Show Notes
Psalms 119:1-16
How to live a life with no regret.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Why don't we stand this morning to go to the Lord in prayer? And I know that, you know, during the. During. Even during the Christmas season, there's always challenges in people's lives. And Patty and I have been in contact a little bit with Darren, a coin and Andrea. They served on our staff for quite a long time. Anyways, Darren's really going through a huge physical challenge. He's in the hospital.
[00:00:21] They don't know. I don't think they know totally all of what's wrong with him, but he's struggling with breathing and just having a lot of difficulty. So if we could remember him in prayer. And I'm sure there's others of you that can think of others that you're concerned about or maybe something that's challenged in your own life. Why don't we just lift our hands and our hearts to God today in prayer and just lift these needs before him? So, Father, we come before you today. We think of Darren and Andrea right now as they're walking through very challenging season in their life. We pray for your grace, your healing mercies, Lord. We pray that you would meet him at this place of weakness, that you would strengthen his body, but even deeper than that, that you would do a transforming work in his soul and his spirit, Lord, that all of these events that lead to these challenges, Lord, would bring him to a new place in you, Father. And we thank you for that. Pray raise him up. Use him in a more profound way in the days ahead. We think of others, Lord, even in our own church, family are walking through challenges. You know, I. There's people that immediately come to my mind, people dealing with cancer, people dealing with loss. There's people dealing with relational difficulties. And we just commit them to your grace today. And now we pray, open our hearts, Lord, that we may hear your voice speaking into our spirit. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said, amen. You may be seated. I'm going to have you turn to the longest chapter in the Bible, but I guarantee you I won't preach from all the chapter. How's that give you a little break? We're going to look at the first 16 verses of Psalm 119. Now, I know many of us have probably seen the show the Amazing Race. I know there's the Canadian version and the American version. I like them both. They're a lot of fun to watch. The American race is, you know, like the Canadians, a competition. But the Americans, you know, they travel the world and the grand prize is A million dollars. And so in one of the episodes, one of the seasons, 2005, a couple by the name of Euchina and his wife Joyce were contestants. They were in the final leg. And if you know anything about the show, if you come in last in the last leg, there's a penalty for doing that. And their penalty now to enter into the final leg was they had to forfeit everything they had. So they had no money. And so they were totally throwing themselves at the mercy of people to try to secure funds to get cabs and all the things racing around to their final destination. And so they finally, at the end, they were in first place now, and they were at the end, and they had managed to hire a cab, but they didn't have the total fare needed. So Yuchina warns the driver, he says, listen, we don't have money to cover the entire fare, but I promise as soon as we get to our location, we'll make up the difference. And the driver agreed. And off they went. And they were the first ones to get to the end of the race. And you can sense the tension building. So they can see the end. They're literally, you know, just maybe 20, 50 yards away from winning a million dollars. But they're at the cab and they're trying to, you know, pay the driver. So they pay them what they've got. And so if Yuchina decides, here's my wedding ring, hope it'll be enough, the driver says, no, I don't need rings, I need money. So now they realize that, you know, they could just run over there and then come back and pay him, you know, but that's not what Uchina does. He says, listen, we promised the driver this money. We're going to pay him this money. So they walk around asking money from the people in the area to pay the cab driver. And, you know, meanwhile, the tension is growing, right, because, you know, there's other couples are going to come on the scene, and he's not going to race over there until he gets the cab driver paid off. And so eventually, it looks like as you're watching the show, that this other couple now, who have not always shown integrity through the whole program, are now breaking in on the scene, and they're about ready to go to the get to the finish line. And these guys are still, you know, trying to secure the funds necessary. And eventually they get just enough money, the last $10, and they race, and they actually win the race. And they beat out this other couple.
[00:04:41] Kind of an amazing ending.
[00:04:44] They not only won first prize, but they did it with integrity. You know, integrity's reward does not always come with a cash prize. How many know that's true? It's not always the way it works out. The ultimate reward in life is to have purity of character, a clean conscience before God, right relationships with people, and an untainted joy because you've done the right thing in life. So I think it's possible to live a life without regret. You know how to live a life with no regret? That's the title of this message. How many would like to say, I'd like to finish my course and have looked back and say, you know what? I don't have any regrets. I made the right choices. You know, Now I'm not going to say that we've never made mistakes. I'm not suggesting that. I'm not going to suggest that we never fail. I'm not going to make that suggestion as well. What I'm saying is, since the moment we've received Christ now, and we've decided to fully surrender to him and walk in obedience to him, from this point on, we're going to live a life with no regret. Anybody sign up for that? Isn't that a great way to finish your course, to come to the end of your life and say, no regrets? I did what I was supposed to do. What an awesome feeling. So it is possible to live a life of integrity, or as the scripture describes it, as walking blameless, which means we're living free of true. I put the word true accusations. I always have false ones. But true accusations and a life that you're not living with regret. And I think that's important. It's interesting. When God revealed himself to Abraham, he said, abraham, walk before me and be blameless. What a powerful statement. You know, I've thought about that word blameless, and I'm going to use that word blameless and no regret almost interchangeably here this morning. So you understand where we're going with this. So we're going to look at a significant passage of scripture that challenges us and guides us how to live a life with no regrets. How many want to learn how to do it? Anybody here up to learning how to do it? That's what we're going to talk about this morning.
