♪ As long as I'm standing on my own feet ♪ ♪ I will never be the same again ♪ ♪ I will never be the same again ♪ ♪ I will never be the same again ♪ Thank you very much. Good morning. All right, good evening, sorry. Please stand. 488, a new name and glory. I was once a sinner, but I came Pardoned to receive from my Lord This was freely given, and I found That He always kept His word There's a new name written down in glory And it's mine, oh yes it's mine And the white-robed angels sing the story A sinner has come home There's a new name written down in glory And it's mine, oh yes it's mine With my sins forgiven I am bound for heaven, never more to roam. In the book was written, saved by grace, O the joy that came to my soul. Now I am forgiven, and I know, by the blood I am made whole. There's a new name written down in glory, And it's mine, oh yes it's mine And the white-robed angels sing the story A sinner has come home For there's a new name written down in glory And it's mine, oh yes it's mine, with my sins forgiven I am bound for heaven, never more to roam. Good to see you here tonight. I don't know about you, but I did a happy dance early this morning. I was going to do it here behind the pulpit, and then I thought, no, I better not do that. So I decided not to. But if you're sad today, sorry for you. It was good for the rest of us. Again, I was excited. I was crying, which is not abnormal for me anymore. Each time we got a victory and got closer, Sierra kept thinking, what is wrong with him? So I'd pray for a while, then I'd get up and watch the election. Then we'd get another state call, and I'd cry for a little while, then get excited about the next one. So I wanted to be so far out of reach, it's like I used to tell the boys sometimes playing ball. How many of you remember when we used to have team sports here at Liberty? One of our rivals were the folks at the end of the street called Sunnybrook. And at Sunnybrook, we had to beat the people keeping the clock, because that was Sunnybrook people keeping the clock. We had to beat the referees, because that was the Sunnybrook's own referee association. And when the kids on the team are calling the referee dad, you know you got problems. And then we had to beat, I mean, we had to beat the home crowd. So we always had to make sure that we were far enough in the lead that at the last second, either the clock couldn't beat us or the referees couldn't beat us. And that's how I felt about this election. I wanted to be so big a lead that they couldn't find a few thousand votes extra and beat us a few hours after the polls supposedly closed. It's not over yet. The good news is we have the Presidency without a doubt we have the Senate and have a majority in the Senate and right now It looks there's still I believe 50 house seats are still up I mean still undecided a lot of those lean Republican a few several do not But again some of those won't be decided for several more days some of them only have 30 and 40 and 50 percent of the votes in But they think we will keep that and the reason that is so important is the Senate will help him will help President Trump choose his cabinet. I mean, if I chose a really strong fellow and we didn't control the Senate, they could say, we don't like him, choose someone else. But with him having the majority in the Senate, he can choose a strong cabinet, which I hope is a strong enough cabinet to fire a bunch of folks, FBI folks and the DOJ and some of our military leaders and a bunch of other knuckleheads. But if we have the House of Representatives, that makes it where we also control the purse strings, and so that would be a big deal. And I'm still of the thought that they tried to kill President Trump once or twice or three times already. So I thought, if Trump and Vance are at the same place and they killed both of them, who can tell me who's next in line? Speaker of the House, and so if the Democrats took the House, they actually would have had a Democrat only two spots away from being the President of the United States, which scared me as well. But if we have that, then that means our Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is the third choice, and then it goes to the head of the Senate, which is the fourth choice, and then it goes back to the to the representatives and senators to choose the president. So the truth is now, if we keep the House of Representatives, we are safe from at least there'll be someone. And again, I think you ought to pray every day for Trump's safety. I really do. And Mr. Vance as well. But again, I don't And I really, I've never watched The View. I really wanted to watch that. I was too tired. I slept as long as I could, came to school. I really wanted to watch The View today because I just wanted to see him cry. I did. I just, I hate them. I hate them so much. And I mean, and I've only, only you say, how do you know what The View says? Because the guys that I watch on Newsmax and Fox sometimes show the folks with The View. And so they're always whining and crying and carrying on. They're some of the meanest, most vicious women in the world. If you want to know what ugly women look like, watch The View. They're ugly inside and outside, and I just wanted to hear them cry today. But I didn't get to see that, and I don't know if they cried. They probably screamed and ran around in little circles, and then they probably had to get either a coloring book or a puppy to pet or something to calm themselves down. But it was a good night for all of us who wanted America to still be a top-ranking nation and a nation that hopefully heads back in the right direction. I really believe that President Trump was like Esther, that God raised him up for such a time as this. Good to see you tonight. I also have candy since we can't drink beer. I thought, man, we've got to figure out some way to celebrate. And so I thought, first I was going to send you all down to Dairy Queen and let you buy ice cream. Then I thought, I don't want to wait for you all because I'm going to go home, relax for a little bit, and go to sleep because I didn't get much. I stayed up until about 3 on my own, 3.30. I already called my son, woke him up, told him we won. And he said, I'm going back to bed. But about the time I was going to bed at 3 or 3.30, he woke up because he's out. And he gets up early in the morning. He woke up at 4. And then he started texting me. And so then he kept me awake for another half hour. And then after that, I was so excited, I still couldn't sleep for a while. So I'm going to go home. So I was going to