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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen. Why don't we stand this morning? We're going to go to the Lord in prayer. We're going to invoke God's blessing on this brand new year. How many want to experience even greater blessings? I do. I really, really believe God wants to do some great things this year. So, Father, we do come before you today. We thank you that you're a God who hears our cry and answers our prayer. And Lord, you see every need in this auditorium, but even those that are watching livestream and beyond. Father, you know our hearts.
[00:00:29] And we pray that in this year, Father, as we pursue your face, that you would make yourself more real to us, that you would guide us into truth, that you would guide us into freedom. You would guide us into a life of peace and joy and hope. I pray, Father, today, even as we're listening to this message, may something be kindled within us. May a spark happen within our hearts, o God, that will ignite us, Lord, in a way that we maybe have been dormant for a long time. I pray you would reunite, rekindle something inside of us. May that gift of the Spirit be stirred within us, O God, and may you use us this year in ways even beyond anything we could ever thought or imagined. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said amen. Amen. I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles this morning to Psalm 119. We're going to look at the first 16 verses there.
[00:01:29] Psalm 119.
[00:01:33] I know some of you probably have seen the television show the Amazing Race.
[00:01:38] Patty and I like watching that. I don't know why. It's just I would never sign up for something like that. That is really intense.
[00:01:46] But what it is is they kind of sign up as teams and they're racing. And this is the American version. I'll tell you a story. They were racing around and they're trying to win a million dollars. And the pressure in that race is so intense at times, it actually reveals things about the person.
[00:02:04] Their character kind of comes to the forefront. Quite a few years ago, I was watching it, and there was a gentleman by the name of Eugenia and his wife Joyce. They were contestants. They had come to the last pit stop. They were the last people there, but they made it to the finals. But they had all of their money and all their possessions taken from them. So now they're starting the race at a huge disadvantage. And. And anyways, by God's grace, and they were asking people help, begging for money. And all the rest of it, they got.
[00:02:34] Excuse me, they got, Pardon me, they managed to hire a cab. And basically they said, we have this much money. And when they got to the end of their money on the thickest heat on the meter, they said, listen, we don't have enough money to cover the fare, but if you'll take us to. To this destination, which was the final spot where they win the million dollars, they said, we'll give you that money.
[00:02:57] The driver agreed. They drove to there. They're now dropped off there. And they're just like. You can see there's kind of a gate, kind of an arch area, and they can see that the finish line is right up here. They're in first place. They're going to win a million dollars. But the husband had told the cab driver, I'm going to give you this money before we go there. His wife. They tried to give him his wedding ring. He wouldn't take it. He said, listen, I don't need rings. I.
[00:03:24] So they hopped out of the cab, you know, and they ran around trying to, you know, beg and borrow whatever they could do there, this money to actually, you know, make it to the finish line.
[00:03:34] And eventually, just out of the kindness of some of the strangers, somebody finally gave them the last $10. But just before they got to that point, some of their competitors this another couple who had been Survivor winners who were notorious in this game for underhanded and unethical approaches to things. They were about ready to race with them to the finish line. And finally the cab driver said, yeah, you've given me exactly enough. So they took off and they actually ran through the gate, won the first prize.
[00:04:05] But they did it with integrity. They did it with integrity. So this morning I want to talk about how to live with integrity. How do you live this, what I call the exceptional life, something the Bible talks about.
[00:04:18] You know, the real reward often in life isn't a bunch of money.
[00:04:22] A lot of times we do the right thing and we don't gain a big financial prize because we've done the right thing. The real rewards are, you know, purity of character, a clean conscience before God, having healthy and right relationships with people, and just the untainted joy of knowing you're doing what's right. There's something exciting about living that life. It's a life of integrity. Scripture calls it walking blamelessly. It speaks to life without fault, with innocent behavior.
[00:04:57] Now, I think there are a number of texts in the scriptures here that talk about the blameless life. And remember, you Read about Job. God himself said about Job, have you seen my servant Job? He's a blameless person. That's a powerful statement. You know, a lot of people can say a lot of nice things about us, or a lot of people say a lot of nasty things about us. But when God says something about us, that's the most important person. And if God says that you're living a blameless life, how powerful is that? We're going to look at this one significant passage today that's going to challenge us and guide us into how we can lead this exceptional life, this blameless life. So what does it mean to be blameless?
[00:05:41] Well, it means to live without fault.
[00:05:45] It speaks of innocent behavior. Another way to describe a person is someone who lives with moral ethics. It's reflected in their behavior.
[00:05:56] We are speaking of moral integrity.
[00:05:58] A blameless person is the one who takes the high road. It doesn't mean that the blameless person never sins, but what it means is that sin is not the essence of their lives.
[00:06:09] They're not a self centered, sin filled life. It's not what the blameless person is about. They're living to please the audience of one, and that's namely God. That they recognize that even in private, in secret, we're going to do the right thing. That's we're talking about, you know, a lot of people. You know, if they're all by themselves, they may deviate and do some things that aren't so good.
