10 Years Later... We Chose to Thrive

Well, thank you, gentlemen. Begin to happy Sabbath, brethren.

Wonderful to see all of you here today, and even under your masks, some smiling faces.

Well, today is an anniversary that I at least want to mention. I'm getting some puzzled looks from some of you out there. It is an anniversary. It was exactly 10 years ago. On the first Sabbath, January 1st, 2011, that I became your pastor.

It's something that I didn't want, to be honest with you. Something that I never thought. But since I was the last man standing after a very difficult church split at the time, I felt an obligation to serve as your pastor, and it's been my intention ever since to serve you faithfully and with a deep level of commitment.

We have a lot to be thankful for as a congregation because over the past 10 years, we have more than just survived.

We have thrived. Thriving is the topic of my sermon today. Jesus did say that the gates of hell would never destroy his church in Matthew chapter 16. But let's see something that Peter taught us, 1 Peter chapter 2. If you'll go there with me, 1 Peter chapter 2, and we'll begin in verse 9. And see what God has called this generation to be. That includes you and I.

To prepare for his kingdom, God works from generation to generation.

Any generation he calls a unique group of people to come out of this world, to repent of their sins, to accept the shed blood of Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and begin a journey of discipleship. Here's what Peter says. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. You are a chosen generation. Our generation, too, like the ones before it and the ones that will be after us if this world goes on, is a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. We are being prepared to be priests and leaders in the kingdom of God when Jesus Christ returns.

That you may proclaim praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. There was a time when all the blinders fell off our eyes, and we could finally see the truth of God, and we could understand what God was doing in our lives through the Gospel, the preaching of the Gospel, and that God had a beautiful and wonderful future for us. Verse 10. Who once were not a people, we were living in the world, acting like the world, immersed in the ways of this world, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God who had not obtained mercy because we hadn't repented of our sins. We were just doing our own thing, living life the way that we thought we should live it, but now have obtained mercy.

Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims abstained from fleshly lust, which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles.

So Peter's encouraging us to be a light to this world, that our conduct is honorable, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may buy your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Yeah, they may condemn us now. They may be critical of our beliefs and the things that we do now, but our good works will be reminded of when Jesus Christ returns, and then it will all make sense. That's why that person didn't work on Saturdays.

That's why that person had a good marriage. That's why that person was so kind in the neighborhood, was the first one to volunteer to help out when something needed to be done. So how have we thrived as a congregation on our 10th anniversary, as we think about the changes that have happened?

I'd just like to go through a little bit of a list as we lead into the sermon today. First of all, we're much larger than we were 10 years ago.

At a time when many church congregations become smaller, in the last 10 years, many church congregations have become smaller. Others have disbanded. During that time, we've been very blessed and we've grown abundantly. According to the United States Census Bureau, their records tell us that every year, more than 4,000 church congregations close their doors compared to 1,000 new church startups. So that's a loss of 3,000 church congregations every year.

The building that we purchased here is from a disbanded Baptist congregation. We purchased the building about six years ago. So we're much larger and we've been blessed with more people and newer people.

We've maintained a youth education Sabbath school consistently the past 10 years. That was very important to my wife and I that we do that. This is important for the next generation. Those who are teens now and young adults went through some kind of Bible school on the Sabbath days, particularly oriented towards them. And even if we have some youth who grow up to be adults and choose not to become a remained part of the church, we have an obligation to invest in them too.

We have an obligation to teach moral principles and biblical principles. Growing up as a young boy, I didn't have the opportunity to be part of the Church of God. I was taken to a Methodist church by my parents, but it's there that I learned about the Ten Commandments. It's there that I learned moral and ethical values. It's there that I learned some of the rudimentary things about Bible figures and who's who in the Scriptures. Even though it wasn't perfect, it was important for me to learn that so that I knew how to make the right decisions in my teenage years regarding morality, regarding sexuality, regarding on whether I was going to take drugs or begin to smoke or act in certain ways, it's that foundation that I had that served me well.