take you all to ice cream at Dairy Queen. But I didn't want to make the four folks at Dairy Queen have to serve all 50 of us or 60 of us. So we brought chocolate for the ladies and sour stuff for the kids. Please only take one or two or three of the pieces of candy. There's candy bars. I bought it for youth conference. We need to celebrate, and since we don't drink alcohol, I didn't, I mean, and I thought about supplying y'all with Dr. Pepper, but I thought, no, I don't want to waste my Dr. Pepper on y'all, because I want to drink that myself. So I saw a selfishness creep in, and I just couldn't bring my Dr. Pepper. So I will pray. Preacher, did you want to say something about the election? All right, man a few words, glad. I was hoping today that there's a bunch of folks at the airport and that they was going to leave our country so we could do without them for the next four years, but I don't think they all got on the planes like they promised. So good to see you tonight, let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness and your blessing upon us. I pray Lord that you'd bless the Service tonight. Thank you for the house of God and the things of God that we have Thank you for the way the election went Lord that we again once have once more have some hope and I realize that our Politicians are not the ones that really give us the hope but Lord We need some folks pointing in the right direction to try to steer our nation and our finances and our bills and all the rest of stuff that Father we have such an issue with you now the United States bless us tonight meet with us in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated 46, when I see the blood. Christ, our Redeemer, died on the cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Sprinkle your soul with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will pass over you Judgment is coming, all will be there, receiving that He is due. And I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will pass over you O great compassion, O boundless love, O loving kindness, faithful and true, find peace and shelter under the blood, and I will pass, will pass over you when I see the blood when I see the blood when I see the blood I will pass I will pass over you I didn't see anyone visiting with us. Anyone here for the first time that I missed, the first time in a long time? All right, there are new prayer lists on the back little table. The new one is the orange one, so you can get rid of the dark blue one. This is the one that's up to date. And as always, we pray for preacher and send yourself for the wind and his family. And again, I'd put the Republican leaders. Now, when we say that, she needs some of those guys to move, she needs the communion table moved, the podium, and that will be after church. That is because of the fact that we have a wedding here on Saturday, so if one of you guys from the sound room can come in and make sure we don't mess up the plug-ins and stuff. Alright, so we got a sound room in, we need some of you other young guys. You don't have to have a brain, we don't care how smart you are, we just need you to be strong. Don't worry about your looks, don't worry about any of the rest of it. We just need you to be able to follow directions and we'll point and have you carry stuff. But we do have that coming up. That is Mark and Maria, they're getting married Saturday at 4.30 p.m. Then Christina is having a shower the following week. When I say that, the ladies are having a shower for Christina on the 16th at 2 p.m. and then not too far down the road after that. Now then that following Saturday is the piano recital. And then right down the road, December the 3rd, that is the same week that Brother Owens will be with us. December the 3rd is the ladies' Christmas dinner. There's a sign-up sheet in the church office, so please get signed up for that. Don't wait until the last minute. You will make sure you get on the list then I mentioned brother Owens coming He's coming on the 4th with us December the 4th. He'll be with us on Wednesday night That's less than a month away or right at a month away And then this Friday and Saturday, he'll be at Texas Baptist. He'll be speaking at our youth conference We are hosting the youth conference, but we'll be over there because Saturday will be using their facilities for some game time and activity time but he'll be there at Friday night at 7 o'clock will be the service. And then after church, we'll all have pizza and soda. And then Saturday, we'll have two services in the morning. He will then fly back to his home church, fly back to North Carolina. And we'll have some stuff in the afternoon and some game time in the afternoon and quit early afternoon, 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. So plan on that. Again, everybody's welcome to come to all that stuff. That is in December, so not too far away. Appreciate all of you that have helped with all the stuff that has to do with the buildings out back. If you're wondering when that is scheduled, the first thing they got to do is tear off some stuff that contains some asbestos in it, then they can tear the building down. So it's still a few steps away, but the first one was what happened two weeks ago on that side when everything got cleaned out. That way, all they have is the building to remove. So if you're wondering when that's going to happen, it's not too far away. It's just right down the road. Please stand. 298, now I belong to Jesus. Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever. From Him no power of evil can sever. He gave His life to ransom my soul. Now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Once I was lost in sin's degradation Jesus came down to bring me salvation Lifted me up from sorrow and shame Now I belong to Him Now I belong to Jesus Jesus belongs to me Not for the years of time alone But for eternity Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me His precious blood He gave to redeem Now I belong to Him Now I belong to Jesus Jesus belongs to me Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to be in church tonight. I pray that you be with the gift and the giver, Lord, exceed the needs of our church. Bless this message tonight, Lord. Be with Pastor Nichols and Brother Block. Thank you for the victory that we had and not losing the presidency of this country. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Yeah. 184 day by day. Day by day and with each passing moment Strength I find to meet my trials here Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment have no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what he deems best. Loving thee, it's part of pain and pleasure. mingling toil with peace and rest. Every day the Lord Himself is near me with a special mercy for each hour. All my cares He feigned would bear and cheer me, He whose name is Counselor and Power. The protection of His child and treasure is the charge that on Himself He laid. As Thy height and strength I've seen measured, This the pledge to me He made. Help me then in every tribulation, So to trust Thy promises, O Lord That I lose not faith's sweet consolation Offered me within Thy holy Word Help me, Lord, when toil's in trouble meeting Heir to take as from a father's hand One by one the days, the moments fleeting Till I reach the promised land Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of the sinner, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Love the Lord, love the Lord, and in his love doth he meditate, meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth its fruit in its season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth, doeth, doeth, shall prosper, prosper, prosper. The ungodly are not sober like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. But the way of the ungodly shall, the way of the ungodly shall, the way of the ungodly shall. Turn in your Bibles to, we're going to start in the one in Genesis so I know in your text you have two different verses for the text. We're going to start with Genesis chapter 24 verse 63 and then we will go to Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 after that. Genesis chapter 24 Again, I mentioned there's several house seats that are still up for grabs. There are also some Senate seats up for grabs still as yet. There's several contested seats or seats that we thought we had a hope. So far, we flipped three of those. There's still four of them that's still not called. The one in, let's see, the one in Michigan, the one in Nevada, the one in Arizona, and one of them in Pennsylvania. We're leading in two of those, and they're leading in two of those. But again, it'd be nice if we could get another seat or two in the Senate. Notice Genesis chapter 24 verse 63. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were coming." Now notice the phrase, he went out to meditate in the field at the eventide. Probably from the way it reads, he was normally doing that. He did not know that the camels were coming. So again, I think every night that's where he went. You'll see in Joshua 1, verse 8, the Bible makes this statement, this book of the law, again talking about the word of God, shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. So again He mentions there that we should meditate day and night. So tonight we're going to speak about some things to meditate on. Some things to meditate on. Father I ask for your help and your blessing. I ask Lord that you would help me to say what I should and not what I shouldn't. I need your power in Jesus name. Amen. Now I can tell you meditation is something most of us do not take the time to do. The reason is we're so busy and we're in like a rat race of life that we just don't usually take the time to sit down and meditate. The old saying that we would say that most of us say is you gotta take time to smell the roses. What that simply means is you gotta take time every once in a while just out of your busy schedule. to be able to relax for a little bit. And again, when it comes to meditate, when it has to do with meditating in the Bible, it is the act of contemplating or praying on God's word to grow in one's relationship with God. Meditate normally means to revolve any subject around and around in your mind. Being alone or at least uninterrupted helps with meditating. So those of you with young children, it is going to be a lot harder for you to meditate. Those of you with a husband or wife, it's a little harder to meditate because again, usually there's someone else talking and you've got something to do. But again, I appreciate Brother Nguyen is one of my heroes when it comes to prayer life because he has such a great prayer life. But what he does is there's a time I think it's still correct, but a time every day where he goes and he doesn't answer the phone. Everybody knows him very well, knows where he's at. At that time of the day, he goes out and prays. And from what I understand from Brother Nicholas and his kids, he goes up to a mountain outside, I mean, and he gets out away from everybody. He's not, now again, I can't even understand how busy he is. If you'd saw the ministry that Brother Wynn has and understand, that was if he just did his own church. He doesn't just have his church of, tens of thousands. He has the college, he then has ministries. He started in lots of different countries and he goes to all those places and preaches and teaches as well. Then he preaches conferences in the states and other places as well. In the Spanish world as well as in the English world. Probably the busiest man in the world right now. But again he still finds time or makes time to go and spend some time with God. And I really believe that that's why God has blessed him with all that he has and that all that he has is successful and you can see the power of God is because he spends that time with God. Some things to meditate on. Now Isaac seems to be one who practices this regularly. If you know anything about his story you know that he prayed for 20 years for his wife. First he got a wife and then he prayed for 20 years to get his first child. Now, I know a little bit about that, and some of you might as well. My wife and I got married, and we wanted children fairly quickly. I mean, we didn't care if she got pregnant the first week after we got married. We wanted kids. We both loved kids and wanted kids. It took us five years, all kinds of doctors and specialists and other stuff. Trying every home remedy that someone said to try and I can tell you we were told to do some really weird stuff And some really stupid stuff things to eat things to do things not to do to end up with a baby and get pregnant But finally and it was so discouraging to my wife especially because if if she was a little late on her period she would think maybe I'm pregnant she'd get excited and then Then she'd come and I'd see her being really sad and I'd say, what? And she'd say, I'm not pregnant this month. And so it was, it was, I mean, it was a big deal for months. Finally, five years after we were married, we finally got Jacob. And then we prayed and got Joseph pretty quick and then Rachel pretty