[00:06:55] We're talking about a person that's blameless. What does it mean to be a blameless person? I think it means to live without guilt. It speaks of innocent behavior. Another way to describe a blameless life is a person who lives with moral ethics. They're ethical. They're a person of integrity. They do the right thing. A blameless person is one who takes the high road. It does not mean that a blameless person never sins. That's impossible. We're all going to sin at times in our lives. But this is a person that, when they sin, addresses it and recognizes it and makes amends because of it. It's a person that's dealing with the stuff in their lives.
[00:07:39] But this is a person that sin is not the essence of their lives. And they're living to please someone other than themselves. They have a higher goal in life. They're living to please the audience of one, as I call it. They're living to please God. They're living to serve God. They're living to make God. He's the focus. He's the one that, you know, they're saying, if I please you, I'm happy with my life kind of a thing. You know, how many know you can't please everybody?
[00:08:09] Some people are people pleasers. That's going to cause all kinds of grief and problems in your life because people are all over the map. Everybody wants you to do different things. It's too frustrating. Try being a leader. Everybody has a different idea how to do it, and they're all telling you. And if you don't do what they say, they're not always happy with you. That's the nature of being a leader. You know, I'm not worried about what everybody's saying. I'm worried about what God has to say. Because I know one day I'm not going to face you as my final judge. I'm going to face God as my final judge. And I'm concerned about doing what's right in his eyes. And I believe if we do what's right in God's eyes, you're going to actually please a lot of people along the way. But ultimately, you're going to live a happier life. You're going to be more happy with yourself because you're doing the right thing. So I want to take a look at the first 16 verses of the longest chapter in the book, Psalm 119. Aren't you glad I'm not going to try to preach 176 verses this morning? No, I'm not going to do that as it is. It's going to be a little bit of a challenge anyways to do 16 here. Because there's four keys, I think, to living a life with no regret. The first one is obedience to what God says, obeying God's word. A person who lives without regret just does what God says.
[00:09:25] Which suggests to me it's not knowing what God says. How do Christians that know what God says? No, it's a lot. It's doing what God says. It's applying what, what God is saying into our lives. Let's pick up verse one. It says, blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes. Add a little parenthesis. Another word is to fulfill or to do them. You have laid down precepts, verse four, that are to be fully obeyed. This is not partial obedience. Guys, you. You know, I could think of King Saul. You know, I did some of it, but not all of it. You know, how many know that? You know, partial obedience is still disobedience. We may not think of it that way, but it's true. I mean, you know, well, I did this much, but. Yeah, but God didn't ask you to do that much. He asked you to do this. And so we want to fully do what God is asking us to do. You know, our obedience to God's Word is really reflection of what we think about him. It's one way to honor God. It's one way to express our love towards God. As a matter of fact, Jesus said this in John 14. Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father, my Father will love them. And we, the Father and Son, will come to them and make our home with them. Isn't that a great promise? So when we're walking in obedience, we have this confidence that God is dwelling within our lives. And I love that powerful illustration of that honor and love demonstrated to God that John Newton, the great slave trader who became a believer and became a pastor, and he wrote that amazing hymn we all love so well. Amazing Grace. This is the guy I'm talking about. This is what Newton, he says this. If two angels were to receive at the same moment a commission from God, one to go down and rule Earth's greatest empire and the other to go down and sweep the streets of the smallest village. Okay, that's quite a contrast, right? They each got a different assignment. He says this. It would be a matter of entire indifference to each, which service fell to their lot. In other words, they don't really care. The angels don't care what God is asking them to do. They're happy to do either assignment, and they're happy to do it with all their hearts. Why? Because God's asking them to do it. That's the attitude. Right, right. It says, the post of the ruler or the post of the scavenger for the joy of angels lies only in obedience to God's will. Wow, I like that. Listen to what the psalmist writes later. And it's quoted in the book of Hebrews. And I love this verse. And Jesus literally picks up on this statement. It says, I desire to do your will, my God, your law is within my heart. Now let me just pause for a minute. What does that really mean? Well, I say it this way. Everyone in this room is going to do what they want to do as much as they can do.
[00:12:31] Now sometimes you can't do what you really want to do. But most people, they're going to do what they want to do. You know, isn't that true? People do what they want to do.
[00:12:39] So I think life is all about desire. Desire is such a powerful motivating element in our life. So if we have the right desires, we're going to do the right things. If we have the wrong desires, we're going to end up doing the wrong thing. So desire is a very strong thing. Now that doesn't mean, you know, sometimes we can be tempted to do the wrong thing. I'm not suggesting that we all be tempted to do it, but we, you know, we have enough self control, we go, that's not the right thing. And I know that that's going to lead to a lot of problems. So I'm not going to do that. We understand that. But obedience then should not be drudgery. That's what I'm trying to get at here. It should become a delight, it should become a desire. It's not seeking approval because we've already got God's approval. God already delights in us. We're not seeking God's acceptance. He's already accepted us. We're not coming to get it. We already have it. But out of that we're beginning to flow and be obedient to God because we have a different heart. Our heart's been changed by the grace of God. And we desire now to please God.
