Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning. 9:30.
[00:00:07] Good morning. You all made it. I think there's gonna be a handful of people that come in at like their normal time, but we'll just stare at them and make them feel awkward. No, we won't. I'm kidding. Hey, I wanna give first of all a special welcome to a whole bunch of our kids who are with us this morning. This is like three times in a row that we're worshiping together with all the kids. So honestly first two in. You guys are amazing. I wanna of the kids a challenge. I wanna encourage you to take notes.
[00:00:37] You can either steal a phone or get some paper and a pen and we kinda set up the slides so that it is as easy as humanly possible for you to do that. You don't have to do it, but here's my just personal ask if you do after the service, would you just come up and show me? Because I would love to see your notes. Does that sound good? I'm not scary if we haven't met. I promise, if we have not met. My name is Michael Fueling, I'm the lead pastor here and I have the Privilege to launch 20 and open up God's Word with you. One last announcement. We're missing approximately ish 78 of our students and leaders who this weekend are on their winter retreat and so they're gonna get back this afternoon and word has it it's been an incredible weekend. So if you're looking for somebody and you can't find them, that's probably where they're at.
[00:01:27] Alright, so over the next two months we are finishing the book of Deuteronomy, which means we have preached since 2018. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, a whole bunch of New Testament books in between.
[00:01:41] And yes, after we teach on Galatians, I think we're gonna go back into Joshua and Judges. So I mean why not before we're dead just preach through the whole Bible. So sounds good to me.
[00:01:52] This month what we're going to do is we're gonna actually focus on four of the major texts that we have not taught through in the book of Deuteronomy. And each of these are pastoral encouragements from mo to the nation of Israel. And I think they are just so needed especially for village church today. Then in February we're gonna close out the book of Deuteronomy and we are gonna look at how Jesus used and quoted the book of Deuteronomy. And I think you guys are gonna find it really, really applicable and helpful and encouraging. Okay, so this morning, would you. In your mind, I want you to think of a family member or a friend who has stood by you, somebody that you would call faithful and loyal.
[00:02:42] I want you to picture them in your brain as they come to your mind. I am guessing that you can probably pretty quickly recall one or three stories of when they stood with you or that season that they supported you, or those times when they showed up. And maybe you didn't even know you needed them, but they kind of just showed up in a way that was near and dear to your heart. Do you have the person in your brain?
[00:03:11] You might have five, but I'm asking you to just focus on one every one of those moments where they show up for you. These are really special chapters kind of in the story of your friendship. And every time they show up for you, they deepen your love and your connection to each other.
[00:03:29] And if you happen to be the person, by the way, who was there for someone else, oh, you just wait. Because the normal rhythm of life is that one day you're going to need them in the way they needed you. This is just sort of how life and friendship works.
[00:03:45] Now, with this context in mind, I want you to open up your Bibles. We're gonna be in Deuteronomy chapter 8 When it comes to God, for some reason, we have a very hard time remembering the ways specifically that God has come through for us and we're with our kids and for many of you, your grandkids in the room. And let me just tell you what your children and grandchildren, what your nieces and your nephews, what your friends, what your spouse needs to hear.
[00:04:14] They need to hear the good stories of our good God intervening in our life and coming through for us. I just need you to hear this. We can't retell the stories that we've forgotten.
[00:04:30] So what I wanna do this morning is I want to rouse your memory.
[00:04:35] I want to open up Deuteronomy 8. I wanna work through this passage and I wanna help us go back into our own story and to find the ways and remember the ways that God has showed up in our lives. Now, I need to forewarn you of a very common trap that I think we all want to avoid. The trap we' My story isn't dramatic enough trap.
[00:04:58] So there we all know the person or the people where God has done big things in their life and he showed up with big, huge God interventions. And so we kind of have this maybe this attitude like, you know, my story is not that important. It's not that big of a deal. And I would just love to tell you that 99% of God's goodness in our lives is small but deeply meaningful. And here's what I know. We serve a God who loves to get glory and honor for his goodness and kindness.
[00:05:30] And it doesn't matter if it's a small story or it's a big story.