quick. And then we decided, well, we don't know if we want any more kids. So we actually were trying not to have any children, and then our fourth child came along and we said, alright God, thank you for getting us started and for getting us now, this is enough. But again, I can tell you that five years was a long time to pray. I can't imagine praying for 20 years and waiting for a child, but that's what he did again. David mentioned meditate in Psalms nine times. By the way, it's only mentioned 14 times in the whole Bible. David himself, now think about who David was. David again, the title that we all talk about David is what? That he was a what? Man after God's own heart. Maybe it's because David was, he knew how to meditate and he spent some time thinking about and dwelling on God and probably thanking God and visiting with God. But again, you'll see it There in your notes, I'm not going to read all of them, but it mentions there in Psalm 1, 2, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 63, 6, when I remember thee upon my bed. So again, when he laid down, he laid there and spent some time meditating, and meditate on thee in the night, watch this. And by the way, also when you're going through some struggles and some difficulties, you know what you have the tendency to do? Do some time praying, some time talking to God, spend some time doing it. And sometimes God lets us go through some tough time in our lives, because that way, sometimes that's the only time he gets our attention. So again, it would be a lot better if we gave him attention without him having to do that. And then in 77-12, 119-15, 119-23, 119-48, 119-78, 119-148, and 143-5. In 143-5 he says this, I remember the days of old, I meditate on all thy works, I muse on the work of thy hands. So again, he would spend some time thinking about what God had done for him. What he said was, I meditate on all thy works, all that God had done, and I muse on the works of thy hands. He said, you know guys, sometimes I just lay around and I think about, I just think about all you've done for me. And by the way, that is always a good thing for every Christian to do, because that will make us thankful. If you're going through some tough times, you know what y'all do? Y'all just ask yourself, what do I have to be thankful for? And once you start, Dr. Song says, once you count your many blessings, name them one by one, you know what the song then says, and you will discover what the Lord hath done. Again, you'll find many times we let a problem or two mess us up, a problem or two get us discouraged and we forget about how many blessings we have because sometimes life comes along and life has some difficulties. In Psalm 46.10, David said this, ìBe still and know that I am God.î So he said, ìSlow down.î God said, ìSlow down.î I mean, think about me. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.î So he said, ìYou know what? Slow down. We always said that to our children. I mean, when you have kids who are doing a bunch of stuff and they're running around, sometimes we'll simply say, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down for a minute. I mean, just take a minute. Relax for a minute. Because sometimes they come in the house and blah, blah, blah. You can't even understand what they're saying because they're so excited. I'm sure that Levi did that the night he saw the bobcat at their house. Kurt did that the other day when he saw the bobcat. He was up in the deer stand watching for a deer. And he said, next thing he knows, a squirrel takes off running and a bobcat chases it. And he has a special dislike for bobcats recently, because his chicken flock went from 22 to 6. And he has to pin them up all the time. He can't leave them out, because the bobcat visits his farm. He said, how do you know that? Because they've seen it right behind the chicken house two or three times. And so he was thinking about shooting that bobcat with his bow and arrow. And next thing he knows, he sees the baby bobcat. And we knew that there was a young bobcat on the property. And mom was apparently teaching it to hunt. That one was unsuccessful. The squirrel got away. And if you know anything about squirrels, they get up in the tree, and then they do their barking. My dad used to say, they're cussing you out. And I don't know if they really are, because I don't understand squirrel. They are up there making a bunch of noise and so then it's set up in the tree and carried on. I think sometimes it's, I mean it's hard, it's in its chest and I mean for a little bit it's just excited to still be alive, but the truth is when you and I get excited sometimes and we get jabbing, sometimes we just need to take a breath and sometimes we say that to somebody. All right, take a deep breath, slow down. Now, what was that again? And that's what He said here. He said, you know what I want you to do? I just want you to be still and know that I am God. And by the way, no matter how crazy the world gets, and sometimes it gets pretty crazy, no matter how busy or how complicated your life gets, and it will get busy and complicated, a good thought is to be still, take some time, just take a breath, and remember, I'm still in control. Bible says he can control people just like the rivers of water. If you wonder why those rivers go like they do, because that's how God made them. And he said, just like I turned them left or right or straight when I wanted them to, I can do that to people as well. And there's been many times through the years that I've prayed and asked God to change somebody's heart. Because it was somebody that I didn't see how they was going to do the right thing unless God talked them into it and made them do it. But again, a lot of stuff about meditation. Now the devil either wants us not to think, or he wants us to think on the wrong things. I think that's why Paul said in Philippians chapter 4, notice there in Philippians 4 verse 8, Paul said, he was telling the Philippian church, here's some things you want to Think on. Finally, brethren, watch if things are true. Spend a little time thinking about that. A lot of lies out there, a lot of untruths. Watch if things are honest. Watch if things are just. Watch if things are pure. Watch if things are lovely. Watch if things have a good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise. He said, think on these things. So what Paul told the Philippian church was, hey, hey, hey, let me give you some, think about this stuff. Understand, you and I, we live in a world that's fast-paced. I'm a country boy, so growing up, our