[00:13:50] How many know that obedience sometimes is easier said than done? Anybody have those moments? I think the real test of our faith life is when our desires conflict with God's will.
[00:14:03] How many have ever had that experience in your life? Your desire conflicted with God's will? I got my hand up. See, I'm the first one to admit this. Now we've got to make a choice. And I think it's at those points that's the most important point in our Christian walk, we've got to make a choice here, and it's a good thing. I think many good intentions are simply that good intentions.
[00:14:22] We hear sermons or we attend seminars, or we read books, or we hear someone's testimony and they're challenging us to do more, be more, and all the rest of it. But how many know? We all need God's help.
[00:14:35] You know, anybody here understand that? You know, you need God's help to do the right thing.
[00:14:41] You really do. You need God's help to change.
[00:14:45] Listen to the honesty of the psalmist. He appeals to God for help. We need God's help to do what is right. Look what he says in verse five.
[00:14:54] Well, let me just. Why did I.
[00:14:58] Okay, yeah, I see. The greatest thing that will help us obey God is to ask for his empowerment, his ability, and his strength and passion to do it. In other words, you know, we could even pray. God, I need a change of heart. I need a little help in my attitude. I need to help in my desires. Right now, you need to straighten me out. Here's the Psalm, verse 5. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees. Now, that already suggests to me that, you know, he's struggling a little bit. You don't make this a prayer unless you have a struggle. And that's my point. All of us are going to have struggles at times. But here's a great prayer. We're saying, God, please help me to do the right thing, because in the end I'll be happy that I did the right thing. Verse 6. Then I would not be put to shame.
[00:15:42] Then I would not be in living in regret.
[00:15:47] Amen.
[00:15:48] That's the point when I consider all of your commands.
[00:15:53] This statement is not by not being put to shame is in essence saying we don't want to live with the consequences and the regrets of doing the wrong thing. The result of doing what God reveals to us in his Word is what brings purity and blamelessness in our lives. But often in our youth, we not only bring great enthusiasm to life, which I think is a great thing, but sometimes we also bring recklessness and poor decisions. How many know that's true? We're not thinking it through. We're in the moment. We're spontaneous, but we're not thinking ahead in the future and how this decision is going to impact tomorrow. And I think before we make these decisions, we got to know that every decision has a consequence. Every decision helps either build up our lives or it diminishes our Lives, decisions are powerful and we need to understand that.
[00:16:49] So how can a younger person who lacks understanding and experience be kept from making major mistakes that could be very destructive to their lives? Isn't that a great question?
[00:17:01] How do you stop from doing these things? Well, you know, listen, the answer, I think that's given by the psalmist is that we have to have a love for God's word, which suggests that we spend time in it and we apply it to our lives. Listen, how it says, how can a young person stay on the path of purity? It's a great question because culture says they can't.
[00:17:24] Isn't that true? The culture says people can't stay pure. I go, that's bogus. There is a way to do it. God says there is a way to do it. You know, you want to believe what society says, what God says. I believe what God says. God says, how can a young person stay on the path of purity? Here's what he says, by living according to your word. Now, I gotta pause here and ask a question. I mean, for you to live according to God's word makes it just. There's an implication there. What's the implication? You got to know it. How many know? You got to know it before you can live according to it. And that's one of the great problems in the church world today, because a lot of people think they know it. They know some of it, but they don't know a lot of it. So how do you remedy that problem?
[00:18:15] You got to spend time in it. You know where this is going?
[00:18:20] Anybody figure this out yet?
[00:18:22] You know, where are we going with this, Pastor? Well, we're going to encourage you to get into the word of God this year. You want to have a different life in 2025. It's real simple. You got to get to know God. Got to spend time with God. How do you spend time with God? You got to spend time in his word. You know, we spend a lot of time doing what we want to do. And many times the want to do is not what we need to do. And what we really need to do, we don't do. Which is what? Spend time with God.
[00:18:50] I'm going to tell you a little something about spending time with God. It's a cultivated appetite.
[00:18:57] Everyone in this room, there's certain foods you like and certain foods you do not like. How many? Say, that's probably true. You can list them. But I'm going to argue that you've cultivated certain appetites. And over time, you might even change your Appetites, things you didn't like, you now like, and things that you once liked, you don't like. It can change, right? It's an appetite. You cultivate it. And the Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good. God is saying, hey, try this, experience this, try it out. And after a while, you cultivate this appetite, and this appetite can really start developing. And all of a sudden, spending time with God gets easier and easier and easier because you're cultivating an appetite for that.
[00:19:42] So you and I are actually the ones that are cultivating appetites. It's very fascinating.
[00:19:48] He goes, how do you do it? By living according to your word? Verse 11 says, I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. What does it mean to hide God's word in our heart?
