Well, I wonder what comes to mind when you think of the job
description of a pastor. Preaching, teaching,
evangelizing, studying, counseling, weddings, funerals,
those are all very common word associations, But the Word of
God outlines a much more profound description of what a
minister does. And I want to give you a glimpse
of that as we turn to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11,
beginning in verse one, and look at what the apostle Paul says to
this group of believers in Corinth.
I wish you would bear with me a little and a little foolishness.
Do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I
betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to
Christ. Can you imagine a pastor
standing before a congregation and saying with total sincerity,
I feel a divine jealousy for you?
Paul did that unashamedly. And the reason why Paul could
speak in this way is because the man felt what God felt for God's
people. And in this case, he was
overcome with righteous indignation because he learned
that the Corinthian church was deviating from complete loyalty
to Christ as they were being seduced by false teachers who
were introducing to them a different Jesus.
And so he writes with them. And it deeply pained the apostle
because he was so zealous for the honor of God's name.
And clearly what these Corinthians were doing was a
dishonorable thing. But what's so interesting is
that Paul further explains why he felt this divine jealousy,
this passion for God, and how we relate to him and how we should
relate to him. And he does this by describing
his role in their lives as a minister.
And it provides incredibly helpful insight to what every
minister should aspire to. Notice what he says here.
He says here, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present
you as a pure virgin to Christ. So he uses the analogy of a
romantic engagement to describe where he fits in all of this.
And in the same way that a good father, after introducing his
daughter to a man so that they would be married, Paul sees
himself as a spiritual father, presiding and supervising and
protecting the church, because he introduced the church to
Christ and wants to keep them loyal to Christ until they meet
Christ. You see that, right?
Because upon salvation, whether you as an individual or a
church, in that moment you metaphorically become engaged to
the Lord. And the wedding day, that union,
that consummation, so to speak, will be realized when we are
with him forever and ever. But between those two phases,
Paul sees the responsibility that he's been called to, not
just to bring people to Christ, but to keep them fervent, pure,
and devoted to Christ. So based on this, here's what I
take in terms of what a pastor, what a minister, what a
spiritual leader does is do everything that he can to ensure
that the local church he overseas remains truly dedicated
to the Lord Jesus Christ all the days of their lives.
That's what a minister does and that's confirmed in another
place. So turn with me to Philippians
chapter 2 and he speaks to this group of believers and it
confirms that awesome responsibility.
Philippians 2 beginning in verse 14.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be
blameless and innocent children of God without blemish, in the
midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine
as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so
that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in
vain or labor in vain. So again Paul here.
He has the day of Christ, which is just a way of saying the day
of the return of Christ. He has the day of Christ when
the church will meet the Lord in full view, and he tells this
group of believers that I'm beckoning you to hold fast to
the word of life so that when we all stand before the Lord, I
will be evaluated in a commendable way for my
leadership as Christ calls me to account.
I'm calling you Philippians to remain steadfast and pure
doctrine and loyal in your affections and in your character
and in your holiness. Hold fast until that day.
Don't give in, don't give up, don't deviate.
I want to be able to stand before the law with a smile,
knowing that my efforts for you were not wasted.
So listen, a true spiritual leader is not only concerned
about his walk with the Lord, he's also deeply invested in the
people's relationship with the Lord.
But how does this work? How does that flesh out?
How does a leader guide a people in that way?
Keep a people on that path. And I believe he does it in two
ways. The first way is that he
inspires them. The second way is that He
instructs them. That's how you can summarize it.
By inspire, I mean that he lives in such a manner that onlookers
are compelled. They're compelled to live a more
disciplined spiritual testimony filled way of life to the glory
of God because what they see in that man is contagious and they
see a model and they see an example and they see how God
comes through and they see the blessings and they see the joy
and they say the peace and they say I want that.
So he inspires them, right? Just by his living, just by his
living, by instruct, I mean what you know, that he regularly
expounds the Word of God and he provides fresh insight into the
Scriptures and he brings unashamedly reminders from the
Word of God in order to stimulate and to nourish the
faith of God's people. And notice how I placed
inspiration before instruction. I didn't say that he instructs,
then he inspires. I said purposefully that he
inspires and then he instructs. And the reason why I say that is
because that is the order of the duties that God gives to the
minister. OK, I know we're going to
different places, but I mean, I have to preach the Bible, right?
So go to First Timothy 4 and look at verse 16.
