Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Jeremiah 17:7-8 opening reading about being blessed when trusting the Lord, like trees planted by a riverbank that stay green and fruitful even in drought
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
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Keep this verse
Psalm 19:14
Blake read it before prayer: let the words of our mouths and meditations of our hearts be acceptable in God's sight
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer.
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Lamentations 3:22-23
read during the offering moment about God's compassions and mercies being new every morning
22 It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
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Ephesians 4:11-13
Steve's text on gifts Christ gave the church and the responsibility to equip God's people to do his work and build up the body
11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
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1 Peter 2:4-5
the passage titled stones and sacrifices, describing believers as living stones and holy priests offering spiritual sacrifices that please God
4 coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.
5 You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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James 4:8
come close to God and God will come close to you, used to introduce the quiet time section
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
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Hebrews 11:6
it is impossible to please God without faith, and he rewards those who diligently seek him, used to motivate a daily quiet time
6 Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
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Revelation 6:15-17
kings, rulers, wealthy and powerful hiding in caves crying for rocks to fall on them from the wrath of the Lamb, read from Steve's journal entry dated 11/27/2021
15 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
16 They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
17 for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
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Ephesians 3:14-20
Blake read it as the closing benediction about God empowering believers with inner strength and accomplishing infinitely more than we ask or think
14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,
19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Steve Baldock, one of the church's elders, brought a message built around two practical ideas for ordinary Christians: what it looks like to actively worship when you come to church on a Sunday, and how to build a simple, consistent quiet time with God. He spoke from his own experience as a blue-collar worker and longtime member of First B, and made clear he was talking to people in the room, not performing for an audience.
What was said
Steve opened with Ephesians 4:11-13, which lays out a simple division of labor: pastors and teachers equip God's people, and God's people do the rest of the work. He said that framing helped him see that showing up to church is not passive. The congregation has a job to do, not just a service to receive.
The shift he proposed was a change in mental picture. Most people come to church thinking of themselves as the audience and the people up front as the presenters. Steve suggested flipping that. If God and the heavenly host are the audience, and the congregation are the presenters, the way you engage with a service changes completely. That idea, he said, changed the way he personally thinks about what church is for.
From there he worked through what he called the spiritual sacrifices a person can offer during a service, drawing on 1 Peter 2:4-5. The first is prayer, and he walked through a specific habit: come a few minutes early, sit down, and begin praying through the room. Pray for the pastors and the music team, then look at a child or a teenager and pray for them, then for the singles, the married couples, the older members who made the effort to get there. Then turn it on yourself and ask God to make you teachable and moldable so that you leave a little more like Jesus and a little less like yourself.
The second sacrifice is praise. His point here was simple: when it is time to sing, sing with everything you have. The music team does the work of making it possible. Your job is to mean it.
The second half of the message covered a quiet time with God, and Steve framed it around James 4 and Hebrews 11:6, the idea that God rewards those who diligently seek him. He said a quiet time that actually holds together needs three things: it has to be intentional, routine, and repetitive. For him that means setting out his Bible, a notepad, his glasses, and his pen the night before, so that at 2:30 in the morning when he has to be at work by 3:30, there is no friction between waking up and sitting down with God.
The practice itself is straightforward: pray and ask the Holy Spirit to make the reading change you, read until something lands, then write down the date, where you started, where you stopped, and anything God seemed to be saying. He held up his own notebook and said people were welcome to look at it after the service. Most entries are just dates and references, but the ones where something broke through are worth having on paper, because writing it down sears it into your mind and gives you a record of what God has been doing across the year.
He closed with a passage from Revelation describing people on the day of wrath hiding from God among the rocks. What he wrote in his notebook that morning was a note to himself: it is impossible to hide from God, so stop trying. Bow, confess, receive grace, get up, brush yourself off, and follow. He said God has told him that same thing many times, including the night before he preached this message, and he hoped it encouraged someone in the room.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Steve talked about the shift from seeing yourself as the audience at church to seeing yourself as the presenter before God. Has that idea ever crossed your mind before, and what would it change for you if you took it seriously?
