righteousness. He just says, "Hunger and thirst for it, and you will be righteous. You will be satisfied." This is the new covenant. You shall be. Not you shall do. 13:07 Because of that hunger and that thirst, that genuine hunger and thirst, which you can't fool God. You can fool me. You can fool us. You can fool everybody, even your spouse, on whether you're really hungry and thirsting for 13:21 righteousness, and you can fool us by doing certain acts of righteousness. But inwardly that hunger is not there. Inside you're not really sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening like Mary was. Yeah, you're you're pretending to. 13:38 But only God can see whether you're hungering and thirsting inside. And my dear friend, if you're in that place where you don't yet see the righteousness coming out of your life. Don't try to manufacture it. Don't try to say, "Well, I'm going to 13:52 make a resolution. I'm going to do it a little bit better." Make it your hunger. Make it your thirst. Fall on your knees before God and say, "Lord, the reality is my attitude is wrong. That's why the righteousness is not coming out." 14:07 And the greatest travesty for us as a church would be that we fix the outward and manufacture a righteousness that didn't start with a hungering and thirsting deep within. We'll just go back to the old covenant. Legalism. Where I've got righteousness, 14:24 but it didn't come from hungering and thirsting. And I I'm afraid now. A healthy, godly fear of that righteousness that I have that you see maybe on the outwardness in my life, in my marriage, in my home, in my being a brother and an elder here in 14:41 this church. I'm wary of that righteousness that I have, that you see in me, that didn't come from a hungering and a thirsting and a need. But you see it's an attitude. Blessed are the pure in heart, it's an attitude. It doesn't say pure in their 15:00 eyes, pure in their hands, pure in their other outward behavior, pure in their marriage, pure in their conversation. No, that that comes later. That's the fruit. That's the outward manifestation of a purity in heart that only God can see. 15:17 An attitude of purity in heart. The peacemaker starts with an attitude of being a peacemaker. And you shall be called. So, the the new covenant life is essentially in being, not in doing. 15:36 And that being comes from God making you that person. See, I am a human being not because you see me doing things that human beings do. If you call me a human being simply because I speak, then one day you could fall for the 15:53 computer or the robot or the animated thing that can speak and can do a lot of things that human beings can do and think, "Well, that must be a human being, too." It does the things that human beings do. It speaks. It walks. It drives. Now, 16:09 they have these self-driving cars. But, you know for a moment that you wouldn't look at one of those self-driving cars and says, "There goes a human being." Because you know that the nature of a human being is something that only God 16:21 can create. Man can try with all his efforts to automate this and automate that, but they can never instill the human nature into an inanimate object. They will never be able to. Likewise, in the Christian life, you can 16:38 try with all your might to manufacture the divine nature. Now, I I I drew the contrast between inanimate objects and the human nature, which maybe it's a little bit like that. You think, "Well, the human nature, yeah. They They can design for itself." No 16:55 inanimate object can ever do something that it was not somehow programmed to do in some way. Yes, you can make the computer smart enough that it can expand its artificial intelligence, but it's still artificial. It's not real intelligence, and even the 17:11 world recognizes that it's artificial intelligence. No sane scientist will ever say, "Well, that's real intelligence because they know it's intelligence that a human being has put into that robot or that computer or that car. Likewise, my dear 17:26 friends, beware of the artificial divine nature. The artificial intelligence of God that you have somehow figured out. You've been programmed because of your upbringing perhaps or now because you've been in this church for a long enough 17:43 time, you know, at RLCF this is the the expectation. This is the intelligence, if you will, that's expected of me. I'm going to fulfill it, but it's not there deep within. God in his supernatural power hasn't 18:02 been able to come in and make you be. And if you are, my dear brothers and sisters, you might not even be able to do things as perfectly as a computer or as a robot robot can. Maybe your driving is far less than that automated car 18:21 spiritually. But don't ever strive for that. Don't ever strive to do something that you are not deep within. And if your driving is haphazard, work on it. But don't ever compromise. Don't ever settle for an artificial 18:38 divine intelligence, if you will, that is that stems from your human nature. And the only way we can receive that is if God sees in us a hungering and a thirsting and says, "Lord, for years I've just pretended that I can 18:53 drive. For years I've just pretended that I'm living this Christian life. For years I've quoted 1 John chapter 2 and says, 'If