[00:05:34] God is writing a different story in everybody's life. And what we need to be able to do is to recall and to remember and then tell the good kind stories of God's intervention in our life. It is 100% okay if you are a part of the 99% of humanity that does not have a big, huge, dramatic, earth shattering story that books are written about. If you have that story, awesome. But it is awesome also if you don't have that story. Because God wants to get glory by having you share the times, the small times, the 99.9% of the times that he shows up and meets your needs and provides for you and loves you and sustains you and encourages you and convicts you. The list goes on and on. So In Deuteronomy chapter 8, Israel is commanded to remember five specific kinds of events that they have experienced. And again, we are going to use each one of these as a catalyst to arouse our own memories of how God has been faithful in our lives. And my hope is simple, that you would remember and that you would proclaim the goodness of God in your life.
[00:06:39] In Deuteronomy chapter 8, you're going to see a word come up a couple times. It's a central word to the chapter and it is a command. It's very simple. The command for God's people is to remember.
[00:06:53] And in Scripture, the skill of remembering is what sets apart those who flourish versus those who disintegrate in times of difficulty. Because when you're going through it, you need to be able to look back into your own life and into the word of God to see that our God is not one who abandons us, but God is. Our God is one who, and this is not who actually, objectively, truthfully works out all things for the good of those who love Him. The problem is, when you're in the middle of it, you can't see a way out. But our God is infinite in knowledge and wisdom and skill and power. And truly we need to look back so that we're able to flourish in times of difficulty. So here's what I know, 2026. It's going to be an awesome Year, it's going to be a hard year, and it's going to be everything in between. Amen.
[00:07:49] And what we need to know is that when the hard comes, that we are able to look back and remember the faithfulness and goodness of God. So that when we are going through it, we never, ever, ever forget how good our God has been to us. All right, Deuteronomy, chapter eight. We're going to start in verse two. The first experience God commands Israel to remember is this.
[00:08:07] Remember the way God led you through hardship. Verse 2. Here's the command. You shall what?
[00:08:14] Remember.
[00:08:16] You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandment or not. So Israel spent 40 years, that's a pretty long time in the wilderness. And for the vast majority of the nation of Israel, this was discipline because they decided despised the Lord. There was a few. And for the few who loved the Lord, the wilderness was training. But it didn't matter if you love the Lord or hated the Lord. We just all agree the wilderness was a fairly miserable experience.
[00:08:53] None of us want to live 40 years in the in between, in the. In the wilderness. So let's apply this to our own lives. I want you to take a moment and I want you to remember that very profoundly difficult season in your life. And you might be thinking, well, I've got 30. Well, find the most difficult.
[00:09:13] Some of you might be thinking, I need you to help me. So let me, with each of these, I'm going to give you kind of just prompts to help your brain go back in time and maybe remember those seasons.
[00:09:23] Generally speaking, hard seasons come in five categories.
[00:09:28] Number one would be economic or financial. Some of you went right back to 2008. And if you weren't born then, praise God, it might be economic and financial.
[00:09:37] Economically in the culture, it might just be in your industry or in your home.
[00:09:42] Number two is your health. Something in your body stopped working and it froze kind of your whole life. Number three would be your family's health.
[00:09:52] Number four would be your foolish decisions. Let's be straight, everybody. Sometimes that really terrible season, it was your fault. And so you look back and you're like, yep, I did it. I sowed the wind and I reaped the whirlwind. And number five is others sinful or foolish decisions. And this is part of being in this world. We live and reap the consequences of what people in our Orbit family or friends, what they do, positive or negative. You can't control any of these, except for number four. And if you live long enough, you're probably gonna experience all five.
[00:10:23] And so I put these down here to kind of bring your brain back to your story.
[00:10:28] When did God lead you through a specific season of hardship?
[00:10:33] And the first thing you actually have to do is recall this.
[00:10:37] But second, what you'll probably need to do here is to actually ask yourself specifically, measurably, how did God come through for me in that season?
[00:10:46] Now, I can't do this for everybody. And so this might be something where in your community groups or your small group or a lunch today, you bring up one of these stories. And you might have to just work through it and ask the question, like, what are some of the provisions, blessings and kindnesses in that heart season that he provided? Because here's what I do know. God never abandoned you. He never forsook you. He was always with you. He loves you. And at every corner, he is supporting you, whether you see it or feel it or believe it.
[00:11:13] Which brings us to our second experience that God commands us to remember.
[00:11:18] Remember the times that God broke sin in you. Verse 3 says this. He humbled you and he let you hunger. It's interesting. He's letting Israel reap the consequences of their sin. Verse 5 picks up this theme.
[00:11:35] Says, know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. And the goal of all sin is not to break your soul, but it's to break sin in you.