- Steve walked through praying specifically for different people in the room during a service, children, singles, married couples, older folks, and then himself. Which of those groups do you find easiest to pray for, and which do you tend to overlook?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,005 words
Speaker 2Alright. It is about that time. Good morning, everybody. How are you? It is good to see you.
Are you staying warm? Ish. Hey. Good news. Last week and the week before, we didn't have heat in here.
One of those fan blowers went out, and and today we have heat. Isn't that cool?
Steve BaldockYes.
Speaker 2I'm I mean, like, I'm really thankful. We have heat. Yes. So from Jeremiah 17, I wanna share this. It says, blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
Great. They're like trees planted along a riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water. All right. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried about long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit.
That verse has been so speaking to me lately because this tree right here can still produce fruit and its leaves are green even in a drought. Does anybody feel like they're in a drought season right now? You know, does anybody feel like sometimes they're just surviving, survival mode? And you can be honest, we're in church. Right?
But Jesus is saying, we can thrive if we remain in him, abide in him. Amen? Shall we sing of it? Let's stand and sing. Amen.
You can have a seat here for a moment. I believe Blake has some announcements he's gonna share from the sound booth.
Speaker 3Good morning, church. Just a couple of announcements this morning starting off with Monday nights at first b. We have a meal, music, and a message. Pastor Carl up there gives us a message, and then we have a bit of a gospel conversation. What are we gonna talk about tomorrow, Carl?
Speaker 2Yep. So tomorrow is super nacho night. Yeah. You don't wanna miss that. I can guarantee it.
And we're in John 17 where Jesus prays for himself, for his disciples, and for future believers, us. What is God's heart for us? That is what we're going to have a gospel conversation on tomorrow, Monday night, 06:00. Love for you to have to to have us join have you join us.
Speaker 3Yeah. Please join us for a meal, music, and a message, or you can, of course, join us online like some of you are doing this morning. Also, at the same time here at church, Owana will be happening here within the whole church, but also within this sanctuary. It's Owana because kids matter to God. It's sowing seeds of Bible verses and Jesus into the kids of hearts.
So please know that you're welcome. I think age three up to fifth grade, up to sixth grade are welcome tomorrow. A couple of Bible studies for you to know about Sisters Saved by Grace. It's a woman's Bible Bible study takes place here in the fellowship hall every Thursday. I think they have a meal and a group of ladies get together.
So know that you are welcome to join if you are interested. Also, the precept Bible study has started up again. I believe that happens on Thursdays and it's in the fellowship hall at nine. And if you want to get any more information about those Bible studies or our bulletin, we don't hand out a bulletin anymore, but it is sent out virtually every week. You can sign up for that just going to our website firstbjackson.org, and you can get prayer requests and Bible studies, all sorts of information.
Speaking of information, the church directory and tax info, you noticed there was a table out there where Nick was filling out with some computers. If you didn't catch you on the way in, if you haven't done so on the way out, if you could just give us your information, maybe take a picture, so we can update our church directory electronically. And speaking of electronically, every service that we do goes out over the Internet and we switched over to YouTube recently. So if you would like to be notified and get notifications, as you can see up on that screen, there's a little bell up in the top right hand corner of YouTube. You can search first b Jackson and click on that bell and it'll get get you a notification every time we go live.
And we're gonna start back into worship. I'll share one verse with us church too from Psalms 19 verse 14. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. As a church body, we can stand and join and do just that.
Speaker 2God, truly, you are our hope, and you are our peace. Thank you, God, that that is what you bring, that you say, my peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you, and I don't give as the world gives. Don't be troubled or afraid. God, may you be speaking to us, and may we hear you today, truly. Holy Spirit, would you open our ears, open our eyes, open our hearts to receive whatever you've got for us.