And we have an obligation to our youth who attend these Sabbath schools to teach them God's way of life. We've been blessed with a large number of former members from the worldwide Church of God coming back, returning to the faith. Sometimes after a 10 to 25 year absence, they've come home and we've welcomed them, and we're delighted to have them as part of God's Church once again. About 25 percent of our adult congregation is newer to the faith.

They were never a part of the worldwide Church of God. They know little or nothing about Herbert Armstrong or Joseph Dukatch, except maybe what they research on the internet, and they have been called in this generation because God is still calling new children and adding them to his family and to his Church. This is not the Church of any man, any man of the past, or any man of the future.

This is not an organization of any man. This is the Church of the Living God. God has blessed us with a building of our own to honor him. We've been able to make many upgrades and have the finances to continue to do so. If you look at that back wall, you'll see an upgrade that occurred this week, thanks to BJ and Walt.

But we continue to value and be so appreciative of this blessing that God has given us this building of a physical home. We're very thankful to have it. I met with brethren for 44 years in rented halls and put up with a lot in rented halls. And now we're in a community where people indeed know who we are.

So we've been able to have a place that we can call home. The original loan for this building has been paid off, and this building is owned and is an asset by the United Church of God. We've opened doors of fellowship with other Church of God fellowships, other Sabbatarians, because they too are our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. We've worshiped with them on the Holy Days. We have a collegial relationship with them.

This is a breakthrough and something almost unheard of during the last 80-year history of the Church. And I have to tell you that I received some flack when I decided to make that decision. I received some flack from some in the United Church of God over that. Also, locally, I know and have met with other Grafton Church pastors, and together we serve some in the community who are in severe need.

Now, why do I do that? Because Paul said in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. So not only is our job to take care of our own, but is the opportunity arises. It's our job to provide opportunities and do good for all. In the last 10 years, we've sponsored through the Home Office a marriage weekend at the year 2012 that was led by Randy and Kaye Tribert.

We appreciate them coming to Cleveland during that time to do that. We had an ABC Continuing Education program in July of 2015. Aaron Dean and Frank Dunkel came here and provided that for a couple of days. We appreciated their service. We've had nine public Kingdom of God seminars over those 10 years. There are at least two individuals who are here, part of the Cleveland congregation, as a result of those Kingdom of God seminars.

Over 10,000 people, as part of our mailing list, was invited to those seminars. Now, some of them twice because they maintain their membership on our magazines, but 10,000 people in the last 10 years were invited to a public proclamation of the Gospel. And something to me that is very important from the bottom of my heart is I believe that we have grown as a congregation to be more loving, and we have grown as a congregation to focus more on the attributes of Christian living, to go just beyond knowledge of doctrines and truths, which are all very important, but also to live a spiritual life developing the fruit of the Spirit.

As Paul said, I came to preach Christ and Christ crucified, and I make no I make no apology for saying that we are Christ-centered, that we are a Christ-centered congregation. And if that bothers some people, and I know it does, it's just too bad.

That is what I have considered the heart and core of my calling in the ministry that God has led me to. Exactly ten years ago, near the end of the sermon, it was entitled 12 Corrupt Men, I promised you that I would not forsake you as a shepherd, that I wouldn't abandon you, that I wouldn't take some flock as if it was my own flock and move it somewhere else to a different location, but that you're the flock of Jesus Christ, and I have no right to do that as a pastor. And I promised you that I would be there for you. I promised you I would never abandon you, the only death would take me away from fulfilling my role as the shepherd.

And I reaffirmed that promise again today, until I passed the baton off to someone in the future.

So as we look back on the last ten years and the things that we've achieved, I understand and I realize that God doesn't simply want us to get by. God doesn't want us to merely survive. He wants us to thrive. That always has been, that is, and that always will be what God wants for his church congregations, not simply to survive, but to go far beyond survival and to thrive. Let's go to Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 16, if you'll turn there with me. Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 16.

Prophecy about the world tomorrow.

Zechariah chapter 9 verse 16. The prophet writes, The Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people.