[00:06:31] But we're talking about someone who, even in the, you know, when no one else is around, no one else is looking, are still doing the proper thing, the godly thing, the right thing. They're following what God is asking them to do. So we're going to Explore these first 16 verses. I'm going to touch on them in the longest chapter of the Bible, which is Psalm 119.
[00:06:53] And I think there's a tremendous connection between a life that's exceptional, a blameless life, life of integrity in the scriptures.
[00:07:02] I think when you put those two things, you're going to see that the foundation of that person is really a person who really gets to know God and understands who God is. And we only can understand who God is through scripture. So we're going to take a look at these keys to living a blameless life or an exceptional life. And the first one is actually the performance of God's word. And what I mean by that is we're doing what God says.
[00:07:25] We're actually obedient to the scriptures.
[00:07:28] You know, blameless people live a life in obedience to God's word.
[00:07:33] Psalm 119 says, Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.
[00:07:41] You see, it's talking about a doer of the word of God. You know, I remember preaching through James here recently, and James is a big person. He talks about, don't just be hearers of the Word of God.
[00:07:52] You know, don't just have a bunch of information in your head. You know, just what you need to do is put it into practice.
[00:07:58] It's not going to change your life. Knowing information doesn't change people. It's how they apply the information that brings about the transformation in a person's life. He said, blessed are they who keep his statutes, which is another word for doing them.
[00:08:16] You've laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed, not partial obedience, full obedience.
[00:08:23] Our obedience to God is really a reflection of what we think about Him.
[00:08:30] See, it's not about us.
[00:08:33] It's about really coming to that place in our lives where we finally figure out how much God loves us.
[00:08:39] And we begin to respond to that love. And what we're saying is, I love you so much, God, I want to please you. I want to live to honor you.
[00:08:49] Jesus said it this way. He said, if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. In other words, obedience is one of the marks of a person who loves God.
[00:09:03] It's one of the. You know, we could talk about, what does it mean to be a disciple? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? And I would argue that, you know, a lot of people say they're Christians.
[00:09:13] I go, no, no, that's a noun. I like the verb a follower of Jesus. I'm following.
[00:09:20] It's action.
[00:09:22] I'm pursuing God. I'm doing what God is asking me to do. That's a characteristics or a distinctive mark of truly being a follower of Christ. I think a lot of people say things, but it doesn't mean anything if their lives don't line up to what they're saying.
[00:09:38] Isn't that true?
[00:09:40] Yeah, we'd say. And that's what turns a lot of people off. They can see the lack of authenticity. They can see the hypocrisy in it. But when a person is consistent with what they're saying and what they're doing, it has merit and power. He says, listen, if you obey my teaching, My Father will love him and he will come to him and make our home with Him.
[00:10:02] You know, I love the powerful illustration that of honor and love. And John Newton, many of us know he wrote Amazing Grace. He was a slaver, and he became a Christian, became a pastor eventually. Amazing story. And he gives this amazing illustration. He said, if two angels were to receive at the same moment a commission from God to go down and rule, one of them was commissioned to go down and rule an empire, and the other to go sweep the streets of the smallest village.
[00:10:32] It would be a matter of entire indifference to each which service fell to his lot. The post of ruling or the post of cleaning. For the joy of angels lies only in obedience to God's will.
[00:10:45] That's what they delight in, to do the will of God. And I love the scripture from Psalm 40, verse 8. And the book of Hebrews quotes it regarding Christ. And it says, I delight to do your will.
[00:10:56] I delight to please you, God. I delight to honor you. I want to do what you want me to do. It's my joy to that because your law is now in my heart. In other words, the word of God is internalized. It's not just, you know, we read it from a book. No, the word of God becomes within us.
[00:11:19] We encapsulate that word. It becomes a living word inside of us, and it becomes lived through us.
[00:11:28] So we study it, we understand it. I love what it said about Ezra. It says, he studied the word of God. He did the word of God, and he taught the word of God. It's a beautiful order that you and I understand what God says. We do what God says, and then we share what God says to other people. It's the right, right way of approaching things.
[00:11:50] So this is what it means to love God. It becomes, I'm a doer of God's word. Now. How many know that obeying is easier said than done?
[00:12:01] How many know that's true?
[00:12:03] You know, especially, have you had moments in your life where what God says to do and what you want to do are in conflict? Anybody had that experience?
[00:12:13] Okay, that's the most important moment. That's the crux of the matter.
[00:12:19] And this is when you and I have to talk to ourselves and say, okay, this is what I want to do, but this is what God wants me to do. And at that moment, we need to say to ourselves, you know, God's a lot brighter than I am.
[00:12:34] God knows the future, and I don't.
[00:12:37] Actually, I believe that if I just do what God says, in the long run, this is going to be the right decision. Because if I just do my thing, it's going to eventually prove to be painful and there will be sorrow in it. And I'm not doing what God's asking me to do.