In Jesus' name. Amen. God, your words are just ringing in my ears this morning when you told your disciples after you washed their feet, now do as I've done for you. And, Lord, that's hard. It's it's sometimes it is hard to to love people the way that you love, that self giving others focused love.
But we're we're praying. We're asking God for your strength, that you would hold us together, that you would unify us, that we would truly love one another and serve one another the way that you loved and served us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. This is the worship through giving.
You can have a a seat here for a moment. The worship through giving part of the service. But here's a good word here from, Lamentations three. It says, because of the Lord's great love, we're not consumed because his compassions never fail or his mercy never fails. They're new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness. Let's pray together. God, do thank you for your compassion, for your mercy that never fails, that it is new every morning. But, God, may we be willing to receive it, to go for it, to ask for it every single morning. We need your grace.
We need mercy every day of our lives. Truly, your faithfulness is great. And because you are faithful, it can cause us to be and live faithful lives. Amen. God, we pays we pause just to say thank you.
God, thank you. Thank you for the small things. Thank you for the great things. Thank you for everything in between. God, thank you for every spiritual blessing.
Thank you for every The way that you provide for us that we can just live from day to day for this daily bread. Thank you. God, you've blessed us. May it spur us on to bless one another. God, you've blessed us to be a blessing to others.
May we see it. May we experience it. May we want to go for it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. I'm gonna invite up Steve Baldock. He's one of our elders, and he's going to be preaching this morning. And as he's coming up, also children's church, you are kiddos, you are excused to to head down to children's church. And I wanna say this, it is terrifying to be up here.
I'm not kidding you. And and our elders, so Steve Landis spoke last week, and Steve Baldock will be speaking this week. But it is like, if you could see his heart beating in his chest right now, you'd be like, woah. Easy fella. Easy fella.
So I just I I thank him for being willing to share the truth through his personality this morning, and I'd love to just just pray. God, I am so thankful for your word. I truly am. Thank you, God, that your word is truth, and you set us apart. You make us holy.
You sanctify us. Make us more like Jesus through your truth. Holy Spirit, would you reveal the truth to us, your word to us, maybe in a way that we didn't expect this morning. God, would you speak through Steve? Would you calm his his heart, his nerves that he can just share freely what you've put on his heart this morning?
And and would you give us ears to ears to hear, a mind that understands, a heart that's willing to receive, that there'll be fertile soil here that you're working with. In Jesus' name, amen.
Steve BaldockAmen. Amen. Good morning, everyone. Gotta get I got a couple of props up here. I need this too.
Carl did such a good job of praying. I don't need to pray now. That was a good prayer. I got this for me in case I need it, which I'm probably going to need it. And this is what happens when you leave young people with a bunch of paint laying around and an old stool, just so you'll know.
I didn't I didn't do this, but it's pretty cool. And and I'm not preaching today. I'm I'm more of a teacher. I teach some of your kids in Awana's, and that's a lot of fun. But so, anyway, if you don't know me, my name is Steve Baldock, and my wife is Susie Baldock, the pretty blonde back there.
And we've been going to church here for quite a while, not not ever since then, but I first came to church here in 1968. My parents drug me here, and God drug me back after a while. I hopped around a little bit in life, but great thing about first b is you can always come home if you need to come home for a while. Well, I'm not gonna pray right now. You keep praying for me.
That'll help because I need I've got a bunch of stuff I wanna cover, so I'm gonna get going. It was funny. You know, Steve preached last Sunday. I was feeling under the weather, so I had to watch from home. And he did a great job, and, we are out of our element.
And I remember about two, three months ago, you know, this last year, COVID and all that, it was some really challenging times for the elders and whatnot and for the pastors. So one of us had the brainiac idea of asking the pastors, well, how could we help you? How could we support you? And that's when Carl said, you know, if you got if you could get a sermon in your back pocket, that'd be a great help. And I remember Steve and I, we both thought two, three months ago, we thought that's a terrific idea.