life was not at the busy pace like this. I mean, in town, the stores closed at 5 o'clock. I mean, when we joke about them folding the sidewalks up, they didn't really fold the sidewalks up, but they might as well have, because you say, what happens if someone really got sick in the middle of the night? You say, well, what happens is you call the pharmacist at the little medical store downtown, at the pharmacy, And he does what he did for us a time or two. He gets up, puts a jacket over his pajamas, comes down to the store, opens it up, gives you the medicine that you need for the flu, or the cold, or whatever it was, or the cough medicine. And he says, just pay me the next time you see me, because he's not going to open up the cash register and do all that. And I mean, that's what they do in a small town. We had the liquor thing where they couldn't sell liquor on Sunday. They couldn't have ball games. They couldn't even have ball practice on Wednesday nights or Sunday nights. It was in the town bylaws. So I grew up where life's a lot slower. But you and I live in a city that goes 24 hours a day. And the weird thing is in the last few years, actually there's some stores that close at 11 or 12 o'clock, that used to be open 24 hours a day. But again, we still live in a time that, I mean, it's a fast pace. And sometimes as children of God, we've got to just sometimes take a breath, and again, think about all the good things that God's done for us. So again, he told the Philippians, think on these things. The verse we read from Joshua chapter 1 told us meditate on these things day and night. So we want to give you five or six things to meditate on this evening and keep it as short and simple as possible. The first thing we should meditate on, notice your verses there, we should meditate on God Himself. Psalm chapter 63 verse 6. So sometimes David says, you know what, sometimes I just lay there and thought about God. On your next page, the back page, page 2. So sometimes we just need to take some time to think about God. Think about Again, His power, think about His might, think about His strength, think about His mercy, think about His kindness, think about all of His blessings. Just spend some time thinking about God. By the way, you and I have something the world doesn't have. I say this honestly, I don't know how the world makes it through a death of a loved one without Christ. It's tough for a child of God to make it through a death of a loved one. I don't know how they make it through, I mean, when you have someone that's in the hospital for days and you're sitting there not knowing whether they'll live or die. I don't know how the world does it. Well, actually I do. They go to alcohol and they go to other stuff. We have the luxury of having a God who listens and a God who cares and a God who does stuff for us. David said every once in a while, we just got to think about that. We just got to remember our God. The second thing, not only should we meditate upon God, but we should meditate upon God's works. Notice there in your notes you have Psalm 77 verse 12 says, I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings." Psalm 143.5, I remember the days of old, I meditate on all thy works. I am used on the work of thy hands. So we ought to meditate upon God's works. You say, what are some of His works? The first one is Philippians 4.19. He provides. It mentions there in a verse we often use, and by the way, one you should memorize because it's a very good verse to remind God of. There'll be times you might have to go to God and say, God, remember what you promised me in Philippians 4.19? Say, what is this promise? But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So again, I'm glad I have a God that provides. Now we usually think of just food, but I can tell you God provides more than just food. Now, we always talk about God providing our needs. I can tell you from experience, and not just my own, from others as well, God usually provides for us much more than what we need. God is like a grandparent in the sense of that respect. God not only gives you what you need, but gives you some stuff you like, or some stuff you want as well. When I go to my cupboard tonight, and you go to your cupboard tonight, and I just did this recently, I didn't realize I pulled out the mayonnaise that was in the refrigerator. And I don't use mayonnaise very often. Pulled out the mayonnaise, and I looked at it, and it expired back in 2023. So I thought, maybe I ought to get rid of that. So I went to HEB this week and got me some new mayonnaise. I pulled out the peanut butter that I got. It just seemed like a few days ago I got it. I got two big, big old jars of peanut butter. Crunchy peanut butter, because if you're going to eat peanut butter, you might as well eat the crunchy peanut butter. Now, Brother Mark asked me, I have to get the creamy for him because he has no teeth, so he needs the creamy stuff, because I thought about, you know, And then I looked at those two big old jars because, you know, I got them because I thought, you know, if things were bad, I can always eat peanut butter and jelly. And that's some good stuff. I used to have that every day in my lunch. So I don't eat it now because I eat so much peanut butter and jelly when I was a kid. I don't know when's the last time I've had peanut butter and jelly, but I still like peanut butter. But I had two big old jars. I looked on them and they expired like in 2022. And I thought, oops, I guess Because people always say, well, it lasts longer than the expiration date. I know, but this is 2024. This is a little longer than the expiration date. Look, I ended up throwing like three bags of food, and I haven't even went through the cans yet. But again, I bet if you went to your cupboard, you'd have a bunch of stuff to throw away. You know what that meant? You didn't eat it all. You had plenty to eat and then some. You know why? Because we've got a good God. Truth is, every once in a while I'll go look in the fridge and nothing really interests me there. I looked in the cabinet and I thought, stink, I don't have anything good. What I meant by that was, I didn't have anything that really excited me. I had plenty of food. I just didn't have any of the good stuff. And I've been trying to lose weight, so I didn't need to eat some of the stuff I did have, because I had all this candy sitting on the kitchen table. I said, what did you do? I said, Father, forgive me. I know not what I do. And I went and grabbed a big bag of the Twix, and I ate about 10 Twix. Say, was that on your diet? I think it was that day. Yes, I believe it was. I remember when I looked down at the chart, I think it said 10 twigs. I wouldn't swear to that, but I think it was there. But again, God provides. Not only does God provide, He changes hearts. I mentioned that earlier, but notice the verse, and I mentioned this verse. Proverbs 21.1 says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. If you wonder who's controlling those folks, the Lord can. Now He doesn't, again, He lets us have free reign most of the time, but there's times that God steps in and He says, as the rivers of water, He turns it whether so ever He will. So again, God can change hearts. If you're dealing with somebody and you've done all you can and you still haven't been able to move them, Give them to God, because God can change hearts. Not only does He provide, not only does He change hearts, He protects. Notice there, 2 Kings 6, verse 16 through 18. 