Are We Drifting Toward Our Spiritual Destruction?

Brethren, as I have been your pastor since the summer of 1997, we have gone through a good bit of prophecy. We have gone through the book of Revelation verse by verse. We have gone through the book of Isaiah verse by verse. Both of those were large undertakings going through the book of Isaiah. It probably took us two and a half years to do that. Not quite once a month during a sermon time. Starting in January, we're going to be going through the book of Daniel. I have one more installment left with Deuteronomy, which we'll probably have next Sabbath. We want to finish that book up and then move on to something else. When I'm looking at prophecy, and I take a look at them all, and we've covered so many things. We've covered a number of the minor prophets here over the course of the years I've been here. There's one prophecy that I always, even though I understand it, I can explain it. We'll take a look at it briefly today. There's always this one prophecy that to me is so amazing. It is tragic.

It almost makes my mind numb when I try to think of what all is happening here.

Let's take a look at this prophecy. It's over in Revelation chapter 20. This is verses 7 through 9.

Now, when the thousand years have expired.

So what we're looking at here is a prophecy that takes place at the end of, or after, the millennium. The millennium, brethren.

When Jesus Christ has come to rule with the saints.

When you have the earth that was in horrible condition when Christ comes, but at the end of a thousand years, the earth is going to be at its most beautiful. Every inch of the earth will be a Garden of Eden type atmosphere.

There'll be a super abundance of good and nutritious food. People won't have to worry about meds. I get up in the morning and I've got my meds lined up on the table.

Before my surgery, I had one medication I was taking. After my surgery, I had nine. I've cut that back. They've cut me back down to five. I want to get to the place where I'm off of everything.

But in the world tomorrow, the tremendous food will have, I'm sure, medication will be a thing of the past. Human health will be at its zenith. Challenging career opportunities, peaceful, safe living conditions.

Like I said, the family of God ruling. What would it mean to you and I to, at any time we would want to, go up to Jesus Christ Himself and say, let's have a talk. Or to realize you're going to the Feast of Tabernacles and the guest speaker this year is Abraham, or Moses, or David, or Deborah, or Mary, the mother of Jesus. What would it mean to, well, she wouldn't be speaking. That's a very big issue, wouldn't it? But what would it mean to have those opportunities and to realize after 1,000 years, let's continue reading here, Satan will be released from his prison. So all through the Millennium you've got Satan, the demons, they have no bearing upon mankind. I've given you some prophecies in the book of Isaiah that show that perhaps even the false prophets will not be allowed to live into the Millennium. So none of that's taking place. It's nothing but the truth of God, the Word of God will be everywhere on earth. But Satan isn't going to be released for a while. We don't know how long. It says, you know, go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. So here we're looking at great numbers of people all around the earth, not just Gog and Magog, but all around the earth. And he's going to gather them to to get it to battle whose numbers as the sand to the sea. So we're now looking at a couple of handfuls of people. We're looking at great numbers of people 1,000 years after the return of Christ inside almost at the very end of the Millennium, not at the beginning at the very end of the Millennium. How does that take place? What happens to those people? That would happen in their lives. Verse 9, and they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city. They wanted in their hearts, they were lusting after the material that was there in Jerusalem. They saw it was a beautiful city. They wanted to go and take it.

Again, this is a thousand years after Christ has been ruling. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

Now, I don't know about you, but I look at that and I say, how could such a thing take place?

How could such a thing take place? And as I've said to you on a number of occasions, when we take a look at the Church of God, these people are the Church of God. Make no mistake. They were reared into church. Their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents. A thousand years worth of generations inside the millennium, and this is what happens to them. Could it happen to you? Could it happen to me? And the answer to that question is, yes, it can.

Today we're going to talk about what you and I need to be doing so it doesn't happen to you and I. You know, again, you look at the prophecies of the Church of God at the time, of the Church of God at the end of the age, and you see two sets of people. You see one set of Christians who are growing, they're overcoming, they're developing a rich relationship with God and Jesus Christ. They are the bride of Christ that is overcoming and doing all the things they need to be doing, and God is well pleased with them. You want to be in that number.