I don't think it's such a great idea anymore. And I was telling God about that, you know, as I was preparing for this. And I said, you know, I I got a little heart issue going on. I get anxiety attacks. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.
And God listens for a while, then Jesus just puts on my heart. He says, so why do you think Peter denied me three times that night when they came and arrested me? When he was in the courtyard, why do you think he stayed quiet? And I thought and I said, well, I I suppose he was pretty he was afraid. He said, yep.
That's exactly what he was. Are you what are you gonna do, Steve? Are you gonna let your fear paralyze you? You're just gonna get up and talk. You know, one thing I've learned is I can't argue with God, and it just ticks me off, you know, because I I didn't have anything to say.
So like it or not, I'm here today, and and I'm gonna do it no matter what. So, anyway, a couple of disclaimers. Gosh. I'm glad I brought this stool. Number one, I don't know a lick of Greek or Hebrew.
So if anything comes up, you'll have to wait till Ray gets back. Put that right there. The other thing is, I've been a blue collar worker all my life. I've built houses and buildings and bridges and roads and stuff like that. So being blue collar and son of a blue collar worker, if something slips out today that shouldn't during a church service, please forgive me.
I don't intend to offend you. I just wanna share the love of Jesus with you, and that's it. And a couple of things, and I think it's important for us to say this sometimes. We don't probably say it enough. The a couple more disclaimers is this book that I brought as a prop.
I teach little kids sometimes, and so I use props a lot. Some of you can thank me later for giving you the string with the button on it that your children have been using for weeks now. But this Bible, I believe it is the inspired word of God through and through, and it is complete in what you and I need to know to get through life. The other thing is is I believe that Jesus Christ lived on this planet, that he died on the cross for my sins and your sins, and he rose again. I believe it down to my toes, and I also think he's coming back.
Thank goodness. Like, right now would be a great time. And and I hope you don't mind me making you laugh, and I like to laugh. You know, I've seen a lot of bad stuff in my life, about the worst you can see except for dying yourself. And I just soon choose joy myself.
So okay. Alright. Let's see. We've got the greeting covered. Carl prayed.
I talked through my disclaimers. It's time to get going. There's two things I'd like you to take away from today, and it like I said, I'm more of a teacher. I wanna talk about active worship and what you can do here as church members to actively worship God. And then the second kind of thing is a a god time, a quiet time, and we'll talk a little bit about that.
So I'm gonna move to active worship first. And, Blake, if you activate that screen between the two of us. There we go. Okay. I got that right?
Yep. Active worship. So this is from Ephesians chapter four verse 11 to 13. Now these are the gifts of Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the pastors, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. So I I write that at the top job descriptions and responsibilities, and so I thought we'd go over that right now. So on this group, I'm gonna I'm gonna zero in on just three folks, the pastors and the teachers and and then God's people who are you or as Ray would say, y'all. K? You're God's people.
So it's pretty clear what the pastors and teachers, what their job is supposed to do. It's pretty simple, but yet it's exhaustive and they'll never get it all done. Their job is to equip, to teach you and I. K? So that's their job.
And, Carl, you do a great job. But now here's the biggie, is our job is to do all the rest. Our job is to do God's work and to build up the church of Jesus Christ. So what exactly does that mean for you and I coming to church on a on a Sunday? Let's see.
I think you would agree there's a lot of ways that we can join God in what he's doing, and that's the really cool thing about being a Christian. My life is not just about paying off my house and and contributing to my four zero one k and raising a couple of kids and, you know, grabbing all the gusto I can until one day I croak. I get to join God in what he's doing, which is really neat. I get to work with God, and that's what he wanted us to do. We're in the business of redeeming things with with God.
And so that's pretty neat. But today, I'm just gonna talk about what we can do during the church service to have do that. And what I wanted to do oh, great. We've got lots of time. It's a good thing it's not the Super Bowl this weekend.