16 says, And he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Now those of you who know the story know that the servant stepped out and saw all the enemy all around him. And he stepped back in the tent and said, You might want to come out here. Notice what the next verse says. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray that you open his eyes. Now that meant Elisha already knew what was going on. But he wanted his young assistant to know what was going on. He said, I pray that he open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, what did he see? And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots. Now, he had already seen that. What he didn't see was, there were some other horses and chariots. These horses and chariots were afire. Round about, Elijah. You say, where were they at? They were behind the enemy. By the way, a bad place to have enemies is behind you. But the enemy who thought they were going to take on Elisha, he said, why wasn't he worried? Because he already knew that God was protecting him. Notice verse 18. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said, smite this people. I pray thee with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And if you know the rest of the story, He then kindly guided them to one of their strongholds, took them into town, and said, ìAll right, God.î They opened up their eyes, and theyíre surrounded by the Israel army. I mean, not a good thing if youíre the enemy. But again, realize that God protects us. Now, we often talk about angels protecting us, and I believe we all have those. Some of you, the way you drive, you need some protecting angels. Okay? And not only when you're driving does he protect you, but those same angels are protecting us from you. So, and if some of you quit driving on the sidewalk, it would be better, okay? And I always tell people, every once in a while I'll get on a curb or something and someone will say, I said, hey, I pay my taxes, I pay for those curbs. And sometimes I don't always stop at the stop sign when I'm out in the country. I sometimes go past it and my wife and my kids will say, dad, you didn't stop at the stop sign. I said, hey, it doesn't say where to stop, it just says stop, mind your own business. And if I get on the wrong side of the road, my kids would say, Dad, you're driving on the wrong side of the road. I said, hey, I pay for both sides. I can drive on whatever side I want. So when you're old and confused like me, then you can kind of bend the rules a little bit. Hopefully, there's no one else driving at that time. And hopefully, they're not driving as badly as I am. But again, he protects us. Not only does he provide, not only does he change hearts, and not only does he protect, he empowers us. Notice there in your notes. Ephesians 3.16 and 3.20, 16 says that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundant above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Again, He empowers us. That's why there's nothing you and I can't do with His help. Now there's a lot of things we can't do on our own, but there's nothing that we can't do with His help. That's why Philippians 4.13 is in the book. He empowers us. He befuddles the enemy. I like that word, befuddles. Notice Genesis chapter 19 verse 11. And they smote the man at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they worried themselves to find the door. Again, what happens is sometimes God confuses the enemy. In this case, they were trying to find the door to get in, and God just made it where they couldn't even find the door. There were escape rooms in the Bible. I don't think God gave them any clues. How many of you ever went to an escape room? escape rooms. Now, I went with my kids to one, and I'd been to one before with the teenagers when we had the last youth conference, but my kids, Joe and his wife and kids love the escape rooms, so I was on vacation last June or July, whenever it was, we went to an escape room. I can't believe they cost so much, but I mean, I smiled because Mrs. Bell had said, You're doing a vacation with the kids, don't be thinking about all the money. That's hard for me because I just hate spending my own money. Now, if I'm spending your money, I'm good. If I'm spending my money, I'm a little tightwad. So we went in there, and of course, if you can't get stuff in a little while, you can call and get a clue. We tried not to get clues, but we did get a few clues, and then we finally got out. But in this case, they couldn't find the door. God befuddled them. Not only does He do that, He strengthens. We already mentioned Philippians 4.13. And again, if you know your Bible or memorize any verses, that's probably one of them. Because He tells us, I can do all things through Christ. Not by yourself, not by myself, but through Christ which strengtheneth us. He not only strengthens, He builds our character. Notice Philippians 1.6. Being confident in this very thing that He would have begun a good work in you, so He started a work in us, what will happen? We'll perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So until your death happens, or my death happens, or the rapture happens, you know what God's doing? Like the kids song, He's still working on me. And you say, well, Brother Block, I'm an old man or old woman. Uh-huh, and he's still working on, no matter how old you are, God's still working on you. He's trying to make us into something, make us into something useful, make us into something purposeful. So again, he builds our character. He heals, Matthew chapter eight, verse 16. When the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that was