[00:12:54] So I think we need God's help. You know, as I said, many, many, many, our good intentions are simply that good intentions. We hear sermons, we attend seminars, we read books, we hear someone's testimony. We're challenged to change some things in our lives, but intentions are not actions. How many know that's true?
[00:13:14] And so, you know, we're beginning a new year. It's not about making resolutions. It's about deciding in your heart that I will do what God wants me to do until I delight in doing what God wants me to do. And by the way, that will happen.
[00:13:29] By the way, that will happen. If you just decide, you know, I'm just going to do what God says. Eventually, there'll be a joy in it.
[00:13:36] There'll be a delight in it. After a while, you'll go, man, this is so amazing. Why wasn't I doing this before?
[00:13:42] That's the encouragement I want to give you. So I think we need God's help to do the right things. Matter of fact, the psalmist praise, oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees.
[00:13:52] In other words, I'm not consistent God, but I want to be.
[00:13:56] Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all of your commands.
[00:14:00] How many, you know, deep down inside you say, I really want to do the right thing. And then I'm encouraging you today, just go do it.
[00:14:08] Just go do the right thing. It's the right way to live. The result of doing what God reveals to us in his word brings purity and blamelessness into our lives. How often in our youth, when we were younger, you know, young people bring great enthusiasm. I like being around young people.
[00:14:27] I like people of every age. I could not live only in a. In a segment of society that was only one group of people.
[00:14:34] I think it's unhealthy. I think we need old people, we need young people, we need teenagers, we need children, we need babies, we need everybody.
[00:14:43] Everybody's important, you see. But young people, they bring such enthusiasm. They got all kinds of energy and vision, and it's neat to be around that. But many times there's a lack of experience.
[00:14:57] Isn't that true? And when you look back on your life, you say, you know, there were some things I did when I was younger that weren't that smart.
[00:15:05] Anybody want to own up to that?
[00:15:08] Okay, do a redo here. I mean, I wouldn't do it that way. Again.
[00:15:14] But here's what I'm going to say to you. If you're a young person, I'm going to give you a great word of encouragement and you won't look back with a bunch of regret. Listen to what the psalmist says to us here. He says, how can a young person stay on the path of purity?
[00:15:30] Here's the answer. By living according to your word.
[00:15:35] You will not live in regret if you do what God tells you to do. Isn't that a beautiful thought? So, you know, the Bible, think of it this way, is the owner's manual for operating instructions to live an exceptional life.
[00:15:50] And if you're a young person today, you know, when I became a believer at 21, I just, you know, I love learning anyways, and I just started reading the Bible. And I mean, I would spend a lot of time reading the Scriptures.
[00:16:05] Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God what was happening. I was being strengthened.
[00:16:11] And, you know, when you're reading scripture, you start getting motivated to do what scriptures are teaching, and then you start learning what to do and what to avoid.
[00:16:21] And so if I was a young person starting all over again, I would do exactly what I've done. I look at from 21 to now 71, that's 50 years I've endeavored to spend time in the Word of God every single day.
[00:16:35] And I have studied the Bible.
[00:16:38] And by God's grace, because he called me into the ministry, I had the privilege of getting paid to study the Bible.
[00:16:46] That's an amazing thing to me. Now. There's a lot more to ministry than just studying the Bible, but that's part of it. And then I had the opportunity to continue to learn. I went to graduate school, and I didn't stop because I had a bachelor's degree. I continued spending 20 years working on graduate courses over time and learning Scripture. And it was so exciting. And I'm going to say something to you right now. This may shock you. I am more excited today about the Bible than I've ever been. I'm more excited about Christ. I'm more excited about the things of God.
[00:17:18] I'm more excited about what God's doing in people's lives. And I believe God's about to do some amazing things because I was sharing with the men as we were praying this morning. It only takes a spark to get the fire going.
[00:17:32] And I'm praying that God's going to put a spark in every one of us this year. There's something's going to happen inside of us. There's going to be a tremendous spiritual enthusiasm that's going to come into our lives.
[00:17:43] So if you're a young person, listen what he says. I've hidden your Word in my heart. What does that mean? To hide God's Word in our heart means I need to be reading it. I need to. I need to be meditating on it. I need to be memorizing it. And if you memorize scripture, it's going to help you in a time of temptation so that I might not sin against you. To know what God says, how powerful is that?
[00:18:07] Psalm 119, 3. They do no wrong, but follow his ways that we take it to heart. We take God's Word as a map that will guide us through the journey of life. Isn't that beautiful? And we don't need to get lost.
[00:18:21] We'll know what to do. We can walk through life knowing where we are at and where we're going. And by daily referring to God's map, God's direction for our lives found in his Word. You know, your Word is a light unto my path.
[00:18:38] Just think, what is he talking about? We're walking on a path. The Christian life is a path we're walking. And if we're in God's Word, it's like the little candles are on top of your shoes here and you're walking. You can see in front of you where you're going. You don't need to see everything, but you're walking in light so that you don't have to stumble in the dark.