Notice what Paul tells Pastor Timothy who is the pastor of the
Church of Ephesus at this time. He tells Pastor Tim, first
Timothy 4 verse 16. Keep a close watch on yourself
and on the teaching. Notice the order.
He didn't say keep a close watch on your teaching and on
yourself. He said no, no, no, your life
before your sermons. And that is consistent
throughout the New Testament, right?
So you're supposed to 1st embody the message.
It reminds me of Ezra where we're told there that he said
it's hard to study the law of God and then teach it.
No, no, no. It's just to study it, to do it
and then teach it. This is what he's telling Pastor
Tim. Dude, I don't know what's going
on here, but don't let it distract you.
Hopefully it's a good thing. Keep a close watch on yourself
and on the doctor. And I heard of a pastor who
sought to obey the spirit of this command by doing something
every single night. At the end of each day, this man
would ask himself a question before he would lay his head on
that pillow. Today.
Did I grow closer to the Lord or did I grow further away from
Him? Now if that frequency of self
evaluation was helpful to him, wonderful.
Personally, that might be a little difficult to track
progress at that pace, but it is much easier to look back on a
full year and ask, did I grow closer to the Lord or did I grow
further away? And with that being said, I am
fully aware that there are some Christians who suffer from
severe introspection, and that is not what I am suggesting.
Neither am I promoting an obsessive focus on your
shortcomings because that's not going to help you or anybody.
But what I am referring to is a biblically informed
self-assessment that can be extremely beneficial when done
correctly and at the right time. And I want to take advantage of
the fact that we are here on our final Sunday of this year, 2024,
to ask some questions, to clarify the strength of our
spirituality. I'm reminded of the words of the
prophet Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations where he says there
in Lamentations 340, you don't have to turn there.
It's a very small verse. Let us test and examine our ways
and return to the Lord. So the Bible promotes this idea
of looking inwardly and asking a few questions.
And the questions that I present to you today, funny enough, I
thought I was going to do 10 of them.
Then I thought, I know myself and we'll be here for a long
time. So I dwindle it down to five.
And I thought, still, we'll be here for a long time.
So I thought, let's just keep it at 3 so it's digestible. 3 very
important reflective questions that I pray will help each of us
align more closely to the will of God.
And I want you to view these inquiries as a way of doing
personal spiritual inventory and that they would help you to
strengthen areas where you might be weak and encourage you in
areas where you are already faithful.
So can we do that? It's going to be a different
kind of message. I'm going to try to make that
make this as practical as possible.
Let's consider the first question together.
OK, Ask yourself this as you reflect on this past year and as
you're prepared to step into a new one.
Number one, number one, am I stewarding God's gifts in my
life? Am I stewarding well the gifts
that God has given me? Main text number one, first
Peter chapter 4, beginning in verse 10.
I want to remind you that there is not one born again Christian
who has not been uniquely gifted by the Lord.
And Peter tells us this plainly when he says, as each has
received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of
God's varied grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks
oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the
strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may
be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him be long glory and
dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
Here's how Paul echoes the same point in in first Corinthians
chapter 12 verse seven, he says to each has been given a
manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
So notice Paul and Peter are the same saying the same thing not
to some to each, to each has been given to each has been
gifted to each of us. So there's not one blood bot
Christian who has not been equipped by the Lord in a
certain and unique way. And in Peter's case, he provides
2 general categories of abilities that Christians will
find themselves in. And you can summarize them in
this way. Category number one is speaking
gifts. Category #2 are serving gifts.
Speaking gifts include preaching and teaching, words of wisdom,
words of knowledge, right, etcetera.
And, and they can also be seen as more public gifts.
But then you have the serving gifts which, which are more
hands on. They include administration,
hospitality, charitable giving, acts of mercy, helping people in
practical ways. You can also see that category
of gifted giftedness as behind the scenes.
So you got public and you got more private, or at least not as
obvious. And it's often the behind the
scenes gifts that make the public gifts more effective.
But I'm not here to discuss the the different gifts of the
Spirit or how we can identify them in each of us.
Instead, I want us to focus on a phrase that we see here in verse
10. He says use it to serve one
another. For Peter to command that
suggests that it's possibly the Christian who has been gifted
and not exercise that gift. It can remain dormant in your
life. And so that's why he says this.
He says you you need to use it. Yeah, identifying it as one
thing, but you can identify, you can know it very well.
You can you can know a grace. You can be aware of things that
when you do it, it blesses the church and still not implement
it. So he says use it.
