Sermon Transcript:
Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Well, I appreciate you all being here so much. Thank you so much for spending your New Year's Eve with us. Of course, sometimes we need a little extra time to get the TV out here. And I'll now I will say, you know, Jesse, I'm a little disappointed that you mentioned Turkey to an El Paso audience. I mean, I've been here now it'd be five years in 2024. There's Tamales in my house. And so I don't know what's going on in your house. But, but we're busting out those well into time to go back to school, when we have a life lesson that we're going to look at today. And that is to look forward, don't look back. And so I hope and pray and trust that this will be a good timely message for all of us as we think about 2024. And beyond. First thing I want to say is that we are fascinated by time travel, we're fascinated by time traveling, we really have been for the last 100 years or so in terms of story and what we get caught up in and what we enjoy for entertainment. And so this really began in 1895 with the publication of a book called The Time Machine, the Time Machine by HG Wells, again, well over 100 years old, but he really set the stage for what we would come to know as time travel movies or stories. Up until that time, you really only had stories that were fairly linear. You would have people who had flashbacks, and no question, but you really didn't have someone who said no, I'm gonna get into something. And the term time machine literally comes from this book in the late 1800s. And he began to talk about things that we often talk about with time travel movies, which is fourth dimension, right. And so when you're in school, you learn about the three dimensions, length, width, height. And then there's the fourth dimension, of course, called time that really came out of again, this and other movies that followed. Now, what you and I know about story is that anytime we read or hear or watch a movie that's really trying to tell us or teach us something about our own lives or about the present. And that's exactly what HG Wells was doing. He goes well, well, 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of years in the future. And he he meets these mythical creatures and that kind of thing. But the point of that little story that becomes a movie, also, is that there is different classes in society. And they're sort of the haves and have nots, he was observing this coming out of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s and early 1900s. And that's what he was writing about. One of the most popular movies when I was a child is this one right here it is back to the future. So if you're a 1980s kid or 1990s Kid, this was, this was our this was our movie, to sort of understand time travel. And again, we watch this over and over again. We had the old VHS tapes, I remember having this poster, back feature two on my wall from November 1989 on forward. And so what is this movie all about? Again, it's really the first one's primarily about a dad. It's really about a monument fly's dad, the Michael J. Fox, his character, George and he has just some fear worry and anxiety issues that have to be overcome so that he can change his trajectory and path and become a writer in the last two movies back to year two and three, what is it really about? It's really about Marty trying to overcome this fear of man of being called Chicken or whatever. So again, what is it it's these are futuristic sort of time travel movies, but it's really telling us something about our present. Now we get to the modern ones that have time travel, and they really I just want to I'm gonna throw these up here with these just totally lose me. Okay. Now it's not that I haven't seen some of them. I don't understand it. But I tapped out after Avengers endgame because it there was one movie where everyone died. And then you know, Robert Downey Jr. snaps his finger and then a whole movie, everybody gets to come back. So it's just, you know, it just gets kind of weird. And then a spider man again, they take all of our Spider Man's we've seen last 20 years, they throw him in a movie. I can't even begin to explain quantum mania. I tried to get my 12 year old son to explain to me he said that I don't really understand it either. I've seen it twice. And then you get to the end. And they put 127 Batman's in the flash. And so what is doing though, is it's really trying to bring together story about in a complicated way. If you have to pull out charts in order for me to understand your movie. You've lost me I've tapped out. But this is still that idea that we're toying with even on our modern storytelling of what of time travel. Why? Because we all have regrets. We all look backwards and we think, man, if I could go back and change something about my past, some of you would go back and you would want you would undo something or you may go back and you would reverse an action. You might even tell are yourself if I knew then what I know now