[00:20:00] Well, it suggests something to me. It says, first of all, I got to read it, I got to understand it, I got to know it, I got to start doing it actually, while I have it memorized and I've even been meditating on it, I've been considering these things. And as you do all of that, all of a sudden it becomes a barrier for you to sin. The word of God becomes a barrier. You go like, you're like, joseph, how can I commit this great sin against God? You know, it's not about what people are asking of you. It's not about what you think you want. It's about, what does God want? It changes your whole orientation in life. It's very, very powerful. Earlier in the psalm, we saw the blessed as described as those who live a blameless life so that they could not live without regret. Verse 3 says, they do no wrong, but follow his ways. Isn't that a beautiful statement? How would you like to be known as a person who's not doing the wrong things but are following in God's ways? People get to know you after a while, they'll just notice, hey, this guy's doing the right thing. This girl is doing the right thing. It's beautiful.
[00:21:03] People who take to heart with Goddess Singh and they act on it are providing a roadmap that will lead them through the journey of life. How many would like to have a constant GPS working inside of you, keeping you on the right road, not getting off course?
[00:21:21] What is that? That's God's word inside of you and the work of the Holy Spirit guiding you. And pretty soon you. You know what? As you're filling yourself up with this stuff, you know what starts happening? You start becoming internalized and Pretty soon you're making decisions and you're going, wow, that was good. I didn't have to think about it. I'm just making the right choice here because it's now so much a part of the fabric of my innermost thoughts and being that I'm naturally, intuitively doing the right thing. That's what happens to you. You start changing from the inside out. It's very, very powerful. We don't have to get lost. We know where we're at and we know where we're going. And if it is critical that we daily refer to God's map.
[00:22:07] And this is where a lot of people go astray every once in a while. Oh, I'll look at the map once in a while. Oh, I think I'm lost now. Where's that map again? Right? I'm telling you, if you're, if you're looking at the map every day, you're not going to get lost.
[00:22:22] You're constantly checking where you're going, how many think that's beautiful. You say, what's God's map? God's word, you know, just spend time in there. You know, you're actually going to have your bearings every single day. It's going to keep you from making mistakes. Can I tell you what happens in my day? I get up in the morning when I spend time in God's Word during the day. Somehow those words that I was reading that morning are helping me during that day. It's affecting my decision making. It's affecting some of the things I'm going to be saying or doing. A lot of times the guidance that I give people comes right out of what I prayed that morning because God is preparing me to minister to you. But how does that happen? Because I'm spending time with him. You got to prepare yourself. Look at number two. The second key, besides obeying the word of God is the continual pursuit of God.
[00:23:13] The continual pursuit of God. We have to put God first. You know, that can only be said when he truly is the one that we're seeking. And the result will be living a life pleasing to Him. We will be making decision with the kingdom of God as the priority. Listen. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him once in a while.
[00:23:40] Is that what it say? Doesn't say that, no. It says, seek him with all their heart. You know, the heart is your mind, your emotions and your will. It's all of you. It's complete commitment to pursuing God.
[00:23:57] You want to have a profound impact in 2025. You want your life to really move forward in a significant way. Do this, just do this. Seek God every day with all your heart. I guarantee you your whole year is going to be different. You're going to go, what in the world happened? All of a sudden? I'm tracking with God now. And I'm going to just say this. If you think you have an amazing agenda for 2025, God has a better one for you.
[00:24:23] God has a better one for you. He's about to do things that you couldn't even ask, think, or imagine. How's that?
[00:24:31] We've got to get on that track, okay? Somebody needs to answer their phone or shut it off or something.
[00:24:41] It says here this is not outward obedience, guys. You know, there's a lot of Christians that outwardly look like they're doing the right thing, but inwardly they're not. They're all messed up and tangled up on the inside. Here's what I'm trying to say to you guys and what I say to myself, let's fix the inside and the outside will just be fixed. Okay?
[00:25:01] Does that make sense? You know, a lot of Christians, you know, they pretend they're trying to do outwardly what's right, but inwardly they're a mess. I think God wants to change us from the inside out.
[00:25:13] Isn't that beautiful? Listen, you know, listen to what it says here in Proverbs, my son or daughter, give me your heart.
[00:25:23] Give your heart to God. Isn't that beautiful? He says, let your eyes delight in my ways.
[00:25:30] I think that's powerful. You know, I think there's a restlessness in our lives until we ultimately find our rest in God. That's what Augustine, the 4th century Christian leader, said. And you know, John Piper Augustine said that in his Confessions. But Piper says in his book Desiring God, he shared how his whole thinking was transformed by understanding that we need to find our greatest happiness in God. And he writes, he said, while I was reading base Pascal, I realized the truth that all men seek happiness. This is, without exception, every person in this room. You can't tell me you don't want to be happy. I won't buy it. I think everyone in this room wants to be happy. Come on, let's be realistic. Does anybody? If you want to come and talk to me afterwards, Pastor, I'm the exception. I'm the person that doesn't want to be happy. I want to meet you. I don't think that person exists. Okay? Everybody, without exception, whatever different means they use, they all move towards the sand. That's What Piper is writing, and this is what he says. Later, he said, Pascal said all the monetary pleasures. Now the monetary Pascal wrote in another time. What he meant was the momentary. All of the earthly, momentary, fleeting pleasures cannot fulfill the longing of our souls. It just will never totally satisfy us. It's not enough, it says, but now it started to dawn that this persistent and undeniable yearning for happiness was not to be suppressed, but was to be glutted on God. In other words, he's saying, move that desire to I'm not going to be happy until I know God. What was the final straw that helped Piper realize that seeking pleasure was okay and that his pleasure was really only founded in God came to be clearly seen in the nature of worship and praise. And this is how Piper relates it. I'm going to quote him, he says, praising God, the highest calling of humanity and our eternal vocation. This is what we're going to be doing for all of eternity, did not involve renunciation, which means denying yourself, but rather the consummation of the joy I so desired. It's not about, you know, oh, if I really serve God, that's going to be the end of happiness. If I really serve God, I'm not going to enjoy life. No, he said, what's going to really happen is when you really give yourself to it, you're going to find the greatest level of happiness and joy.