[00:11:49] In verse 16, God tells Israel why he allowed the season of hardship and difficulty. It says this, who fed you in the wilderness with me? Manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you. And this is so important.
[00:12:04] If you are under God's discipline, if you've experienced past discipline, it is always to do you good. In the end. You may not want to say amen, but it's true. Can we say Amen? Amen.
[00:12:16] I want you to think back to the time where God exposed your sin.
[00:12:22] I want you to think back to the time when God exposed a pattern.
[00:12:28] He might have done it publicly. He might have done it around your family or friends. He might have just exposed it in your heart.
[00:12:35] When God exposes sin in us, it might feel terrible, but it is a good, kind gift from a God who loves you, who does not want you to carry the weight of this sin for the rest of your life.
[00:12:50] Here are kind of the top four ways that God breaks sin in my experience. And again, I hope this helps bring your mind back to those moments.
[00:12:59] Number one. The Holy Spirit breaks your heart over a specific sin. It could be from a sermon or your time in the Word, or as I like to think about it, the Holy Spirit likes to bring intrusive thoughts into our brain where it's like, are you sure you wanna do that? You sure you wanna keep doing that? And then you lay your head down at night and it's like the thought just keeps going over and over in your head. And he's sort of unrelenting because his goal is to bring you to a point of breaking so that you do not have to carry this sin with you for the rest of your life. Number two, the Holy Spirit shows you the consequences of your sin in someone else. Do you ever have like a secret private sin and then you watch it in someone else and you're like, ooh, that's ugly. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh no, it's also ugly in me too. Is that what I look like? And so sometimes the Lord will show you what your sin looks like by bringing other people into your life. Number three, the Holy Spirit brings someone to confront you.
[00:13:51] And so sometimes somebody will come up to you and say, listen, I love you. I'm just going to say the hard thing to you.
[00:13:56] You have the option to be belligerent or defensive or to be open hearted. But the Holy Spirit will arouse people to bring hard words to you. And I.
[00:14:05] Number four. The Holy Spirit gives you over to the consequences of the sin until you are desperate enough to repent.
[00:14:13] And so maybe you look back at a time in your life where you were sort of just belligerently, rebellion, rebelling against God and it got bad enough where you realize, you know what? Bucking against God isn't productive, helpful, fun or life giving. And the Lord broke sin in you. Believe it or not, your kids and grandkids and friends do need to hear the stories of how God broke sin in you so that they don't have to repeat those same patterns. The third experience, God commands us to remember.
[00:14:44] Remember the time God taught you the goodness of his word.
[00:14:50] Verse three, he says, and he humbled you. Why?
[00:14:53] That he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
[00:15:08] If you have been a Christian long enough, do you remember, do you remember that time when for the first time you began to love and to enjoy God's Word?
[00:15:22] You might be kind of a new Christian, and you might be like, listen, I'm just not there yet. Like, I read the Bible. I don't even know what it means sometimes. And I want to share with you kind of the five most consistent ways that I found that God arouses a love for his Word in people. Here's number one, God used a sermon or preacher to help you understand the Bible for the very first time. I'll be honest with you, I don't like reading books. I don't know what's going on. And so, like, maybe you finally had somebody in your life. There's something where you were like, you know what? I never understood it. And finally, it's beginning to make sense. Number two, God gave you a small group or Bible study that finally unlocked the power of his Word. If you are, like, struggling to love the Bible, like, one of the best things I could encourage you to do is to get into a small group, a community group, a Bible study, and to dig into God's Word Word. Because honestly, sometimes studying it with other people helps it come alive.
[00:16:16] Number three, you asked.
[00:16:18] And so God opened your mind to understand the Bible in a new way. I think some of us, like, we're just like, I don't understand what's going on. And so I just encourage you, go before the Lord and say, would you. Would you open my mind to understand what is really going on? Would you provide me resources and next steps so that I can begin to understand this? That number four, you actually committed to applying God's Word and it truly changed your life. This is funny.
[00:16:45] For most Christians, we will willingly deliberately sin because we know God will forgive us and we probably won't get in too much trouble.
[00:16:54] Here's just a challenge.
[00:16:56] For seven days, make a decision that with your mind and your body, you will not sin on purpose. And if you find yourself doing it, you'll repent. Like, every thought you'll take captive. Like, if you have to turn off your social media and not watch TV for a little while, go do it. But, like, you are, like, make that commitment. Here's what you're gonna find.