I would have gone about that differently, I would have gone through high school differently, I would have gone through career choices differently. And this makes sense that we have a desire to go back because we recognize that our past has a lot to do with our current reality. And if we're honest with ourselves, our past a lot of times has a lot to do with our future reality, we recognize that and it's interesting that we talk about this at the dawn of a new year. Why? Because we're all hopeful, or we're all thinking about maybe next year, we'll be better maybe next year, I can finally lick this or take care of this or not have this going forward, I want a new, better future. But you and I can go back. And even if we could, what are we doing? When we say we would like to go back, we are desiring to change something so that what so that our future lives would look different now that we do have some control over, we know Who holds the future, but we play a part in our lives. The gift of the Bible, what it does for us is it really tells us that we need to be future thinking, we need to be future thinking all other cultures and religions, with the exception of maybe Islam has some form of circular history, you understand what I mean by that, that really even if you go back to the ancient world, it was only Judaism that was sort of forward looking that had a very clear beginning in the garden in a middle of you know, chaos and waiting for the Messiah, and then the Messiah coming. And then now we look forward to that second coming. Only Judaism and Christianity are forward thinking and forward believing this idea of a linear history with a beginning and a middle, and an end. Now while we're in the middle, we get turned around, we can write, we get confused, and we feel like we're in a wilderness or in a desert, because that's literally how the Bible describes our lives at times. But we know where we're headed, that if we're Christians, if we're believers, we understand that we're headed to a promised land, we're headed to a new city, a new Jerusalem, a new heavens and a new earth. We look back early in Genesis, and it really starts to give us lessons about how this is to look for us as the people of God. Here's again, what are we talking about here, we're talking about that our need to look forward and not to look back, ever how tempting that is, for any of us in this room. We'll start out with Genesis 19, the famous story of Sodom and Gomorrah, you know, you've probably heard about it even in culture, we a lot of times know the story, but maybe it's never been read you I want to give you a synopsis before we get to these verses. And basically what ends up happening is this is a city in which a man named lat is a part of with his family, to strangers, come into town, and he wants to show them hospitality while he's doing that. The town has grown so evil and sideways, that they want to bring those two strangers out and do with them sexually, whatever they want. And so what you see now is God sends to angels to really confront this situation. That's where we want to start our passage this morning. And so let's go in and come to the passage here and read our passage says this in verse 15. So what you've seen here is the angels have come and they said, You've got to get out of town. And they said this at dawn, the next morning, the angels became insistent. And why is this going on here? Because God has told Lot and his family through His Messengers through His angels, I'm gonna destroy this place, get out. And just like a lot of us, they're dragging their feet they're taking their time about getting packed up and getting out of town. Says hurry, they said the lat take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now. Are you being swept away in the destruction of the city incidentally, they tried to take the daughters fiance's. They didn't believe they just laughed a lot off when lots still hesitated. The angel seized his hand in the hands of his wife and the two daughters and rushed them safely outside the city for the Lord was merciful and it's so cool how the God just takes care of us and He takes care of Lot and his family when they were safely out of the city one of the angels ordered Run for your life and don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley escaped to the mountains or you'll be swept away
Oh no, my lord. Lat beg. You've been so gracious to me and save my life and you've shown such great kindness but I cannot go into the mountains disaster would catch up to me there and I would soon die now I've thought about this in El Paso I think I have sort of like a similar things like okay Lord like okay, I get it you're gonna destroy the city or whatever, but if I gotta go up into the Franklin Mountains, I don't know how that's gonna work out too good for me. And so that's basically what lots saying here. I'm gonna go up high in that rocky sort of not I don't
understand that's not gonna go well for me, the Lord is kind again, he says, see there is a small village nearby, please let me go there instead, don't you see how small it is, then my life will be saved. Alright, the angel said, I will grant your request, I will not destroy this little village. But hurry, escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there. This explains why the village was known as Tsar, which means little place, lot Reidsville it's just as the sun was rising over the horizon, then the Lord rain down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah, he utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plane, wiping out all the people in every bit of vegetation. But Lot's wife looked back, as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt, again, maybe a story or something you are familiar with at many different levels. But what was her crime? Or what did she do that was so wrong? She looked back sound that was just innocent. What's what's going on Aries. She's saying something. And we'll get into that later. Now, if you keep going in the story. And one of the things you'll you'll learn about the Bible is oftentimes in Genesis, it's really to show how far things have unraveled. That's why in the times of Noah, you have great destruction of those who don't want to follow God. You see in Sodom and Gomorrah, great destruction of cities that don't want to follow God. And then even lot in his daughters. They have things that they participate in right after this in Genesis chapter 19, that are less than holy, for sure. And