Sorry about that. Should've put some real coffee in there. What I'd like you to try, just as an experiment, is, when you come to church, you could do it today, but next Sunday, I'd like you to try to change your perception about these roles that I just gave you and their responsibilities. Namely, I'd like you to try thinking well, typically, when you and I come to church for the all my life when I've come to church, I've sat out there and I've been the audience. K?
And we're all pretty good at that. Pretty easy sitting back there. K? And then the pastors and the teachers are up here, and that's the way it works. They're the presenters.
We're the audience. Well, I don't know why or how, but God put it on my heart a while back that try switching that around in your mind and in your heart on a Sunday morning. I want you to think about the fact that perhaps you're the presenters, and God and the heavenly host are the audience, and he's keenly interested in what you have to say and do. When that hit me, it really changed the way I think about church and what I do at church Because I don't know about you, but I have the propensity to be a when I come to church and sit down, I have a propensity to be a a spiritual sponge or blob. I just sit there, suck it all in, and then that's about it.
And when it's all done, I say, wow. That was cool and leave my my way. So I I'd like us to check out how we could do something perhaps a little differently. In first Peter, yep, first Peter chapter two I'm gonna read it off here. You can read it off there.
I got a nice big print here. I can see it. It's called stones and sacrifices. In first Peter two verses four through five, you're you are coming to Christ who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests through the mediation of Jesus Christ. You offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. When I read that, I think the spiritual sacrifices, what's that? And how can I what can I do it when I'm at a church service about that?
You know, I don't bring a lamb anymore or some turtledoves to sacrifice. What do I how do I get involved in this active worship at church? Two things came to mind come to my mind, and I think scripture backs it up. And we do. We bring we can now bring spiritual sacrifices to God.
There's no more reason to bring a lamb anymore. The lamb of God has already been slain for me. He died a long time ago, and he's never gonna do that again. I don't have to worry about that anymore. But we bring our prayer and our praises to God.
When you come to church next Sunday, maybe experiment with this. Try to come a little early. I know that's hard. It's hard for me. Really hard when you got little kids, isn't it?
Come a little early, be friendly, greet some people, and then find a nice comfortable chair and sit down. Good idea. And then I want you to start praying. So prayer is one of those spiritual sacrifices that you can bring to God in his to with his people. And I would really suggest you start praying first.
I'm gonna run through a list, and I try to do this in my head. But start talking thinking about your pastors and your teachers and the music team up here. And actually start to pray, father, please bless them. Help settle them. Give them strength.
Bring to mind everything that they studied because I guarantee you they studied a bunch. Bless their families and their marriages and their children. Just go through the list. Now what I would like you to do as an experiment is start looking around the room a little bit. Don't be obvious about it.
For heaven's sakes, don't make eye contact. But start with a young person, you know, a child or even a teenager, and specifically look at them and then close your eyes and start praying for them, that the Holy Spirit would do a work in their heart today, that they would come to Christ at an early age so they can avoid some of the scars that you and I got on the way. And then move up to the singles. I like to look around at single folks in church. Don't worry.
I'm not gonna make eye contact. Pray for them. They've got they've got their own special challenges nowadays. They got their own cross to bear. I'd like to think that I'm sure glad Jesus told us now, pick up your cross and follow me.
K? I don't wanna pick up Paul's. Paul doesn't want mine, do you? I'm glad he told us that. So pray for the singles and the challenges that they have now in 2022 and what it is specifically.
Look at some married folks. Start praying for them that they would love each other, that they would be one, and that they would have an impact on those around them and their kids. Give them wisdom in raising their kids. Mostly, just give them some sleep. And then I try to look around and I kinda zero in.
I mean, I actually do this. I zero in on an older person. Sometimes I see people, you know, I don't walk as good as I did when I was 18. And I see some folks that it's a little tougher for them to get to church than it is for me. I start praying for them, and I ask God to bless them to make the they're kind of in the make the fourth quarter of their lives the best quarter, that they would have strength and character, and they'd know deep down the joy of God that, you know what?