[00:17:15] You will be full of life and freedom at the end of seven days. Most people live and take the grace of God for granted.
[00:17:21] Challenge you seven days. I will do everything in my power to control my mind and my body. You're never gonna be perfect. Don't get me wrong, nobody but Jesus is perfect.
[00:17:30] But I'll tell you this, that most people have never actually taken God at his Word. And committed their life to obeying Him. Number five, you finally trusted in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit who brought the Word to life.
[00:17:46] It's a really common story, actually, that someone's like, I trusted in Christ for the first time. And then all of a sudden, after I did, the Bible began to make sense.
[00:17:55] Because what you were missing was the gift of the Holy Spirit, which you only get when you trust in Christ.
[00:18:02] The fourth experience, God commands us to remember.
[00:18:06] Number four. Remember his surprising times of provision.
[00:18:11] Verse four says, your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these 40 years.
[00:18:20] Let's apply this to our life.
[00:18:23] When were you desperate for something essential?
[00:18:27] Here are kind of the five big buckets or categories of essential needs.
[00:18:32] Physical needs, this could be clothing, food, shelter, medicine.
[00:18:38] And as you look back at your story, God provided relational needs. This could be a friend, encouragement, connection, someone's presence.
[00:18:51] And looking back, you realize that God was orchestrating things and he provided.
[00:18:57] This may seem interesting, but parental needs.
[00:19:00] So many people are lacking a present, mom or dad. And this is just vital for formation and life, especially as you're growing up. And so you may not have had everything the way you wanted, but you started to see that God was bringing mother and father figures into your life to meet some of the leadership needs that your soul had.
[00:19:21] Emotional needs.
[00:19:22] You were depressed, you were low.
[00:19:25] You were in need of something, grace and truth.
[00:19:29] And as you look back at your story at your lowest moment, what you find is that God unexpectedly, probably not in your timeframe, but he provided and he intervened.
[00:19:39] And lastly, spiritual needs.
[00:19:42] You were at the end of yourself.
[00:19:45] You finally realized that the catalyst for your desperation was actually spiritual. God met you. God saved you. God changed you.
[00:19:55] God provided.
[00:19:58] And lastly, the fifth experience that God commands us to remember.
[00:20:01] Remember to worship God for each and every good gift he gave and continues to give. It's interesting when we look at verse seven, you're gonna find, I think, that if you were an Israelite, it would be really, really easy to take the things, things that Moses is going to describe just kind of for granted. So here's what he says.
[00:20:18] For the Lord, your God is bringing you into a good land, A land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills. Okay, can I be honest with you? We live in Illinois. You know that it's hard for me to be super upbeat about Illinois when I think about politics in Illinois and taxation, which is ludicrous.
[00:20:40] But if I just kind of get over my grumbling spirit For a moment, I forget to thank God for the actual incredible land that we live on. Trees, lakes, rivers, unending places to play and to explore, all of which are gifts from God. And I've been to all the major cities in America, Louisiana, New York, Chicago is the best. And we have the best food. You can't debate that. That's just objective fact.
[00:21:09] Sorry. Verse 8. A land of wheat and barley. Not, by the way, talking about Illinois. He's talking about Israel.
[00:21:16] Vines and fig trees and pomegranates. A land of olive trees and honey. So I went online, I asked AI, I said this, if I were comparing the state of Illinois to the nation of Israel, how much more produce does Illinois produce than Israel? Be as detailed as possible. Let me give you the summary statements. Illinois has roughly, give or take, 27 million acres of farmland.
[00:21:39] Israel has 1.4 million acres.
[00:21:42] Illinois produces almost 17 times the volume of Israel, technically 75.2 million metric tons more. This is Illinois compared to Israel. Don't get me wrong, Illinois is not better than Israel. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying though, is that we are so unbelievably, abundantly blessed with a land that doesn't just produce, but produces at an unbelievable rate.
[00:22:08] And also, to be clear, Israel's per capita, they produce more because they have better technology. Different discussion.
[00:22:15] Verse 9. A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity. Anybody struggling to find bread, go out in the foyer, you'll find a bunch of bread in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
[00:22:33] This is a crazy thought.
[00:22:35] We. It's like for the first time in human history, we all of us can get as fat as we want.
[00:22:43] Verse 10.
