3 Questions to Ask Before the New Year | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

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

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

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

1 Timothy 4:16

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

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

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

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

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.