[00:18:58] You don't have to trip over a whole bunch of stuff. A lot of people are tripping over stuff today because they're walking in darkness. But you and I have a light that we can follow. But let me move to the second key to a blameless life. It's the pursuit of God.
[00:19:12] When we put God first and we can only say that he's truly the one we're seeking, we'll start living differently.
[00:19:22] You know, this is a great time of the year. We're going to pursue God. You know, some of you have been in this church a while. You know that I'm going to keep bringing this prayer and fasting motif to us. You know, every so often we do it in January. We do it probably in April. We do it again in October. Why am I doing this to you guys?
[00:19:40] Because I'm trying to give you opportunity to do it collectively. We can pursue God together.
[00:19:45] It's a beautiful thing. And God can speak into our lives and make Adjustments in our lives.
[00:19:51] Do you know what happens when you come to church on a weekly basis? You're just getting minor adjustments, but how many know if you start missing church and you come, you know, once every four months, it's like major overhaul.
[00:20:03] Things are really breaking down. It's like driving a vehicle and never getting it serviced. After a while, that vehicle's gonna let you down.
[00:20:11] That's the same thing that happens to our lives. You and I need to stay tuned up.
[00:20:16] That's why I tell people you're a daily Bible reader. Your life is never gonna be the same again. You'll be transformed. Believe me, you will be making decisions every day because God can be. As you're reading, you start realizing, oh, you're thinking about the things of God and how God approaches things, and then things happen in that day and, and you have an answer for that situation. But if you've just ran off on your own and didn't spend any time, you don't have that same equipment, you don't have that in your toolbox to handle those challenges that are presented to you. And we're usually reacting to things rather than responding to them in the right way. We make decisions with the kingdom of God as our priority. He says, blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
[00:21:01] This is wholeheartedness, you know, that's my prayer for my family every night. I say, lord, help each one of them. Help me help our church family to serve you with wholeheartedness. Everything inside of you, with all of the effort that you can possibly make. We're gonna serve God with all that is within us. It's not just an external conformity to God's word. It's a heart changing desire to really know God. I want to know God better.
[00:21:28] I've known him for 50 years, but I still want to know him better.
[00:21:32] You know, it's not that I've attained or I've apprehended. I'm still pursuing. There's things I'm discovering. I'm going, God, this is endless.
[00:21:42] This is a subject you can never exhaust because we're studying an infinite person. How many know? I could live five lifetimes and never discover everything there is about God.
[00:21:54] It's amazing.
[00:21:55] It's never boring.
[00:21:58] John Piper, in his book Desiring God, shares his whole thinking was transformed by understanding. We need to find our greatest happiness in God, he said, while reading Base Pascal, I realized the truth that all men seek happiness. How many know that's true? Everybody wants, you know, you Know, hear the statement, do what makes you happy.
[00:22:20] I'm going to give you a better one than that.
[00:22:23] Go after God until you are happy.
[00:22:27] Because happiness is a result of something. It's not the goal. The goal is getting to know God. The result will be happiness.
[00:22:36] The happiest people are the people who have pursued God. You say, how do you know this? Because I'm going to teach on the Beatitudes here in January. And the Beatitudes are the secret to a happy life. How many want to live a happy life? Anybody besides the pastor? You want to live a happy life? Everybody sign up for a happy life. Of course we want to be happy. And I'm telling you, happiness is not the goal. Happiness is an end result of seeking the right goal. And the right goal is pursuing God.
[00:23:03] That's the right goal, he said later on. Pascal later wrote that all the monetary. I know we think of money with that word, but he means momentary because he's an older writer.
[00:23:14] Pleasures cannot fulfill the longings of our soul. But now it started to dawn that this persistent and undeniable yearning for happiness was not to be suppressed, but to be focused on God. The final straw that helped Piper realize that seeking pleasure was okay and that this pleasure was really only truly found when God came. As he clearly saw the nature of worship and prayer, he said, praising God, the highest calling of humanity and of our eternal vocation did not involve renunciation.
[00:23:45] In other words, it's not about denying yourself, because that's what we kind of focus on sometimes. But rather it's the consummation of joy. I so desired my old effort, he said, to achieve worship with no self interest. And it proved to be a contradiction in terms. Worship is basically adoration, and we adore only what delights us.
[00:24:07] That is profound thought that when you and I discover that God is my delight, you know, God said, I will give you the desires of your heart. I will give you what your heart delights in. Listen, when we make God our delight, wow.
[00:24:22] You see, I think most of us are grasping for paltry things.
[00:24:26] If I get this, I'll be happy. And when we get it, we're not happy.
[00:24:31] That's the problem. You need a bigger goal. But if you say, I'm going after God, wow, that's inexhaustible.
[00:24:40] That's an amazing pursuit.
[00:24:43] That's actually a person who does that starts living an exceptional life.
[00:24:47] The real pleasure or happiness that we seek is actually God himself. And Jesus challenges us on the Sermon on the Mount to make God and His kingdom, the first priority. I love these verses.