For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over his head.

For how great is its goodness and how great its beauty! Grain, in other words, plenty to eat, prosperity, abundance. Grain shall make the young men thrive.

And new wine, the young women. Maybe it'll make them happier.

Ask the Lord for the rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds.

He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone. Everyone's thriving, not scarcity, not just survival, but thriving.

Everyone is whom God wants to thrive.

In God's kingdom, people are intended to thrive.

There's plenty to eat and drink, and the people are like jewels in God's crown. You, today, are the jewels in God's crown.

They'll be lifted up like a flag in full glory.

In God's eyes, we are lifted up because we are his precious jewels, his children.

And just like God looks forward to a time when he wants the whole world to thrive, he wants us to thrive as a congregation and as individuals.

He's proven to us the last 10 years and all the things that we've achieved and done that we can thrive.

That we've been called to thrive as a congregation.

And we've also been called to thrive as individuals.

So what does it take to thrive?

Many church congregations who have struggled to simply survive the past 10 years have died because they settled on a goal that was just one step from extinction.

You know what this step is just before extinction? It's called survival. There's not a lot of wiggle room. If your goal is to survive and times get tough, guess what? You just died.

And that's why God wants his congregations. He wants his people to go beyond the desire to simply hang in there, to simply survive the tough times.

He wants his people to thrive. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said this in 500 BC, first one that we know recording whoever said this. You've heard it before. 500 BC, Heraclitus, the only thing that remains constant is change. End of quote. The only thing that goes on constantly is constant change. I've said before, and I'll say it again, if I took a snapshot of this congregation today and take one for the next thousand weeks, it will be unique.

Never again will the same people be sitting in the exact same locations the same way we are right now. If I took that picture, it'll never be duplicated.

Because life is constant change.

So as we begin a new secular year, the calendar year of 2021, I want to emphasize that the old normal will not return.

The old normal shouldn't return. Because the only thing that remains constant is change.

We can't live in the past. We can't change the past. We can't recreate the past because everything is constantly changing. It always has, and it always will, as long as we live in a physical universe and in a physical world.

So to help us to understand the ability to thrive today, I'd like to use one of God's creations to teach us something. If you look at the animals that God created, it always amazes me, sometimes within the same family, how they have different instincts and different characteristics. That has always amazed me.

God created various animals with unique characteristics, and one of them is called a coyote.

And they can be an example to us on how not to simply survive. But against all odds, to thrive, to grow, to adopt, to expand, I think that's very important for us to consider as we begin this new year. Many of the coyote characteristics that I'm going to mention today have been observed by Dr. Mark Beckoff. He is the professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago. He is the professor emeritus of evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The coyote is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. And I'm going to use it as an example as a metaphor, again, for not simply surviving but thriving against all odds and adversity. It does this by constantly looking for opportunities and adopting itself to change.

Now, it doesn't stop being a coyote because it does that.

And what I'm talking about when I mention change today, as I most certainly am not talking about doctrines, I'm talking about attitudes within the Church of God, and I'm talking about the processes of how we do things. I'm not talking about doctrines at all.

The coyote has a simple wired-in, instinctive mindset that's different from other canines, and it's not merely to survive but to thrive. Also, some of the information I have today, because I believe in giving credit, well, credit is due, is from a man that I credit as a speaking mentor. I first heard him as a motivational speaker. I first heard him three times in the mid-1980s, and he's had a profound impact on my life. His name is Joel Weldon.

So let's talk about the coyote for a few minutes. Originally, the coyote habitat was limited to the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Northern to Central Mexico, a rather limited area.

In the early 1900s, ranchers in these states complained to the government that coyotes were killing their small livestock. They were killing their lambs, their chickens, and their calves, and the ranchers wanted the government to pay them to kill them.

They felt, the ranchers, that the only good coyote is a dead coyote.

And in 1917, the government passed a law that there was open hunting season on coyotes.

Yes, and the government even paid people to kill them.

