I see she took her chocolate bar with her. That's
too bad. In southern Florida, just a few days
before Christmas, a couple of guys who were neighbors
decided they would go sailing while their wives
went Christmas shopping. So while they were out
enjoying themselves sailing, beautiful day, they
were so caught up in the day they lost... track
of what was going on. They didn't notice this
horrible storm coming up on them. The storm moved
in quickly. The winds blew. The skies turned
black. The little sailboat was being tossed all
over the place. Trying to get back to shore,
they grounded themselves on a sandbar. Well,
they had to hop out of the boat, of course, to
try to push themselves out so they could continue
their journey back to shore where it was safe.
Well, they're up to their knees in mud, up to
their necks in water. The wind is blowing. Their
heads are being beat against the side of the
boat. Things are not looking too good. One of
the men gets this funny grin on his face and
looks over at the other. He says, you know, it
sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn't it? I
don't know about you, but... I look forward to
celebrating the Lord's birthday every year, but
I am glad Christmas shopping and all of that
stuff is over with and that we can move on into
a new year. In preparing for this week, I tried
to decide what to preach about. As a matter of
fact, you've probably heard this story before.
I had an outline prepared. some really great
ideas, things I was going to use. A couple of
you, more than a couple of you, many of you were
asking me over the last two weeks what I was
going to do, if I was going to bring any jars
up to put rocks in, if I was going to bring any
squirt guns in to use to stick things in your
memory. I thought about bringing my Nordic track
and setting it up here to talk about New Year's
resolutions. But my message was changed. The
Lord changed it this week. Anyone who preaches
or teaches on a regular basis, I think, may understand
what I'm saying. In my quiet time and my devotions
this week, I was unsettled with what I was going
to speak on, and then the Lord led me to that
this morning. I was having a quiet time in Philippians,
and in verse 3 of chapter 1, The Lord gave me
this this week. He said, I thank my God every
time I remember you. This is Paul writing to
the church at Philippi about Paul's feelings
for this church. He says, I thank my God every
time I remember you in all my prayers for all
of you. I always pray with joy because of your
partnership in the gospel from the first day
until now. Being confident of this, that he who
began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Jesus Christ. When
I read this in my quiet time this week, I realized
the words of Paul to the church of Philippi were
my words for you this morning. How Paul felt
about... The church at Philippi is how I feel
about this church this morning. Nancy and I moved
here with Kara and Krista three and a half years
ago from Colorado and left a lot of good friends
in the church that we love deeply. And the Lord
called us here, and we're glad he did. But as
I read this passage, I realized that the words
here were for me, for this church, for this congregation.
I thank God for you in my prayers as I look out
in the congregation at so many of you that I've
been praying for, that I've been serving alongside
of. I pray, as Paul says here, with joy because
we are partners in the work of the gospel, sharing
the good news of Jesus Christ with other people
out of our lives and from the experiences that
God gives us. I'm also praying for you knowing
that God, as Paul said, that this church has
begun a good work in you. And he will carry it
out to completion until he returns for each of
us. This last week has been a difficult week
for many of you. The stress, the hurt, the brokenness,
loneliness. experiencing loss in the past, grieving,
and then coming to this time of year and realizing
that those that you love are not with you this
year. And that hurts. Counseling in the past
two weeks has been at an all -time high. Marriages
are struggling. Many of them are breaking up.
Church family members this week have found themselves
isolated and alone during the Christmas rush.
Teenagers and children are finding that their
homes are not good places to be. They're not
looking forward to going back to school, lack
of friends, struggles and issues that are there
for them, lack of friendship, lack of acceptance.
Those that have been depressed, finding themselves
in a deep black hole that I've talked to this
week that can see no way out of that deep black
hole, wondering whether anyone cares or not.
I'm here this morning to tell you that God is
at work in your life, just as he was in the lives
of those of the church at Philippi. 2 Timothy
4, 2 tells me that I am to preach the word. I'm
to be prepared in season and out of season to
correct, to rebuke, and to give encouragement
with great patience and careful understanding
as your pastor. I'm not here today to correct
or rebuke. I'm here this morning to encourage,
to encourage you today. The word for encouragement
in 2 Timothy 4. is the word paraklesis. It's
the word that means to bring consolation to someone,
to exhort them from Scripture, upholding them
with the word of God, encouraging them and exhorting
them from this word, giving them encouraging
words from it for whatever the issue may be.