[00:24:58] Yeah, go back and say this. There's no such thing as sad adoration or unhappy praise.
[00:25:04] It's true.
[00:25:06] He says, no. Pagans run after all these things. That's, you know, food and clothing and all the rest of it, the material things. And your heavenly Father knows you need them. Don't make that the goal. God will take care of that, he said. Rather, he said, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these other things will be given to you as well. You know, it's really amazing to me. I can't believe how blessed my life has been, but I've made God my goal. And you know what? This verse is my, this is my theme verse for my life. This is my favorite verse. This is how I tried to build my whole life.
[00:25:36] Put God first in everything. Seek his kingdom above everything. Seek what's right in his eyes. And you know, all these blessings keep following me. All this mercy keeps following me. All this favor keeps following me. I can't believe the life I've lived. How did that ever happen?
[00:25:51] I was such a messed up, confused teenager. Unbelievable what God did. Turned my whole life around by putting him first.
[00:26:00] It's so exciting.
[00:26:03] Matter of fact, Paul says it this way, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.
[00:26:09] Where are you spending your mind?
[00:26:11] You know, some people, they're following people in the society that they think are great or they're addicted to all kinds of stuff on the earth or they're into social media. But that's where your mind goes, that's where your heart goes. But I'll tell you, if your mind is on heavenly things, you start putting it up there.
[00:26:29] Wow.
[00:26:30] You're going to see a transformation in your life.
[00:26:33] I like what Roger Psalms wrote about worship. He said worship is not just personal introspection or we would worship our feelings.
[00:26:40] You know, a lot of people think worship is how I feel. No, it's not. Worship's not even a warm glow or we would be worshiping that warm glow. He's saying we worship one outside of ourselves. We concentrate on him, we praise him, we adore him, we hear His Word for he's announcing it to us.
[00:26:59] We listen in holy awe to the word of God for it's a part of all of scripture which is given by the out breathing of God and is personally necessary for my correction and instruction in righteousness. Isn't that beautiful?
[00:27:12] You know, I'd rather have God tell me I'm doing something wrong.
[00:27:16] Right. Hey, smarten up. Here, and God will.
[00:27:21] The end result of obeying God's Word and pursuing God is that he becomes our joy.
[00:27:26] We enjoy His Word, we enjoy his presence. We enjoy him speaking into our lives. I rejoice, he says, in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
[00:27:37] I thought about it, you know, if you ever get deserted on a desert island, you only can bring one book. I already know which one I'd bring.
[00:27:45] Simple. The Bible. It's living.
[00:27:49] I'd never be alone. I could hear what God has to say.
[00:27:53] Best book in the world. Bestseller. Still.
[00:27:58] The end result of them is he goes, I delight in your decrees. I will not neglect your Word. Oh, that's a challenging statement.
[00:28:07] How many people neglect God's Word?
[00:28:10] We all have the same amount of time.
[00:28:13] How many say that's true? Everyone in this room, in a sense, during a week. We have 168 hours.
[00:28:19] How are you going to spend it?
[00:28:21] Some people spend very little time with God.
[00:28:24] He's the most important person.
[00:28:28] He's the most important person. Let's spend time with Him.
[00:28:31] You won't regret that time spent.
[00:28:33] Once again, the psalmist realizes the need for God's help to have a heart that will really pursue God and not be distracted by the things of this world. I seek you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from your commands.
[00:28:47] The best way to keep doing what's right is pursue God and to know what's wrong.
[00:28:55] Third key to an exceptional life or a blameless life is a passion for prayer.
[00:29:01] Love, desires to share with the beloved.
[00:29:05] The art of communication in every relationship is absolutely critical. How many say that's true? If you're not communicating, you don't have a relationship.
[00:29:13] To share our thoughts, our fears without being judged or criticized, but to be understood and, when necessary, correct it.
[00:29:19] I tell God everything you know. Why? Because he knows everything. So I don't need to conceal anything from Him.
[00:29:26] How's that? I can tell him this is what I'm afraid of, or this is what I'm concerned about, or whatever it is. I can tell him. Just pour my heart to him, you know?
[00:29:37] To be accepted and supported is what makes for a healthy, loving relationship. I want you to know God is the most supportive person I've ever met.
[00:29:46] He's the most forgiving, he's the most generous. He's the most loving. He's the most understanding, you know? While marriage is the earthly picture of God's love, one element we need to be reminded of in our time is the misunderstanding of the Idea of love.
[00:30:01] Let me just straighten us out on this concept of love for a minute, because our culture is totally confused.
[00:30:07] You know what people think love is? Letting people do whatever they want.
[00:30:12] That's not love.
[00:30:14] Walter Kaiser says this regarding God's love. He said, in the same way, God's way is the most generous in offering his pardon and acceptance, while it still maintains a high and holy standard of his righteousness to which he is calling us.