No matter what, it's okay. And I can be joyful, and I can still contribute. So I just prayed for that group of people and invite you know, it doesn't take very long. You know? And then it's okay to pray when Carl's speaking or something.
You can just keep going. But then I turn my prayers to myself, and I think this is really important. I ask God to make me teachable, to push down my ego and my pride because I'm a guy and I got lots of it, and to make me moldable. And when I leave today, can I be a little bit more like Jesus Christ and a little less like Steve? And that would be a good thing.
Okay? So that's what I start that's my spiritual sacrifice. That's a spiritual sacrifice that you can do when you come to church. You can actually be involved with God in the body of Christ, and I think we're supposed to be. The other one I mentioned was praise.
This one's easy, because Carl and the music team, you guys do all the work. But my suggestion is when you get to sing, sing your guts out. Sing to the living God. Matter of fact, you're gonna sing a song about that in just a minute. And remember, try to keep in mind that God is the audience.
You're the presenters. Sing loud. Aren't you grateful for the music team? I can't sing a lick. I I can sing, but I can't sing any tune.
I like to tell people the only musical instrument I know how to play is radio. And if it wasn't for these guys, I would lose out a lot on life. You know, it's so great to sing. Okay. So that covers active words.
The second thing I wanted to do, second takeaway from this morning is a quiet time. And I'm just gonna share quiet time, God time, whatever. I'm just gonna share a technique that works for me. You know, a lot of you guys, you're you're pretty good Christians, and you've got really good quiet time already established. Don't change a thing.
K? If it's working, don't fix it if it's not broken. But maybe some of you don't or maybe you have in the past and whatnot. So I just wanted to share something that worked for me in my life in the last few years and, you know, maybe another tool in your toolbox to take home with you today. So I I got a kick in in the book of James, which as far as most of us most scholars know or think, Jesus' half brother wrote the book of James, which is a message all and of itself.
Once upon a time, I had three brothers, and if any one of them had told me they were the son of God, I'd have said, you're nuts. James ended his life convinced that his brother was exactly who he said it was. And he said, come close to God and God will come close to you. That says something active to me. Come close to God, and God will come close to you.
I hate to say it, but I think the reverse probably is true too, but let's not go there. And in Hebrews, I read and you probably you guys know this. Hebrews eleven six. And by the way, this is out of the living translation, I think, is what it is. But, anyway, it says, and it is impossible to please God without faith.
Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Some of you might have read diligently seek him. When I think of diligent, I think I gotta work at this thing. I gotta put some effort into this deal. So here's what I'm gonna share with you.
This is what I do pretty much every every morning in my life. K? Now I do this in the morning because I don't know about you, but I'm a lot more spiritual in the morning than I am in the evening. Are you like that? By the time I've walked through this earth one more day, ain't very spiritual.
I never understood why we have elders meetings at night. So, anyway, I think to have a good quality spiritual time with God, you need to have three things to make it work. You need to be intentional about it, has to be routine, and it has to be repetitive. So this is where the props come in. In the intentionality part of it, I want you to know, I do this before I go to bed at night because I'm a guy, and I need stuff to help me.
Besides that, most of my life, a lot of it anyway, I have to have my quiet time at 02:30 in the morning because I had to get up and plow snow, and I have to be at work at 03:30 and blah blah blah blah blah. At 02:30 in the morning, I am on life support. I do not have the wherewithal to find a Bible, find a pen, find the glasses. I can barely eat my breakfast and get going. So this is what works for me.
The night before, I put my Bible right where I'm gonna eat breakfast. Susie got me this cool little plastic stand, holds it up where I can read it. I take my little piece of paper, my little tablet, really cheapo. I put it on the right side of my Bible. I'm right handed.
I take my glasses and put them right on top of the pad. I take my pen, this really cool pen that Susie got me for Christmas, and I put it right on the tablet. I get my coffee cup out. It's sitting right there. It was sitting there this morning.