It means entering into another person's pain.
in sorrow as well as into their joy, and in encouraging
that person from where they are with God's Word
for what they are experiencing. So this morning,
instead of New Year's resolutions, I'm going
to share from my heart. I want to encourage you
in three specific areas as we enter into 1995
together. If you will, there is an insert. I've
changed my message in time to do this outline.
Follow along. Fill in the blanks and take some
notes this morning. I'm going to give you some
things to write down. The first encouragement
that I want to give you for 1995 is I would like
you to develop a love for God and for His Word.
Develop a love for God. and for his word. When
I was in college, I went to school knowing that
somewhere God was going to use me and I was going
into the ministry. I didn't know what that meant.
But in college, I did not have a strong sense
that I loved God deeply. I accepted Christ as
my Savior as a child. But I didn't have the sense
that I had a deep love for God. It troubled me,
as it should have. So I prayed and asked God,
Lord, help me to love you, to develop that kind
of love for you, as well as for your word. In
those years, I was treating the Bible as a textbook.
And I knew it. But I didn't know the author the
way I needed to know him. We need to know him
deeply. I discovered over the last 25 years that
it takes work to do that. The Lord has been revealing
himself more and more to me through these years,
through work, effort, in good times and bad times
of coming to his word. I discovered this, that
real encouragement comes from God's word. The
Bible is not just... one of the many books that
I have in my library. It is not just something
for me to read. It is God's vibrant living word
to you and to me today. These are inspired words
that God directed to be placed on paper so that
you and I would have them for encouragement,
for learning who God is, knowing Him and learning
to love Him. The psalmist in Psalm 119, a very
interesting study for you to do sometime in your
devotions, it would take some time to do it,
would be to go through Psalm 119 and look at
all the passages that the psalmist there talks
about the Word of God and how he feels about
the Word of God in those verses. I jotted down
a few of those. He said, Seek him with all their
heart. I seek you with all my heart. Do not let
me stray from your word, he said. Another one.
Your statutes are my delight. They are my counselors.
I delight in your commands because I love them.
I meditate on your precepts and I consider. Your
ways. A couple of more examples. He said, I will
not neglect your words. And the last one that
I've selected is, I have sought your face with
all my heart. I have considered my ways and turned
my steps to your statutes. The psalmist obviously
has a depth of love for God and for his word
as you read that psalm. How can we love the Word
in the way that the psalmist does? I have a couple
of ideas for you this morning. Jeremiah 15, 16
said, When your words came, I ate them. They
were my joy and my heart's desire. We had chocolate
up here this morning. One of the examples I wanted
to use, chocolate. Tradition, every year, Our
anniversary is on the 21st of December. I give
Nance a box of chocolate. Not just any chocolate,
but dark chocolate. Not any chocolate will do.
Dark chocolate. Those are the types that make
your mouth water. You can taste them melting
in your mouth. And when I read this text, I thought
of, and I ate them, chocolate. That type of desire
for chocolate. That's a developed appetite or
required, you know, you need to eat some chocolate
before you learn to appreciate them. And then
you can think about what they are like when you
don't have them. We always have chocolate, say,
somewhere in the house if we look long enough
and hard enough. So one of the first tips that
I want to give you... is to develop an appetite
or a hunger for God's Word. So how can we develop
that kind of love for God's Word? Develop an
appetite for it, a hunger for it, as Jeremiah
said, being able to say, I desire them, I eat
your Word. An example of this was, I've shared
this example in a couple of small churches and
teaching in the past, but one example that comes
to mind. A number of years ago, I was in the
hospital, and they were checking out my stomach.