Since that time, millions and millions and millions of coyotes have been killed.

So what's the result of this war that's been going on for 103 years since 1917, when the government passed a law that it was open hunting season on coyotes? What's been the end result? Who do you think has won that war?

Well, the coyote has proven to be unstoppable. What's their habitat now?

From the southern part of Central America, they have crossed the Panama Canal and are heading towards South America, all the way up to the Arctic Circle in the north. All 49 of 50 American states now have coyotes as a habitat in those states. Think of the success of this animal, in contrast to the 411 species in the United States that are on the endangered species list. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year in past laws in an attempt to save a few from extinction.

Yet, we not only couldn't kill coyotes, we couldn't kill them fast enough! They have thrived and expanded in numbers and in their habitat, simply because God gave them an instinct, a mindset that goes beyond simply living to the passionate desire to thrive. How about us, brethren, in our own lives or in our congregation? Have we kicked into survival mode? Are we just trying to get by?

Are we committed to the passion of thriving?

The Navajo are the second largest Native American tribe in the United States. For 400 years, they've never attempted to kill the coyote. As a matter of fact, the Navajo word for coyote, their word is translated as God's dog because of the amazing survival characteristics that the coyote has.

The Native American peoples honor the animal because they are impressed with its ability not to simply survive, but to thrive. According to research, the coyote is one of the most intelligent animals in North America. It's creative, innovative, and takes advantage of every opportunity.

For a while, people thought, whoa, here's what we'll do, being kind and compassionate. We'll trap them and then take them out into the desert somewhere, take them somewhere where they won't come back. Some coyotes have come back 300 miles to their home where they were trapped after being relocated somewhere else. They have like a built-in GPS system and they come back.

With coyotes, they mate for life, which is something you don't find often in the canine community, I might add. Both parents feed and protect their young and their territory, and if the mother is killed, the father never mates with another animal again, even when there's opportunity.

If the mother is killed, the father raises the pups. We can't even get some humans to do that in our world today. So just how amazing these animals are. They're very family-oriented.

Again, they are different than most other canines in their characteristics and their abilities.

So I would like to quickly mention three qualities they have that I think we could apply to our congregation and we most certainly can apply to our own lives so that we can thrive the next 10 years and not simply survive.

These are qualities that separate the coyote from other animals, including other canines. Number one, first quality they have is adaptability to change. The adaptability to change. To the coyote, if something isn't working for the coyote, they stop doing it.

In contrast to the human race, if something isn't working, you do it over and over again for thousands and thousands of years. So that's number one, is their adaptability. For example, if they can't find food at night, they start coming out in the daytime. It's not rocket science, but there are a lot of animals who only hunt at night, and they'll starve rather than breaking their routine of coming out at night, doing something different, adopting the change. If they can't get fresh or dead meat to eat, they'll eat bark, beans, berries, fruits, grass, leaves. They even love watermelon!

Again, some other canines won't do that. They only eat meat. They'll starve before they eat some of these things like bark and beans and berries, but not that coyote. It's adaptable.

This is part of their ability to adapt and be creative. You can't thrive or survive if you keep living in the past and doing the same thing the way you always did. There's a term for living in the past and doing everything the same way you always did. That term is called extinction. And whether it's a church congregation or whether it's our individual lives, we must realize that we can no longer recreate the past.

Coyotes may occasionally form friendly hunting relationships with their competitors. They've been known to hunt with American badgers who are their competitors. They assist each other in digging up rodent prey out of the earth. The relationship between the two species may occasionally border on friendship. Some coyotes have been observed laying their head on their badger companions and licking their faces without protest. These are competitors of theirs, yet they work together to thrive. Even in the business world, adaptability is essential for survival. Do you remember blockbusters? They're gone because they refuse to change. How about Borders Bookstores? Remember Borders Bookstores? They refuse to change. Kodak film? If you're about my age, you remember, do I want 24 roll or do I want 36 roll? Their stock price went from $106 a share down to $0.36 a share before they expired. Why? Because they were trying to recreate the past instead of getting their act together, adjusting, adopting, and moving forward, understanding where everything was headed. They did not adapt to change. They resisted change in innovation until it was too late. Well, how about us, brethren? Again, this doesn't mean changing any of our doctrinal beliefs, but it does mean changing our attitudes, our mindsets, and our approach to the way that we do things. Acts 19 and verse 11, if you'll turn there with me, Paul was a very innovative type guy. He did a number of things that showed he could adapt to change.