[00:28:00] My old effort to achieve worship with no self interest, and it proved to be a contradiction in terms. I love that line because I think a lot of people, you know, we get super spiritual. We think, oh, you know, this has got to be hard and I'm not going to really enjoy it, but I'm going to do it anyways, you know, kind of a grudgingly kind of a thing. He says, no, worship is basically adoration, and we adore only what we delight in.
[00:28:23] The there's no such thing as sad adoration or unhappy praise. How's that? And I agree.
[00:28:30] What is he saying? He's saying basically this. If God becomes your delight, you're going to have so much fun, you're going to be so fulfilled, you're going to be so enriched, you're going to be really happy. And it won't be determined by circumstances. And, you know, things are coming around you all the time, good things, bad things, all that stuff. But you're going to always be in the same frame because you're locked into. My joy isn't dependent on what this world has to offer. My joy is always with me. And That's God himself. And no one can take him from me.
[00:29:09] Not life, nor death, nor demons, nor hell, all those things. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. That's what Paul says in Romans, and I believe him. You know, the real pleasure or happiness that we seek is actually God himself. That's what Jesus says. He says, listen, you know, the pagans run after all these material things. That's what the context is. And your heavenly Father knows you need them. He's going to take care of you. He's going to provide for your needs. But he says this. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. What is he saying? You know, don't make the things of this life your goal. There's our problem. And Christians even do that. Some of you may be doing that. And I'm saying, you got to say, okay, God, I've been aimed. I'm aiming too low. That's what I'm telling you. You're aiming too low. Aim higher. Aim for God. And when you start aiming for God, all these other things that you think will be nice in life, they just kind of come your way as time goes along. You don't have to worry about them. They just kind of flow towards you. You don't have to make that the goal. Make God your goal. Your goal is too small if it's not God. That's what I'm telling you this morning.
[00:30:16] The apostle Paul understood this basic element of life. He challenged the church at Colossae. He says, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. Don't make those things your goal. He's saying, you know, how do we go about doing it? It means that we need to spend time in God's presence. And when we do this reading, studying the Bible, our focus will be on God and not ourselves. That's what worship is all about. You know, so often we make worship, or what we think worship is, or even church services. We think it's about us. It's too funny. We go, well, that was a good service. By whose standard? Well, by my standard, of course. This is how I felt. This is what I got out of it. No, we come to church to worship God. It's by God's standard. Did God enjoy it? Have you ever asked yourself, God, did you enjoy us today?
[00:31:08] Did you delight in having us over here at your house? And we were having a good time worshiping you and adoring you and delighting in you? Yeah, that's what it's about, I'm trying to move you off yourself, move you on to God. It's a lot better to be there too. By the way, you'll be a lot happier.
[00:31:26] I like what Roger Psalms writes and he explains the nature of real worship. He says worship is not just personal introspection or we would worship our feelings. Worship is not even a warm glower. We'd worship that. He says we worship one outside of ourselves. We concentrate on him, we praise him, we adore him, we hear His Word for He is announcing it to us.
[00:31:47] We listen in holy awe to the Word of God, for it is a part of that all of scripture which is given by the out breathing of God and is personally necessary for my correction and my instruction in righteousness. Wow.
[00:32:02] The end result of obeying God's word and pursuing God is that he becomes our joy. We enjoy Him. We enjoy His Word because we hear his voice speaking into our lives.
[00:32:16] I got up this morning and I was reading Psalm 149 and I got to that verse 4 and God says, I delight in my people. And I just stopped and I thought, wow, this is such a beautiful. You know, I've read this lots of times, but it kind of. I felt God was saying, paul, listen, I delight in my people.
[00:32:36] I said, yeah, that's neat. God, I delight in you and the people that you're going to worship with today. I delight in them. I said, I'll tell them, Lord. I'll tell them that you are delighting in them. Aren't you glad to hear this morning that God delights in you? You go, yeah, but I don't feel worthy of it. I go, it's not about you, it's about him. And he wants you to know this morning, even if you've been a rascal this week, he still delights in you. He loves you. He created you. How many know that? When you have somebody that loves you and believes in you and delights in you and rejoices over you, what does that make you want to do?
[00:33:15] It makes you want to respond. It makes you want to walk up and give God a big hug. Oh, thank you for at least one person believing in me. Don't you feel that God wants you to feel that? He does.
[00:33:30] You know, notice it says, I rejoice in following your statues as one who rejoices in great riches.
[00:33:37] Do you know, folks, we're the richest people on the planet.
[00:33:41] Well, you haven't seen my bank account, Pastor. I don't need to. If you're a child of God, I know you're rich. You've got all these amazing inheritances. You know where you're headed? You're headed to God's house.