so what you often see in the Bible is just descriptions I hear this out is this is how screwed up things can get when you have no Messiah, or when you refuse to follow God or a savior. But rest assured, what is the point that we're supposed to get out of this as we understand this story? Well, the great thing is when you get to the New Testament, it brings back up the story. I'm gonna read this to you here in Luke 17, verses 30 through 33. And he's Jesus is talking about what's going to happen when he returns. He says in chapter 17, in the book of Luke, verse 30, yesterday, business as usual, right up until the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack a person out in the field must not return home. Remember what happened to Lot's wife. If you cling to your life, you will lose it. And if you let your life go, you will save it. The first point I want us to see this morning, if you claimed your life, you'll lose it. And if you let your life go, you will save it. Now listen, as soon as we read these words, and some of y'all maybe heard this because you've been around the Bible, or church or God or whatever, it doesn't seem right or practical. Because you and I are thinking I know how to get things done. If I need some money today to take care of this, I grab it, take it, grab the bull by the horns and get it done. Or you and I might find ourselves paralyzed by fear. So we don't step out to do what we know we want to do. Does that make sense? Now, I mean, this is very simplistic, but a lot of us in the room, we probably lean one way or the other in our self sufficiency. Either we're, we're sort of I can, I'm gonna grab the bull by the horns, I'm gonna make this happen, I can do it. I'm gonna get might get in while the getting's good, or, because we're paralyzed by fear, worry and anxiety, we decided not to get out there and do it. And we sort of regrets those who step out there and do it as well. Well, what is going on here? When we're doing this when we're trying to get our own while we fear, a scarcity mindset, what we're doing is we're, we're working out of the flesh, that's what I want you to see that Lot's wife, what did she do? That was so horrible. what she was doing is what God is constantly saying, Don't do that. Don't be like that, which is that we think we're not going to be okay. I mean, even in that story I read, did you see at least twice, I saw with the grabbing of the hands and urging them and getting them out of town. And by letting them go to a little small town saying, I won't destroy that little place. You just see the kindness of the Lord, just taking care of them, just taking care of them. And yet still, in the midst of all that, you have an individual that's looking back and we can understand that as working or living out in the flesh to say, but, but oh, I so want that or miss that or think about that or need that. Adam and Eve were the same way. Think about what they did. God told them Be fruitful and multiply again when they sin and because they send all of humanity fell with them. They're now banished from the Garden and they're thinking when do I get to go back? And that's what they're sitting there thinking it's like, Oh, I'm sorry, that ship sailed. You're on a new trajectory and a new path now.
The flesh is powerful. Think about what we're talking about when you think about the flesh. And again think about this in the context of what we're talking about here New Year. I know we're gonna get there we're gonna talk about whatever you want to call it. New Year's resolutions goals. You don't want to eat as much you want to exercise more what
Have, we all have things well read the Bible or want to be more godly, we want to have different way of interacting with people at work or in our home. We all have these things. But one thing is we got to recognize right in the outset is how powerful the flesh is. Think about what makes sense to think about our own physical bodies, just that, that we have certain things that we do, literally out of routine, you didn't think about hopping out of bed this morning. So you're like, I didn't hop out of bed. I kind of crawled, I get that but like, but you didn't think about that. It just occurred. I think about driving here. I didn't. I didn't ask myself. Okay, how do I drive again? What is that? I gotta get keys, I gotta put my foot on the brake. Turn it I'll hope I figured this out. Hope I get to church today. And I haven't forgot how to drive. Now. I've been doing this since I was 15. And so it just comes almost naturally you think about this, you have a mind you have certain tracks that you've gone down that I've gone down habits good, bad or indifferent. We have a nervous system, all products. We are all products of our nature, and our nurture because we have a past. I'm not saying and neither is the Bible saying ignore your past. We can't do that we understand that it has in some way, affected who we are today. Because again, whether you're looking at this biblically or extra, biblically, we're all product of nature and nurture. But here's the truth of the matter is we can't go back. As much as we enjoy the stories in these movies. It is not a reality that we can find ourselves in. Jesus understood this. That's why he told a story. In Luke chapter nine that really again reiterates this point that we cannot look back, we cannot go back. As they're walking along. Someone said to Jesus, I will follow You wherever You go. But Jesus replied, foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head. He said to another person come follow me, the man agreed. But he said, Lord, first let me return home and bury my father. But Jesus told him let the spiritually dead bury their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.