And there's a very simple way of knowing whether or not you are
using God's gifts in your life. Very simple.
It is this. In what way am I serving fellow
Christians? Just ask yourself that in what
ways are my interactions with other Christians demanding of
me? What is a pull from me?
Where's the sacrifice? How am I helping?
How am I assisting? How am I blessing others?
And I want to say this in love. If you're here sitting and you
can't identify that, again, I say this in love, you're not in
the fullness of God's will. You're not.
You're outside of it. You have to, you have to take
this command not as a suggestion, but as it is, it's
an exhortation. And what way am I touching other
people, helping other people, investing in other people?
And you know what always moves me about this particular set of
instructions is the context of it.
Look back at verse 7. It begins there, I believe.
Look what Peter says. The end of all things is at
hand. Therefore be self controlled and
sober minded for the sake of your prayers.
And then he continues on to verse 10 and 11.
So understand this, that Peter's call for Christians to use their
gifts in the church is given in light of the context of the
second coming of Jesus. Meaning what?
Here's what Peter's trying to say.
When Christ returns, he wants to find us each faithfully serving
one another. That's how Christ wants to find
us. And so he wants the people to be
ready as the end of all things is near.
And one of the things that he says is use the gift that God
has put in your life. Use it.
And that's going to look different for each one of us.
But I can assure you this that you don't need a title in the
church or an official position to realize it.
You don't. You know, when I was thinking
about this last night, something came to my attention that you
might think is strange, but my siblings will remember this.
Even my parents might remember this, that when we were at our
hometown in Canada, going to a church for a few years, there
was one lady in that church, an elderly German woman, and we
called her the Candy Lady. She was the candy Lady.
Do you know why she always sat in probably the first two rows,
always in the same spot, usually.
And at the end of every service, she would find the children in
the church. And she would do this with her
hand, and she would summon all the kids.
And then she would pull out a Kleenex and open it.
And she had bright candy, different flavors of fruit,
artificial, of course. And we were there, pick whatever
we wanted. And she would ask us a couple of
questions. Have you been good?
Have you been? And we say, yeah, we just wanted
the candy. We were kids, right?
And we, we, we realized who she was early enough so that at the
end of the service, the kids would hover around her and hope
that she would summon us and not forget about us.
I can't believe that I still remember this to this day
because I know that it was before the age of 10 that we
interacted with this woman. You're saying, why are you
bringing up this lady? I'll tell you why.
Because she didn't have a name tag, you know, with the church
and her engraved initials. She didn't have that.
And she didn't have her picture on the church website, you know,
with a title like distributor of sweets.
She didn't have any of that. You know what she did have,
though? She had a consistent presence
and mindfulness in the church, where she naturally developed a
fragrance in the assembly. She carried an aroma with her in
a way that left me still remembering her.
See, you serving in the context of the church might look like
this. It might look like you because
you, you love encouraging people like it.
It encourages you to encourage people.
So maybe in 2025, you're going to put a list of names together
and at least once a week you're going to text somebody and
encourage them, or maybe even leave a voice message with a
prayer or ask them, do you have a couple minutes?
I know you're busy, but I just want to get on the phone and
pray for whatever's on your heart and I'll hang up.
And you do that consistently, that's what you're known for.
Or maybe you're a person in here and, and you have an ability to
put things together. And so you approach the
leadership and you say, listen, if there's anybody that that
needs help in their home, help with their cars, you, you let me
know I'm the man for the job. And that's what you're known
for. Or maybe a couples here,
husbands and wives, you look at each other and you'll say, you
know, let's every few weeks be intentional of inviting somebody
from the church and let's just bless them with good food and
and loving presents. Because hospitality is is not a
duty that's exclusive to pastors.
There's some of you here who are who are teachers in your own
way. I mean, you love theology and
you specialize and maybe apologetics.
Have you ever considered praying about bringing a group of
people, maybe meeting them at a coffee shop or at your home, and
wanting to teach them maybe once every three weeks or two weeks,
once a month or whatever. And I'm just going to pour into
people and show them what I've learned about how to reach
Jehovah's Witnesses, how to speak to Muslims, how to
evangelize to a Mormon. The possibilities are endless.
They're endless. And though the options vary,
there is one option that is not available and that's to not do
anything. Use it.
And my prayer is that you would start this year on the right
foot, that you would say, Lord, I want to be more strategic and
intentional of doing what you've called me to do.