anyone calls himself a Christian, he must live as Christ lives.' But it's not real, Lord." And out of that hungering and a 19:06 thirsting, you know what happens? You shall be satisfied. My dear brothers, my dear sisters, if you we make that our resolution for this year, not to be righteous, but to hunger and thirst, to change the 19:25 attitude of our hearts where I'm saying, "Lord, this year I'm going to hunger and thirst for righteousness." You will be righteous this year. You will be satisfied. That is his promise. So, the new the new covenant life is not 19:39 in doing, but in being. And it takes a while. My little son, who's now about 4 months old. Today is Yeah, yesterday was his 4-month birthday. Um he can hardly do anything. My computer can do things far better 19:58 than he can. But I tell you, I wouldn't for a moment trade my son, any any of my children, any of you children, with all your flaws and all the ways in which we need to train you, it's much easier for me to program my computer than it is to program you guys. 20:14 But I wouldn't for a moment trade it. Because I'm after life. You know that as parents you're after life. You recognize that deep within that disobedient will, underneath that is life that's beating, that will one day be able to think for itself. 20:30 And you can train up this child in the way he should go so that when he is old and can choose for himself and doesn't have the father and the mother to spank him and train him anymore, he will not depart from it. This is my vision for my children. This 20:46 is my vision for my own life first of all, but for us as a church, that we receive this training of our attitude. And it'll take years. It'll take day by day, month by month, year by year. It's like that chorus we used to sing 21:01 when I was growing up, He's changing me, my blessed Jesus. I'm not the same person that I used to be. Oh, I have a long ways to go. And I'm not there yet, and I'm not even looking at December 31st, 2018, because I'm done with making New Year's 21:16 resolutions. But, I'm determined that tomorrow I will not be the same person that I am today. By changing my attitude. And you may not even be able to see it. You may look at me and say, "I still see the same behavior." I says, 21:30 "It's on the inside." He's changing my attitude. And I'm willing to invest in that inner change of attitude that one day will result in life, in rivers of life-ing water, if you will. Rivers of life-ing water that come from 21:48 my innermost belly, not from here. Not from my having programmed my mind, or my behavior, or my dress, or my actions. But, my belly. That's what the King James says. The literal word used there is belly. It means your gut. 22:04 Strive for the life that comes from your gut, because God has made you that person on the inside. And don't give up, church, if it's a slow process. If your marriage What What kind of a marriage do you want? Do you want the marriage that 22:17 looks good right now, and you can say, "Look at me, we've been happily married. Everything's nice and clean on the outside, but inside it's like dead men's bones." And say, "Lord, I'm done with this pretense. Take me back to the beginning, 22:29 and change the belly of my marriage." So that I love my wife and my husband from my belly. What about your children? Are you content with the facade that you have a godly home, and everybody's sitting nice and neat and and and orderly in the 22:44 meeting, and they come to your home, and everything's in order? Or do you want the life that comes from your belly, which honestly looks pretty messy most of the time? You've been in my home, you know what that looks like. It's messy. 22:58 It's not something that we would parade in front of everyone and see what a good home we have. No. But I would rather have the home that's messy because God is working on the belly. And one day, all those children, they 23:11 grow up because I've invested in them. Not just my children, but all of the children in this church and all of us as sheep of the great shepherd because we've invested in each other's lives, one day we will be revealed as children of the 23:25 light. So, the change of attitude comes not in changing our behavior. I didn't say, "Okay, I'm going to do this better. I'm going to do that better." Yes, that will come, but it's in changing our attitude. So, these four things I want to show 23:37 you. First of all, be thankful. Notice he doesn't say in those verses, let's turn to it. First, let's turn to the one in Colossians. Colossians chapter 3. It does say give thanks and you'll read that. But you will never be able to give 23:57 thanks if you are not thankful. If that thankfulness is not an attitude of your heart, the thankfulness that you express and say, "Oh, thank you so much." But you don't It's not really from your belly. It's not a belly gratitude, it's a lips 24:13 gratitude. And for years Christians are content with this plastic smile says, "Yeah, thank you. You did that. Thank you for being my brother. Thank you for doing my sister. Thank you for serving me." Plastic smile, but it's not an attitude 24:24 of thankfulness. Likewise towards God. Perhaps you sing words of thankfulness to God, but it's not a belly thankfulness. Colossians chapter 3. We read in verse 15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Notice he's dealing with the 24:43 heart, the attitude. To which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Verse 16. Let the word of Notice first it's being thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching, 25:03 and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness. There's the outward thankfulness. Yes, that's important, too. Singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Where are you singing with thankfulness? 