K. There's a couple of reasons I do this. When I get up in the morning, I walk into the kitchen. Oh, yeah. There's a Bible.
K. Get my breakfast going. I sit down, and I start to read. The other thing that's good about this, you guys, is try to set it up where your kids can see it, maybe before they go to bed. And they go, wonder why he's doing that.
Or your roommates. Maybe you live in a place where you got roommates. Maybe sneak it in there. They might ask you, what are you doing that for? If nothing else, if your wife sees you reading it, that she'll probably think that's pretty cool.
I know mine does because I get a kick out of this. I got several of these books at home, and when they get filled up, a brand new one mysteriously shows up on the right hand side of where I eat breakfast. So I know it's gotta do some good. Okay. I need to keep moving on.
So it needs to be intentional. Do this. Have it set up in the morning. Just like, you know, sometimes you guys put your clothes out the night before. Right?
Or, you know, you're gonna go on a trip. You don't grab your suitcase ten minutes before you gotta get to the airport and go, oh, crap. I gotta get stuff in here. You know? You do it intentionally and form.
Routine. I've already kinda told you the routine. The routine is I sit there, I eat, and do the spiritual time at the same time. Sometimes it takes me five minutes, usually a little bit longer than that. Maybe ten, fifteen.
I'm really spiritual about twenty or thirty. K? So I I stop. I pray. Thank God for the food.
Holy Spirit, please let me know what is on God's mind and help it to change me. And then I read. And I sometimes I read a lot. Sometimes I read a little. Sometimes I get everything I need out of just a couple of verses.
Other times, I might read a chapter or something. So I pray, I read, and I write. I write the date down. I write where I started reading and where I stopped reading, and then I pause. And I think about what I just read, and God, what do you want me to do?
And if he says something, I write it down. Now you're welcome to come up and look at this book after the service. Nothing it's not a diary or anything. But you if you do notice it, you'll notice there's a lot of dates. All I do is you just see the date, where I started, where I stopped.
That's it. And that's okay. I'm still getting God's word into my mind, to my heart. There's a lot of days in here that he shared some really cool stuff with me. And so that's why I think it's really important to write it down, and I'll tell you a couple other reasons why.
I'm gonna go to the repetitive part to save time. The repetitive part let's see. We had the prayer, read, write. That's routine. Repetitive part is really simple.
Do it again and again and again, hopefully, for the rest of your lives. I don't always do it. You know, life happens. I get a kick out of my daughter. She does this very same thing now.
And when she comes to visit, it doesn't really work out because I keep trying to get up earlier and earlier. So I got my own little private time, and she's the same way. Didn't fall far from that tree. So the next thing you know, we're drinking coffee and making jokes at 02:30 in the morning. It doesn't work.
But, anyway, so you're gonna be it needs to be repetitive, and I really encourage you to do so. Let's see. I gotta catch up with my notes here. Alright. Why do this?
Why do I wanna share this with you today? I think it's a couple of things. Number one, if you do this, you greet God first thing in the morning and you invite him into your day. And remember what he promised. If you draw close to me, I will draw close to you.
If you diligently seek me, you will find me, and you will. So it's really important. The other thing is every day that I do this, I absorb a little bit of God's thoughts. I got so much junk. I was really careful when I said that.
I got so much junk coming at me all day long. I bet you do too. You know? That cell phone there, that's a killer. You know?
I got so much data coming at me. Putting God's word in my heart is cool. It's like a filter. And then I can listen to the news and I go, nope. That's not right.
Nope. That ain't right. K? The other thing is the real important thing about writing stuff down, if you write it down, you sear it into your mind. Now I'm not writing a book here.
It's usually like a sentence or two is all, but it sears it into your mind. You'll remember it more. And the other thing is you have a really neat record of stuff that God has done throughout the year, stuff that he's taught you throughout the year. And it's really fun to take it up and read it at the end of the year. I did it after the first of the year.
