I don't have much time left, but I'll try to give you a short little challenge here. Hopefully it will be a blessing help. study and trying to get something, a message together. I had several thoughts I was trying to deal with and they all seem to be a part of the message, I mean part of the service tonight, whether it's in songs or the choruses we sang or scripture reading, whatever it may have been. It kind of touched on a lot of the things I was thinking over this afternoon. Like I said, I'm just going to share a short challenge with you this evening. I was going to read the whole chapter of Psalms 103, but I'll just read the first two verses to start off with. This isn't part of the message, but it's just something I wanted to kind of bring out. And we're coming down to the end of the year here, and the pastor wants us to get some Testimonies together for the watch night of all the things that God's done for us and throughout the year and working our lives and in Psalms 103 Verse one and two says, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. And like I said, I was gonna read the whole chapter, but for the sake of time, just challenge you to read that yourselves. It just goes through and tells you all the benefits that God has given us, satisfying our soul, having mercy on us, And the list can go on and on, and I know, as I said before, Pawpaw's challenged us to kind of write some of those things down that God's blessed us with, the benefits he's given us in our lives, to share Watch Night service. He has blessed us with many things and you see at the end of the chapter it tells us verse 21 and 22 it says bless the Lord all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure bless the Lord all All his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord. Oh my soul so like I said, there's much that we can be thankful for and bless him for and I I pray that we all can get something together to share for the watch tonight of all the blessings that God has done in our own lives, for they are many. But along the same thought of just reflecting on God's benefits, his blessings towards us throughout the year. I know, like I said, coming towards the end of the year and looking into the new year, a lot of times we use that time as a reflection what has taken place in our lives, the blessings of God, the things we want to work on. I know in the worldly sense, setting new goals for the new years of things we want to be better at. One of the challenges preacher has for us with this, writing down these things is one of the challenges he wants, and he mentioned having that banner of becoming better. And it is something that we need to look at ourselves, how we can be better, how we can grow, because we can all have things we can grow in, be better in. And so that's kind of what my challenge was for tonight. And I was going to use the reference in James chapter 1, if you want to turn there, James chapter 1. Kids just memorized this not too long ago and recited it for the third Sunday. And we kind of dealt with it a little bit in Sunday school as well. But I just want to point out a few verses here at the end about reflecting on our lives. Like I said, we come to the end of the year. Usually a time we try to reflect on this past year and things we want to change and be better in. And the Bible tells us here in James chapter 1. And verse 22 tells us to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Again, with the whole theme of reflecting on this past year and looking back over our lives and the work God's done in our lives, the Bible tells us here that being a hearer of the Word and not a doer is like a man beholding his face in the natural glass, looking at himself in the mirror. And he sees himself in the mirror and tells us here in verse 24 that he goes away and doesn't do anything about it. That's someone who's not being a doer of the word. We can use God's word as a reflection of our lives. As we look back over this past year, writing out our testimony of how God's worked in our lives, it's It'd be very beneficial and helpful if we use God's word to help us. He shows us things where we need to, shows us areas in our lives that we need to work on, be better in, and tells us in his word how we should be living our lives. And the Bible plainly tells us here that God's word is a mirror for our lives. And I've used this illustration, like I said, in the Sunday school. When we think of a mirror, the purpose of a mirror is usually to see your reflection, see if there's anything wrong, hair out of place, whatever you need to fix, and something in your teeth you need to clean out, or whatever it may be. And God's word should be the same way. It's something we should look into to see if there's a flaw in our lives, something that we need to work on, something that we need to make better. And it should be something that we're seeking. And I think just out of the verse, in Psalms where it tells us, or David's asking to search me and see if there'd be any wicked thing in my heart. And that should be our, one of the things, and I know there's many purposes of God's word for comfort, help, and different things, but it should also be something we go to for help in our lives to be, to take, to reflect, give a reflection of our lives, see what areas we need to be better in, work on, and to become more like him. And a lot of times, this mirror, just like an actual mirror someone uses to look at themselves, it gets misused. Sometimes it doesn't even get used at all. I know sometimes going to work, I don't really care. that much. I'm not going to take time looking in the mirror to go to work. So we just bypass it. And sometimes we do the same thing with the Bible. I mean, we're getting in a hurry. We just kind of set aside. We don't even take the time to look in God's word and what he has for us. There's times when, just as this passage tells us here, we do take the time to read God's word. But again, we're just kind of in a hurry, just read through it real quick, might notice something, but we just say, oh, we look good enough, we're all right, and just go on about our day. And