[00:30:28] Rather than giving up on and tending to condone our sins and failures to meet his high standards, he faithfully continues to love us without making excuses for our failures or deciding that he must lower the standard to meet us where we are.
[00:30:42] God does not lower the bar.
[00:30:45] Okay, you go. Why is that?
[00:30:49] Because he knows sin is what diminishes you and me.
[00:30:53] It is precisely in this tension of forgiving the most and condoning the least that we can understand the uniqueness of God's love.
[00:31:00] You see, if God just said, well, you know, I love you so much, you can do what you want, but if you're sinning, you're just destroying yourself and diminishing yourself and, you know, destroying other people, why would God support that idea? He goes, no, you got to change that behavior.
[00:31:17] God's going to correct you. He corrects me all the time. I'm constantly being corrected.
[00:31:23] His Word will correct you.
[00:31:25] He doesn't just put up with our sins. He loves us too much for that. He addresses our sins.
[00:31:31] As I've already pointed out, each area of concern is then prayed about. It seems that nothing that we can do can be done apart from God, his grace, his power to accomplish it, and therefore, we need to ask him for help.
[00:31:45] I will obey your decrees. Do not utterly forsake me.
[00:31:52] How many realize that this is a prayer?
[00:31:56] How many can catch this as a prayer?
[00:31:59] You see, some people go, I don't know how to pray, Pastor. I say, you know, it's real simple. Go to the Book of Psalms, start reading them, and just start praying them for yourself and other people. And you'll be praying the will of God.
[00:32:11] It's amazing.
[00:32:12] Prayer not only addresses our perceived needs, but our deepest longings and most challenging moments.
[00:32:18] In his book, God Is Closer Than youn Think, John Ortberg tells this incredible testimony of his friend Kim.
[00:32:24] She said, my friend Kim was a young girl. Her dad pulled the car off the road one day to help a woman change a flat tire.
[00:32:30] While he was lying under the car, another vehicle accidentally swerved, hit the vehicle.
[00:32:37] Excuse me.
[00:32:38] He hit the vehicle.
[00:32:41] His right Thumb was torn off at the joint. Five of his ribs were broken, his left lung was pierced, and he began filling up with blood.
[00:32:49] He was in a critical condition.
[00:32:53] His wife, who was barely 5ft tall, placed her hands on the bumper of the car and she prayed in the name of Jesus Christ and lifted the car off his chest so he could be dragged out.
[00:33:04] Some weeks later, she found out she broke a vertebrae in the effort. Kim's father was in a state of shock as he was taken to the hospital. Doctors were preparing him for emergency surgery.
[00:33:15] They said, well, the sun won't do him any good if he's dead. His survival was iffy. And suddenly, spontaneously, as he's sitting there on the operating table, the man's skin changed from ashen to pink. He experienced at that moment a miraculous healing. He invited a surprise surgical team to join him in singing Ferris Lord Jesus. They didn't even bother to hook him up to the oxygen. He did find out later that while he was at that precise moment when he was healed, his father in law, who was a pastor, and his congregation were interceding in prayer for him. How many know prayer is pretty powerful stuff.
[00:33:49] Kim's father was James Loder. He was a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. His life was not only saved, but it was totally changed. Until then, although he taught at a seminary, God had been mostly an abstract idea to him.
[00:34:04] It's just intellect.
[00:34:07] Now Jesus became a living presence.
[00:34:10] Kim writes that her father's heart grew so tender that he became known in Princeton as the Weeping Professor. He began to live from one moment to the next in a God bathed God. So God intoxed world.
[00:34:22] How many go, that's amazing. How many can see what's happening? That's the kind of change God wants to bring about in our lives. Prayer, by its very nature, is designed to draw us into God's presence. The essence of prayer is to know God. Not just to meet our needs, but though he does do that.
[00:34:40] The real purpose of prayer is to commune with him, to get to know him better.
[00:34:45] Notice that the greatest need we, excuse me, we have is for Him. And that's what Jesus promised. He says, so I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek, and you'll find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who receives, who asks, receives. He who seeks, finds. And he who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, we'll give him a snake instead.
[00:35:09] Or he asks for an egg, he's going to give Him, a serpent.
[00:35:15] If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give? What?
[00:35:25] The Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
[00:35:28] Why would we ask for the Holy Spirit? Because that's the God.
[00:35:32] God, the third Person of the Trinity. And when you and I receive Christ, what happens is the Holy Spirit, God, the Spirit comes and lives inside of us. And you and I become a temple. And God's presence is inside of us.
[00:35:44] That is powerful. And so what starts happening then is we get to know God, but God is not abstract and, you know, transcendent. Then God is now imminent. He's not only God among us. Jesus came among the people. God was among them. But he said, it's needful that I leave so that I can be within you.
[00:36:04] That's why Jesus made a promise. I'll never leave you nor forsake you, because he lives inside of us.
[00:36:10] I love this about God. I can talk to him at any moment. I can talk to him at any place. I can cry out at any situation. God is 24 7, 365. He's available.
[00:36:21] I love that about him.