And I don't need any accolades. I don't need nothing as long as
people are blessed, as long as I'm serving someone lead me into
that. I may be led by the Spirit, may
be empowered by the Holy Spirit. And so this is what he says.
And for those who have been serving, can I give you a word
from the word? You don't have to turn there.
But in Second Timothy 16, Paul tells this pastor for this
reason, and Second Timothy 16, I'm remind you to fan into flame
the gift of God, to fan into flame the gift of God which is
in you through the laying on of my hands.
You know what that tells me? That even Timothy, who was a
disciple of Paul, the embers of his service and his devotion in
the place of the past trip was growing cool.
And he told him he's recognizing his saying, Pastor Timothy,
you've been gifted to preach, you've been gifted to shepherd
and you're losing your zeal, you're losing your hope, you're
losing your faith, fanned it into flame, which tells me that
I'm responsible for doing that. I'm responsible of recognizing
that there is things in my life that I'm not doing now I have to
do something about it. So fanning it to flame and you
come before the Lord and you say, Lord, please do something
in my heart. Let me get excited about this
again. Again, let me be intentional.
Let me let me want this again. Let it let it be effortless for
me. And for this command to be given
means that it's possible for God to do a work in US and to keep
that fire strong. So here's question number one.
Am I stewarding the gifts that God has given me well?
Am I doing it well? Here's the second question.
And I'm sure most of us saw this one coming.
Am I growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ?
This is how Peter ends his second epistle.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and
to the day of eternity. Amen.
You know what intrigues me the most about this verse is how
Peter specifies the goal of growing in the grace of the
Lord. Now we all understand growing in
knowledge, right? That doesn't seem so mysterious.
But what stands out to me is how he says growing in the grace.
How do I grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, I think it helps to define what grace is.
And in simple terms, it is God's undeserved favor.
But Peter's not suggesting that you and I work hard to acquire
more of God's grace because that's not how God's grace
works. It's unreserved.
It climax at the person of Jesus Christ coming and dying for us.
So what does it mean to grow in this grace then?
Here's what I believe Peter is saying by the Spirit, not to
acquire more of it, but to become more aware of it, to
experience it in a deeper level, to plunge further into the
revelation of it. And he says, you can do this to
the point where it transforms the way you worship and listen,
the way you extend it to others. Grow in the grace of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. And you should rejoice with me
because we are told exactly how we can advance in that.
We're not left without instruction.
And this is where I think the knowledge part comes in.
This is how they work together. Meaning it's impossible for me
to grow in the revelation of the grace of God in Christ without
growing in my knowledge of who Christ is.
So grow in the grace and the knowledge.
You need the knowledge to get the grace.
You can't do without it. You can't depend on experiences.
You can't depend on people's personal testimonies.
As wonderful as those things are, it is inseparable from this
discipline. Knowledge, knowledge.
And if you doubt that this is what fascinates me about the
Bible, just the artistry of it, look at how Second Peter starts.
So look at verse one of second Peter of chapter 1, particularly
verse two. Look what Peter says.
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Do you see it? How is grace and peace
multiplied in my life? Knowledge.
Knowledge has to be in the knowledge.
And so this, this whole letter is sandwiched between the call
for knowledge, the charge for knowledge.
And This is why as a church we emphasize so much on biblical
teaching, on taking the Word of God and presenting it in an
understandable and passionate way.
Why? Because that's where grace and
peace will be multiplied in your life.
That's where growth will be known in your life.
It's not going to be known again in miracles.
I believe that God could do miracles.
It's not even known in in personal testimonies of how God
has come through. As supplemental as those are, it
can primarily come through the channel of His revelation.
That's why we do this. That's why we do it more than
once a week, because this is what brings the power in our
lives. You can't have that growth.
You can't have that multiplication of the virtues of
the Spirit and His blessings without the knowledge.
And I want to encourage you not just to get that knowledge once
or twice a week from here to make a personal investment in
this new year. And if you were to come to my
little desk at my home tonight, you will find a piece of paper
from this week with the same verse written on it over and
over, because that verse is not for sermon prep.
That verse is for my soul. And here's the verse.
You don't have to turn there. It's a it's an atomic verse to
me in first John 320. He says, for whenever our hearts
condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and he knows
everything. He knows everything.
And so I ripped a piece of paper and I have all these colorful
markers, and I just write it in one color, and I write it again
another color, and I write it again another color.
