verse with a different sermon, but more of a reiteration, if you will, of the topic that we're going to do this year of thriving. And we're going to thrive in 25. That's what we're looking at. Amen? That rings true. But as we were just singing here just a moment ago, we talk about being free. You know, the fact of the matter is Jesus Christ has set us free. He has cut us loose from the bondage of who we were, what we did, who we are, all of these different things. And the Bible tells us that if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. Indeed, that word means, you know, with strength, I mean, without hesitation, without any type of improbability. It is an absolute pure fact. Whatever it used to be or whatever it once was, is no more if the Son has set you free. And it kind of ties into what we're looking at tonight in John chapter 10 verse 10. And it says, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. Jesus says, here's what he says. He says, I am come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly. That word abundant is vitally important. It's vitally important for our message. It's vitally important for our thought. It's vitally important when we talk about thriving this year, about having an abundant life. But it means existing or available in large quantities is what it means. That's just a simple definition of the word abundant. And Jesus Christ says that he has come that an eye of life and then he reiterates that point of life that they might have it more abundantly. I can't get past this verse when we look at, like in Romans 8, 37, when Paul says that we are more than conquerors. And the word conqueror in Paul's day was the highest level that anyone could ever achieve on the battlefield. There was no higher level. It was the height of all labels, of all glory, of all awards. If you were a conqueror, that is as high as you can go. There's no other area you could achieve. And yet Paul says that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Jesus Christ says he's come not only to give us life, but he's coming to give us life more abundantly, so more available in large quantities, if you will. You see, our life, this is something that I want us to get into tonight, I want us to really buy into. Our life is made up of three parts. It is the beginning, then there is the middle, and then there is the future. It doesn't matter how long our life may be or how short it may be, they're still made up of those three parts, the beginning, the middle, and then there's the future. So I want us to think about this tonight. I want us to kind of buy into this and understand that where these end and where they begin, what happens in the middle, okay, is our choices. How the future and how the beginning of our life, how they are connected in between is made up of the choices that we make in our life. I realize that with all my heart that we should be a people. And again, I'm baking on this word abundantly tonight. So hear me out over the next few verses we're gonna read. We should be a people who are sober-minded. Would you agree with that tonight? A sober-minded people. The word sober-minded means clear-headed, okay? And yeah, I understand, you know, that's why when you're drunk with wine or with alcohol, you're not sober-minded because you're not clear-thinking, okay? It's very, that's just a fact. But beyond alcohol and beyond that subject, Even when we are dead cold sober physically, we should be a sober-minded people. We should be thinking clearly to the best of our ability. As a pastor and a pastor's wife, we are to be sober. According to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and Titus chapter 1, the pastor and his wife are to be sober people, meaning we need to be level-headed people. We need to be clear-thinking types of people. That is one of the qualifications. But believers in general, not just pastors, not just pastors' wives, not just evangelists and preachers, believers in general are commanded to be sober as well. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 6 is, therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. He says in verse 8, but let us who are of the day be sober, put on the breastplate of faith and of love and of a helmet, the hope of salvation. We need to be aware of our surroundings, OK? In Titus chapter 2, the Bible says, young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. Peter says in his first epistle, we have three verses from there, he says in chapter 1 verse 13, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and hope to the end of the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7 he says, but the end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. And then, of course, the old favorite, 1 Peter 5.8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, has a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour. Guys, if our heads are in the clouds, and we're not aware of who and what we are, and we're not clear thinking, and we're so distracted by everything going on in the world today, we can't be sober, we can't be vigilant, and we're gonna be nothing more than a prey to the enemy out there, who is the devil. That's what Peter's saying, that's what the word of God is telling us. Now, again, I mentioned it just a moment ago, that to be sober, it means clear-minded, but it also means proper judgment, all right, proper judgment. Now, you say, well, Preacher, where are you going with this sober-mindedness? Well, I'm taking the turn, I'm taking this into where our life, how it should reflect and how we should act, how we should think, and how that applies into an abundant life, a thriving life, if you will. Now, I wanna talk about Jesus just for a moment. Jesus Christ is known to be a man of sorrows. 