[00:36:23] Dr. David Osborne correctly points out, too often we try to use God to change our circumstances. Well, he's using our circumstances to try to change us.
[00:36:33] Isn't that interesting?
[00:36:35] So what's happening to you? You go, this is the worst thing that could ever, ever happen to me. Yeah, that might be true. But here's what you should do, is say, God, what can I do and learn in this situation? What are you trying to communicate to me? Help me to get the lesson.
[00:36:53] I don't want to keep going around this mountain over and over again.
[00:36:55] Help me to figure it out. Right?
[00:36:57] You know, how do we really learn how to pray? Well, I think as we read God's promises and challenges from the scripture itself, something within us cries for God's grace to help us do it. So what are some ways to stimulate our prayer life?
[00:37:12] You know, I think we have to make a conscious effort to pray privately and also collectively.
[00:37:21] You know, it helps when you're in a prayer meeting.
[00:37:24] You know, we have a prayer meeting on Tuesday night. Come and pray. You know, I have. You know, this morning there was 21 men praying with me. Is that amazing?
[00:37:32] You know, there's a reason why this church impacts people's lives. There's people praying, folks.
[00:37:37] It's God that does the work. Unless God builds the house, we labor in vain. Unless God is with you, you're going to struggle like Crazy. You might as well just admit, I need God's help.
[00:37:50] And when you do that, God shows up and does amazing things. But let me move to the last point.
[00:37:56] I think this one's important.
[00:37:59] We need to persist, to continue to maturity. You know, a lot of people start out great.
[00:38:06] You know how many people start out a New Year's resolution 90 days later, they don't have it anymore? You know, everybody starts out great. It's not about starting. It's about continuing. It's about finishing.
[00:38:21] It's about finishing well. It's about starting this life with God. It's about walking with him every day, being consistent, and eventually get to the finish line. It's powerful. The blameless life, the exceptional life is when we keep learning, growing, applying truth into our lives. We never get to the place where we say, I've arrived. I've attained.
[00:38:43] No, even though Christ has apprehended us, we're still trying to continue our development and growth. I haven't arrived. I get so excited when I learn things, you know, sometimes because I've read the Bible a lot.
[00:38:56] I can tell you, I don't know how many times I've read it, at least 50.
[00:39:01] But I'd say even more than that because I've studied it, I spent hours in it. But I'll tell you one thing, I get so excited when I read something. Wow, I never saw that before.
[00:39:10] You know, I've read this how many times and I never even seen this before. Wow. Is that ever exciting. You know, all these nuggets that are coming at you, the more you spend time, the more it comes at you. You know, it says, praise be to you, O Lord. Teach me your decrees. Who are we asking for us to be taught by God himself?
[00:39:33] Show me God. I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. See, we've got to be taught. Teach me your decrees. Hear, the hunger to keep learning about the ways of God is found in his Word. This learning is really an internalizing of God's Word. It's not just mental information. It's not just external conformity. It's deep heart change. It's changed from the inside out.
[00:39:57] The writer meditates on God's word. I meditate on your precepts and I consider your ways.
[00:40:03] J.I. packer in one of his books said, this meditation is the activity of calling to mind, thinking over, dwelling on and applying to oneself the various things one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God.
[00:40:16] It's a lot. It's an activity of holy thought consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God by the help of God as a means of communication with God.
[00:40:27] Its purpose is to clear one's mental and spiritual vision of God, to let his truth make its full and proper impact on one's mind and heart. It's a matter of talking to oneself about God and about oneself. It is indeed often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God's power and grace. You know, have you read the Psalms? Why are you so disquieted? O my soul, yet you shall praise God. He's talking to himself, you know.
[00:40:59] Do you guys talk to yourself?
[00:41:01] You should. It's biblical.
[00:41:04] I preach the best sermons you've never heard. To myself.
[00:41:10] I'm preaching to myself, buddy. Shape it up here. Smart enough, this is what you need to be doing. You don't have those conversations.
[00:41:18] I'm talking to myself. I'm telling myself, this is what you got to do.
[00:41:23] You know, one of the great difference between Christian meditation and other forms of meditation is Christian meditation is filling your mind with scripture, meditating on the person of God and his attributes. This other meditation is the exact opposite. It's emptying your mind.
[00:41:38] Well, that's demonic, folks. It gives the enemy access to shooting intrusive thoughts into your minds.
[00:41:46] You know what? I have enough of the enemy shooting his fiery arrows at my mind.
[00:41:52] I don't need to empty my mind to let him shoot more into my head. You know, the Bible says we're to present our bodies as living sacrifice and how we should be renewing our minds with what? God's word. You know, even more penetrating insight is into the nature of spiritual warfare. Do you realize that every moment you're fighting a spiritual battle, from the day you're born here, and you're starting to become conscious in your thinking till the day you die, consciously, you're going to be fighting a spiritual battle. It's going to be happening in your brain. It's in your mind.
[00:42:25] Listen to what Paul says.