A personal friend who was a doctor was concerned
about me, and he wanted to check me out to find
out whether or not I had any ulcers and if I
was okay. So Dwayne put me in the hospital, and
he ran me through a whole series of disgusting
tests. One of those tests was, some of you have
had to do this, is you had to drink barium so
that they can take pictures of you to see if
you are okay or not. track. Well, Dwayne put
me in the hospital overnight to do this, so he
didn't tell me that this test I had to go down
next to the waiting room. I'm in a hospital gown
when they take me down there, and I'm taking
this barium, and then they place you out in the
waiting room with all the other folks in the
emergency room. Well, I'm feeling fine. I have
people to see, places to be, and all that. and
I'm not known for my patience in those situations,
so I'm saying to the doctor, well, how long is
this going to take? Well, he says, usually it
takes a half an hour, sometimes an hour. The
barium has to process through your system so
that we can take the pictures. I don't have an
hour, and I sure don't want to sit in this waiting
room. So he said, well, I'm sorry, there's nothing
I can do. An intern comes walking by, and I thought,
well, this isn't good enough. Maybe the intern...
Maybe he's more on the cutting edge of things.
We'll have some better ideas. What can I do to
speed up the process? And the intern said, well,
I don't know if this works, but one thing that
I've been told is if you meditate, if you think
about food, if you think about food, the involuntary
reaction of your body will be the barium will
be processed so much quicker because your appetite
comes back. If you drink barium, you lose your
appetite. So I'm having a hard time relating
to that. Okay, I will do that. So I pull out
magazine after magazine and I focus on pictures
of pork roast, of turkey, of grilled steak. Now
some of you are starting to work already and
we still have a half an hour to go. And you know,
meditating on those things, sure enough, my stomach
started gurgling. I'm going, yes! So I started
focusing on tacos and burritos and nachos. And
my appetite started my stomach responding. I
was there 15 minutes. And I called the doctor
over and said, I think I'm ready. No, you can't
be ready. I am ready. We went in, took the pictures,
and he was amazed. You are ready. All right.
I'm sitting there afterwards. I'm thinking, Lord,
there has to be a point to all this because they
found nothing. I was fine. And the Lord said,
I want you to take this as an illustration in
your life, Rick. Develop a hunger and an appetite
for me and for my word. Spiritual appetites don't
just happen, do they? Spiritual appetites are
developed as we work on them, as we allow the
Holy Spirit to work in our lives and to speak
to our hearts. The more we meditate and think
of God's Word, we develop an appetite and a hunger
for it. Second tip, quickly, would be to treat
God's Word as a special love letter. Treat God's
Word as a special love letter. There's a cycle
that I want you to write down that is very important
to this point. This is the cycle. There's two
steps in this cycle. First, we develop a love
for God's Word because we love God, the author.
We develop a love for God's Word because we love
God, the author. Second part of the cycle. We
develop a love for God as we spend time in his
word. First part of the cycle, we develop a love
for God's word because we love God. Second part
is we develop a love for God as we spend time
in his word. Illustrate this point for you. Think
of his word as love letters. to you he reveals
who he is what he has done for us how much he
means to us how much he loves us in his word
how many of you here have ever received a love
letter or note let me see a hand oh i see some
students raising hands interesting okay love
letters or notes i think you can identify with
what i'm going to say When I was in Alaska for
eight weeks, I did this on a number of occasions,
working with a mission organization up there,
doing some teaching and training leaders. I was
away from Nance for eight weeks at a crack. I'd
never been away from my wife for that long a
period of time, more than a couple of days or
a week. I was gone for eight -week periods at
a time. Nance and I would write letters, and
I would receive the letters from Nance in Alaska,
usually about a week after she mailed them. And
I would read them, and I would reread them, and
I would reread them. My love for Nance grew as
I read and reread those letters. I found that
I was loving the letters, too. because of the
person that I loved had written those letters
to me. So I kept those letters, and they meant
a great deal to me. My love for Nance grew, and
the love for those letters both grew. So you
love the letters that come from the person that
you care about, and you can't help but love the
person more because of what the person says in
those letters. See the cycle? Treat God's Word
as love letters to you and watch your love for
God grow. Second encouragement that I want to
give you this morning is to be a doer of God's
Word. To be a doer of God's Word. Psalm 119 .59
says, I have considered my ways and I turn my
steps toward your statutes. Turn with me to James
chapter 1, quickly. James chapter 1, verse 22.