Why am I doing that? Because I want to grow the
knowledge of God's grace in my life.
The extent of it, yes, Jesus Christ died on the cross for my
sins, absolutely. But what are the implications of
that? And with that particular verse,
I want it so amplified in my heart that it's louder than
anything that my flesh lashes out against me.
And it's an invitation for you. And I, I hope to be more
intentional with the Bible. And so let me ask you this in
this past year, your engagement with this truth, I'm not going
to ask you if you've grown. I'm not going to ask that.
I'm just going to ask you this, your relationship with this
treasure chest of truth. Is it is it steadfast or is it
sporadic or is it scarce? And if it's the latter 2, do you
have a plan moving forward saying, I want it to be
different this time. I want it to be different moving
forward. And if you don't know where to
begin, just start in the New Testament and just make it your
goal to finish reading the New Testament.
And don't be afraid if you can't figure every parable out or how
these prophecies work. You just, you just read through
and you pluck up those truths like first John 320 along the
way, things that just resonate with you, that speak to your
heart. And then you go to the old and
you do the same and you come to church and you allow what's
being taught just supplement what you're learning on your
own. And you'll just see how you will
grow in advance and leap forward.
And you know this, this power, the strength, this confidence,
this ability to overcome certain things, it's inseparable from
the word. And I want you to know it for
yourself. God wants us to know it for
ourselves. And so am I growing in the
knowledge of the grace of God, Am I knowing?
Am I growing in the knowledge of who Christ is himself?
That's my second question to you.
But here is the third. Am I becoming more eternity
conscience? Am I becoming more eternity
conscience and I'm convinced and This is why I'm ending it with
this point because this question in pursuing what it asks will
put almost everything else in its proper sanctified
perspective. Trust me.
So come with me to Colossians chapter 3 and notice what he
says in verse one. He says if then you have been
raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that
are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. When Christ who is your life
appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
I can't help it, it's not my main point, but do you see how
he speaks about Christ here? Look at the last part in verse
4. When Christ, who is your life,
Christ didn't just save my life, He is my life.
He's not just the author of life.
He's He is my breath. He's the reason why I exist.
He's the zest of my being. He's everything.
Who this is how Paul, he says he's your life now it's all
about Jesus. You know, some people they try
to put Christ in like in a certain kind of category of
importance, you know, No, no, he's the whole thing and
everything orbits around him. Christ, who is your life
appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
So what's the summary of what Paul's telling Christians to do?
He's not telling this to pastors.
He's telling this to a group of believers.
It's this be preoccupied with eternity.
Be preoccupied with eternity. And So what that means is there
should always be this underlying awareness that heaven is your
home. Meditate frequently and
delightfully on spiritual realities.
Filter what you perceive and what comes your way in this
world with another realm. Remind yourself always of the
return of Jesus Christ and the bliss that you will know being
in His presence forever. This is what He is saying and we
have to train ourselves in that. You know, when I find myself
going somewhere, even for meetings for a few days or
longer, as much as I'm enjoying what the Lord is doing in that
place and meeting other believers, there's this sense in
me that this is not my home, though.
This is my home. You are my home.
Chicago is where I live, right? And that's always there.
And it doesn't make me absent minded of wherever I'm visiting.
It doesn't make me less effective, at least I hope.
But there's just this sense in me and, and especially when I,
when I find myself in the stillness of the night, my mind
goes there. My mind goes to, to where I,
where I am, where I'm supposed to be, where I belong.
And I believe in the same way. This is what the Holy Spirit is
asking of us as we traverse through this world, as we deal
with responsibilities, as we have these things that we need
to do, and as we even enjoy things in this life.
There is this sense, there is this awareness.
This is not the end of it. This is not the fullness of it.
This is a shadow. The substance is yet to be
realized. And you need to understand that
there are implications, massive implications to this.
It's not just so that we can feel more spiritual.
No, no, no, there are. There are things that it unlocks
in our lives and I want to prove that to you.
So we read the first few verses of this chapter, but look at
verse 5, immediately following verse 4.
Notice what Paul says. Put to death, therefore, what is
earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Highlight that word therefore, so Paul is not beginning a new
thought here with this section of ethical exhortations.
The word therefore there, it tells us that there's a link
between the preceding thought and the present and following
entreaties, meaning based on what I just established of how
your, your meditations, your thinking, your affections should
be set upward heavenward. Now here's what should transpire
as the fruit of it. Here's the outcome of that.