[00:42:31] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
[00:42:40] What weapons do we have? The Word of God, Spirit of God, he says we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
[00:42:55] When I have a thought that comes in my mind that's not conforming to God's Word. I have to take that thought captive and say, you know what? I have to refute it.
[00:43:05] That's exactly what Jesus did. In the wilderness, Satan came along and said, if you're the son of God, turn these stones into bread.
[00:43:12] Well, Jesus knew who he was. He knew he was the Son of God. He said, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Can I just say something? If you're not spending time in God's Word, you're living at a huge disadvantage because you're living totally on a material plane. And there's a higher level you could be living at, and it's the level of knowing God and His Word.
[00:43:35] But you and I have to access it.
[00:43:38] We have to come into his presence and ask for help. We need to come to the Word of God. You know, listen to what the real battle many times is, wrong attitudes. And then we become disobedient and we get grumpy and we do all kinds of crazy things. I like what RC Sproul explains the power of meditation as it relates to overcoming sin. He says conscience vacillates in power from day to day, but can be strengthened or weakened again. The process begins with the mind. The more I increase my awareness of the law of the Word, the more I'm convicted of a matter, the greater my conviction, the stronger my conscience. The stronger my conscience, the greater the likelihood that I will obey.
[00:44:14] Wow.
[00:44:15] So the results of learning and applying God's Word is that we discover how wonderful God truly is. I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. The result of really obeying God's word, pursuing after God prayer that leads people to practice what God says.
[00:44:31] And when that happens, life is never the same. Let me close with a story.
[00:44:36] Blasio Gicosi was a schoolteacher in Rwanda and Central Africa, and he was deeply discouraged by the lack of life in the church he was attending and the powerlessness of his own experience.
[00:44:49] And so he decided to close himself in for a week of prayer and fasting in his little cottage. He emerged a changed man. He confessed his sins to those he had wronged, including his wife and children. He proclaimed the gospel in the school where he taught, and revival broke out, resulting in students and teachers being saved. And these people now became Abaca, meaning people on fire.
[00:45:13] Shortly after that, Blasio was invited to Uganda to share with an Anglican church there. And as he called the leaders to repentance, the fire of the Spirit descended again on the place with similar results as they happened in Rwanda.
[00:45:26] Several days later, Blasio died of a fever. His ministry lasted only a few weeks, but the revival fires that were sparked by his life in 1935 swept through East Africa and continues to the present. Hundreds of thousands of life have been transformed over the decades through this mighty East African revival. And it all began with a discouraged Christian setting himself apart to seek the fullness of God's spirit.
[00:45:53] It only takes a spark to make a fire.
[00:45:59] May God's spirit light a fire in our hearts this year.
[00:46:05] Let's stand.
[00:46:07] So I'm going to leave this flight up.
[00:46:11] Five things.
[00:46:13] You may want to take a picture of this and when you go home. I heard a sermon today, but now how am I going to put it into practice?
[00:46:24] Number one, where am I presently disobeying God? I got to address that.
[00:46:28] What are some ways I can develop a better prayer life? I need to take steps for that. What are some ways I can actively seek God?
[00:46:37] What are some specific things that God wants me to apply in my life? And where am I current? What am I currently doing to keep growing and learning my understanding of God?
[00:46:48] I'm giving you assignment. I want you to think about this. You know, we come to church and we hear a ceremony, we go home and forget.
[00:46:54] Isn't that usually what happens?
[00:46:58] Generally, that's what happens. I know that.
[00:47:01] I'm not upset about that. I get it. You know, I don't always remember what I ate three weeks ago either. So I don't get uptight about that.
[00:47:09] What I'm getting at is, but if we hear something and it moves us and we begin to apply it in our lives, that's when change will begin to happen in your life.
[00:47:22] And that's what I'm praying for.
[00:47:25] Lasting change, consistent change, and a new consistency in your walk with God.
[00:47:33] Amen.
[00:47:35] So, Father, we come before you.
[00:47:37] It's a brand new year.
[00:47:39] We lift our hands to you. We surrender ourselves anew and afresh.
[00:47:43] It's not my will that I want accomplished in 2026. I want it to be your will for my life, for my family, for my church family, Lord, for the people that are listening right now that we would say, lord, your kingdom come, your will be done.
[00:48:01] Your will be done on earth in me in 2026.
[00:48:12] And Lord, we thank you.
[00:48:14] We believe as we put you first, you will give us our daily bread. We believe as we put you first. Oh God, you'll give us a spirit, a forgiving spirit, a loving spirit, a caring spirit, a generous spirit.
[00:48:31] Lord, I believe that you want to repair relationships in 2026, some that have seemed irreparable. But Lord, you can do it because you can change the heart of the person. That's what needs to happen.
[00:48:43] It's always a heart problem. I pray today you'll begin to change hearts.
[00:48:48] I'm praying today that a spark will awaken in every heart that will become a fire in their soul. In Jesus name, amen. God bless as you leave.