750 years before the birth of Jesus Christ on this earth, Isaiah penned these words. He says, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. All right. Now why was Jesus Christ a man of sorrows? This is the prophecy. We know that that was fulfilled, you know, to the nth degree. Was Jesus Christ a man of sorrows because he became our example to live a life of doldrums? To live a life of sadness? to walk through life with our head down and just kick a stone and hate every moment of it? Is that what Jesus Christ wants us to live in this earth? Is that what he wants us to depict in between the beginning and the end of our life? No. No, not at all. He was a man of sorrows because his people turned their back on him. His people rejected him. Those that he came to save, they turned their back. That's why he's a man of sorrows. It's all in the context right here. He's despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows. It's right in front of us. Matter of fact, the only two records we have of Jesus Christ weeping, one was at the tomb of Lazarus, his dear friend, the brother of Mary and Martha. Now, was he crying because Lazarus was dead? Keep in mind who he is. He's 100% God. He's 100% man. All he had to do was thank Lazarus to come to life. And he would have. We know that he commanded him to come forth. Lazarus, come forth. Matter of fact, if he would not have said Lazarus, every dead person in every sepulcher would have got up and walked. Amen? He is the almighty God, the creator of all things. He was not weeping because Lazarus was dead. As a matter of fact, he took his own sweet time. to come to where Lazarus were, and even Mary comes and said, if you'd have been here, you'd have lived. Jesus was weeping at that tomb because of the unbelief of the people. That's why he wept. The second time he wept was when he wept over Jerusalem, because the day had come when they could have received him as Messiah, and yet the scripture tells us ye would not. So I want you to think about it for a moment tonight. I just want you to think about what the Lord would have us to do, how he would have us to live our lives, how he would have us to act and to function in the life, listen carefully, in the life he has given us. Think about it for just a moment. Just think about what the Lord would have us to live and how he would have us live. I mean, why, guys, why would we be against a life being taken or a life being stopped if that life was only going to be miserable? Nobody in here is pro-death. Nobody in here wants to see someone's life snuffed out. Not one person in this room tonight is for a life being taken. Why are you like that? You're like that because you know life offers something. The ultimate life giver offers something that is abundant. It's in large quantities. And therefore, we should be clear-minded people. We should be sober-minded people. But we should not live a life of sorrow. The Lord is not interested in us living a life of misery. I want you to understand that tonight. Nor is the prosperity doctrine, you know, the prosperity gospel doctrine, that's not true either. You know, if you think that you're going to get saved and sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ and he's going to drop you a plane and a gold toilet and all that stuff, man, you listen to the wrong people on the wrong channel, amen? The Lord isn't interested in us being rich. He's not interested in us being poor, for that matter. Neither one of them have anything to do with the truth. but he is interested in coming and giving us an abundant life. Have you ever wondered, have you ever wondered if when Jesus Christ was fellowshipping around the fire with his disciples, do you think he ever laughed? See, we have this mindset, don't we, what he's a man of sorrows, he's acquainted with grief, and we think that he just sat around miserable all the time, but that doesn't fit the bill, does it? And it doesn't add up if you stop and you think about it. And I will say this, of the 18 times that the word laugh appears in the Bible, only three times does it appear outside of mockery. The rest of them are mockery. If the Bible speaks of having joy in the Holy Spirit, joy and peace, Jesus said that my joy shall remain in you and that your joy might be full. Well, if you're joy, listen carefully, what does the word full mean? If I was going to bring you a cup of coffee, there used to be an old TV commercial in the States, it was a... It was a decaf coffee, so I don't even know why you'd want it. But it was called Brehm, all right? And it said, fill to the rim with Brehm. I remember growing up as a little kid and hearing that thing all the time on the telly. Fill with the rim with Brehm, right? It was Brehm coffee. And so if I was to bring you a cup of coffee and I said, how much do you want? My dad would say two fingers, which means two fingers width and height. He never got two fingers. It's always about four. But he would always say two fingers. But if you said, I want it filled up, all right? So my question is to you tonight, if I fill your coffee cup up, is there any room for anything else? What do they say when you go to one of those other coffee shops and they say, do you want room for milk? You see, if you're full of joy, that your joy might be full, you don't have room for the misery of this world. You don't have room for the doldrums. You don't have room for the sadness. You don't have room with it. And Jesus Christ is that your