And what does he say here? That there's going to be things
that are going to be put to death.
Look at this in verse 5 and notice carefully that these are
obviously vices, but it continues in verse eight.
Look at verse 8. But now you must put them all
away, anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from
your mouth. Do not lie to one another,
seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.
Again, this is all flowing from what He said in the 1st 4 verses
about setting our minds on things above.
And notice when you look at verse five in the list that He
gives, those are all about personal sins.
Look again, sexual morality, impurity, passion, evil desire
and covetousness, which is idolatry.
But then in verse 8 and 9, their interpersonal sins, how you deal
and interact with others. Look at it again, anger, wrath,
malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth, lying to one
another. And here's what Paul is trying
to explain. The things that we tolerate in
our own lives and the things that we fail in other people's
lives. You can know personal holiness
and you can know a holiness in public as a result of developing
the habit of setting your mind on things above.
That's achievable, more achievable at least.
And that doesn't just equip us to war against the negative.
It actually becomes a fertilization to breed the
positive. So let's look at this in bullet
point form. Look at verse 11 quickly.
It helps us treat others as equals, talks about Jew and
Gentile, right? It closes with Christ like
virtues between verses 12 and 13 as we put on compassionate
hearts and other beautiful things.
Verse 14, it excites a sacrificial love and secures
unity in the church. Look at verse 15.
It becomes the channel setting my mind on things about becomes
the channel for the peace of Christ to govern my heart.
You know they said of a Puritan pastor by the name of Richard
Sibbs that heaven was in him before he went to heaven.
Heaven was in him before he went to heaven.
And a great reason for that is because he obeyed these
commands. He set his mind on things above.
He was seeking the things that are above.
And you say, how does that work though?
Listen, I, I have my time alone with the Lord in the morning and
that's a huge thing. It puts things in its proper
place. It, it, it sets the right frame
of mind. Absolutely.
But I think this, this is asking for even more than that.
You're saying, OK, but I found myself even the moment I step
out into the world and the moment I step out of my bedroom,
I'm just overcome by responsibilities and tasks and
distractions and surprises. How am I supposed to manage
this? And I think there's a way, God,
God is not asking us to be absent minded in this life, but
I think there are ways in which we can by his grace, as we spend
time with him and get into the work to grow in this area of
becoming eternally minded. Here's one way of I guess
looking at it. Whenever a grievances come,
sickness might visit you, challenges might erupt.
I think how these commands work is in the following manner that
at some point you were able to filter all of that and related
to yes, the brokenness in my life in this world will one day
be swallowed up by a perfect world that will be governed by a
perfect king. There, there it is.
I'm I'm transported into the heavenlies right there.
This isn't it. This isn't permanent, this isn't
the final story. This is how it's supposed to be,
and it's not going to be like this.
Christ is going to come and he's going to fix everything.
There's a time coming where the tears that I'm shedding now,
they'll only be a far memory. The pain in my body now will be
eclipsed by glorified body. The disappointments of people.
Oh, there's a time coming. Can you imagine this where
everybody that you know will be perfect?
What a thought. Perfect, perfect.
So I think how Colossians 3 helps us is that we console
ourselves with the reality of eternity in this life.
Do that. Do it a lot.
Give it to others. What about the good, which is
sometimes even more dangerous? The good that God allows you and
I to taste in this life. Like vacations with your family
or rejoicing at a friend's wedding.
What do you, what do you do then?
Here's how I think you do it. You view it all as a preview of
something to come. That any thrill, you know, any
laughter that you would share with others, this is just a
foretaste of what's going to happen when Jesus returns and
rules and reigns forever. And in that moment, you're
transported again into the heavenlies.
And more than that, you have a reason to give thanks to God.
Lord, no matter how good it gets here, it will only touch the
foothills of the Mount Everest of Your glory and the things
that You will usher in my life. So this is what we're invited
to. Can I ask you something?
How much have you thought about heaven in 2024?
How much have you relied on these truths to allow God's
peace to wash over you? When's the last time you got
excited about going to be with the Lord?
Imagine being engaged to somebody and only you were
excited for the wedding day and your fiance wasn't.
That would be weird. That would be concerning.
That asked for a little bit more time in marital counselling.
Premarital counselling, right? More sessions before the wedding
day. Wouldn't it be weird for the
Lord only to be excited to be with us?
So Paul invites you and I to be more eternity conscious if you
belong to Him. And listen, it's not just so
that you can share in that delight with your Master.