sick. Now, the difference between him and the fake healers, is he heals all of them. And he doesn't heal them. I used to watch some of those Pentecostal guys on TV, and I used to think they were funny because they would sometimes cast the demons out of their ears, and then they would say, I say, repeat after me, baby. And I'm thinking, if you can hear, you don't have to do it. You say, why was he doing that? So they could read lips, because most deaf people can read lips. So all they were really doing was getting him to read their lips. But all the folks behind him were so excited, he is healed or she is healed. Say, what happened when they went back home? They were still deaf. And by the way, those folks every once in a while have someone, because some illnesses are in our head. Okay. That's why doctors in the old days used to give someone, they'd give someone something and they'd come back later and say, man, I feel so much better. And the doctor smiles to himself because they gave you a sugar pill. Because sometimes we think we're sick, we can get sick. But again, now by the way, I'm not saying everyone that's sick is just sick because they think they're sick, because that's not true. There's a lot of illnesses around. But again, He heals. He gives wisdom. Now James chapter 1 verse 5, I like this verse. Again, another good verse to memorize. If any of you lack wisdom, you know who that includes? All of us. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men. And I like this. The only time you and I should be liberal is when this kind of liberal. He gives to all men liberally, and that braideth not, it shall be given, and it shall be given him. Now again, you say, how often have you had to go in and ask God for wisdom? Lots, dozens, hundreds of times. Now, I have counselors, men and women that are counselors, but I can always go to God. And by the way, that's always a good place to go. Even if you have men and women that are wise counselors, always make sure God is one of those counselors, all right? And should be the head counselor. But again, He gives wisdom. Not only does He build character, does He heal, He gives wisdom. The last one underneath the things that God does for us, He gives purpose and direction. Notice Proverbs 3, verse 6. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, Pay attention, give him some attention to what will happen. He should direct thy paths. Now if you're wondering what you should do, you should go look to God and talk to God. You know what he'll do? He'll tell you what to do. He'll give you direction. There are a lot of folks that go through life, I mean, without knowing what their purpose is. Now all of our purpose is defining the Bible very well. She says, whatever you do, whether you eat, drink, or sleep, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So all of us, our purpose in life is to glorify God. But there are other times that he shows us other purposes we have. I mean, sometimes there's purposes for the family. Sometimes there's purposes on the job. Sometimes there's purposes, he shows us what we should do in the church. But again, he gives us purpose and direction. I said, first off again, I said that again, when we're talking about things to meditate on, we should meditate upon God. We should meditate upon God's works. Number three, we should meditate upon God's word. Now we already read Joshua chapter one, verse eight. And that's the one where it says this book of the law, shall not depart out of my mouth, but I will meditate on it day and night. He also tells us in Psalm 1 too, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. So David said that, Joshua said that, David said that. Notice Psalm 1, 19, 15. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. Then he says in 119 23 princes also did sit and speak against me, but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes He said in 119 48 my hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes 119 78 let the proud be ashamed for they for they dealt perversely with me without a cause but I will meditate he said you know when folks are mistreating you you know what you need to do think about the Word of God spend some time thinking about God and And there's sometimes you have to do that, and that will take your mind off of your problems and mind off your troubles. By the way, sometimes we got to make sure the devil doesn't let us dwell and get discouraged. I can tell you, the last four years has been discouraging for me. It really was. Almost like a weight was lifted off my shoulder last night. I mean, I was excited. I really was. I hadn't felt that good in a long time. Because of the fact that I really have seen the direction our nation is going, and it scared me. I'm old, so I thought, well, I mean, if rapture happens or I could die, no big deal. But I got kids and grandkids. I didn't really want great being raised up and growing up in a country that was heading the direction our country was headed. So again, last night was such a blessing to me. You may not got excited, but I got excited. Still am. So I'm going to eat some candy when I get home tonight, too. Not sure how many. I don't know if it's going to be peanut, if it's going to be the Snickers bar, because I like those or whether it's going to be the Twix. Now you can have the plain M&M's all day long, but those peanut M&M's are pretty good. Why? Because there's chocolate and peanuts. It's kind of like the caramel and chocolate. Sometimes two good things mixed together is even better. But again, we ought to meditate upon the Word of God. I read several of those verses. By the way, Brother Vineyard always said this about the book. He always said either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. So again, if you're struggling with sin, the thing you and I should do, and all of us do struggle with sin, the thing we need to do is spend some more time thinking on and reading and spending some time in the Word of God. Again, Psalm 119 says this, wherewithal shall a young man, or by the way, an old man or a middle-aged man, cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. You're struggling with something, I'm struggling with some sin, you know what we gotta do? Get in the Word of God. It helps clean us up, it helps keep us out of trouble. The next truth as far as again some things we should meditate upon is upon Jesus' sacrifice for you. Notice Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 and 3, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him, notice what he did, he endured the cross despising the shame, and