joy. His desire is that your joy made me full. And I just can't help but think the Lord desires His bride to have peace in Him and joy through Him. Yes, we are appointed unto afflictions. I get that. Paul told us that. That is a certainty of our life. But where would you get the idea today that the Lord just wants us to merely survive in this world as opposed to thrive? I want us to look at it real quick. and address one issue in the front end. This will be a quick sermon, but I want to address one issue that I believe, personally, that causes us to survive and not thrive, that causes us to live a life of misery, and maybe that word's a little strong. I told you that life is made up of a beginning, a middle, and a future, yeah? Those three levels, the beginning of our life, as to where we are sitting tonight, the beginning of our life is known as the past, isn't it? We're in this second right now, anything beyond or anything before this second is the past, and that is part of the beginning of our life, all right? Now, the interesting thing of that is that you can't do anything about anything that just happened a millisecond ago. It's impossible. And so many people are allowing their past to rob them of what the Lord wants to give them. We addressed the topic of the thief last week, who is Satan. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Holding on to what once was Will rob you of peace and will rob you of joy and you're allowing the thief to come in and pick you apart Little by little by little the past can become a thief of life It'll come a thief of the life that the Lord wants to give us that is more abundant. It becomes a robber It becomes a destroyer it comes in and it killed it after church this morning We had this conversation with someone and she said it will this lady said it will eat you alive And it will. That's what the past does. You have no control over the past, do you? You only have the control of the middle, where you are right now. So let's look at four things in the past. Our past, at many times, can be filled with problems, can't it? Now some of those problems were to none of our avail. There's nothing we could have done about it. They inadvertently happened to us, and there was nothing we could do. But yet they were a problem, OK? Some of those problems were made by our own ill choices, okay? There is nothing we can do about the problems that we made bad choices of over here other than learn from them and not make them in the middle portion of our life. I told you before, if you want that abundant life, if you want that joy and you want that peace, you're gonna have to make the choices that the Lord is allowing you so that you can have that life and more abundantly. You know what the problem with the problems of our past become? They become our identity. We allow them to develop who and what we are, and then we live underneath them. We don't put them in the rear view. We live them, and we allow them to control us and to dictate and to tell us who we are. And my friend, we just sang it just a little bit ago. The Son of the, it made thee free. You're free indeed. Here's what you cannot be. You cannot be in bondage and free at the same time. It is one or the other. That is black and white. That is cut and dry. You cannot be in bondage. You cannot be limited. You cannot be put away in a cell and be free at the same time. It does not happen like that. So often in the past, we allow problems to tell us who we are. to cause us to claim our identity amongst those problems. Secondly, sometimes we allow power of the past to tell us who we are, to rob us of where we are in the present. You say, what do you mean by power? Well, I used to be real strong. I used to have a voice. I used to have X, Y, Z. You know what I've learned? I can't lift as much at 53 as I could at 21, all right? And guess what, guys? It's never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. No matter how hard I work, no matter how hard I strive, no matter what changes I make in my life, I am never gonna lift the same weights that I did at 21 years old. I may get close, I doubt that too, but I'm telling you it's not gonna happen. Why? Because I'm a different person at 53 than I was at 21 years old, all right? That's the reality of life. I can't live underneath the power of the past. The third thing we see is that sometimes we allow the position of the past to claim our identity and rob us of the peace and the joy that the Lord would have us today. You say, what does that mean? Well, back in over here, I was a CEO. I was a business owner. You know, I was the big man or the big woman in charge. I was telling everybody else what to do. Now I'm over here and, you know, I'm not doing anything. We've allowed our identity to be determined by a position. You know who deals with this usually the greatest? Athletes, professional athletes. I preached a sermon many, many years ago here, but many years ago called the Christian Identity. I took that same sermon and I preached it for our organization, Sports Chaplaincy UK. We took that same lesson and we broke it down into divisions so the chaplains around the United Kingdom could teach it into their clubs, into the professional levels, and to select the blues and all these different types of organizational teams so they prepare guys for what happens after sport. I can give you illustration after illustration after illustration after illustration of men who came out of the NFL and they tried to commit suicide because that was where their identity was and that's where it stopped. I can tell you personally, when I came off the field, my