[00:33:54] You're headed to God himself. You're headed to no more sorrow, no more tears. Wow. You're headed to this amazing. Listen, we just won the lotto big time. If you come to Jesus, you've won it, folks. Yeah, but I'm still struggling down here, Pastor. I got to pay my bills. I said, yeah, but put God first and he'll help you with the bills. How's that?
[00:34:17] Don't focus on the wrong stuff is what I'm trying to tell you today. Listen, I delight in your decrees. I will not neglect your word. Pause. Okay, we got to ask the question. You know, last year I said, guys, why don't we read the Bible through together in one year? I wonder how many of you done it. How many did it?
[00:34:40] Oh, quite a few of you, but it's still not the majority. So, you know, when I started praying, this is my prayer now. In the last week, I said, lord, here's my prayer for this year. I'm praying that the majority of people that I pastor are going to become daily Bible readers. I know some of them are doing it and they're coming back to me and writing their little testimonies and telling me how it's changing their lives.
[00:35:04] And so I'm not here to put you on a guilt trip. I'm here. Join us. Come on over, join us. This will be so much fun.
[00:35:14] It'll be so good for you. You'll get to know God. You'll shift your desires. You can say, well, Pastor, I don't have time.
[00:35:23] No, you always have time for the things you like. I've discovered that it's a priority.
[00:35:30] You know, it's a priority, guys.
[00:35:34] Amen. Come on now. And I even gave you a little help. I'm sending something out this week. I found it. 2025. We're going to try to do Nikki Gumbel 2025 classic version again. Come on, let's do it. You know, I'm only. I'm two days away from getting my badge, and I'm a high achiever, so I'm excited. I'm going to get a badge for reading the Bible through one year. You know, I've done this for so long. I got no badges for. For all the years last year. I'm going to finally get a badge for doing it right. I must have done it at least 50 years in a row now. Or pretty close. Maybe not quite. At least 45 years in a row, going up to 50. I've done it every year, but I didn't get any badges. But this year I'm getting a badge from you version.
[00:36:19] Yeah, but you know, that's not what the real joy isn't, getting a badge. You know what the real joy has been? Getting to know God, having him speak into my life.
[00:36:30] It's been beautiful. I love it.
[00:36:33] I want you to join me and the others that are doing it. How many are saying, you know, pastor, by the grace of God, it's not in your own strength. Don't look at yourself. Now you say, if God will help me, I will do it? How many here say, if God will help me, I will do it. If God will help me, I will do it. Let's see how many hands can do it.
[00:36:51] Come on, let's be honest. I want to see a majority here. Is this a majority? By the grace of God, with his strength and help, I will do this. And I'm going to start. I want to get to the place where I enjoy God. I want you to get to the place where you say, I really enjoy this. Come on now. How many daily Bible readers are there in our church? Just raise your hand. Maybe you didn't follow the plan. Okay, can I ask you guys, how many of you can tell me right now? Do you enjoy God?
[00:37:20] I believe that. Has it affected your life? Absolutely.
[00:37:26] So I'll send a little clip to you. You get the newsletter from our church. I'll tell you how to get on this thing and we'll do it again. I love it.
[00:37:35] You knew I was going somewhere with this message, right?
[00:37:38] Look at verse. Next verse. I seek you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from your commands. But if I don't know what they are, I'm going to be straying.
[00:37:48] See what I'm saying? You got to know it. Okay, let me move on to the third key is passion for prayer.
[00:37:55] Love, desires to share with those they love.
[00:37:59] Right. How many here you love someone besides God, you love besides yourself, you love someone else. You love kids, love your neighbors, you love people. How many of you, when you have good news, what do you want to do with that good news? I got such great news. I just can't tell anybody.
[00:38:19] No. What happens when you have great news? Overwhelmingly great news. What do you want to do?
[00:38:25] You want to share it? That's the right answer. Because we all know that's the way it is. The art of communication is critical. In maintaining healthy and growing relationships. We know that's true.
[00:38:38] To share our thoughts and our fears without being judged or criticized. But to be understood when necessarily and when necessary, corrected creates loving relationships. There's a desire to be accepted and supported in life. How many here want to be accepted and supported in life?
[00:38:56] We all do. Our greatest need in this room is to be loved. And I want to tell you something. God loves you unconditionally.
[00:39:04] He already knows all about your issues, but he still loves you. Isn't that beautiful? He says, come over here, I'll help you. You know, he's the most loving person I know. He goes, oh, you got that problem. Come on over. We'll fix it. He's always inviting us. Come on, I'll help you out. No, no, I can do it all by myself, Lord. No, you can't. You've been struggling with this for years. Come on over. He'll help you. He wants to. Let me tell you. He does.