is set down upon the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be worried and faint in your minds." If you've ever thought you've been mistreated, trust me, you've never even came close. I've never even came close to being mistreated as much as Jesus was mistreated, ever. On your worst day, it didn't compare to any of the stuff that Christ went through. And by the way, he went through all that because he loved us so much. So sometimes we just got to think about what God's done for us, what Jesus has done for us. Notice it also gives us John chapter 10, verse 18. No man taketh it from me. This is Jesus talking about going to the cross, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father. Now Jesus didn't have to die. He chose to die. And by the way, when they wanted to make him king, he said, no, not my time yet. I've got another purpose. I've got something else I'm supposed to do. He knew full well. Now, know what he did in the Garden of Eden? He wasn't looking forward to all that was going to happen in the next few hours. But he still was willing to do that because he loved us so much. So again, when you and I are struggling, we need to meditate upon the word of God. We need to meditate upon Jesus's sacrifice. Number five, we ought to meditate upon the things pleasing to God. Now we already mentioned Philippians 4, verse 8, and again, a good verse to memorize. Finally, brethren, what if things are true? What if things are honest? What if things are just? What if things are pure? What if things are lovely? What if things have a good report? There be any virtue? There be any praise? Think on these things. But notice what he also told us in Psalm 19, 14. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeeming." What he said is, Lord, let the things I'm thinking about, the things that I'm talking about, let them be pleasing to you. Let them be honorable to you. Now, I can tell you, there are a lot of things we can say that doesn't please or honor God. Because we're sinners and we can say or think about some stuff that sure isn't pleasing to God. If you're wondering, now again I'm always thankful that people can't read my mind because then you'd know that I'm as big a sinner as anyone else is. But God does know my mind, and He does read my mind, and He knows all my thoughts. And you know what? He loves me anyway. I've never understood that. I'm just thankful that He does. I surely don't deserve it, nor do you, but I'm sure glad He keeps on loving us. Meditate upon the things pleased in the God, and the last thing and all will be done. Meditate upon eternal things. Notice what the verses are in 2 Corinthians. We'll read three of those, and then one in Colossians, and we'll be done. For which cause we faint not? But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Now here's what he said, this old body, guess what it's doing? It's getting older, and older, and older, and it's breaking down, and it's aching and hurting. So the outward man perishes, but you know what? The inner man? Not at all. The innocent man is just as young today as it was when you got saved. I mean, it is young and vigorous. So he says, yet it's renewed day by day. Verse 17, for our light affliction. Notice what he called it. Our light affliction. You say, my life's terrible. You got some light affliction. Okay, lie deflection, which is but for a moment. And again, compared to eternity, He said, I've been struggling with this for 20 years, and maybe you have, but you know what, compared to eternity, you know what it is? Just a little time. He said, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, But the things which are not seen are eternal." Again, one of these days, whatever you and I face on this earth, whatever troubles and trials we went through, it's going to seem like nothing when you get to heaven. I've noticed this, and they've often said this, now I've never had a baby, I've had some of those kidney stones, so I have birthed a couple kidney stones, not near as big as the baby some of you ladies birthed. But an amazing thing to me is, as much as the women are in pain and talking about, can't believe you want to do it. And as mad as they are at you while they're in the labor, as soon as the baby is born, that all disappears. And it's like, oh. I mean, I'm thinking, wow, what a change in attitude. But it's only, I mean, I've been there four times. I don't know about your wife. Maybe your wife went, ah! I don't know, I don't know how your baby looked, but mine always went, oh. Now with Jacob, it was like, he doesn't have any hair. That was the first words out of his mouth. I mean, oh, you know, because his hair was blonde and you couldn't see he had any. Those of you that have dark hair, it's a lot easier to see your baby with dark hair. But folks with blonde hair, it looks like they're bald-headed. They're born bald-headed and will usually die bald-headed. But the truth is, all that pain and then, oh. By the way, that's what it's going to be like when we get to heaven. All this water of tribulation and trials and troubles and stuff you and I go through, when we get to heaven and compare it to eternity, it's going to be nothing. Notice Colossians 3 verse 2 tells us this, set your affection on things above. He said, fall in love, love the stuff above, not on the things of the earth. Now again, you and I serve a great God. Sometimes what we've got to do is just remind ourselves of that. That's why I said, you know what, I want you to think on these things. Now understand, the devil's going to try to get you to think about your troubles, and your trials, and your problems, and your distresses, because he wants you to just think about how bad you've got it. Because if he can make you miserable, he can take away your joy. He makes it where you don't even know if you want to live or not, or if life's worth living. Well, if you do what God tells you to do, you know what? At the end of every day, at the beginning of every day, you'll say, man, God, you are so good. Thank you so much. I don't deserve this God. I serve such a great God. And that's what David said. That's what Paul said. And by the way, it's a lot of what other folks in the Bible said. It's a great day in our lives when we realize God is good. Lord, we love you. Help us to dwell and thank upon you. Help us to take some time sometimes just to Get away from all the hustle and bustle and the noise and all the stuff that goes on in all of our schedule. Lord, every once in a while, we just go and get along with You and just appreciate You and think about You.