25:21 With your mouth? With your tongues? With your instruments? In your hearts. Verse 17. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to him through God the Father. Okay, so let me I see three 25:37 stages here. Stage one is verse 15. Stage two is verse 16. Stage three verse 17. So, if you're thinking about how you should come here next Sunday before we have that time of praise that begins at 10:00 usually. Here's Let's start with step one. You 25:53 wake up in the morning and say, "Lord, I'm not yet at verse 17 where I'm going to give thanks to to you uh through you to God the Father. I'm in verse 15. Step one where I want to be thankful." And that doesn't really start on Sunday morning. 26:07 It starts the week before. And if you've been walking with a spirit of thankfulness, an attitude of gratitude, like they say, easy to remember. An attitude of gratitude Monday. An attitude of gratitude Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 26:22 Saturday. And you wake up Sunday and that attitude of You've been soaked in that attitude of gratitude. Then, before you even come to the point where you're singing with spiritual songs, you're singing in your heart. There's within my heart a melody, that 26:36 old hymn says. Not there's on my lips a melody. Yes, that's stage three, but we're still in step two. There's within my heart a melody. I find that this soaking in in an attitude of gratitude has result in my heart wanting 26:50 to sing. And that just bills and bills and bills. And then you come here and says, "Oh, I can't wait to start singing with the praise team." Because I've been soaking in this attitude of gratitude. My heart is singing within me with gratitude. And 27:04 now the church chooses to sing that song and I just say, "Here I am lifting my hands to you. Giving you thanks for all you do." You see the difference, my dear brothers and sisters? Where now you you're not when you see the words up there, you're not 27:19 looking around and saying, "Oh, yeah. What are they wearing today?" or "Oh, that's Why did they pick that picture for the for the words?" It's a focus. It's an attitude that has changed within. And then all of a sudden maybe one of us 27:32 will say, "Oh, yeah, let's sing this and let's stand or let's clap." And you think, "Oh, wow, I should be paying attention." Because really my attitude is not one of thankfulness, but I guess we should say thanks, so might as well. 27:42 The church is doing so. It's a completely different mindset when we have an attitude of gratitude. And I I want to let you know, I'm not I'm asking the Lord to change this. And my resolution for today, January 7th, 2018, is to be thankful. 28:00 And I know that there will result in that my heart singing with thankfulness and my lips giving praise to God. The test for me Oh, Luke chapter 17, you know, it's very interesting. This is the story of the uh 28:17 the 10 lepers. And the reason I bring out the story, you know the story, right? There were 10 lepers that came past Jesus or Jesus came past them. He healed all 10 of them. He said, "Go show yourself to the priest." They went and 28:30 were healed on the way. And on the way to show the priest and says, "God, you've healed me. Now I can get on with my life." One of them recognized, "Wait a minute. Before I get on with my life, I got to say thanks." "Lord, you've given me a job. Before I 28:46 get ready to dress up and go on Monday morning to to to do that job, let me stop and say, "Thank you." And it's significant that the one person of the 10 who was a Samaritan was the one who came back to give thanks. And to me, I think the reason 29:02 for that, this is just my opinion, is that because the Samaritans were despised by the Jews. And they were thought of as nobodies, as nothings. And the reason that those nine did not, listen very carefully, the reason that 29:16 those nine lepers did not come back to give thanks to Jesus was because they thought they were somebody. And the reason that we as Christians often don't find a gratitude attitude in us is because we think we're somebodies. 29:32 We think that somehow God owes it to me to heal me or to give me that job or to give me that money or to answer my prayer this way. And when he doesn't, I get a resentment and complaining starts to come in. First towards God and then towards others. 