Another said, Yes, Lord, I will follow you. But first, let me say goodbye to my family. But Jesus told him anyone who puts a hand to the plow, and then looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Second point I wants to see this morning is anyone who puts a hand to the plow, and looks back it's not fit for the kingdom of God. Now, when you read this passage, or you hear this passage, sometimes we in our flesh, we think this sounds cruel God, Jesus doesn't seem right. I mean, I thought we're supposed to take care of our family and our parents. Yes, there's other passages in the Bible that make it very clear that we're to set up our family with care. And if we don't, then we're worse than an unbeliever. What is going on here? Well, if you dig a little deeper, and you really understand where these questions are coming from, they're coming from a place of, yeah, I'll do that later. Like, like, like, I don't know, if mommy and daddy is on death's door, but I want to sort of take care of what I want to take care of, and then God, I'll follow you, or then Jesus, I'll follow you. That's the mindset that he's confronting right then and there. And so you're also like, when you're looking at this, you're like, wait, I think that was the first point. Right? Exactly. This is the way the Bible works oftentimes is that is that in talking about discipleship, which is what this is, discipleship is just how we as believers grow. Jesus says over and over again, saying, Here's what it means to be a part of the Kingdom of God, this is the same point different passages because we need it. We all try to do things out of the flesh. And we all try to talk to God like this, we'll all have our own ways of doing it and saying it, whether we do it quietly in our heart, or we literally say it out loud, will say God, I know that you said this. Whatever this is, whatever the command is, whatever the law is, whatever it is, we know that God has called us to do will actually say to God, either in our hearts or out loud, God, I know that you said this, but I am the exception.
We all sort of do this in our own way, we sort of find ways to say I knows what the Scriptures say, or I know this is what God's clearly told me to do.
And I am the exception or will try to exchange one habit in the flesh for another. This is very key. Okay. Now this is where a lot of what I've said so far, you could throw into good conventional wisdom, whether you follow Christianity or not. But now you're starting to see that wait a second, what is this flesh thing? And what does it mean to try to change and do things in the flesh as opposed to in the Spirit? Because what we can all do is we can all sort of power up over our will and say, this is going to be the year that I'm going to master my weight issue, time management, my spouse habits the way I talk to my kids, whatever the truth
Is this new habits and better habits they can and may lead to better results. But the truth of the matter is we cannot fight flesh with flesh. Right? You and I, we cannot power our way through our goals or New Year's resolutions this year, whatever they may be good or neutral, morally neutral, because you'll fail even if you succeed. Now, what do you mean by that pastor, because I'm pretty sure that if I go to the gym every day for 90 days, or 180 days or whatever, that I will lose weight, especially if I change my diet. But if you do that all in the flesh, I am here to tell you that even if you succeed, you will fail. Why? Why? Because it's back to the first point that I showed you this morning, that if you cling to your life, you will lose it. And if you let your life go, then you will save it what I mean by this, I can Jesus talk this way all the time. He also said in discipleship take up your cross and die
for lessening dies, it cannot bear fruit. See, we're not robots, we're human beings. So think about this. I mean, even if you find a way to, let's say, you know, let's say you're trying to be a better husband or wife, he's okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do date night, I'm gonna have romantic evenings, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna spend some money on this, I'm gonna buy flowers, I'm gonna, you know, write a note, I'm gonna say these kind words, all good things that will produce some results, or even what I would call better results, your life can be more peaceful, if you have good time management or good, loving nature towards your, towards your spouse, or to your kids. But here's the deal. We're not robots, we're human beings. And so you cannot control all kinds of other factors. And if you try to you will fail miserably. Or even if you somehow do so, okay, no, no, no, I know what I've accomplished. I've made this this stellar body, or I've made this stellar marriage, or I've built this business, this is my company, this is my my money, I've been able to do it. Even if you do that, even if you say, Well, I'm tired of being fat, miserable. These kinds of things with you fight flesh with flesh, if you go through your newer New Year's resolutions, or goals, or whatever you want to call them, and you do it in the flesh. I'm here to tell you that understanding love, compassion, empathy, they're not going to flow from a heart that is self dependent. Here's what I mean by that. And maybe you've known people like this that, that they've decided that they're going to eat right? Or they've decided that they're going to exercise, right. And so now they're the, they're the skinniest one in the room, or they're the healthiest one in the room or whatever. But if they've done that all in the flesh, they're now what their male may be looking down on you, or trying to help you ever had somebody try to help you. And that guy name is not really help at all. Why? Because they're not thinking about what Jesus told us. We're all to think about. Don't cling to your life, you'll lose it. If you let it go, you'll save it, it seems seems so backwards seem so topsy turvy, what am I trying to say? Trying to say you think you've won, but you're losing if you try to fight flesh with flesh, and it's not the way the Bible prescribes it. So even if you win, you say, no, no, I'm gonna be one of those, and I'm gonna be able to power up, I'm gonna be able to have a better