For example, he didn't wait for people to come to him when he started missionary journeys.

He would be proactive, and he would go from city to city, and he'd walk into a synagogue he'd never been in before and begin to preach the gospel. Why was he doing that? Why wasn't he just sitting back and hoping people would come to him because he had adapted to change? The world had changed. People needed to hear the message. They needed to hear a preacher before they could respond to him.

Here's an example of his adaptability. Acts 19 and verse 11, now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick.

And the diseases that left them and the evil spirits went out of them. I want you to notice how adoptive Paul is. He couldn't be everywhere. There was only one of him, so he does something new and different here, a different approach. Rather than expecting the local sick people to come to him, he made it possible to heal more people by sending out handkerchiefs to them.

Why? Because Paul knew in a changing world how to adopt. Not to just simply replicate the old covenant. Oh, well, what did Moses do? What did this prophet do? No, he understood the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, but he also knew the world had changed dramatically because of the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that he must change and adopt his views as well.

He was a self-righteous Pharisee until he was called, but he changed. He adapted to a new understanding.

Again, Paul, as a missionary, the idea of being a missionary and going out to preach the gospel and risking your life was a new concept. Another example would be when God began calling Gentiles like Cornelius to conversion. Suddenly, Gentiles are interested in the truth. Oh, what do we do now?

How do we handle this? Well, the church adopted. Peter visited and he counseled and he baptized Cornelius and his family, yet in verse 2 it says, quote, and Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, you went into the uncircumcised men and ate with them.

And Peter's point was this. You don't get it. You're living in the past. You don't realize that God is calling Gentiles. A new approach is required. Peter says, look, I'm talking to this man and the Holy Spirit falls on him. And everyone that was with my party, all of us who are circumcised, saw that. So we baptized them because God obviously is calling Gentiles. Are we going to adapt to this? Or we continue to go back and hate Gentiles because they're not Jews? To despise Gentiles and treat them like inferior human beings because they're not of Jewish descent. You tell me, Peter, says what we're going to do. What we're going to do is we're going to take this opportunity that God gives us, and we're going to welcome Gentiles into the faith.

That's adaptability to change. Peter received criticism from some in the Church because of his leadership. Some people don't want to change, even if God himself provides the opportunity, as in the case here in the conversion of Cornelius. Another example of adaptability to change is what the ancient Jews did. In 585, the Babylonians came in. They invaded Judah.

The temple was destroyed, and the Jews went into captivity into Babylon. So what did the Jews do?

Everything about their religion was centered around the temple. Now there is no temple. So what are the Jews to do? Well, I guess we'll just pack it up and all become Methodists. This isn't working out, so maybe we'll just call it a day. No, they didn't do that. They invented something brand new, not ever mentioned in the Old Testament. They called it a synagogue. And in Babylon, that's where the idea of the synagogue continued, the Jewish heritage, where people would meet together on the Sabbath in very similar ways than we do at Sabbath services every week. They invented the synagogue. And it was good, and it was right, because by the time Jesus is born, he visits synagogues. He has no problem with them. He welcomes the idea of a synagogue, even though you can travel a mile later and go to the temple itself, because they were willing to adapt to change. Again, how about us, brethren?

So that was number one. Adaptability to change. Number two, teamwork. The ability to work with others. Teamwork. The ability to work with others. Coyotes prefer to work together in family groups. And when hunting, as a family, they can take down a larger animal compared to a single coyote. A lot of their prey is bigger than an individual coyote, but if you get a group of them surrounding a very large animal, then they can take it down. They can use strategies to isolate the animal.