[00:39:35] In the same way, God's way is the most generous in offering us pardon and acceptance while it still maintains a high and holy standard of his righteousness, which he calls us to. I love that about God. Rather than giving up on and tending to condone our sins, which we think is love. Oh, I love you so much, I'll let you do the wrong thing. No, God's not like that. He loves us so much that he doesn't want to condone our sins. He's got a high standard and he faithfully continues to love us without making excuses for our failures or. Or deciding that he must lower the standard to meet us where we are at. Are you glad for that? What is God saying? He's saying, listen, guys, I love you so much that I'm not going to leave you at this lower level that's destroying your life. I'm going to help you out of that level and bring you closer to me so that you can be stronger. Don't we want to really be stronger? Of course we do. That's what God is about. He's on our side. Guys, God doesn't just put up with their sins. He addresses them and helps us overcome them. Verse 8. I will obey your decrees. Do not utterly forsake me.
[00:40:43] I was just quoting Walter Kaiser. Let me just move on.
[00:40:46] I will obey your decrees. Do not utterly forsake me. I want you to notice it's a prayer. He's praying. You know, I don't know if you notice it, but the Psalms are prayers. I make them my prayers. I pray this Lord, help me to obey your word. Help me to do what you want me to do. Lord, don't ever forsake me in the midst of what I'm trying to do here. I can't do this by myself. It's over. It's over my pay grade. God, this is way beyond me. Help me out, Lord. And God says, no problem. I'm happy to do that.
[00:41:20] I'm going to skip a little bit because I see time is moving along.
[00:41:24] Prayer, by its very nature, is designed to draw us into God's presence. How many know that?
[00:41:30] Let me read this beautiful part where the disciples are having a conversation with Jesus. Lord, could you teach us how to pray? What a great request, right? So here's what Jesus says to them here in Luke chapter 11. So I say to you, ask and it will be given. You seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. So he's using imagery, right? What's he getting across at this point? Persist, persist, persist. Right? Then he says this for everyone who asks, receives, to him who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. So he's telling you, do these things and you'll See results. Verse 11. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, he's going to give him a snake instead.
[00:42:11] Come on now, let's face it. You got kids. You're not going to give them something that's going to hurt them rather than help them. That's what he's telling us. Verse 12. Or if he asks for an egg, he'll give him a scorpion. Of course you don't do that. He said, then he. This is. I love this verse. He says, if then you though you are evil compared to God, we are evil, right? We got an evil nature. We need to be changed. He says, if we know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more would your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
[00:42:42] So what is it we're going to really ask?
[00:42:47] We're going to ask God for himself. See, I'm praying.
[00:42:51] I keep praying. I'm doing it now. I'm getting on this new track with God. I'm saying, lord, I need your spirit. Fill me with your Holy Spirit today. Fill me with your Holy Spirit today. Fill me with your Holy Spirit today. It's not that I want your presence, God. I want more of you, God. But to have more of God means I have to give up more of my own agenda and time and energy. I got to go. Okay? If I want more of God, I have to give him more of me. There's the rub on the road, right? Because a lot of us say, I want all the benefits of being a godly person, but I don't want to give up my little world. God goes, now you got to give more of that up to me so you can have more of me. That's how you get it. You. You know, David Osborne says it this way too often. We try to use God to change our circumstances while he's using our circumstances to change us. Whoo.
[00:43:44] Somebody better write that one down. That's a good quote. I didn't say it. I'm just quoting him. And he's right on with this. A lot of times the circumstances are in. God's going, I'm using them. You know, we're praying to get out of it. And God's going, I'm using that circumstance to change you. There's things in your life that need to change. So if you're going to succeed in becoming a daily Bible reader, you have to set aside a time. How many say that's true.
[00:44:10] So you're going to. I'm going to tell you, I am a very regimented person. You may not believe that.
[00:44:17] My wife will tell you, yes, he is.
[00:44:21] I get up and I do the same things. You know, I have a time for this and a time for that, and I just keep doing it. Oh, over and over. And you go, isn't that boring, Pastor? No, it's not. You know what? Because I like the results.
[00:44:35] Does that make sense? If you keep doing something long enough and you get these amazing results, wouldn't you just keep doing it?
[00:44:44] Come on, you're getting amazing results. Why wouldn't you keep doing it?
[00:44:50] Okay, some of you are not convinced.
[00:44:54] Try it. You'll like it. Let me move to the final key. To have a life and no regrets. Have a teachable spirit that is so critical. You know, the blameless life is the one where we keep learning and growing and applying the truths in our lives. And because of that, we keep growing and changing and developing.
[00:45:13] You know how many here you say, I'm going to come into this new year, I want to see some changes in my life. Anybody here say, I'd like to see a few changes in my life? Okay, here's the secret of having change in your life. You're going to have to make some changes.
[00:45:28] It only makes sense, right? I want to have these results in my life, and I'm going to just say this to you. Right now, I'm going to step on. I'm going to just step into this water. I may drown, but I'm going to step in there anyways.
[00:45:44] You know, some people go on a diet.
[00:45:46] Don't go on a diet.
[00:45:49] Change your diet.
[00:45:51] What's the difference, Pastor? Huge difference.
[00:45:55] If you change what you eat rather than dieting and you learn to eat healthier, I'm going to guarantee you you'll start losing weight. Okay, I just gave you a freebie. Here's another one. You know, exercise. I know we don't like to exercise. I thought about it. Wouldn't it be great if you could delegate exercise off and get all the benefits?
[00:46:23] You'd be a trillionaire.
[00:46:26] People would be buying into that left, right and center. But you can't do that. You have to exercise.