darkest year, one of my darkest years was the first season outside of playing football. I played for 19 years. It was me. That was my identity. And I struggled greatly watching guys on the teleplay who I beat the year before, who I did better in, and I chose myself to walk away. But I had to get away from that identity. I tell you another group that deals with it in ways that you can't imagine are pastors. Now, I'm not talking about some guy in a gown and a dog collar. I'm talking about pastors of a Bible-believing church who have pastored a church for 40 and 50 years, have watched it grow, have great, great, great grandbabies in that church, and they've seen, I mean, generation after generation after generation, and it's just come time for them to step down, and a younger generation come in, and they step down, and a younger generation comes in, and all of a sudden, when they hear the name, the title pastor, I got a question, they're talking to the 30-year-old or the 40-year-old and not the 70 or 80-year-old. You say, well, preacher, is that a bad thing? If your identity is outside of Jesus Christ, your personal identity is outside of something that is eternal, yes, it's a bad thing. Because your positions are going to change, your power is going to change, your problems are going to change. Guys, the predicaments of our life are going to change. But you don't have to change with it. You don't have to go with it. You don't have to identify with who you used to be, what problems you used to have, or even the power that you may have lost. Those things change. It's just a different power now. It's just a different position now. It's just a different predicament, whether it's positive or negative. And it's just a different problem. But you can't allow the identity to grab ahold of you otherwise. The past is gonna rob you blind of the abundant life that Jesus Christ desires for us to have. It's probably one of the hardest things in the world for us to do if you wanna know the truth. Those that have chased dreams and built businesses and done the things and then there's been a life changing situation. You have that tendency to look back. Beloved, if I could end it right now, if you would get victory over the past this evening, the message has done its job. If you want the abundant life, the past stays where it is. Guys, I'm not saying forget about it. I'm not saying that you can remove it. I'm not saying bury it under the sand. I'm saying just leave it where it is. You can't take it with a chain. It's just going to hold you back. The Lord came to give us more than a past. He came to give us not just a beginning, but He came to give us a promotion, guys. You see, that's what we need to focus on. Yesterday in Faith Rx, we talked about Hebrews chapter 12, and look at the author and finisher of our faith, and how we can continue into this new year, leaving those things that are behind. And I love a good illustration as much as anyone does, and I don't have the liberty that I used to have When we were in the States, but man, I was a prop guy. I love props I built a an 8 foot by 8 foot by 10 foot replica of the Ten Commandments. We got him over here I brought him over here and I mean I loved a prop I preached a whole series out of Ephesians 6 put it on foot by different piece of my football uniform every single week and So I love a good profit and yesterday really and truly what I wanted to do is I wanted to have some big old huge chains wrapped around my shoulders and my neck and just to illustrate what it's like. I'm still in the race, right? But these chains are weighing me down and that's what we tend to do in our life. When we hold back to what used to be, we don't understand that Christ came that they might have life. And we know what the Lord Jesus Christ said that we just spoke about earlier, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Guys, we have a past, but praise God, we have a promotion, amen. I mean, Lord, this is our future. No matter how bad things may have been or how bad things may become in this life, we have a promotion in the future to look forward to. One that we can count on, one that we can trust, one that we can depend about. Where there was a problem, the Lord gave a present. Where there was panic, the Lord gave peace. And where there's a predicament, you know what the Lord gave us? He gave us a promise. He said, I go to my father's house. In my father's house are many mansions, he says, but I go to prepare a place for thee. He goes, if it wasn't so, I'd have told you. But he said, if I go, John 14, if I go, what was the next part? I will come again that you may be with me. That is a promise, and that buffer film, our New Year buffer film that comes on right after the countdown, and this one that we're using, I'm gonna use it this month mainly because I love it, but you see in there that one thing that we're looking at in this New Year is we need to get ahold of God's promises. We need to get a hold of God's promises and understand what he has promised for us. Not just yesterday, not just right now, but what do we have to look forward to? I am an advocate, guys, of being in our life where we are now. Because no matter what happens in this world today, no matter what happens tonight, no matter what happens this week, there's a promotion on the other side of glory that we get to look forward to. You've heard the statement people say that some people are too heavily minded to be any earthly good. And I understand what people are saying about that. And I can't say I necessarily agree with it, but I do believe this, that if we get our eyes