marriage, I'm gonna be able to have a better diet, I'm gonna be able to have a better opportunity at work, I'll be able to have a better career, and I'm going to be able to do it, I'm gonna be able to do it this year, and I'm gonna stick with it. Because I've got this app, or I've got this coach, I've got this trainer. And I'm here to tell you that even if you accomplish that, in the flesh, you will lose. Why? Because even if you never utter words of condemnation towards others who have, who have not done what you've done, in your heart, you will despise them. Because here's what I know. Things Done in the flesh do not produce love, understanding, compassion, and empathy. You all tell me one time when it does, no, it doesn't. Why? Because you think this is what I did. You're thinking this is what I did. This is this is me, this is about myself. And this is about making me better. what'll end up happening is that you are not connected into the power source and you're not really living or walking by the spirit of all the answer to all this is living a life in the Spirit. And of course, it's going to lead to all these disciplines. So I hope you have goals. I have goals for the next year, whether their weight loss goals, or relational goals, or career goals, or whatever they are. I have those as well. It's going to require discipline, but first and foremost, it's going to require me living a life in the Spirit. Now what is that? I'm here in church and Father, Son, Holy Ghost, I get it spirit. What do you mean by that? Well, it's hard to define but you know it when you see it. I want to read you a passage from Galatians five, and it's literally called in the title of your Bible probably
The Living for the spirit. Here's what it says Galatians five. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Now you're seeing if you combine what we've seen all the way from Genesis and how Lot's wife messed up and how you're seeing in the gospels, how Jesus calls us to a better way. Paul is now being prescriptive. Remember how I said lot of times in Genesis is just descriptive. That's just describing how screwed up things are. You go through judges, look at Samson, other judges, this is just descriptive of how things get screwed up when you try to go your own way. Now Paul, is being prescriptive, he's saying so I say, in light of the gospel, in light of Jesus Christ in light of what he's done, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives, then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires, these two forces are constantly fighting with each other. So you're not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you're not under the obligation to the law of Moses, when you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. So I want to stop right here. There's these lists, and there's going to be two lists here. So you have to ask yourself, what is my life marked by? I don't care what it was marked by in you know, 2023 1982 all the way back. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. We know that it affects things but in terms of your future, you're asking yourself, what is my life going to be marked by and if it's marked by these things, that I'm still living in the flesh. So desires of the sinful nature results are very clear. If you're living in the flesh, sexual immorality, impurity. lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition. So if you're having these, in your workplace, in your home, in your own heart, dissension division in the drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these, let me tell you, again, as I said, before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God, something that's harsh. Now, this is what Jesus is trying to say. He's trying to push us towards righteousness. He's trying to say there is a better way to accomplish what it is you want to accomplish on this earth. And it is a life in the Spirit, not in the flesh. It seems right, there's a way that seems right to man, but in the end leads to death. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in your lives. Remember, I already brought up the idea of, of how you would, if you lost weight, by the power of God, by the very spirit of God, of course, you're going through the same motions, the same goals, maybe using the same app, maybe using the same trainer, as somebody who doesn't know God at all. But I'm telling you, your heart and my heart matters, and how we accomplish what it is that God has for us. If we're walking in the Spirit, what kind of person will we be, as we are working through what God has for us will be people of love with people joy with people who have peace, real peace in the midst of craziness going on in the Middle East craziness of election season, that is surely to come in 2020 for patients, patients with our kids, patients with those people at work, patients with whoever we run up against will be kind will be good, will be faithful will be gentle. And we will have self control. You think my gosh, I don't even know I got one of these me. This is what the life of the spirit looks like. And again, these are produced by disciplining yourself enough to come up under the mighty hand of God through all kinds of things, prayer, Bible reading, being around others who want to do that, and of course, your own individual walk of God. But this is what the Holy Spirit produces. And if you have this going on in your life, you can know little by little, I'm a more loving person this year than I was last year, I am more joy filled this year than it was last year. It's because God's working in your life. And when I was up here, or when I was down there, and I was worshipping, just like you guys were, I was going around the room and I was thinking about how these people who are up on stage leading us in worship are just normal people just like me. And what ends up happening is as God works in all of their lives, that they are able to produce fruit. But if you knew their history, if you knew their stories, you'd realize, Oh my gosh, they're just a little bit further in than I am. They're just keeping in step with the Spirit. And God has worked in their life so that they're able to serve Him in all kinds of ways. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his crawls and crucified Him there.