29:47 But the one who thinks he's a nobody, you don't even have to tell him to say thanks. Who told that 10th leper to say thanks? He said, "Man, I'm a nobody. Why would Jesus pick me? Why Why is it that I got grouped in with the nine 30:05 Jews? Okay, they deserve it, but I don't. I'm a Samaritan." Now, maybe he didn't think about all of that, but the Jews certainly looked at him and thought, "Yeah, you don't deserve to be healed by Jesus." And it's the one who thinks he 30:16 doesn't deserve who will be thankful. And I I'll tell you, my dear friends, that I've noticed every time there's a complaining attitude in my heart, it's because I think I deserve something. Every time I have a complaint towards 30:30 somebody that you did this or didn't do that to me, it's because I think I deserve it. And God can't work with such a person. It doesn't go well with such a person. Phil was talking about it earlier already. Decrease. What does it mean to decrease? Decrease 30:47 in your own estimation of who you are. What value you are to this church? Or what what value you are to your wife? You know, husbands, the secret to being freed from complaining towards our wives is for us to meditate on the fact that 31:03 I'm lucky to have her. It's the one who thinks, "I'm lucky to have my wife, man." Who says, "It doesn't matter if the food's burnt. Doesn't matter if the house is not clean. Doesn't matter if you didn't do this or did that or didn't 31:14 do that other thing. I'm just lucky to have you. I'm a Samaritan. I don't deserve you." Such a person will be thankful. Wives, vice versa. Let's change our attitude. Let's learn to appreciate each other in our marriages. Appreciate our children. You 31:29 know the secret to It says, "Fathers, don't berate your children. Don't get exasperated with them." Do you know what the way the secret to never being exasperated with your children? It says, "I'm just lucky to have them. Not they're lucky to have me 31:42 because I'm a somebody." No. "I'm lucky to have them. Lord, why would you give me these children?" But what about in the church? Not, "You guys are lucky to have me in the church. I'm fortunate to be here." When David was giving his testimony, I I 31:56 never forget that. How he prayed, "Lord, maybe I'm not a good enough to be in River of Life." And then I When he shared that with me the first time, I told him, "Man, I don't feel good enough to be a part of River of Life." And may we be, dear brothers 32:11 and sisters, a bunch of people that feel, "We're not good enough to be here. Lord, why me to experience this?" And you know how that will immediately remove any complaints towards anybody in this church? Because I'm I don't deserve to be here. 32:25 And I say that, I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I shouldn't be here. That's why I value you. But I don't have to try to manufacture a love for you. And I've Oh, I should be thankful. Yeah, I guess they do a lot 32:38 and No, because it starts here. And when the Lord can change our attitude of thankfulness towards him, towards our spouses, towards our children, towards each other in the church, oh, what a difference it will make in our attitude, in our behavior, 32:55 in our interactions with each other. May we be a church of people that says, "I don't deserve to be here, Lord." And we're That's our vision for the church for this year. Uh secondly, be merciful. And by the way, like all of 33:12 these four things, like I said, are things you can be today. You don't have to wait for God to do something in you or for you or through you or to you to be thankful. That's the point. You don't have to say, "Well, Lord, by the end of this this year, 33:26 2018, I will be thankful." Oh, that's too late. Thankfulness is something you can and must be today. We read that in Colossians chapter 3. Be thankful. Sing with thankfulness in your heart. Give thanks. Be thankful today. Be merciful today. 33:44 You don't have to wait even one more minute to be merciful to somebody. Absolutely not. The only reason you're not merciful is if you're proud. And pride is what causes us to not be merciful to others. This year, make it 33:59 this day. I'm going to slip up every now and then say this year. This day, January 7th, 2018, choose to be merciful. Right this very moment. Cuz he says, "Be merciful as your father is merciful to you." Is your father merciful to you right 34:14 now? This very moment? Absolutely. In fact, he's showing you mercies today that he's never showed you before. Great is your faithfulness. Your mercies are new every morning. Be merciful today, my dear brother, dear sister. You know who that is that you 34:28 need to be merciful to. Be merciful. In fact, he says in the parallel passage that you must be perfect in it. That means you don't have an excuse to wait and there's not even one person that's exempt from showing mercy. 34:42 Be merciful. It's an attitude. Showing mercy is an outward act. Being merciful is an attitude of the heart. Let's be merciful today. Let's be merciful tomorrow. Let's be merciful the day after that. What a difference this 34:56 year will be in our lives. Be faithful. Let me show you this verse in 1 Corinthians 15. This is something you can be today. You don't have to wait to work up something, develop some discipline. If I said you must be able to lift 300 lb, 35:14 you'll say I can't do it today. I got to start with whatever weight you can start with. Maybe it's 50, maybe it's 100, and you work your way up to that. This I'm not talking about things that you work your way up to. Thankfulness is not something you have 35:27 to work your way up to. Be thankful. The Lord will make Ask the Lord to make you thankful. Be merciful. You can be right now. You don't have to work it up. Faithfulness, too. This might be tricky. You might think, well, maybe I have to 35:40 develop faithfulness. Well, I'll tell you this. If you want to be faithful in big things, yes, you have to develop faithfulness in that. If you want to be faithful to do a lot of things, yes, you have to work up to that. But you know 35:53 how you work up to that? Uh let's read this verse in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. 