And then there's another group of people that Jesus Christ said, when I come, will I find the faith on the earth? This same group of people, and we're talking about members of the Church, whose love will be waxing cold, who it says of the Laodiceans, they are poor, blind, and naked.

We don't want to be in that number, but we could be. I could be, you could be, nobody gets a free pass on this. Any one of us could be a part of that number. We can fall victim to a deadly spiritual condition that caused the death of these people here in Revelation chapter 20.

What condition am I talking about? I'm talking about a condition I'll call spiritual drift.

Spiritual drift. Am I drifting spiritually away from God? Are you spiritually drifting away from God? If we were, how would we know it? How would we know it? How do we defend against it?

Drift is dangerous. I was commenting to the Ann Arbor congregation earlier today.

I think it was my first Sabbath back after the surgery. I was driving away from services there in Ann Arbor, driving east on Austin Road, heading to Celine. And I was behind a farmer. He was driving a tractor, and he had a trailer behind him. And in this fairly large trailer was a whole load of grain. It was corn, kernels of corn. It was beautiful to see all the gold color there in the in that trailer. As I began to get closer and closer to the tractor and the trailer there, I noticed that the trailer was starting to wobble. And I thought, you know, I don't want to be around this thing if that thing comes loose. And so I went around the tractor. And as I looked in my rearview mirror, thankfully nobody was coming in the oncoming traffic lane. As I was looking in my rearview mirror, I saw where the tractor came loose. And it went into oncoming traffic. Thankfully, no one was coming the other way. And right there on Austin Road, there's a big ditch on the side of the road. That thing went over the ditch, corn everywhere. And my heart went out for the poor farmer.

Now, I'm sure he was able to go and I don't know what he did, scoop it up, pull the trailer out of the ditch and start scooping. I don't know what he did.

But it shows you what can happen with drift. That trailer drifted. Had there been an oncoming motorcycle or something like that, somebody could have lost their life.

But let's turn over to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 2.

The book of Hebrews is an interesting book. It's written to a group of believers who were steeped in the teachings of the church. They're Hebrews. They have a long-standing culture of knowing about the holy days, of knowing about the Sabbath, of knowing about the food laws and tithing and all those wonderful things. And they've become Christians. But they've got questions. As Christians, they're saying, well, we don't need to be circumcised anymore. Well, that's certainly a change. What other changes do we as Christians, who have a background in Judaism, what other changes are there? Well, in Hebrews 7, 8, 9, and 10, Paul goes through and discusses those changes. But one of the things that Paul has to work with this group is this group of people they're very close to leading Christianity and going back into Judaism. They're very close to that. They're very close to drifting away from the faith. With that in mind, let's take a look at Hebrews 2 and verse 1. Hebrews 2 and verse 1. Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest we drift away. Lest we drift away. One writer called the book of Hebrews the epistle of severe warnings. Let me give you the five warnings this man, and I should have written his name down in his work. I didn't. I'll probably go back, research this again, and probably use this as a sermon sometime in the future.

But he was examining five different severe warnings to this group of people who were long time in our church culture. Number one was the danger of neglecting salvation by drifting away.

We see that in Hebrews chapter 2. The danger of neglecting salvation by drifting away. Number two was the danger of unbelief through the hardening of one's heart.

We see that in Hebrews chapter 3.

The third thing he wrote about was the danger of immaturity. We see that in Hebrews chapter 5.

Now, I've got a sermon on that subject that I prepared months ago, prior to my surgery, which I've not given yet. You'll be getting that sermon before the end of the year. The danger of immaturity. Hebrews 5. Number four was the danger of apostasy or withdrawing from Christ. We see that in Hebrews chapter 10. The danger of apostasy. And number five, he said, was the danger of refusing to hear Jesus Christ. We see that in Hebrews chapter 12.

The epistle of severe warnings to old-time church members. So, we see at the very beginning of the Christian era in the book of Hebrews, spiritual drift. We look at Revelation. We see at the end of the millennium in the book of Revelation chapter 20, we see spiritual drift. So again, brethren, I ask you, are you or am I spiritually drifting? If you would, how would you know it?