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the spirits leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. Best thing I can give you and give myself this New Year, gleaning into 2024 is not to look back not to wish I could go back in time and do things different, which is a futile effort anyways, because nobody can get in a time machine and go back anyways. But it is to begin to live my life slowly but surely faithfully, by as much
As I can just show things in the Spirit, and believe that God will work in my life because he will lose the third and final point, which is really straight from these passages, all these were, since we're living by the Spirit, let us follow the spirits leading in every part of our lives. That may be sort of what we need to pray about and think about around the room. Because so many of us have areas of our life where we're saying, God, you don't get to touch that. That's mine. That little area, that little relationship, that little bit of money, that little bit of land, that little bit of thing that I got going on over here, that's not something I want you to touch, I want you to talk about, that I want you to confront me on God. And that we need to be people who say, You know what, I've tried it my way, I know what self help can do. I know what self control can do apart from thinking about God, and it only gets me so far. And even if you can take a goal, and you can get through this whole year and lose that weight or accomplish that promotion, or whatever finished that project, those will have some what I call some general Grace effects, your life may be easier, you may have more money in the bank by doing those kinds of things, I get all that. But if they're done in the flesh, I can rest assure you that even if you win, you'll lose the house that pasture I don't know. But it'll eventually come out. If you've ever seen this in people's lives. You ever been a part of someone's life, and they finally get what they wanted. And then they get to the top where they get what they wanted. And it's not all that it was cracked up to be and they begin to unravel, they begin to fall apart. Or sometimes it takes a long time, and they get to the top and they're able to accomplish that in their own strength. And then what ends up happening is these relationships under them and around them begin to unravel. Because all of it was done in the flesh. It was all about them. It had nothing to do with God and what he wanted. We reminded again of these first two points, that if we want to save our life, we have to lose it doesn't say this literally even as I say those words, it doesn't seem right because you and I think no like, like that, that that's a cantaloupe. That's a fruit right there that I want now, I'm gonna take it, get my getting while the getting's good, that doesn't make sense to trust God to be okay with what he has for me. But this is the way God wants us to live. Again, the three verses that I think are helpful as we tried to be dependent and trust in the Lord and 2024 and all the days of our life. Let's start with this one. This was one I memorized as a young boy, I trust the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. Seek His will and all you do, and he will show you the path to take or he will make your paths straight. It's what I remember memorizing. Proverbs 1921 You and I can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail. Again, sometimes we think we can hijack for good or for ill right. Sometimes we think no Pastor, I've gone too far down the bad path, the dark path, it's I'm too far gone too far out of the reach of God's understanding or mercy. And I'm here to tell you, you're not none of us ever are. As long as we have breath, we are able to do and accomplish God's will and purpose for our life. There in front of us, I want you to sort of tuck away and you can memorize as you can write these on a three by five card, that's what I used to do. And then you can also type them in and put them on the home screen of your phone. Any of these three verses would be great going into 2024. This is really my prayer for you as a church that Paul prayed this at the end of Romans as he had given them the gospel. He says, I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust him. That was really all about those three verses. Going back to to
Proverbs three, verses five and six, then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Don't you want to live that life? I want to live that life. I want to be a man. And I think you may want to be a man or woman who is able to know not to have perfect lives. That doesn't happen on this side of heaven, but that we can constantly get up in the morning and we can take steps and that we can really say man, I think I'm doing what God has for me. And as I look back over three months or 12 months, I can see that the outbursts of anger are lessening in that the joy is rising. I can see that the lust fulness is going down. And the love for others is going up. I can see that dissension is coming down at work and peace is rising. I can see that division is lessening in my family and that coming together in faithfulness and goodness is rising. Oh may it be true for us church not only this season, but all the days of our life. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you how you show us a path.