there's no changing or working in our lives, the Bible changing our lives and making us better. But like I said, it should be, the purpose of a mirror to show those things and to fix those things in our lives. We should get in God's word with that purpose of seeing a reflection of our own lives spiritually and how we need to be better and grow spiritually. Another misuse of a mirror is I actually had a roommate in college who was constantly in front of the mirror, flexing his muscles and staring at himself. And then the Bible can be used that same way. They pick out the things that make themselves look good. It's like, oh, I do that. I'm good there. I think highly of themselves. I'm doing those things and, again, it's just a misuse of the purpose of a mirror, of the reflection. Like I said, there's things that we all need to work on and we can all be better in. We look in God's word and the Bible shows us who we are spiritually, things we need to work on. There's another passage in here, I don't have it. written down or marked or anything but it talks about how when others see us, the reflection I forgot the wording exactly, but basically it's saying when we see, we should be able to see Jesus. And when we look at the reflection, it should line up with him. I know there's other passages telling where we're, he is our example, we are to be like him, we're to, that's our aim and goal, to be more like Christ. But it should get to the point when we are looking in this mirror, instead of seeing the flaws and areas we need to work on, it needs to get to the point where we can actually see Jesus. We can see Christ work in our lives, the change he's made in our lives to be more like him, the growth that has taken place to be more like him, and it should be our aim and goal. Like I said, we use the mirror, the physical mirror. point out areas we need to fix, and to be presentable to others, mainly. I mean, that's usually what it's for when we're going out in public or whatever, to be presentable to others. And again, same way with God's word. It's to be able to present ourselves to God foremost, be able to stand before him one day and present ourselves at the end of this message, chapter here, he mentioned it earlier, being unspotted from the world, but it's also to be presentable to the world. A lot of times, and again, there's other passages I was kind of studying for a different thought message, but the whole idea is that And we are going to be, our lives should manifest God's love, his love towards us and showing that love towards others. Our lives shouldn't manifest Christ, the life of Christ. That should be our goal, and that's the challenge I had for you tonight, just to really get in God's word and to not just be, here's the word. I kind of had that thought of just remembering, looking over the past year, and I actually looked up the word remember, and a lot of times it dealt with Jesus, on telling the disciples, remember what I've told you, remember these words, remember my commandments. And there's other passages in here telling you to remember his word and to do them. There's a lot of verses in Psalms and Proverbs telling you to remember, hide his word in your heart, remember them. And throughout the Bible, it just tells you not only to remember his words and be hearers of his words, but be doers as well. And again, like I said, it's not... I mean, it's one thing to look at yourself in the mirror, in the mirror of God's word, and to see the things and take in the things that you need work on, areas you need fixed. But we need to take the next step and actually fix those things and to better ourselves. Like I said, his theme is for the New Year's, be better Christians, be better. better church members, better brothers, sisters in Christ, and just working our lives to be better hearers. We need to be better hearers and better doers of God's Word. And I pray that, like I said, a lot of times when I try to get these messages together and study, I know a lot of times It's things I want to study for myself and need to work on myself. So I hope it is a blessing to you, but I know it's something, kind of a challenge for myself as well to just get more in His word and study more in His words and to better myself to be what I ought to be as a Christian. Like I said, just pray that it's a challenge and a help to you as well, these things. I'm going to live the way He wants me to live. There's just no more to give. I'm going to love until there's just no more love. I can never, never outlive you. I love the Lord. He is my everything. He is my all. He is my everything, both great and small. He gave His life for me. May everything do. He is my everything. Now how about you? There's something mighty sweet about the Lord. There's something mighty sweet about the Lord. It really doesn't matter what the people say. There's something mighty sweet. We always need room for improvement to become a better Christian, a better servant, a better instrument in Lord's hands to reach the lost, and certainly a better scholar of the Bible, a better spirit in the service. There's just so many things we can perfect, make them better, make them better. And I trust that we'll work on that. Lord, our helper, consider that in the service Tuesday night and trust the Lord to help us to make some progress in our Christian life. Be stronger, be more fervent in our spirit. build up our most holy faith, pray it in the Holy Ghost, and becoming that servant that God can use to reach others. Amen, amen, amen. Bruce and Smith, a word of prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, for watching over us and speaking to us again this day. Thank you for the many blessings you've put upon us, and we pray for those who couldn't make it. I pray, Lord, that those among us who are sick and a crud, and I pray, Lord, you'll touch each body, and I pray, Lord, each one, Lord, to come closer to yourself and be ready when you come for us. Guide and direct us as we go along, keep us safe, and through the week, I pray, Lord, that will be done. In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen. Amen, amen. you