Let me give you two different ways. Two different concepts you should appreciate about spiritual drift. Number one, drifting requires no effort. You don't have to work at it. If you don't do what you need to be doing as a Christian, it will come and find you. It will hunt you down, or me down. Drifting requires no effort whatsoever. Let's go to Matthew chapter 25. And if we're not doing something with our calling, we're not doing something with our walk with God, then we are drifting. Matthew chapter 25 verse 18.

Talking about the parable of the talents here, verse 18. But he who had received one went and dug into ground and hid his Lord's money.

Verse 24. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But as Lord answered and said to them, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming I would have received my own back with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away, and cast that unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Brother, you and I don't want to be standing in front of God the Father and Jesus Christ and find that we are in the Third Resurrection. We don't want to find that we have drifted throughout our life to the place where God says, Christ says, I don't even know who you are. Yeah, we can attend services, we can go to the feast, we can write tithe checks, we can make sure that we eat the proper things. Those things can be quite mechanical at times.

But where is our heart? Where is our mind? Drifting requires no effort. You and I can be so busy with distractions. Again, it's you and I. As a minister, I can be so busy going out counseling and doing this and doing that that I really don't take care of my personal spiritual needs. You can be so busy making a living, and we've all got to make a living, so busy making a living that we schedule everything in terms of business and nothing in terms of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Where we basically schedule God and Christ out of our lives.

Drifting requires no effort. A second thing we need to remember about drifting is drifting can take you unaware. Drifting can take you unaware. Let's go back one chapter to Matthew chapter 24.

And my Bible is just across the page here. Matthew chapter 24, starting in verse 37.

Matthew 24 verse 37. But as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving and marriage. In other words, length was going on as normal for them. Until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. So people will just simply not see the signs. And if we're drifting, we won't see the signs if we're not plugged in spiritually.

Again, brethren, spiritual drifting. Drifting of any sort can be quite dangerous.

You know, most of you know the name of Amelia Earhart. Amelia Earhart was a woman who was a aviator, quite famous in her day back in the 1920s and 30s and so forth. And she wanted to be the first woman to circumnavigate the earth. She wanted to fly all around the earth. She had somebody who was going to be flying with her to keep her company and also he was the one who was supposed to keep track of their bearings and where they were at all times. Well, something happened and no one knows what. The gentleman that she was with did have a reputation for being alcoholic. We don't know what happened with him, but somehow they drifted off course and they were never found. And of course, there's all sorts of stories about what happened to Amelia Earhart and her partner. But no one knows. All anyone knows is, you know, if she didn't land where she was supposed to land and so forth. Her plane drifted off course. On December 5, 1945, there was a very famous flight called Flight 19. It was a flight of five Avenger torpedo bombers. They were making a typical run in terms of just some practice drills, I believe it was. And they were flying in the vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle. They were off course. Radio was trying to alert them. They were off course. They either didn't understand the radio or didn't hear the radio. We don't know.

The bottom line was Flight 19 kept flying in the wrong, absolute wrong direction. And they became lost to history, all five planes. They drifted off course. And for all of them, it took their lives. Brethren, if you and I drift off course, it could take our lives, spiritually speaking.

Now, maybe I'm being a little over somber here today. This sermon is a little more upbeat than the one I was thinking of giving. I was thinking about talking about demons. Because when I take a look at what's happening in our world today, what's happening over in the Middle East, half of the nation of Syria is in the process of a pilgrimage trying to leave their country because of what's happening in their country. Half of the nation is on the road.

And all the problems that's causing in Europe, problems it's going to cause in this country. We've got, it seems like every day, we turn on the TV set and there's somebody who shot a half a dozen people. I can go through and give you the warning signals of what demons do, how they think. And for a long time, we've not had this sort of thing happening in this country. And there's been a bit of a lull. But I think now the demons are knocking on the door. They want their presence to be known. And they're behind a lot of these insane things that you and I hear of all the time.