[00:22:45] You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. And one of the ways that we can remember God's goodness is to wake up every day and to see the good, kind gifts that are just. We just take for granted. We just overlook them. We almost feel entitled to them. But understanding that even the land we live on is a good, good gift from a good heavenly Father who loves us all. Right, so what?
[00:23:18] When we close our sermons, we end with so what's. Because we really want to take this home and make this as practical as possible. Here's the first.
[00:23:27] Remember that forgetting leads to spiritual decline.
[00:23:31] So the last part of chapter eight, here's what it does. It describes the two key symptoms that a believer is not in A posture of remembering. But they're in a posture of forgetting. So if you're in a posture of forgetting, you're gonna become entitled, you're gonna spiritually decline. If you're in a posture of remembering, you're gonna be filled with gratitude and worship. There are two signs, two symptoms that you might be in a posture.
[00:23:55] And here's the first, small but measurable disobedience to what you know God's word says. Look at verse 11. He says, Take care lest you what's the word?
[00:24:06] Forget the Lord your God. And what's the first symptom? By not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I command you today. And this is just a simple question for self reflection.
[00:24:19] Have I been willingly and intentionally disobeying God's word because I know I'll get away with it? If so, you're probably in a posture not of remembering but of forgetting. And disobedience will lead to the second symptom of forgetting, which is taking credit and glory for that which God has done. And verse 12 tells us exactly what this looks like. It says, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God. Verse 14 goes on to rebuke the credit taking heart. Hey glory taker, you've deceived yourself into believing that I did all of this. It wasn't you, it was God. Look at verse 14. It was God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Verse 15. It wasn't you, but it was God who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water. Verse 15 goes on. It wasn't you, but it was God who brought you water out of the flinty rock. Verse 16. It was God who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know. Verse 17 describes if the glory taking heart could speak what it would say.
[00:25:50] Beware, lest you say in your heart quote, My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.
[00:26:02] The moment you take credit you are stealing God's glory. Can we just be honest for a moment? Have you ever had a co worker take credit for something you did and get the benefit of it? How'd that make you feel?
[00:26:15] Drives you a little bit nuts, doesn't it? Have you had a sibling take credit for something?
[00:26:19] And here's the deal. We have this sense of justice in this world where when somebody takes credit for something, somebody else does. It infuriates us.
[00:26:28] And guess what? We're made in the image of God.
[00:26:31] And to be men and women and students, as children of integrity, we must give credit to where credit is due.
[00:26:39] All you have at the end of the day is from the Lord.
[00:26:45] So what? Number two, it's time to become aware of what God has done for you. And not just to be aware of it, but to share it.
[00:26:54] Verse 18, here's the command again. You shall remember.
[00:26:59] You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers. And as it is this day, I want to share with you just a simple principle. And it applies especially to nations and communities that have been built sort of on a Christian foundation.
[00:27:22] So God has given every person and every family we'll call a financial limitation. We'll call this a lid that you can try.
[00:27:35] But you're not going to exceed this lid unless it is by theft. So good luck with that.
[00:27:42] Within this God ordained financial lid. And some of you are like, I've been wondering why I can never just get past this point.
[00:27:49] Within the realm of this lid, you do have the ability to make good decisions, to invest wisely, to multiply, to live in a way that stewards excellently.
[00:28:02] Some people choose to do this, Some people choose to take the resources they have and squander them all. Two people could have the same lid, but one might maximize it.
[00:28:10] There are some jobs in some industries, it does not matter what you do, you're never gonna make more than a certain amount of money. And some of you, you're like, man, I've started businesses, I've done this, I've done that. And you're like, I just can't ever seem to break this lid. And again, here's the deal. We work as under the Lord always, right? But if you ever find yourself, you're just like, just my entire life can't get past this.
[00:28:31] You might be hitting a lid that God doesn't want you to have more than that. And then there are people, it doesn't matter what they do. Everything turns to gold. They win at everything. Everything they start, grows. I mean, you get like an Elon Musk who's gonna be like the first trillionaire. It's like, how does it even happen?
[00:28:45] And so like, God has a Different lid for different people. And you're like, pastor Michael, why are we talking about lids if we're talking about remembering?
[00:28:52] Because we are so often mad or upset or discontent with God because he hasn't given us our neighbor's lid.
[00:29:03] And here's the point. Stop comparing yourself and your lack or your blessings to someone else in your life.
[00:29:14] And if you're going to get to the place where you can be truly grateful, truly worshiping, stop comparing yourself to whoever they are.