focused on the vertical, God started taking care of the horizontal. But we tend to look back at that beginning. We tend to look back over there, of which we can't do one thing about and hold to that and expect to enjoy the promotion. And it'll never happen, my friend. All this world is filled with, all the beauty, guys, we have a beautiful world, don't get me wrong. We have a world that's filled with problems, we have a world that is filled with tragedies, a world that has pain, and in the midst of all that, we have a real present truth of eternal life, an abundant life that the Lord has given us so that we can look forward to it. But guys, it doesn't stop there, that I'm done. He came to give us life. He came to give us a promotion. He came to get us away from the past. But he came to give us a life that is plentiful. Plentiful. That they might have it. more abundantly. When I tell you that word abundant means large quantities. We like large quantities. I like large quantities when I sit down at a table to eat, all right? I don't like the little bitty, you know, appetizers they want to give you and call that a meal. That ain't a meal. Give me some steak and some potatoes and I want it flowing over the plate. I might drop a couple as long as they clean. I'll use my fork to get it right. Listen, I like it plentiful. And that's what the Lord has done for us. But I'm gonna ask you this question as we work to close tonight. Do you feel as if your life is subpar? Mediocre? Do you feel like you're missing something? Beloved, our life today isn't meant to merely survive. Our life today is meant to thrive. Our life is meant to be of large quantities. Our life is meant to be abundant. It is to be more abundant, as the Lord said. So tonight, if you're allowing the robber, the thief, if you will, the one that came to destroy, to take the past and rob you of the joy that Jesus Christ has for you, the joy of that future promotion, that joy of that plentiful life, Do you know what the middle of your story's gonna be? The beginning's over here, the future's over there. But the middle's gonna be that of misery. And that's not what he wants for you. That's not what he wants for you. It's not all about prosperity, I get that. It's not all about fun and games and unicorns and candy floss. It's not all about that, but what it is about is a plentiful life that the Lord wants to give us. The life the Lord has given or the life the Lord has prepared for us It's like a plentiful garden. It's like a plentiful crop. And you know what it should be filled with? It should be filled with peace. Now, beloved, if I was to go out in our back garden, Sarah gave me a plum tree about two and a half years ago. And she said that it probably won't render any fruit the first two years. And so I'm looking forward to this coming summer, because I've had that thing planted. It'll be three years this summer. And I want plums. I can eat my weight in plums. But you know, if I planted that tree in the garden, and I went out there and I fertilized it, and I tended to it, and I watered it, and I did all that I needed to do, and I sat back and I expected oranges to grow, that'd be pretty foolish, wouldn't it? You get what you plant. And brother, I'm here to tell you tonight that we have what's called the fruit of the Spirit. There's nine fruit of the Spirit. Number nine is the number of fruitfulness in biblical numerology. He said, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such, There is no law. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lust. Can I say this to you tonight? And I'm finished. If you want to have this plentiful life that the Lord came to give us, this life more abundantly, if you will, you're gonna have to make some choices to crucify the flesh, to crucify the affections and the lust of this world. Get our eyes on the vertical. so the Lord himself can handle the horizontal. And beloved, I tell you, it'll amaze you what kind of life he'll give you. You will thrive in this world. When the storms come, when the rain comes down, when the thunder is clapping, when the lightning, you will thrive like you never have, simply because of a plentiful life that Jesus Christ is sitting there wanting to give you. It's based on the choices that we make. It's based on what we choose to do tonight and how and what our outlook is gonna be in this upcoming year. On this year 2025, our goal should be to thrive and not just survive. Will you bow your heads tonight? Father in heaven, thank you again for the opportunity and time to be together this evening. We thank you for your message, for your word. We thank you for the everlasting word of God. We thank you for the truth, the promises that you have given us. Father, I just want to thank you for the forgiveness of my sins, dear Lord. I thank you for giving me every minute, every moment of the day. I thank you for allowing us to be together tonight, to worship in spirit and truth, to have fellowship one with another. But Father, I pray this evening that we would take on board that which we have heard, that we would trust the Lord Jesus Christ and all the words that he has said, not just that in eternal life, but that also, Father, in the abundant life that he seeks for us to have, that our joy may be full, that we may have peace in the midst of this life, no matter the storm. Let us remember Christ in the midst of the storm on the Sea of Galilee, went down inside the ship, went to sleep. Father let it be said of us that even in the midst of storms we could rest easy having our faith and our trust in you. In Jesus Christ's name we ask these things. Amen.