36:11 Notice what he said. He doesn't say do steadfastness. Be steadfast. The Lord has to do it in you. Be steadfast. Let it be a nature of steadfastness, of faithfulness, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is 36:27 not in vain in the Lord. Faithfulness. Let's break that down. Full of faith. Full of faith. So, when you say, "Well, that's a faithful brother." You know, and I tend to think, "Oh, man, he does a lot of things." Right? We say, "That's a 36:44 faithful brother. That's a faithful sister." You think that our association is he does a lot of things. See the mindset that's that's off? Faithfulness just means that that brother has a lot of faith. That sister has a lot of faith. That's 36:59 why they're able to do those things, hopefully. And I want the faithfulness that you see in the things that God has called me to do, which may be different, which are different from the things that God has called you to do. But, I want that 37:13 faithfulness that you see to come from a full of faith-edness that's deep within. Let me say that again. I want the faithfulness in my service and in my speech and in my conduct that you see to come from a full of faith-ness 37:31 that's an attitude deep within. That inside I'm trusting you, Lord. You've called me to be a husband to my wife. I have faith that you wouldn't put me in this marriage if I couldn't be a faithful husband. Lord, you've I have faith that you've 37:50 called me to be a wife to this man. And you wouldn't call me to be his wife if you wouldn't give me the ability to do it. Full of faith. Faithful. You've called me to be a father and a mother to these children. You're the one 38:06 that did it, Lord. I know it's off you. And out of that faith that fills my heart, it overflows into a faithfulness that you see on the outside. Lord, you've placed me in this church. It was you that That's why we emphasize 38:20 that if you're here as a member of this church, it must be because God has placed you here, not because they have they have good fellowship. I like that they do a lot of things and nice people. Yeah. You know, they got some good Sunday 38:33 school things and our children seem to like it here, so we're here. No. That's not faithfulness. Faithfulness is Lord, you've planted me here. Fill my heart, my belly with such faith that it overflows into service in the 38:48 church. That it overflows into my being faithful. And like I said, if you want to think about being faithful in the big things, the only way that'll happen is if you're faithful in the little things. That's what Jesus said in uh Luke 16. Let me 39:03 show you this. After God gives you a heart full of faith, your size of faith, your level of faith, your stage of faith will be quite different from the others around you. That is why you shouldn't look at somebody else and say, "Hey, how come 39:21 you're not doing as much as I am?" Or how come how come they are doing so much? No, God gives according to everyone a measure of grace, but that comes with the level of faith that you have. Now, if you have a very little bit of faith and therefore 39:36 you're only able to do very little, you shouldn't stop there. Because the person that will suffer is you yourself. But as that faith grows and grows and grows and grows according to your faith, you will be able to serve. 39:52 Luke 16, he says in verse 10, "He who is faithful in a very little thing will also be faithful in much." Do you want the Lord to use you in a mighty way? In your marriage, in your home, in this church, the surroundings around you, in your workplace? Start 40:09 with the little things. See, what is it? What need can you fulfill that's within your measure of faith? And start there and do it well. And do it faithfully week after week, day after day, month after month, year after year. 40:27 And I tell you this, my dear brothers and sisters, if you are faithful in that little thing that starts with Lord, I only have faith for that much. Okay, I'm going to start there, but I'm going to do it faithfully. You will find that deep within your 40:38 belly God has increased your faith. You have a little bit more faith. Okay, now I'm able to do a little bit more. And I'm faithful in that. I'm not looking at somebody else and say, I'm going to try to imitate him or I want 40:49 that ministry or I want the visible ministry. I am doing something very secret. In secret I'm being faithful. Nobody knows. I'm not going to brag about it. I'm not going to write a biography. I'm not even going to expect you to say 41:02 thank you, but I'm faithful. And as I'm faithful in those little things God increases my faith. And now I have a responsibility to be faithful in the little bit more. This is growth in the Christian life. He who is faithful in a very little 41:15 thing will also be faithful in much. And he who is unrighteous, what does