[00:46:31] But you got to develop a plan how you're going to do it. And you know what happens is we get all excited and, and we start for a day or two and then it just forget this. This is too hard.
[00:46:43] Why do we start at such a high level? Why don't we start simple and small?
[00:46:48] See?
[00:46:50] Decide. I'm going to walk for 15 minutes or 20 minutes a day. I'm going to build this in my schedule. Oh, by the way, when I'm walking, I'm going to be praying. There's just so many things you can do to change your. Every little change you make. Listen to me very carefully. Small changes over a long period of time make big results.
[00:47:12] Big results. Okay, I'm teaching you some things. I think I know what I'm talking about because I've done it. I'm not talking theory here. I'm doing it and I've done it for years.
[00:47:26] That's why I'm saying it with confidence. Listen, he goes on. Teach me your decrees. I love this. He's praying. God, teach me. In other words, I'm teachable. I want to learn. I'm here to learn. I'm going to just. I'm going to commend you right now. All of you, listen to me. You're here today.
[00:47:44] Yay. Make this a habit. It's a good habit. And you know what? You're going to keep learning. This is a highly teaching model that we have here. We're going to teach, teach, teach, teach, learn, train, train, train, apply, apply, apply. Good results are going to come. Okay, good for you. You've already done one thing right. You're already doing one thing right. You're doing other things right. I know that, but I'm just trying to encourage you. You want to see these changes? I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. This person's a learner. They want to learn them. You know, listen, I'm still learning, still studying a lot. I'm studying harder now than I've ever studied. You're going really? Oh, yeah.
[00:48:35] This past week was a week off. You know what I did? I spent hours studying.
[00:48:41] Shocking, isn't it?
[00:48:44] Some of you go, I believe it, Pastor. I know what you're like.
[00:48:49] First is the desire to be taught God's command and a hunger to hear and keep learning about the ways of God. God as found in His Word. The learning is really an internalization of God's Word. And I'm going to stop because my time is up. Let's stand.
[00:49:04] So I've given you four keys today.
[00:49:10] What did they say? Do what God says, right? Put him first. Seek him with all your heart.
[00:49:18] Learn to pursue them. Pray. Learn how to pray, you say, how do I learn how to pray? Well, you know what? Be around people who pray.
[00:49:27] Come Tuesday night, we're praying.
[00:49:30] I had, you know, it's really fun right now because more men are joining me at 8 o'clock in my office.
[00:49:36] So I had 15 people praying this morning for the congregation. And these guys are building relationship with each other. It's beautiful. Love it. There's always a way to learn. You could start, you know, let's say you can't do those things. Okay, you know what you could do? You could, you could have, you know, when you're sitting on the phone talking to your friend, you say, why don't we do this differently? Why don't you and I spend 10 minutes every day praying together on the phone? I just made a new way for you to learn how to pray.
[00:50:08] Say, well, I don't know what to say.
[00:50:10] Grab the book of Psalms, start reading and just start praying what's there.
[00:50:16] And you know what's going to happen? You're going to be shocked because now you're praying God's will, which is his word. You're praying his word, which is his will. And if it's his will, he's going to do it. How's that?
[00:50:27] I've just taught you how to pray. Just like that.
[00:50:32] So here this morning, we're going to pray. We want to. As we close this year off, we want. What are we saying? Okay, God, I've been instructed.
[00:50:43] I need to set a new pattern. Maybe some of you need to set a new pattern in Your life.
[00:50:49] And you know, pastor's challenging me, you know, I'm going to start with, if I can just spend daily time in God's word, I will make you, I promise you, I will make you guarantee at the end of the year, if your life isn't better, come and talk to me. If you haven't grown spiritually, if you haven't gotten stronger, if you don't know God better, if you don't feel a deeper passion, if you don't are more excited about doing the right things in life, come and talk to me because those will all start happening in your life. How can you be a consistent person? How can you be a faithful person? But the bigger question is, how can you live a life with no regret?
[00:51:27] Because you're walking blamelessly before God. That's how you do it.
[00:51:32] With every eye closed right now, let's close in a word of prayer and just say, lord, I dedicate myself to you today to live a life of no regret with your help, with your strength, and with your grace, because I know I can't do it.
[00:51:50] I'm going to confess to you right now, I cannot live the life God's called me to. But I'm going to say to you, there's not one person on the planet that can live this life the way God designed it without God's help. It's just designed that way. You need his help.
[00:52:07] So I'm going to pray for you right now and for me this year coming up. Lord, we just commit ourselves. We surrender to you. It's our desire to serve you with our whole heart. And if we have to change some patterns in our life, put your finger on him and say, hey, this is the pattern I want you to change and I'm going to help you do it.
[00:52:27] God, you're going to speak into each one of our lives, say, this is the pattern I want you to change and I'm going to help you to do it.
[00:52:33] And I thank you for that. Right now I'm believing, Father, you're going to help us. The majority of the people in our congregation, I believe, Father, by the end of 2025 will be daily by Bible readers. Now, I saw a lot of people raise their hands, Father. I think could have been 40, 50% already. I pray it will be an overwhelming majority that will become daily Bible readers. Because I believe that's the key to unlocking success in every other area of our life. And I thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