[00:29:22] And at the end of the day, we have to stop and say, God, I'm not comparing my blessings to someone else's. Yes, they might have the life that I wish I had, but that's not the life you've chosen for me, but God, right here, right now. I want to be filled with absolute gratitude and I want to worship you for the gifts that you have given me. I want to remember your kindness and your goodness and your faithfulness to me. Because you're writing a very different story in me than you are anyone else in my life. And so, God, I'm done trying to hijack their story and make their story my story.
[00:29:48] I want to bring you glory and remember your faithfulness in my life. So let's just make this even more practical.
[00:29:56] Can I just assume you're all breathing?
[00:29:59] It's good. Okay, good.
[00:30:03] There's been a couple times that hasn't happened in the service.
[00:30:08] Your breath right now, from Jesus, everyone, by his permission, sustaining your breath.
[00:30:17] You're gonna tell me he's not providing for you. Did you all get here and you didn't walk? Maybe one of you walked. Okay? The rest of you figured out transportation. Where did the wealth or provision or opportunity to even have that transportation come from?
[00:30:31] It came from Jesus.
[00:30:33] Do you have food to eat? Well, after service, there's a lot.
[00:30:38] And you might be thinking to yourself, yeah, but my cupboard, my pantry, my refrigerator is empty.
[00:30:43] We would love to help you fill it. All you need is the courage to ask somebody so that we can help the provision of God.
[00:30:52] Can you think of one person in your life that is a good friend?
[00:30:59] What's interesting is God could have placed them anywhere he wanted in the entire world. They could have been born anywhere, anytime. He could have put them in Saudi Arabia or China. But God has orchestrated that they live in this place, at this time, in your orbit, in your proximity, and that your temperaments and personalities even got along enough to be friend. And the shared experiences that you guys had. Do you not see that even that friend is a gift from God? Because he orchestrated your life.
[00:31:25] Does someone in your family have the ability to work and to make money, to provide for the family that is a gift of and for the ones who don't, extended family, church, government, the ability for us to live and to thrive and to have our needs met. It is unbelievable. We live truly in one of the greatest times in all of human history.
[00:31:50] And I say all this because what I want you to do is I want you to walk out of these doors and I want you to walk out grateful. I want you to walk out remembering and I want you to walk out using your mouth to declare the goodness of God.
[00:32:05] I want you to remember the stories and I want you to hand down from one generation to the next the goodness, the kindness, the provision of God in your life because your kids and grandkids, we all need to hear it.
[00:32:18] And you might be here, you might be thinking to yourself, I've never considered this. I've never thought about my Creator who's not just made me and walked away, but he loves me and sustains me. And I just have really great news. God does not just love you. He doesn't just want you to be alive, he wants to be in relationship with you.
[00:32:37] And so God is offering forgiveness.
[00:32:41] You might be thinking, I can't even believe, like God has been sustaining every part of my life for this long and I've just neglected him. And what I love is that God is willing to offer forgiveness to anyone who apologizes and believes in the death and resurrection of Jesus for their sins.
[00:32:57] And so if you've never come to him, I have great news. Today's the absolute best day. You can talk to him and tell him I am sorry. Would you forgive me? I want to be in a relationship with you and God's offer is that he's going to give you forgiveness and he's going to give you the Holy Spirit, which is an incredible, incredible, awesome combination of gifts. I want to close, I want to read From James chapter 1:2 verses and kids, you have been astounding.
[00:33:23] James 1:16.
[00:33:25] Do not be deceived, beloved brothers.
[00:33:28] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the Father, let's pray together.
[00:33:40] Father, would you help us to remember?
[00:33:44] Not just to remember, but to be clear headed and reasonable about the source of all that we have.
[00:33:50] Would you give us a combination of not just a great work ethic where we work as unto the Lord, but also great contentment with the lid you have given each of our families and our church, whatever our lot as we are filled with gratitude, may you also give us more and more wisdom that we might even multiply whatever blessings you have given to us as we go into 2026. Would you give us faith, unusual confidence?
[00:34:18] Would you give us vision for eternity that outweighs whatever we're afraid of, whatever hardship we are or going to go through?
[00:34:26] Would you give us the grit to endure this short life and to keep our integrity in the process and our confidence in you High as we enter 2026. May this be a year of remembering. May this be a year of giving you glory and of living for Jesus. And we pray all of this in Jesus name, Amen.