We've got to be ready for that and aware of that and know what to do, how to deal with that.

So I checked off on that sermon. I'll give that one sometime in the future.

Let's take a look at some common signs of drifting. Common signs of spiritual drift. I'm going to give you four here. Probably it could be 12 or 100. I don't know.

Maybe four different common signs of spiritual drift. I'll letter these. Letter A.

A diminishing desire for doing your spiritual disciplines. In other words, prayer, study, fasting, meditation. If you notice that you have a diminishing desire for that, then you're starting to drift. Or maybe you've been drifting for some time.

But I remember so clearly, and I think those of you were with us back in 1995. You remember, back in 1994, the very end of 1994, there was a Patrick General's Report that came out from the Worldwide Church of God to us in the ministry. Basically, this was, I believe, in December of 1994, saying, you know, fellas, we just need to teach our people that Sabbath, we don't need to worry about the Sabbath. We don't need to worry about the Holy Days. We don't need to worry about tithing. All these things were all taken care of with the Old Covenant when the Old Covenant was done away. Don't worry. Let's not worry the bread or those things anymore. I remember I was pastoring in Ohio and West Virginia at the time.

My congregations were split right down the middle. Some people just loved the sound of that.

People who I had had meals with just a week or two earlier made it a special point of coming up to me and saying, well, you legalist, you. I mean, there was some real anger in their voice. I mean, it was just really shocking where on a dime, people who were talking about looking forward to going to the feast and keeping the Sabbath, all of a sudden this was legalism. I remember those of us who were staying faithful, especially when I was talking to the members, they made it a point when they came home from work, they dove into their Bible study. They were studying their Bibles by the hour. They were going back and rereading old booklets, those old pieces of literature we had from years gone by. Remember the old Black and White series, the skinny little books with a black stripe on those? They were going back to look at those old plain truth magazines, talking about the old brown ones. They were going back to all this old literature to reestablish what we believe that people were trying to take away from us, what the leadership and the church was trying to rip away from us. They didn't have a diminished desire for their spiritual disciplines. They were digging in. That probably was what you were doing. I know that's what I was doing, because people were coming to me as a minister of the Gospel and saying, well, what do you say? I say, I don't agree with what's coming out of Pasadena. Not one bit.

But where are we now? Where are we now when we come home from work? Are we really into getting, you know, if we're not studying in the morning, are we into studying in the evening? Do we only open the Bibles up on the Sabbath? Where are we now? Let's take a look at Hebrews. Again, this book that Paul wrote to some people who were on the way out. Hebrews chapter 5.

These people were on the way out, and Paul was really concerned about them.

Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12, For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you've been in this church culture so long you should know and master this stuff.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. So instead of having mastered the subject so they can teach it, it's like they had to go back to first grade. And you've come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But how skilled do you think you are? How skilled do I think I am in the word of God?

But solid food belongs to those who are full age, that is, by those who have reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Yes, we want to avoid spiritual drift, and we do that by making sure if we have any diminished desire for our spiritual disciplines, we want to make sure that that's a thing of the past.

We don't want Jesus Christ to look us in the eye and say, you know, you were pretty busy. You did a lot of things. You brought food for the socials, and you did a lot of things mechanically, but your heart was never really in it. And I really don't know who you are. Well, I don't want that set of me. You don't want that set of you.

A second common sign of drifting spiritual drift is a diminished desire to be with God's people.

A diminished desire to be with God's people.

I was commenting to the folks over in Ann Arbor today that it's not just true of the local areas here. Unfortunately, it's been true, I think, of most places I've pastored. And that is, there just seems to be not the same commitment to Sabbath-keeping that we once had.

I remember back in a day where people would come to church who probably shouldn't have, because they were too sick to come. They probably should have obeyed the quarantine laws and stayed home. But people just wanted to be in church. I think my in-law said a wonderful example.

Lloyd, now they are both ordained in the church. Lloyd's a deacon. Mary stepped out as a deacon. Her mom's a deaconess. But they're committed people. He's 90. She's 85. They drive an hour and 20 minutes is one way to go to church. