Count your many blessings. Isn't that beautiful? Do you see the picture behind me? Well, it was behind, yeah, it is behind me. And I'm looking back, it's a different picture I'm looking at right now, but Carol and I were just talking about that picture. Isn't that pretty? And she was just saying, I love the colors. It's like God gives us one more burst of color right before, you know, winter hits. And anyway, but are you thankful today? Isn't it hard to believe Thanksgiving is here again? It's amazing. Carolyn, we're going to jump right into it this morning. And if you can come up and help me, we're going to start off by singing this song that he keeps me what? Singing. Is that true all the time? Yeah. Could be. It should be. It should be. He keeps me singing. I bet you sing all the time. I do sing all the time, actually. It's who you are. Right. It's who you are. Aren't you going to ask me? I'm waiting. Part of the scripture for today's message is where we are encouraged to engage in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. That's my reason. He keeps me singing. So does my husband keep me singing. There's within my heart a melody. Dreams and whispers sweet and low. In the night it wouldn't be, peace be still. In all of life's depth and flow. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest thing I know, fills my every longing, keeps me sleeping as I go. All my life was requested and strung, but you broke my heart with pain. Jesus swept across the broken strings, so they shall be whole again. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest King I know, fills my every longing, makes me sing as I go. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest King, I go to Thee. I know. But sometimes he leads through water or steam, right across the way. And sometimes the path seems bright and steep, straight through a long way. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know. I show you I shall reign with Him on high. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest thing I know, fills my every lonely, keeps me singing as I go. I'm gonna go ahead and pray, but remember Mary Wagner in your prayer, she went to urgent care this morning with bronchitis. And I'm looking for Chris Allnut, where's Chris Allnut? Chris, how's your mom this morning, if you can hear me? Or anybody know how Mrs., or Paula, do you know how Miss Allnut is this morning? She's doing okay, she's still very sore. Okay, Mrs. Allnut had surgery on Friday, and it was a miracle that she even had surgery because the doctors had told her she wasn't healthy enough to have the surgery. And so the family got involved, and Dr. Hokule right down here, if you know him, performed the surgery, and she came through it okay, and she needed it bad. It was a matter of life and death, actually. And so she's doing better this morning, and then also I'm wondering if Gary's here. Is Gary here? Okay, Gary was very ambitious. He was gonna try his best to be here and I told him do not push yourself. So if Gary's watching, thank you Gary. Gary had hip replacement on Thursday. Outpatient surgery, hip replacement. Crazy. And he told me I'm gonna be there Sunday. I'm like what? I think he was still in the pain meds when he was telling me all this stuff, right? That's usually what happens. We're going to pray for Gary. I'm missing, but I'm glad that he's resting and keep praying for him. Dear Gracious Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for our family here. I thank you so much for Gary and just seeing him Wednesday night as he limped through the lobby, knowing that the next day he would be Going in for surgery, we pray, Lord, that as he heals and recovers, it would be quick and a full recovery. I thank you for answered prayer and allowing Julian Ornott to go into surgery and have this surgery that was much needed. It was put off for many, many months, many months. And we're thankful that it has happened, and she made it through the surgery, and now she's recovering. We thank you for that. Lord, we pray for our sister Mary Wagner, who went to urgent care this morning because of bronchitis. And there's other folks who, Gary is not here today because he is also sick. So we lift up these folks to you. And I'm sure there are others, and we have things on our minds and people in our hearts this morning. We lift all these things up to you, Lord, because you are the great physician. And Lord, you know it all. And Lord, you are all-powerful, and you are omnipresent. And Lord, we know, Lord, that no matter what we're going through, we can cast all of our care on you because you do care for us. I even lift up right now my dear friends here at Ridge Overlook that I'll be ministering to this afternoon. I think of Mr. Gene, who was not himself last Sunday. I think of his wife sitting next to his side, holding his hand as we sing the songs. Even later today, Lord, I think of those who are in Lurien, who was able to minister there this past week, and was able to meet Eleanor's dad for the first time, and sit in a room full of people as we sang, and even shared the Word, and how you have reopened that door for the ministry, Lord. Again, we just thank you for this morning. We ask for your blessing upon all that's said and done and sung, and so we come before you now declaring our dependence on you once again. Thank you so much for these wonderful people, and we know that you loved each and every one of us so much that you gave your only begotten Son, and that whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you for its power, and we are not ashamed of the gospel here at Crosslight Bible Church, because we have experienced your grace and your love, and it is amazing. So again, we thank you so much. In Jesus' precious name we pray, amen. You can be seated, and 3 John 1, verses 3 to 5, it says this, For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came And this is John talking to his brothers and sisters there at a little church. And he says, the brethren came and they testified of the truth that is in you. Just as you walk in truth, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children do what? Walk in truth. Isn't that true? No greater joy than to hear My children will walk in truth. Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for who else? And for the strangers, right? So we're continuing our lesson on walking in wisdom today. But just think about that, walking in the truth. Carolyn, introduce us to this song. This song is the pastor's choice. And when I saw what he'd written in his email, I thought, let all things now living. I wasn't sure that I knew this song. But the words are different. But it is to a Thanksgiving hymn. So we will sing this Thanksgiving hymn, different words, same idea. And we'll let everything that has breath. Look, let everything that has breath do what? Praise the Lord. How many didn't have breath this morning? A lot of hopes there, right? So all of us, praise the Lord. We'll sing this song. The Lord brings the living, a song of thanksgiving to God the Creator. I can't see. For us it will come shining, the morning, the night, till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished. To God in the highest, Hosanna in praise. He's calling in forces, the stars in their courses, the sun in its orbit. mountains, the rivers and fountains, the waves of the ocean, the wind and the rhyme. You should be voicing our love and rejoicing with glad adoration, a song let us raise to all things now living, My eyeballs cannot pick out white on red. Was Michael up here somewhere? As far as praying for the offering, Michael's going to come up. I think that's what's next, right? Yes, but as Michael comes up, I'm going to make an announcement. I just want to show everybody this. In the pew in front of you, you will find one of these envelopes. This is a special Christmas envelope. We met as a board this past Tuesday night. Michael, you better come around this way. Come around this way. And each year, we send a love offering to every missionary that we support. We have a list of missionaries we support on a monthly basis around this world, and that's one of our favorite things to do here. But we actually, every year, we send them a love offering from the church, and then we give you the opportunity to give on top of that. And what we do, if you give anything to the missionaries, we split that among all the missionaries so that they can have a love offering before. And we try to get it out early in December so that they can have it for Christmas. So just so you know. So that's what this envelope is for. And we are going to be sending that out the week of the 12th, around the 12th, so I think 5th, the 5th is where Chris is asking that we can have these turned in by the 5th of December. So I just want to point that out, that it is an appeal. You can take it home and bring it back later, you do have time, but we love, we love our missionaries, right? So, Michael? Lord Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the ability to be here. As it says on the screen behind me, giving thanks always, not for the good stuff that He gives us, giving thanks for all things, to God and the Father. Our Lord God knows everything we need, He knows everything we desire. And as a child of God, He gives you everything that you need to support yourself and to continue in whatever duties that you have, serving Him as long as you're here. And sometimes some of the not-so-good things come along, but He knows about it already. He's got it in His hands. He knows how to work it out. He sees the future, you know. It could very well be that that particular thing that happened is important for other reasons that you may not know that. How many times does that happen that pastors talk about it? And so when you do give thanks... The Thanksgiving Day that's coming up, and we're thinking about the country and the Thanksgiving there. But Lord, throughout the whole year, you give us and supply us our graces and mercies. And you keep us in your hand always, you're beside us always. Give thanks for that too. And Lord, as we talk about our missionaries and what we do and how we support them, how do we support them? Some of us go with them, but not all. The ones that don't provide the monies that they need to continue their mission, different parts of the world where they may be. So today, as we think about what you've done for us, let's consider what we would do to support and help those missionaries, this building, the church, the facility, everything that we need to do to keep the message that you would have us preach throughout the county and the state, throughout this country and the world. And as we think of what we would give, we would give with a happy heart, not grudgingly, Lord, But we know that we wouldn't even have that money if it wasn't for you. So at this time, let us consider that as we give. In these things we pray, in Christ Jesus' name, amen. And while I'm thinking about it, since Michael was up here tonight, our choir practice is going to be at 5 o'clock, not 6 o'clock, 5 o'clock. Right, Michael? Yep. All right. Carolyn? I have a different song next. Work for the night is coming. That's coming later. OK. I'm flexible. I forget why I chose this one. OK. You say that. The Spirit of God. In our text, we're to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yes. Right? Yes. So, Spirit of God, do what? Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5, 25. Right? That's why you chose this song. Okay. Sorry. Let's all stand. Spirit of God, descend upon my heart. Clean it from earth, from all its falsehoods. my weakness, mighty as thou art, and make me love thee as I ought to love. All my hopes are hard and strength and wide. I see thy cross there, feet hard to clean. Oh, let me begin as I only thought. has thine angel come. One holy passion filling all my brain. Love that is love, love, and peace and endow. Beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for choosing that. This time Kevin Pickett's gonna come up and he's gonna share special music, but I want also just to share that Tuesday night, this week, I'm gonna share it at the end of my message and my announcements, but Kevin is helping on Tuesday night to lead our prayer service. And I appreciate him so much as I've gotten to know him recently and as I sit next to him in choir practice. and just share outside of church. I've grown to love Kevin and Dawn. And when you hear this song today, I already heard it this morning and it really moved my heart already, even before you guys got here this morning. And I know that's going to move your heart also. So thank you so much. Good morning. You know, it doesn't take long as we talk with each other and our families and at work. even in this church, that there's just a heaviness about life. There's always some heavy thing that we're, or somebody we love or care about is dealing with. And that, in and of itself, if we're looking to our own strength and motives and wisdom to navigate all of that, can be a very hopeless thing, a depressing thing. But as we have been praying, those who claim the name of Jesus Christ as their savior, that is the hope. And then these things that are difficult, that God says are good for us, we start to begin to lean into that and to accept that and still praise his name through it all and makes me think of You know, the scripture in Ephesians 2, and you can see it up there, but God, and I just love that, but God, because it's not something that any of us could do, but God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love, which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved, and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. So hopefully today, Jesus Christ is your living hope. How great the chasm that lay between us. How high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. And through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished. The end is written. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Who could imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such boundless grace? The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken, I am forgiven. The King of kings calls me his own. Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have opened every chain. There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope. Then came the morning that sealed the promise Your buried body began to breathe Out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to Out of the silence, the roaring lion, declared the grave has no flame on me. Jesus, yours is the victory. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Oh, hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name Jesus Christ, my living hope Jesus Christ, my living hope My living home Just that the buried body started to breathe. That line just is amazing to me. Another song that we sang just a little bit ago and take take out your handbook just real quick. Grab a handbook if you have one near you. I just want to show you that that 390, the song that we also sang that. Just thinking about the message this morning, and there's a line in there that really applies to Spirit of God, descend upon my heart. Of course, we know that Christ is in us, that's our hope of glory. And we are indwelt with His Holy Spirit, those of us who are saved. There's a picture of the Spirit of God descending, like when Jesus, when He was baptized, and God the Father said, behold my Son, my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And we just think of that descending upon our heart. But it says, wean it from the earth. through all its pulses move. When was this song written? Does it have a date? I don't even see the date. I can tell by the wording it's an old song. We don't use those words very often, right? But just even yesterday I was out in the yard working, getting up all the leaves. In Maryland, my rule of thumb is the week of Thanksgiving, that's when I get my leaves up, so I don't have to do it every other day, right? Just wait till Thanksgiving. And even yesterday, just think of that, wean it from the earth, though all its pulses move. I just think of even yesterday, as I raked up the leaves and put them up on the tarp, and I drug the tarp over to the, I have a little strip of woods that runs between me and my neighbor, and that's where I put my leaves. And over the last couple of years, those leaves accumulate, and that's where I put everything. When I cut my bushes back and my flower beds and all, everything goes in this one pile. So yesterday to make room for this, the new leaves, all the brush I've been cutting through the years stacked up in my place. So guess what I had to do? I had to start a little fire that turned into a big fire and I got the branches and I'm burning. Well, all the stuff that I've been thrown in this pile for a while now has turned to what? Compost. I went and got my pitchfork that was a big mound, and I was digging with my pitchfork in the compost, amazed how God has structured things, and I'm just amazed by compost. All the stuff, I mean, I was sort of thinking, what's the stuff that I'm moving right now that's turned to topsoil? I mean, there's pumpkins that we had out, there's stuff all summer long, the tomatoes that went bad, everything was in it, and now it's topsoil, rich topsoil has turned to compost. And I was thinking about what we've been talking about in Ephesians, how God puts us on this new path, and you know what he wants us to do? He wants to take those things back here and turn it to compost. And do you know what's the amazing thing about the compost? Is that it's useful. It's useful for a different purpose now. And then I go over, so I'm dragging the tarp, also my tarp gets caught on this stump. This stump has been in my yard, it's been driving me crazy since I lived in this house. And all of a sudden I got to thinking, how come over here, this stuff, all the dried leaves and all the pumpkins, all the tomatoes, all the stuff that we put in it, has now turned to rich tarp. How come that stump will not decay as quick? Now it's getting older and it's slowly And all of a sudden, I got to thinking, this is what I do when I'm working, okay? I'm working out in the yard, having these thoughts. And I thought about its roots. It's still got roots. And its roots still go deep. And then I got to thinking about being a pastor and issues in my own life, issues in your life. Isn't it true? It's those things that still have the roots seem to be the toughest to deal with. You go to a dentist and sometimes they give you a root canal to do what? They cut off the pain. I think, I'm convinced that there's a lot of stuff that still, it still has roots in our lives. And it shouldn't be. And so here in Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians, you turn with me to Ephesians five. We're going to continue our journey. We saw that we're the body of Christ. We're the temple of the Holy Spirit. The church is a mystery. We're new. We've been made new. We're a new creation in Christ. Get to chapter 5, and we're to be an obedient family, because God loved us so much. In verse 1, He says, you know, you're my dear children, therefore, since I love you so much, I'm going to guide you, and I'm going to give you some principles, and here's what I want you to think about, and that's what we've been focusing on. And He says, here's the greatest goal. I want you to be like your dad. I want you to be godly. And the example is the last verse of chapter 4 where he says that we need to, if you look at that verse, the last verse of 4, "...and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore, be godly." That's our highest aim. And our Father's delight, He delights when we follow Him. And then we started last week this message on our watchful walk. And today I want you to read Ephesians 5 from the screen behind me. This is the New King James Version. That's why I have us read it together so we can be in unison. But Ephesians 5, 15 to 20, read it with me. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. giving thanks always for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear Gracious Heavenly Father, I ask now upon the blessing of the reading and now the preaching of your word, in Jesus' name, amen. Let me ask you a question. Do we have all we need to walk wisely? Yes, we do. Then why do we mess up so much? But we still have all that we need. And remember, by way of reminder, I pointed out last week, last week's message was really an introduction. And I was sharing with you there's so much in Scripture where God shares with us because He tells us not to be foolish, not to live foolishly and don't waste our lives. And so He defined what a fool is according to God. It's someone who lives their lives apart from Him. He's our Maker. He's the potter, we're the clay. And He says it's very foolish to try to live your life apart from your Creator. That's foolish. A fool has said in his heart, what? There is no God. He that cometh to God must first, what? Believe that He is. And then it doesn't stop there. And that He's a rewarder. Right? He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He's personally involved in those that He brings to Himself. But also, a wise person lives his life positionally, practically, and purposefully in Christ while considering, look at this, our look, our outlook on life, even as we walk in life, our limited time. as we are led by the Holy Spirit, and as we learn and live according to God's Word. That's what the passage we just read teaches us all four of those principles. And the first thing I want us to notice is our watch. Now take a look at your scripture, and you can look at the screen. Ephesians 5.15 says, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but wise. But I don't have time to share with you all my notes here this morning, because in my notes I have a lot of my word studies. But I will just touch on a couple of these words. And the first word, depending on your translation, depends on the word that you have that's starting off there in verse 15. But in the original, which was written in Greek, There is a word where we, in a New King James, it says, see them. And I want to share with you that word because it has deep meaning. It comes from the root word bleppo, but here's what's important about that word. It's in the present tense, the voice is active, and the mood, now get this, is imperative. Now, a preacher, when he's preparing a message, I'm just going to give you a little insight that whenever I'm studying and I come across especially an imperative, an imperative is a command. It's imperative that you do this. And usually following an imperative, there's an indicative. It's indicative that this is what it looks like. But here's the imperative in this verse. This is the verb, see then. And here's what that word means. It means to discern, to be possessed of sight, to have the power of seeing, perceived by the use of the eyes, to turn your eyes to something, to look upon, to gaze, to perceive by the senses, to look on, to look, to be aware, to behold, to take heed. That's the word in our Bibles that you've come across, it's the same word. To take heed, to behold, to even beware. But Paul says this, I want you to see then... Now, what did he just say before this? He just gave us a contrast of what it looks like to live in the world, and he says, this is how I want you to walk, because you're my child, this is where I want you to go. But he also says, here's how you do this. It starts by opening up your eyes and be realistic. And you better look very carefully where you take your next step because the reality is, according to Scripture, we are living in a minefield. Aren't we? The battle is real. And we just had Veterans Day, and how many testimonies did you hear this past week of those veterans? And you see the arms that have been removed, the legs. Because of all these explosions, whether they were driving a vehicle, or stepped in the wrong place, Satan has his minds hidden everywhere. They're in our homes. When you turn that big box on, that thing hanging on your wall, like behind the screen in your TV, there's minefields everywhere. Because we did a series not too long ago on the spiritual battle, and where does the battle always begin? Right here. It starts in the mind. And the sad thing is, And it's sad on one side, but at the same time, the grace of God is so powerful because even in our Sunday school class this morning with the young adults, we looked at Peter, the fisherman versus Peter the rock. Peter pre-Pentecost, or pre-resurrection, then Peter post-resurrection. Peter is an example of someone who had a way of stepping on the mines. Everywhere he stepped, something happened. There was an explosion of some sort. But then you see the power of the resurrection in his life, the power of the Holy Spirit, and he was a totally different person. And when we start to open our eyes and recognize that the battle is real and every step we take matters, that's why Paul says, see then, open your eyes, that you do what? that you walk, now that's a word that we don't use, circumspectly, but what does that word circumspectly mean? It means you better walk very what? Very carefully. See then that you walk, and again, this is a loving dad talking to us as his dear children. Hey listen, when you go out there, you watch where you step. You walk very carefully. Every time I think of this, I think of my brother Mark, who loved to go hunting. This time of year, he was out squirrel hunting, rabbit hunting, deer hunting. But when he would take me squirrel, I remember hunting for squirrel. I'd always be behind him. Every time I went hunting with him, what would he tell me? Some of you have been hunting, you know what I'm talking about. Pick your feet up. And watch where you step. Because every noise matters while you're out there, right? You walk, and keep your eyes open, and you walk very carefully. Walk circumspectly, and even that word for walk is peripetato, is the word. Colossians 2.8, Paul tells us to beware lest anyone cheat you through the philosophy of empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Parapata'o, we are told to walk about, to walk... This word is used in 1 John 1, where as we walk through this world, you know, the word is used in this way. It means to almost like be in a room and you're walking about this place. And John tells us as we walk through this world, don't lie to yourself and think that you have fellowship with God when they're sitting in your life. He says you're lying to yourself. Where peripetato is there used. Sometimes we go through life and we just walk about. We just exist. And we claim one thing and, you know, with our relationship with the Lord and the Bible says, hey, I want you to open your eyes. I want you to walk very carefully. But this word circumspectly, he says, I want you to walk exactly, accurately, diligently. We've got to keep going. We must not stop. We must conduct ourselves in a careful and accurate fashion with all diligence, is what Paul is saying. In a literal sense, it means to walk about. This word is used in Matthew 12, 38, where it says, "...then He said to them in His teaching, And this is Jesus, He said this, "...Beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes. They love greetings in the marketplace." And that's the word for circumspectly. They're just walking around. in their long robes, putting on a show. And Jesus says, that's not what I want for my disciples. In a figurative sense, this verse is used in Romans 6-4 where Paul says, Therefore we were buried with him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. He also said in Romans 8 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. And so we are to see then, open our eyes as we walk very carefully. every step along the way as believers. And then he gives us a warning. He says, not as fools, but as wise. And here we see Paul encouraging us to be careful as we walk wisely, while warning us to be careful how not to walk. Well, how is this possible? What does it look like? Can a believer actually walk? in a foolish way. If you have your Bible, take your Bible and turn with me to Titus chapter 3, if you will. Titus chapter 3. If you find Timothy, keep going. Titus follows Timothy. You see earlier in the Bible, Jesus has compared a foolish man to a wise man. A foolish man builds his house upon the sand. A wise man builds his house on the rock. But here in Titus 3, Paul shares this, and he says, starting at verse 3, For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of the regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior." And whenever you read Timothy and Titus, always remember he's writing to a pastor. And he's encouraging these pastors that as you deal with people, don't ever You're not the judge. And don't you ever forget where you came from. And when you meet someone who's still where you used to be, you are not the judge. You realize that? You're there to help. You're there to share the gospel, so the light can come on in their lives and the grace of God can be poured out on them. And so he goes from, here's where you were, don't forget that Pastor Titus, and then look at verse 7, and having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And this is a faithful saying, that these things I want you to affirm constantly. That those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works, and these things are good and profitable to men. So, Pastor Titus, you know where you were, you know where you are, and don't you ever give up on encouraging people to keep leading them to what they should be doing, those good works in Christ. Because you were called, not just in your salvation, but in your sanctification. You were prepared. for good works that He's already prepared for you. Do you realize that? It's His works. That's the good works. Christ makes all the difference. Do you know we had in our devotion on Wednesday not too long ago from 2 Samuel 24.10, here's a verse from that passage that says, David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Thy servant. And listen very carefully to what David says. For I have acted very foolishly. As believers, we can still do foolish things, can't we? And that's why 1 John 1 9 is so precious to us. We can say, Lord, I messed up again. I agree with you. That was wrong. That was foolish. And he's faithful and he's just to forgive. Believers are not immune to acting foolishly. And I'm going to tell you a few ways that you need to be on guard and watch this in your own life. And there's three, I think, major ways that we can act foolishly. And the first thing is this. It's when your faith becomes diluted. What do I mean by that? We walk in the world where Peter, when he stepped out of that boat, what happened to his faith? He had faith enough to stay on that water for a very short period of time. Then what happened to his faith? It became diluted. Because next thing you know, he's feeling the wind. He sees the waves. He takes his eyes off Christ. And the next thing you know, he's sinking. But not believing God completely is a big problem in the church. Oh, we believe God, but do we believe Him completely? In everything that He says. In everything. You have a pastor, my relationship with my spouse, you don't understand. My relationship with my children, you don't understand. I have to do things this way. Yeah, but the Bible says this, and if you do this, God is going to bless. That doesn't mean he's going to bring everything back together like you're imagining in your mind. I promise you that when you're obedient completely to God and his word, he's going to bless you for that. The teaching that Jesus just kept driving home to his disciples. He kept saying, oh ye of little faith. This week I had an electrician in my office to pick up a check for the work that he did back in the fellowship hall. And he came in and he sat down in my office. First of all, when he wrote up his bill, his audition was off. And Nancy wrote me and said, hey, when you give this gentleman the check, I noticed his edition is off. I said, well, maybe he's given us a discount. That wasn't the case. But I said, Mike, your edition is off here. And he says, really? And I ended up saying, yeah. He goes, thank you so much for your honesty. That's what he said, thank you for your honesty. So I wrote to check out. And as I handed it to him, he told me to look at that picture in my office. With Jesus standing with his arms outstretched with the disciples on the boat and the water is crystal clear. And he goes, that's an amazing picture. And we just evaluate the artwork. And he started noticing all the little details with the lightning way off in the distance and even the clouds are spread. And he just stood there, he was mesmerized by this painting. I said, Mike, isn't that amazing that our Savior, that Jesus, I don't even know where he stands spiritually. I was using that moment to witness to him about Jesus, though. Isn't that amazing when Jesus stretched his arms out and he said, peace, be still? I said, how clear do you think that water became? Now, I don't know if you ever thought about this, but I have. I believe the wind and the waves were obeying Him when the storm was raging. Because Jesus is the one who told His disciples to get in the boat and go across the water, and He knew what they needed. They needed a storm. And He used that as what? As another act of love to teach His guys, you can trust Me. And what was their reaction? Even the wind and the seas obey Him. Do you really believe that? I've shared this since I was young. I've got a problem. I've got a big problem. I really believe this. I really do. I really believe Him. Not just for my salvation. I believe that every week, when I look at my to-do list, and I do not know how it's going to all get done, I believe as I focus on one thing at a time and do that one thing at that moment that God called me to do at that moment. I believe all those other things. God's given me a way. I am blessed to be able to focus on that one thing at that moment and trust that all those other things is going to come to pass in his time. Rather than saying there's too much and throw my hands up and say, I'm out of here. My faith is not just in Him for salvation. My faith is even in those little things. Someone sent me a video last night. I don't want to cause any controversy, but I'll tell you what, the more I learn about what we're being fed in our society, the more disgusted I become. The lies are everywhere. If you're not in the Word and on your knees and you can discern, He promises that He will give us the wisdom if we ask for it. He promises that. So as you sort through the junk, you know what to toss out, you know what's important, you know what to focus on. I hope this morning as you think about your faith, is it diluted? Are you completely trusting Him? How about this next thing? How about direct obedience to God's Word? I know it's connected. Direct obedience to God's Word. Disobedience to God's... Paul said this to the Galatians. Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? He even went on to say, I would even be accursed for your sake. But you're, why are you being foolish by following false teachers? They have diluted the gospel and you're following them. What's wrong with you? Number three, how about devotion to the wrong thing? So I call the first thing dilution. The second one is directed disobedience. The third point is devotion to the wrong thing is really idolatry. Throughout the Bible, that is a major issue in God's people. Idolatry is when we put our hearts on the wrong things. In 1 Timothy 6-9, Paul wrote to Timothy, Those who want to get rich fall into the temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. It is tragic that so many Christians foolishly do not take God at His word in everything that He says. They don't obey Him in everything that He commands. We have no excuse, do we? We have no excuse. John 7.17, what Jesus said there in John 7.17, "...if any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of his teaching, whether it is of God." A Christian who genuinely wants to know God's truth will never be in doubt. He has all the resources that he needs to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil, according to Romans 16, 19. And then we see the warning, but then we notice the wisdom. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools. So there's the warning, but here's the wisdom, but as wise. What does that look like? Paul commands us to walk as wise men. To walk, He's already told us to walk in humility, to walk in unity, to walk separated, to walk in love, to walk in light. And now He says to walk in this wisdom. We are to live like the people who we already are in Christ. That's what He's saying. You're already there, so live like it. Right? Live like, you're already in Christ, so live like it. We're one body. We've been separated. We've been sanctified. We are loved. We are the light. We are the wisdom of God to this dark world. And they need to see it. We're the gospel. We're to share the gospel. You see our good works and give Him the glory. They say, what's the difference? Believers begin their new lives in Christ with all the wisdom we need to live for our Lord. And we grow in that wisdom as we mature in our faith, in our service. James 3.13. Look at this passage. This is amazing. James 3.13. James says, Who is wise in understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, it's even demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above, and catch this, this is verse 17, underline this in your Bible, memorize it. Next time you watch any news that you watch, and you watch someone talking about how they are just driven for us all to get along and for there to be peace on this world, There's never gonna be peace on this planet until something happens. Until our Savior comes back and makes all things right. There's a word before the word peace, and I want you to grab this, I want you to, just to saturate your mind. But the wisdom that is from above is first what? It's first pure. That's important. A righteous God demands purity. And you can try all you want to bring about peace in your family, to peace on your job. If Christ is not the center of it, it's not going to be true peace. Matter of fact, one day, when the Antichrist is revealed, and he gets everyone to line up to get their mark, which I believe is not in the too distant future, What is the reason that he is sharing to the world? Why is the world looking to this one man? Because he is bringing about, what's the word? Peace. But what's missing in the Antichrist? Purity. I could go on and on about this. But I cannot, I don't want you to leave this place without understanding the importance of purity this morning. And how God in Christ has given you everything that you need to attain it, because the standard to make it to heaven is purity. When I share the gospel, I will use that ring, I will say, one day when I get to heaven, do you realize in heaven, the streets in heaven are made of what? Wait a minute, there's a word before gold. The Bible says pure gold. That's an important word because there's nothing in heaven. And I'll say, and by the way, this is not pure. Pure gold. So how are we ever going to make it? We're only gonna make it because someone went before us and lived a pure life, was perfect in every manner, in every thought, in every deed, in every step. And he was the Lamb of God who was sacrificed, who willingly laid his life down and willingly took it back up, like Kevin sang this morning, and willingly took that life up, so that we could have that resurrected life, and we could overcome not only the penalty of sin, but even the power of sin, and one day the presence of sin, as we will be glorified. But it's first pure, then it's peaceable and gentle and willing to yield full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of the righteousness is sown in peace, but those who make peace." Remember that. Now, once you take your Bibles, and I'm not gonna, I'm gonna stop right there, Carolyn, I hope you forgive me. That's my next point when we get back together next week as we finish our Thanksgiving service. I had leaves on my mind yesterday, so I put those leaves there for you to see. I took that picture, actually, at Cador's Park. Isn't that a pretty picture? But going back to the idea of the leaves. Life is what? It's short. Life is short. It comes, it's nice, it goes pretty green, the buds that bloom in the spring, and next thing you know, and then you see the green, next thing you know, they're turning to beautiful colors. And beyond the sunset, right, the beautiful sunset, the next thing you know, we're like a leaf. That's life. Turn with me to 1 Kings 3, and I'm going to conclude with this illustration. Some of you have heard me teach this this week, but it made such an impact in my own thinking this week. I shared this here on Wednesday morning, then I went to Dorian Nurse and Assisted Living on Thursday morning and shared this same text. But this is what I can't help, but my mind keeps going back to this passage. In 1 Kings 3, Solomon is now king. Who was king before Solomon? David his dad. Solomon is now gone. Even if you know the story behind Solomon, who his mom was, and the relationships she had with David. There's a lot of grace in this story. But now the day has come. Solomon is now the king. Notice what it says in verse 1. Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now wait a minute. What do you know about Israel and Egypt? Is there a great relationship between Egypt and Israel? No way! The Israelites were slaves for 400 years in Egypt. So why would the new king go down to Egypt and sign a treaty and take Pharaoh's daughter to be his wife to seal the deal? Because in the ways of the world, that's what's done between kings. So Solomon, he is now on the throne. He looks around at the world he's living in. Well, let me get to know these other nations. There's a lot of trading and a lot of things taking place for our economy. Well, Pharaoh, I mean, Egypt, they're the big deal. They're the superpower. I'm going to go down and talk to them, maybe make a deal with them. And that's what he does. Right there in Egypt. He marries the daughter. And then look at this. Then he brought her to the city of David. The city of David is Bethlehem. Right? So he says, now, new wife, you stay in Bethlehem. I'm going up north because I have some jobs I'm working on. Look, I need to finish building my house. And it's interesting how he puts his house first, and I also need to build God's house, and I also have these walls to build around the city to protect us both. Wow, he has a lot on his plate, correct? Meanwhile, the people sacrificed up in the high places because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord. He walked in the statutes of the Lord. Is that what it says? No, he walked in the statutes of his dad. You can walk in the statutes of your dad and never follow the Lord, but he did love the Lord. He followed the steps of his dad. So dad, there's a Father's Day message right here. But look what happens next. And he says, except, and the Holy Spirit put this word here for a reason. He goes, except we have a problem here. He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. The reason why this is important is because Solomon was pretty much following the wisdom of the world. That's what you do. You go up on the high places when you make your offerings. It wasn't just the Israelites making offerings in the high places. Actually, they were following the pattern of the idolaters went up on the high places and offered their offerings and their incense. Matter of fact, but he had the biggest one of all because he offered, look at this number here. He sacrificed and burnt in the high places. He went to Gibeon. He offered a thousand burnt offerings. A thousand. You can do it, I can do it better. A thousand up in the high place. Can you imagine the attention that he got? Now listen very closely what happens next. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in what? A dream. And it was at night. So it wasn't a vision, this is a dream. He went to sleep. And God said, ask what I shall give you. I don't know if you ever picked up on this, but this is what I've been contemplating all week. When God told Solomon, ask what you want. Ask of me what you want. It was in a dream. It was in a dream. Why is that important? Because God loved his boy enough to see the road that he started going down and said, I need to help him. He goes to sleep in his dream. He sees God saying, Solomon, ask me what you want. Ask me what you want. And right there in his dream, even Solomon remembered his father David. I remember you were faithful to my dad. I remember this. And as you keep working through the passage, he goes all the way to verse 9. He says, Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between the good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? But even before that, he even shared that he felt like a little child in verse 7. I'm just a little child. I don't even know what I'm doing. God, I don't even know what I'm... Now remember, this is a dream. The last time you dreamed, when was the last time in your dream you controlled all the events in your dream? I'm sorry, but I've had a lot of dreams. I've never yet been able to control my dreams. Usually I forget my dream, or I wake up and I'm thankful it was what? Thank God that was a dream, right? And you're praying you didn't say anything in the dream, right? But here's the point. God loved Solomon enough to see where he was going, to interject himself even as he was dreaming, and said, ask me what you want. Remember David. And even he pointed out what Solomon was already thinking. I don't even know what I'm doing. I'm like a kid. I need discernment. In other words, I need wisdom. I need understanding. The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said to him, because you have asked this thing and have not longed for yourself. You didn't ask for riches. You didn't ask that the life of your enemies be taken away, which David prayed that all the time, by the way. But you asked for wisdom. The old I have done according to your word. See, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor will arise after you. And I also given what you have not asked for. I'm going to give you riches. I'm going to give you the honor that goes with those riches, which is very important, folks. Riches without honor is bad. Riches with honor in God's eyes is awesome. So that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in my ways, there it is. Hey Solomon, if you walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, I will even lengthen your days. And I don't believe he was talking about his life. I'm thinking he was talking about his kingdom and different aspects of his life. I'm going to lengthen your days. Then look at the beginning of verse 15. Don't ever stop with the story there. Then Solomon what? He woke up. Do you see why that intrigues me? Listen to me. When you were saved, guess what Christ gave us? His wisdom. We looked at that in Corinthians last week. That wisdom. when we were saved. That was part of it. But if you keep reading, I hope you do the same thing with what you've been given. Look what Solomon did. When he woke up, and indeed it was a dream, what's his very first act being made the wisest man on the planet? He goes to Jerusalem, and what does he do? He leaves Gibeon, goes back to Jerusalem, stands before the Ark of the Covenant, and worships. Now, if that doesn't blow you away, I don't know what will. That's His first act. Now you see why God did what He did. You don't need to go to Gibeon, a high place. You need to be in Jerusalem, before the Ark. And what does that Ark represent? There's a kind of glory of God here. Down at the very beneath, there was a chest that had the Ten Commandments in it, and the rod of Jesse and Samanah that reminds man of their sin. The Ten Commandments, it reminds us that we need a Savior. But between the Shekinah glory of God and the reminder of sin, you have a lid on top of that ark with two angels facing to cherubim. And in between them, there was a place called the Mercy Seat. And there on that mercy seat, the priest would sprinkle the blood from the sacrifices, representing what Jesus was going to do for us, the mercy seat. So that a sinful man can have a relationship with a holy God. That's what it's about. What about you today? Have you received Christ as your Savior? If not, you know, you can do that today. You can put your faith and trust in Him right where you're sitting. Dear, gracious, heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word. Lord, you are constantly, constantly teaching me new things. You're constantly reminding me of what's truly important. Or just even this message to walk. As we follow your lead and keep our eyes open, as we look around us and walk carefully, we don't want to be foolish, Lord, but we want to be wise. And we thank you for your word that Solomon did not have. We thank you for the indwelling of your Holy Spirit that Solomon did not have. So Lord, again, we thank you for what we do have today, and we know that we're going to be held accountable. But maybe there's someone today, Lord, they do not know you as their Savior. If that's the case, right there where you are with your head bowed, your eyes closed, you can cry out to Him and even just share with God right now. You can pray to Him and say, Dear God, I admit that I have sinned, and I know my sin has separated me from you, but I believe with all my heart that Jesus died for me and was buried and rose again. I believe that with all my heart. So therefore this morning, therefore this morning, I receive Jesus as my Savior. I ask you to come into my life. Forgive me. Cleanse me. This morning, I choose to repent, to turn, turn away. Turn to you while turning away from those things that have separated me from you. Thank you, Lord, for your saving power. Thank you so much. And Lord, we pray for each and every one of my brothers and sisters as we may be going different directions this week because of the holiday. Lord, we just, again, we thank you again. Being Thanksgiving every day is Thanksgiving for us believers. So thanks. In Jesus' precious name I pray, amen. As we close this morning, I have to get to the end, to this last song for you, Carolyn. Where's Carolyn? Oh, Carolyn, come on up here. Work for the night is coming. Now, Carolyn, you shared this song with us not too long ago. It was several months ago. I do keep track of what we sing so we don't repeat ourselves too much. But I chose this song because I expected the pastor to get to this point in his message, which he didn't. But that's OK. And there's a couple of Bible verses, but one, just based on what you've just said, it is so appropriate. John 9, 4, this is Jesus. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, the night cometh. when no man can work. And we had, you know, a Sunday school lesson, you know, on this topic, the rapture and the tribulation. The night cometh and it grows darker every day. So we need to work, work for the night is coming. Amen. Let's all stand up. Work for the night is calling, work through the morning hours. Work all the dew is sparkling, work in springing hours. Work for the night is calling. Work for the night is coming, when man's work is done. Work for the night is coming, work through the sunny day. Fill brightest hours with labor, rest from shore and sea. Give every flying minute something to keep in store. Work for the light is coming when Danforth's no more. Work for the night is coming, under the sunset skies. While the roses are blowing, work for daylight flies. Work till the last leaf faded, faded to shine. Thank you so much Carolyn. You're welcome. Just remember, I want to share something with you. On Sunday mornings at 9 o'clock here in the conference room, some of you already know this because you show up here, but do you know we have a half an hour prayer meeting every Sunday morning that I greatly appreciate? Because usually, I'll try to join if I can, but most of the time, I'm still running around. And so the folks that do show up and pray for this day and for the service and for the preaching feel free to show up here early and It's sweet fellowship in a sweet time of prayer at 9 o'clock every single Sunday morning So and I'm thankful for that Wednesday night prayer Wednesday morning prayer, but again Sunday morning remember that and then I want to thank Joyce and She was here Tuesday night and she was surviving the holidays and she had a room back here full of folks that are grieving. And I just want to thank publicly Joyce Ricker for what she's doing and Rick. And Rick, you were watching. while Joyce could be here. I just wanna say that publicly, I'm so thankful for that ministry. This Tuesday night, please be here if you can, we're gonna get together here at 6.30, and as you can see, it's gonna be a praise night and a pie night, okay? And Katharine told me we have a slew of so many good things coming, praise and the pie, but you heard me say a while back, I asked Matt to even bring this drum set sitting up here. We've come in and practiced on Friday night and just that, putting all these instruments together. Can you hit on those things and give glory to God? I can't, but you can. I don't know how to do it. But I'll tell you what, Matt sure can. I can't wait for you to be here on Tuesday night and just praise the Lord. But be prepared to share testimonies also. And then Ladies' Christmas Fellowship. Ladies' Christmas Fellowship. I'm going to have a flyer to hand out next week. But Jackie, can you just say real quickly, what is this about? And that's ladies all the ladies And Jackie was gracious, she came to me this week and said, I want Kathy to come, and those who work with the kids on Wednesday night, what can we do? And I said, Jackie, I'll take the kids, I'll take all the kids so all the ladies can be together. So all the ladies, that's Wednesday, December 8th. Then here's the big thing start spreading the news now that on December 19th, that's a Sunday morning our Christmas cantata Trust me We sit here for weeks and weeks and weeks preparing for this and we would love to share this message through music With you and your neighbors and your family and friends. So start spreading the word and yes Everybody keeps asking me this. Yes. We are having a Christmas Eve service this year. And of course, that's when December 24th That's a Friday night And usually what I do is if you would like to be part of that, let me know if you'd like to share a special music or something with them. I already asked the young adults to help me tell the Christmas story on that night. So that's the situation. And don't forget choir practice tonight at five. So Chris, we've got a lot of good stuff. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we are so thankful, Lord, to be in your house today, Lord, and as you just spoke to us through your servant, Lord, and spoke to our hearts, encouraged us, Lord, and challenged us, Lord, I just pray that you will continue to help us, Lord, as we go forth from these doors to serve you each and every day, Lord. And Lord, as we talked about in Sunday school, we talked about putting You first, Lord. We can't have You in second or third place, Lord, because we need You, Lord, leading our lives, directing us, helping us, Lord, to be all that we can be. And Lord, as Your Holy Spirit just works through us, I just pray that You will set each and every one of our hearts on fire for You, Lord. In these last days, Lord, that we will share the gospel, Lord, we will encourage one another, and Lord, and be about our Father's business. Lord, you're so good to us, Lord, and we're so thankful, Lord, that you love us, that you came here to die for us. And Lord, we do pray that if there is anybody here that doesn't know you today, Lord, that they would give their life to you. And Lord, we just give you all the praise and the glory, and Lord, bring us back together safely Tuesday, Lord, as we continue to worship you together, in Jesus' name, amen.