it mean to be unrighteous? It means that you're given a small task, but you think, ah, it's not doesn't really matter, right? It's a small thing. The big thing, oh, if you ask me 41:30 to preach the sermon, I would be faithful in that. But you just asked me to do this little thing. Nobody's even going to notice. He who is unrighteous, unfaithful in a very little thing. What are the very little things in your 41:45 marriage? In your home, in this church, in your Christian life. You think, ah, small thing. Shrug it off. The thing that you could shrug off and maybe nobody even noticed that you didn't do it. If you're not righteous in a very little 42:01 thing, you will not be unrighteous in the big thing. I'm going to pause here for a moment and put Yadira on the spot. She is faithful in a very little thing. Now, it's not very little in terms of the amount of time and the amount of 42:15 effort it takes to do to get this place ready for us every week. But, doesn't she do a good job? Have you paused for a moment to look at the little nooks and the crannies and see that they're clean? Because she's faithful in a very little 42:29 thing. Thank you, Yebyu. This is the essence of Christianity. And if your responsibility was to clean the toilet, to brush that toilet bowl, would you do it with such faithfulness? I don't know if any of you has has gone 42:49 up to say, "Yebyu, thank you. It's my mess, but you cleaned it up. I left that paper lying around and that My children were the ones that left the toys there, but you cleaned it up." He who is faithful in a very little thing, oh, how God will entrust to them 43:05 the riches in heaven. And you may be stuck, you think, stuck on this earth doing that little thing, thinking, "My whole life, all I did was this very little thing." Oh, with open arms will not your savior welcome you and say, 43:19 "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of your master, because you were faithful in a little thing." And wives, sisters, I think you qualify for this way above all of us. You guys do little things that us 43:34 husbands and fathers don't even notice. And thank you. Thank you that you're investing in your children. Thank you for the little meals you took pains over because you loved us. And thank you, church, for the little ways in which you are serving each other 43:50 without complaints. Little things. Perhaps things that you've never shared with anyone. I want to tell you a few things cuz I I want to make this practical. How about this year, today, beginning today, you make a list of 44:06 everybody that's a member or a regular visitor in this church and say, "Lord, I'm going to commit to praying for one person every day, one family." You don't have to tell anybody. You don't even have to come back and report 44:16 to Phil or I that you did it. Just say, "Lord, this is a little thing. I don't know what that person's going to go through. But on my calendar, you say I I have so-and-so." You don't even have to tell that person that you're praying for them. You wrote 44:29 it down and you prayed for them. Little thing. If you didn't pray, nah, nobody would know. And the next day, you move on to the next person and you pray. Okay, maybe someday you forgot. It's okay. Today is the acceptable time. Now 44:45 is the acceptable time. If it's 11:59, you realize, "I should have prayed for my person of the day." Pray then. Now is the acceptable time even if you have a minute left in that day. And start over the next day. Today is 44:56 the day of salvation in those little things. You know what in in Revelation 5, you read that the prayers of the saints are called like bowls? And if you did it every day, 365 little bowls that were gathered up. And God puts them into one big bowl and he 45:15 pours it out. And he shows you in eternity as you look back, what the effect of those little prayers. And children, you can do that. Don't wait for your for us as adults to lead you into it. If your parents if if I'm not leading you if I if you see me 45:29 not doing it, don't wait for me. Go ahead and pray and you write a little list, children, of people that you want to pray for. Your friends in this church, your friends in school, your neighbors. And one day, God will say, "You thought 45:41 that little 12-year-old was a nobody in the church because you you picked on their misbehavior and you picked on the fact that they fought every now and then. But did you know how they prayed in secret?" And he pours out that bowl 45:54 and he shows the effect of this prayer. If we believe that God is a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God, we will be faithful. Cuz I say, Lord, it's a little thing you've asked me to do, but I'm going to be faithful in it. 46:08 In your marriage, praying for your partner. Praying for your children. It's a little thing. You may think, well, what was the effect of my praying with them every day? Say put them to bed. I prayed that they wouldn't have good bad dreams, but they 46:20 had bad dreams. I ask that myself every day. I say, Lord, please Lord, don't let them have bad dreams, and sure enough, one of the kids comes to our bedroom. They had bad dreams. But I'm going to still pray. It's our faith 46:34 that those prayers are accomplishing something. I may not see the effect of