James in his letter is very concerned about our
not being doers of God's Word. James 1, verse
22. James counsels us, do not merely listen to
the Word and so deceive. Do what it says. Anyone
who listens to the word but does not do what
it says is like a man who looks into a mirror
at his face and after looking at himself goes
away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Become a doer of God's word. The word here in
some translations is a hearer. To those... It
refers to those who often would hear lectures
from the Lord, but only heard the Word, and instead
of becoming a doer, never became a true disciple
of Jesus Christ. And each time he spoke, he had
those on the fringe that were not true disciples,
because they were simply a hearer and not a doer
of the Word. I'll give an example of that this
morning. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter
13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and you can work
on this this week. 1 Corinthians 13, starting
with verse 4. Paul here tells us what love looks
like and how we know if we are loving or not.
He says in verse 4, love is patient, it is kind,
it is not envy. It does not boast. It is not
proud. It is not rude. It is not self -seeking.
It is not easily angered. It keeps no record
of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but
rejoices with the truth. It always protects.
It always trusts. It always hopes and always
perseveres. Paul is saying that if you're going
to love someone, you need to put it into action.
The word for love here, agape, means sacrificial
love. It is action. It is what you do, not necessarily
how you feel. It is what you do, and Paul is
giving us a list of examples of things that you
can do to express and to show love, to be a doer
of God's word. Paul is saying... It requires
action. It requires that we do something with
it. Often I will have people go through a love
visualization exercise. So taking this text and
saying, how can you, to your spouse or to somebody
that you care about, how can you show love in
my way of patience? What practical way can you
show patience? with somebody that you love? Or
do you show patience? What practical way can
you be kind to each other? This is a good one,
not only for husbands and wives, but brothers
and sisters. How can you specifically be kind
to your sister or to your brother? And write
out lists of each of these examples of three
ways that you can demonstrate love. As Paul is
defining it, in patience, in kindness, in selflessness,
in always protecting. Is our first response to
always protect or is it to attack? Not to keep
a record of wrongs or do we keep a computer bank
of information used against somebody that we
say we love just at the right moment? Now I'm
going to meddle for a few minutes. Husbands,
men. We are commanded to love our wives, Ephesians
5, as Christ loved the church. Pointing directly
at you and at myself this morning, do you love
your wives as Christ loved the church? And if
you don't, are you going to in 1995? There are
some times in my counseling... I wish I could
grab a guy by the shirt collar and say, do you
love your wife as Christ loved the church? And
if not, when are you going to start? And I realize
I have to grab myself by the collar at different
times in my life. But men, we are required, we
are commanded to love our wives sacrificially,
to give ourselves up for her. as Christ gave
himself up for us. We're required to keep our
promises to our wives and to our families. We
need to reveal to our wives who we are, what
we're experiencing, how we feel, and not guard
ourselves from our wives. See, men, if we are
to love... Our wives, it means action. We need
to come back, guys, to 1 Corinthians 13 and to
other passages like this text and discover what
it means to love. Because it doesn't come naturally
to us. Wives, you're required also to love your
husband in the same way. As your husband grows
in what it means to love you, You need to respond
to your husband out of respect and support and
encouragement. Are you? Will you in 1995? I ran
into this illustration this week that I just
have to share from a newspaper columnist, George
Crane. He tells of a wife who came into his office
full of hatred, ready for divorce. She came in
and said, I do not only want to get rid of him,
I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want
to hurt him as much as he has hurt me. Dr. Crane
suggested ingenious plan. He said, go home and
act as if you really love this guy. Tell him
how much he means to you. Praise him for every
decent trait. Go out of your way to be kind,
considerate. and as generous as possible. Spare
no efforts to please Him, to enjoy Him, and make
Him believe that you love Him. And after you've
convinced Him of your undying love, and that
you cannot live without Him, then drop the bomb.
Tell Him that you're getting a divorce, and that
will really hurt Him. Well, with revenge in her
eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, Beautiful! Beautiful!
Boy, will he be surprised. So as she did this
with enthusiasm, acting as if she loved him,
for two months she showed love, kindness, listening,
giving, reinforcing, and sharing. When she didn't
return to his office, Dr. Crane called. Are you
ready now to go through with the divorce? Divorce,
she exclaimed. Never! I discovered I really do
love him. Her actions had changed her feelings.
Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love
is established not so much by fervent promise
as by repeated deed. Women, choose to love your
wives. Or your husband, excuse me. Church family.