You just read it. It'll impact the way you live in
this world. You're going to see sin
differently. You're going to treat temptation
differently. You're going to, you're going to
tap into a strength. You'll be able to how we talked
about briefly during the announcements.
You'll be able to excel in certain graces, including how
you manage your money. And it will, it will be your
servant and not your master. It touches everything.
I'm tempted to go into five more questions, but I think that's
enough for now. I want you to don't tempt me
brother. I want you to to seriously now
at this time before we praise to sit back and really reflect on
your walk with the Lord. Now for all honest, we can all
say I can improve in every area. Absolutely I'm there, but I'm
not talking about the areas where you are walking in
already. I'm talking about the things
that are non existent or maybe they're shriveling up or maybe
you you find yourself deviating. You know what's amazing?
I I failed to mention this, but I'll mention it now.
And the point about growing in the grace and knowledge of the
Lord, There are negative implications for ignoring such a
command. You're saying what do you mean?
Because that's second Peter 318. But if you look at second Peter
3/17, he warns about being carried away by the error of
lawless people. And then in the the next verse
he provides the protection against that, the antidote he
says, but grow but grow. So, so here's what I want to say
to you, that just in the area of growing in the knowledge of
Christ, to fail to do that, to fail to take that seriously
doesn't mean that you're going to remain as you are.
No, no, no, there is no middle ground.
You put yourself at greater risk of drifting, drifting, drifting.
And Peter used the language being carried away by the error
of lawless people. And that error includes false
teaching because the verses before they talked about how
people twist the scriptures. You make yourself more
vulnerable to deceptive teachings when you don't engage
with this word regularly, faithfully, diligently.
But the error is not just limited to doctrine.
It can be into legalism or as you lose touch with the grace of
Jesus Christ, now you begin to invite methods and ideas of what
holiness is that are foreign to the Bible or the air of
lawlessness, because this grace empowers you to live holy.
And so I want to tell you that even just in that point alone,
to to be indifferent to it, to be careless with it puts us in
spiritual peril. OK, no more, I'm done.
I want this to now just pause and pray just in your own heart.
The praise team can come up and help us and assist us.
And my duty here is to do what I open up with to help you, to
help you continue to be a pure virgin unto Christ.
Please don't distract anybody beside you.
Just receive this directly from the Lord and give it to Him on a
personal level, just in your own heart.
Speak to the Lord and we're going to sing to Him together in
a moment. Well, before I pray, I say,
because I want to try to be like Paul who said imitate me as I
imitate Christ. I say from my heart to you that
you bring so much joy in my life, and seeing your walk with
the Lord and your love for the truth has given me ample reason
to give more thanks to God and to give him glory for your
lives. And so I am eternally grateful
for this church and not this building for the real church,
you. And I just say that in your
presence before the Lord because he knows my heart, how much you
mean to me. And I pray for you always.
And I ask that you pray for me as we journey together hand in
hand into 2025. Well, let me end this way.
Actually, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ want to be
wonderful, if you began this new year giving your heart to him,
yeah, you can do that. And he's, he's waiting for you
to do that. Why waste another year living
for yourself, living in sin, living under the wrath of God,
when in a moment when you confess and you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you were transferred from the domain of
darkness into the Kingdom of his beloved Son.
I invite you today that if you don't know Jesus Christ in a
saving way, that you would at this moment realize that He is
calling you to Himself and that no matter what your sin is, no
matter what your bondage is, no matter what your addiction may
be, no matter what your history might say, Christ loves you.
He died for you, and in a moment He's willing to save you, but He
will not impose himself. He waits for you to make that
decision and He will rush into your life and make you a new
creature. I invite you to make that choice
today so that not just 2025, but the rest of your life will be
life abundant because Jesus lives in you.
And so repent from your sins. Believe that he died for your
sins and believe that he welcomes you into relationship
with him forever. Lord, we thank you for 2024.
Oh so much, so much to give you glory for Lord, we ask now
together as a church. You've been with us these past
three years. Go before us in this new year.
Live Lord before us, protect us, guide us, open doors for us.
We want to see your glory made known in our midst, so we commit
this together and we ask, O God, that more people will be added
to the fold and those who are added to the fold would grow in
the grace and knowledge of Christ, would utilize their
gifts, would be more conscious of the world to come.
Lord, we thank you for this word and we thank you for who you
are. We bless you together in Jesus
name, Amen.