it. And if you're praying for something, my dear brother, maybe you're praying for a loved one that doesn't know the Lord. Maybe you're praying for a loved 46:43 one that's going through a difficult time, and you can't see the effect of those prayers with your physical eyes. We heard about it. The five senses, don't rely, don't let your confidence in God be based on the outward manifestation of the answer to your 46:59 prayer. Let it be a faith that says, Lord, you hear my prayer. You've heard it, and you're going to accomplish something. And whether it's in this life or in eternity, I'm going to put Vianna on the spot. She prayed the other day. 47:11 Lord, I don't know if you're going to heal my skin on this earth, but I know in heaven I'm going to have healthy skin. Oh, I just wept. That's a prayer of faith. We may not see the answer. Now, there are certain things we're guaranteed. 47:26 That is victory over sin. The promises of the new covenant, they're ours. But healing, physical healing, we're not guaranteed it. But in heaven, oh, we shall have resurrected bodies. And there's a groaning within, and there's a hungering 47:38 within. I'll still pray, we'll still pray, and we still believe in faith that God will do a healing on this earth, but even if he doesn't, they had that faith all the way back in the Old Testament, you know. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 47:53 Our God is able to rescue us from this fire, but even if he doesn't, we're not going to disobey. That's faith. That says, "Lord, even if I don't see the answer to my prayer, even if you don't answer it the way I was hoping you would, it's not going to 48:07 stop me from praying." Pray. Two things I wanted to mention this for a while. One is prayer. The other is, you know why we talk about being faithful in coming to the meetings, whether it's the Sunday meetings or the Wednesday meetings, 48:20 Saturday prayer meetings? The the fear of legalism, let me say this carefully. So, you I want you to understand this. The fear of legalism will cause you to miss out on this aspect of faithfulness. When I said I love you, church, 48:36 I was committed that it was an attitude of my heart. Oh, I love my church family. I say that. We A lot of us do. But, I was committed to showing that to you in the little things. That my coming here wasn't about me. It used to be about me. Oh, what can I 48:52 get out of it? Uh You know, I remember uh that I used to go to a church where if the exciting preacher wasn't speaking, then okay, with somebody else, uh I'm not going to go today. This was a me-first mentality. But, if you come here saying, "Lord, my 49:07 brother I I committed to my brother that I would love them. And they're coming there counting on receiving from me." Now, maybe we don't think about it. But, you know why I'm here is because you're counting on me being here. 49:19 And it's not just for us elders. If you have the old covenant mindset, then it's just for the priest. Yeah, the priest has got to show up to do the sacrifice. And the Levites, they've got to be there. But, me, I'm just a 49:31 When we come into the new covenant, we realize that I committed to my brother, "I will be here for you." Just like I committed to my wife, "I will be here for you in our home." And it doesn't mean says, "Honey, I'm going to live in San Francisco, you live 49:45 here in Loveland. I'll send you money every now and then, take care of your needs." That's not a marriage. And it's not real body life if I don't take seriously. Now, please understand, I'm not trying to get you there for to 49:56 show up and now you come and do the attendance. I'm talking about an attitude of heart where the reason I come has been changed. My eyes have been opened to see. It's not about me, it's about you. And it's about Jesus the head that the 50:10 head might be exalted and all of a sudden there's a carefulness where my being punctual, you know, I'm going to speak to myself now. This is, you know, me right here speaking to Santa where my punctuality is not about whether you think I'm punctual or not, 50:25 but because I owe it to you. Because you're counting on me being there at a certain time and I'm going to take that seriously and I value you more than I value myself. This is humility. With humility of mind, regard one 50:38 another as more important than yourself. See how it changes the attitude? All of a sudden I'm saying, I need to be there. My brother's counting on me. My sister's counting on me. I want to be there for them. Changes the attitude. He was faithful in 50:55 a little thing. You guys will say, uh, legalism. You guys are preaching legalism about coming for the prayer meeting. And I tell you, my dear brothers and sisters, you'll miss out in eternity. You will see that God gives the one who 51:07 was faithful in a little thing much in heaven and you'll wonder, Lord, why him? Why her? I What did they do on your on this earth? They were faithful in a little. Enter thou into the joy of thy master. I'll pray for you. I will be here for 51:26 you. Lastly, be ready. Something you can be today. The way to be ready is to have a clear conscience with God and with man. Paul said, I strive at all times to maintain a clear conscience with God and with man. Let me show you this in Luke chapter 12. 