There's sometimes I don't write anything except for well, sometimes I just write where I started and where I stopped, and that's fine. But sometimes I write some funny stuff. You know? May 23. The twenty second is Susie and I's birthday or birthday anniversary.
We were married forty two years. I put down where I read and whatnot, and then I said, had a nice dinner last night, and we came home and vacuumed the house and cut the grass. Times have changed. But just like you laughed right now, when I came and sold Susie, I said, look at what we did last January last May's. We laughed and we had a good time.
So that's a that's a really another cool thing that this is good for. I'm I'm out of time. K? Every significant spiritual insight that not everyone. Almost every significant spiritual insight I get is from the spiritual time in the morning with God.
Almost all of it. Everything of value that I've got to share with you, you know, when you need some encouragement or something matter of fact, this whole this whole little thing today all came out of that time in the morning. It's really important. And so I'd encourage you to do it. If this trick works for you, great.
If you got something going on already, fantastic. Don't change a thing. K? I did wanna share one thing to you, though. I I could I could talk all day long about all the nuggets God gives me, but you know what?
Same token, those are mine. I mine those. Kinda like some people mine Bitcoin, I mind God coin. I like it better. But anyway, in Revelation, if we could put that one up.
Now this this thing from Revelation, it's a tough passage because God is really pulling the curtain back for you and I, and he's seen this happen. He knows it's coming, and it's a really bad time on the earth. It's when the time to choose between God and yourself and God in this world, it's over. Now it's the day of wrath. This is when he comes back.
So this is this is what I and I wrote this I read this on 11/27/2021. And I'm reading, and it says, then everyone, the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive? Pretty heavy stuff. I got a sneaky suspicion there won't be any Christians that day.
None none that are there crying out for the rocks. I think we might be already gone. But I can't swear to that. But, anyway, I told you I have a really dry sense of humor, and God knows that I do. So when I got done reading that, I can't remember how much I read rest, but when I got done, I paused and I thought about it.
And then this is what I wrote down that day. It is impossible to hide from God, Steve, so stop trying. It makes you look silly. Bow before me, confess your sins, receive my grace, get up, brush yourself off again, and follow me. Very simple.
But, boy, I tell you what, I can't remember what I did that day. I bet I was a lot better off after reading that. And that's what he tells me every time. Told me that just last night when I blew it again. Get up, brush yourself off, and come follow me.
And I hope that encourages today. So takeaways, be active worshipers when we come to church, and have a quiet time. If you wanna use this trick, cool. And in all seriousness, when I close here, if there's anybody out here that isn't a Christian because I know this message was for for for Christians today. K?
If there's anybody out there that's tired of hiding from God, and if you wanna come forward and talk to me or or or pastor Carl up here after the service, I will make time and he will too. Someone invited me to do that a long time ago, and it it, my life hasn't been easy since then, but it's been remarkably more satisfying. So let's pray. Father, it's been awfully good to be with you and your people today. I hope I hope you get a kick out of the fact, Lord Jesus, we though we've never seen you and we've never heard your voice, we love you, and we praise you.
You are the only God, and we worship you today. And as I ask that you bless these good folks as they go throughout their week. Amen.
Speaker 2Should we stand and we'll sing together? And, Steve, thank you so much for sharing that. I needed to hear that this morning. I needed to hear that. Helpful, practical.
Thank you.
Steve BaldockLove it.
Speaker 2And then this was a a song that that Steve had suggested. It's the sing out, sing loud, sing the living God. I think Blake has a little, not a little benediction, a big benediction for us. What
Speaker 3a blessing, that message was this morning and may this, benediction that Steve picked up be a blessing as well. Ephesians three fourteen through 20. When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.
Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ though it is too great to understand fully, then you will be made complete with all the fullness of his life and the power that comes from God. Now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we may ask or to even think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever.
Amen.
Speaker 2Amen. Go in peace. Also, get your picture taken right back there, please. We want your mug in our little directory book.
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