Do things that it's impossible to do if you're hunting alone. As I said earlier, they even work with some animals that are their enemies, so they can both prosper and thrive. Coyotes can run up to 40 miles an hour. That's fast. In the fall and winter, they form even larger packs for more effective hunting when the weather turns cold. Let's go to Philippians chapter 2 and verse 1.

Philippians chapter 2 and verse 1. Teamwork.

The coyotes are excellent in working together as a team.

Paul knew the importance of us being length-minded, of one accord, of doing things as a team, not out there as individuals doing our own thing. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 1. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if there is any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded. Work together as a team.

Have minds that have that central core of our faith and belief in Jesus Christ as the glue to hold us together in unity. Sure, we're different colors. Sure, we're different ethnicities.

Sure, within our congregation, some are well-off and some are poor.

But what unites us is the Spirit of God, being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. What's Paul saying here in the phraseology of the early church? Be a team! Work like a team. Think like a team. Submerge your own opinions and ideas and attitudes for the sake of the team being able to get things done. Continuing, he says this in verse 3. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. So if you don't agree with something, submerge it. When the time is right, if there's something you need to say, I can tell you as an individual I will always listen to whatever opinions and ideas you have, and I'll open-mindedly consider them. That doesn't mean I'll always act on them, but I try to be approachable, and you're welcome to say whatever you want, as long as your attitude is good, and as long as your idea is for the benefit of the church, and not selfish, you're not in some way trying to promote yourself.

Verse 4, let each one of you look not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others.

So Paul here mentions the importance of a congregation working together as a team. He tells us to be like-minded, to do things in one accord. That's teamwork. According to God's word for today, the translation of this in verse 2 says, then fill me with joy by having the same attitude and the same love living in harmony and keeping one purpose in mind. What do you call it when everyone has a good attitude, when they have one purpose in mind? You call that teamwork. Sure, people are individuals, but again they're submerging their own ideas and opinions for the sake of the group and the team to get great things done. The book of Ecclesiastes reminds us in chapter 4 verses 9 through 10, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. You get a synergy. When you get two people doing something, there's a synergy that is created. They're far more productive. They can protect each other far better than we can just protect ourselves. Verse 10 says, for if they fall, one will lift up his companion, but woe to him who's alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him. That's why we need each other. That's why God has given us a spiritual family, and it should be more than just a family. We should be a cohesive dedicated team committed to preaching the good news of the gospel of the kingdom of God to this community, and as much as we can to this world. That was number two. Number three, the final characteristic, is that coyotes have incredible courage and commitment. Incredible courage and commitment.

Now, when I say courage, I do not mean being boldly foolish. They don't do things that put their lives in danger. They do things with wisdom. They're courageous, but they do things in which the odds show that they're going to be okay. They don't willy-nilly put their lives in danger. These members of the dog family once lived primarily in open prairies and deserts, but now they roam the continent's forests and mountains. They've even colonized cities like Los Angeles.

They're found in most cities in North America. Coyote populations are at an all-time high.

In 1917, the government said, you can kill them, shoot them, trap them, gas them, blow them up with dynamite. You can kill those coyotes any way you want.

And it didn't work, because God created them with a mindset that they're not just going to survive and hang on a little longer, but they have a mindset that they're going to thrive. They're not content to safely stay where they are. That's why they've gone from a few states into taking over an entire continent. They've become even more bold in meeting people. They've adopted more the last 50 years, where they used to shy away from people. Now they're a little bolder, and they come right up to you. Terrify some people, most certainly, but there are very few incidents of coyote bites or problems between coyotes and human beings, but they've become far more bolder. Psalm 31, verse 23. Let's go to Psalm 31, verse 23. Again, we're talking about that third quality they have, which is incredible courage and commitment.

The psalmist writes, chapter 31, verse 23, Oh, love the Lord, all you his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful. Do you courageously believe that no matter what goes on in this world, that God is going to preserve you? That gives us additional courage and boldness just knowing that the Lord preserves the faithful. We have nothing to fear. And fully repays the proud person, someone who is arrogant and cocky, they get their reward. God sees that what goes around comes around.