51:45 Be ready. You know, sometimes I hear from people in the world, "Ah, I'm just not ready for that that ah, I'm not ready for that level of commitment or ah, I'm just not there yet, bro. Give me some time." And it goes on year after year, "Ah, I'm 51:59 not I'm not ready. Not quite there yet, bro. I know you are. It's good for you, but I'm not there." Now, that's okay. I'm not saying that we all have to be in the same place, but when it goes on year after year after year and the excuses 52:10 were, "I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet." You know what happens? Jesus shows up one day in the middle of the night. Ah, "I'm not there yet." Now, what? When are we going to be there, my dear brothers and sisters? I'm not talking 52:23 about the big things. Talking about the little things. Be there in the little things and be ready. Luke 12:35. Be dressed in readiness. Have your clothes dressed, ready to go, whether you're asleep or awake. And keep your lamps lit. 52:42 Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. You know what I get when I read this verse? That Jesus is just going to give 52:56 a and then he's going to be gone. What if somebody very important that you value and this is a guest that you were really excited about hosting in your home. Maybe a sports figure or a somebody that you one of your earthly heroes, let's 53:11 say. He's going to come. But he warned you beforehand as he has. I'm just going to come. Gone. Where will you stand? Will you sit there feet up on the TV? Ah, Jesus is coming sometime now. I mean, I think I'll hear the knock. 53:29 Ah, I'm going to take a shower now. Take a long one. Ah, I'm going to take a nap. This is what he's talking about. Jesus is going to come. Gone. In the Song of Solomon, it talks about that, how this this lady, the bride of Christ is 53:43 pictured sitting there in her bedroom and her lover knocks, bridegroom knocks. A soft knock. Billy spoke about that already. Still small voice. And if your ear was tuned to the TV and the music and the children and all this other 53:59 chaos around you and what's on Facebook and what's on Instagram and what's on Twitter and the world around us and wars and rumors of wars and you missed the so soft you couldn't even hear. And he didn't wait there and get louder. 54:12 See, people when they come to our door, they ring the doorbell and as you know, it's a big loud doorbell. We're trying to get rid of that. But, you know, if you come to my house and you knock softly, you ever been to a house where you're not sure if it's the 54:22 right door. I've done that sometimes or you're trying to sell them something or buy something from them. You know, it's just like you start softly. I hope they'll hear me. And if not, and if you really need to be there, you get a little bit louder. You 54:34 get a little bit louder. Finally, you give up. That's not how Jesus is going to knock. Now, read this again. Be dressed in readiness. Stand by the door. Your ear is at the door. When is it coming? And keep your lamps lit. 54:51 Your ears tuned to the door. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so they may immediately open the door when he knocks. And comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master 55:05 will find on the alert when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will gird himself to serve them. Oh. You read that in your Bible? Jesus serving you, housewife, mom, little boy, little girl, sinner who's made a wretch 55:23 of your life, a wreck of your life, and you feel like a wretch. Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? But this worm God got a hold of it. And like Paul he says, "Lord, I want to lay a hold of that for which you laid a 55:40 hold of me." And so, I'm going to stand at the door. I'm going to think of myself as nobody. I'm not going to look around me and see who else is standing at the door, but I'm going to be there. Blessed are those slaves whom the master 55:52 will find on the alert when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch or even the third watch in the middle of 56:07 the night and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But be sure of this that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. So, you too be ready. 56:25 For the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. He's just going to come, knock, and go. In Thessalonians, it's descri- described as the twinkling of an eye. Or may- maybe it's Corinthians. The twinkling of 56:38 an eye. That's just like that. That that's short of a knock. It's just one knock. But because you were ready, you were you were watching and waiting, and you heard the knock. It says, "Here I am, Lord. Be ready." This is for every day. Don't wait for 56:54 the end of the year. The only way God will accomplish this resolution in your life in 2018 is if he can accomplish it in your life today, January 7th. You don't have to wait for January 1st next year because you already messed up 57:09 on your New Year's resolutions. That's why I said, get that word out of your vocabulary. No more New Year's resolutions. New day resolutions. Today, Lord, make me thankful. Today, Lord, I want to be merciful. Today, Lord, I want to be faithful in 57:25 the little things. Today, Lord, I want to be ready. Amen. Mhm.