Church family. First, in Philippians 1 .9, the
Lord says, and this is my prayer that your love
may abound more and more. Paul, in writing to
this church, says that this is my prayer that
your love for each other as a church will grow
more and more. We don't have time to go into
the text of Romans chapter 12. Verse 9, but in
this text, Paul talks about what love is, what
it looks like, that we as a church should look
like this. He says, love must be sincere. Hate
what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted
to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another
above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but
keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and
faithful in prayer. Rejoice with those who rejoice
and mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony
with one another. The Lord gives us a picture
here of how to love one another as a church family.
Do we? Will we? In 1995. See, if we become a
doer of God's word, he will change us. He will
make us more like Jesus Christ, his son. And
we'll be different each month and as we enter
into each year. Right now, beginning 1995, we
should be vastly different than we were this
time in 1994. Will we be vastly different this
time in 1996? We will be if we become doers of
God's Word. The last encouragement I want to
leave you with this morning is to be determined
to hold fast to the hope that we have in Christ.
Hugh Campbell Morgan says that hope is a peculiar
word for days of stress and strain. Hope comes
to its brightest shining in the presence of God.
of the deepest darkness. Hebrews 10 .23 tells
us to let us hold unswervingly to the hope that
we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
I don't know how many of you received one of
these this last week. This one's to Nan. She
hasn't mailed hers in. Didn't get one this year.
This represents a different type of hope than
we're talking about this morning. I don't know
what the odds are on this one. The odds are slim
that anyone here is going to win this. It'd be
great if someone does win this, but the odds
are not in our favor that we're going to win
this. So our hope for something like this is
slim. And you can't count on this hope. You can't
bank on this hope. If you do, you're in trouble.
The hope that we're talking about this morning
is a hope that is rooted, is founded in God himself.
The God who loves us, who forgives us. The God
who is unchanging in who he is. The God who has
kept all of his promises to us. and will continue
to keep his promises to us. It is unmovable.
It is a different type of hope. It is an essential
part of the Christian life. J .M. Everett, in
an article on hope, had this to say. Paul understands
Christian hope as a fulfillment of God's promises
to Israel. This hope is firmly anchored in the
history of Israel. and in the revealed character
of God, as one who is faithful to his promises.
Paul delineates this aspect of Christian hope
in his discussion of Abraham in Romans 4. Abraham
is offered as an example of someone who never
doubted that God would fulfill his promises.
Abraham's hope is grounded in a personal relationship
with the God in whom he trusts. In fact, The
only ground of Abraham's hope was God's promise.
Abraham had no external or historical ground
for his hope. But when that hope was tested by
human impossibilities, it grew. This is what
is meant by, quote, in hope he believed against
hope. Abraham's hope grew because he believed.
the God of hope, even though all human hope was
gone. We need to hold fast to the hope that we
have in Jesus Christ. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians,
to us, to those that are hurting, to those that
feel as though there is no hope, he says, therefore,
we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed
day by day. For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory, which
outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what
is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
We need to allow the Holy Spirit to renew us
day by day. Take one day at a time. Allow the
Holy Spirit to minister to us one day at a time
to fix our eyes on the eternal, to fix our eyes
on an unchanging God. We need to believe in Him
and trust in Him because in our darkest moments...
is when that hope becomes most meaningful. So
I want to encourage you in 1995 in those three
areas. Develop a love for God and his word. Become
a doer of God's word. And to hold fast to the
hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Let's close
this. Father, we thank you. We praise you for
who you are and how much you mean to us. We pray
as we enter into 1995 that we will experience
change as we develop a love for you and for your
word. We pray that you would work in our lives
so that we will not be the same next year as
we are this year. That you would empower us by
your spirit to be able to do so. In your son's
name we pray. We approach the table this morning.
We don't want to rush and approach it hurriedly,
but be prepared. As we sing this song, let the
Lord speak to you, and if there are some areas
of confession that we need to deal with, may
it happen before we take part in the Lord's table.
Maybe there's a conflict between yourself and
a brother or a sister. Those things, too, we
should address before we come to the table. Soft
in my heart, Lord. Soft in my heart. With all
indifference. Do it in remembrance of what Christ
has done for us as we enter this new year. Father,
we thank you and we praise you for the broken
body of your son and his sacrificial death on
our behalf. Our Father, we pray that this remembrance
of the table this morning would be special to
us as we enter this new year. In your son's name
we ask.