Verse 24, Be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Are we allowing God to strengthen our heart?

Are we demonstrating courage, using wisdom, but not allowing the fears of this world and this age to take over our minds and make us anxious and fearful?

Brethren, we should not be shy about our beliefs or think that we can hide under a bushel.

Glenn himself told us the example of shopping and how he's begun to introduce ways to talk about the gospel to mere strangers. And it isn't easy, but he's begun to work in the ability to have conversations with people. That takes courage, and that takes boldness, commitment, and he's begun to do that. Jesus said in John chapter 14 and verse 27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives to you I give it. Let not your heart be troubled neither. Let it be afraid.

So what are we afraid of?

German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said this in 1832. It's very true to universal law. He said, quote, at the moment of commitment, what are you committed to? Your faith in Jesus Christ? Your marriage? The career path that you're on? What's your commitment? He says at the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you. I'm going to read that again. At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you. What he meant by that is that when we desire to do something with courage and commitment, things just fall in the place. We finally have a purpose. We finally have a passion, and things line up and begin to happen either in our church congregation or individually within our lives. Your life is your choice, and we all make choices every day.

And it's not what happens to you that's important. It's how you respond to what happens to you. My brethren, that's what's important. So in conclusion today, I want to encourage all of us to start this new secular year known in the calendar as 2021 with a determination to thrive. A determination for our congregation to thrive the next 10 years as we've thrived the last 10 years. We want to go beyond just surviving. We want to grow. We want to expand. We want to explore. We want to be innovative. We want to create, and we want to thrive. So let's be determined to do that. Let's promise ourselves that we're going to let go of unproductive habits and attitudes. Let's accept the truth that the future will not be like the past.

The past is gone. We can't go back to the past. We can't relive the past. We can't recreate the past. We can only look forward. We can determine to demonstrate courage when we face the unknown or when we face obstacles and we will. As a congregation, we can decide to make a deeper commitment to Christ. As Jesus said in Luke chapter 9 and verse 62, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Let's not look back. Looking back to the past. Looking back to the way it used to be and thinking that somehow that was good or wonderful or righteous because it had problems as well. No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Our last scripture today, if you'll turn there with me, Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 2. Proverbs 29.2, our final scripture.

Proverbs chapter 29 verse 2. I'm going to read from the new international version. Feel free to follow with me whatever translation you have in front of you. It says, when the righteous thrive, the people rejoice. When we thrive, when our church thrives, when our individual lives thrive, we are preparing for that great trumpet blast we will hear. And we will rise to meet Jesus Christ in the air. And what we do when we return to earth with him will make the people rejoice.

Because the problems, the dysfunctions, the sins of this world will be washed away.

And we, because we have been prepared, will be there to lead as shepherds and priests and coaches in God's kingdom. When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice. When the wicked rule, the people groan. Thank you for your support of God's church over the last 10 years.

We are definitely not the same congregation we were 10 years ago. As a matter of fact, most of the things that have happened would not have happened if the church had not split and if the status quo had continued. We are not the same congregation we were 10 years ago, and we were never intended to be the same congregation we were 10 years ago.

Our goal as a congregation is to continue to thrive, not simply survive. Let's keep growing and adapting to changing conditions while we cling faithfully to the doctrines of the Church of God. Let's change our attitudes towards other people, including people of the world.

Let's change the way that we approach things and do things, and try to adjust the way that we approach things and do things to what we call the New Testament instead of church traditions or human traditions. Let's work as a converted team here in the Cleveland congregation.

And deepen our courage and commitment to preaching the gospel and preparing a people.

Again, thank you for your support of God's Church here in Cleveland the last 10 years, and let us move onward. Being adaptable, being willing to change, being open-minded, and realizing of the importance of working together as a team and demonstrating courage and conviction in all that we do. I wish all of you a profound and wonderful Sabbath day.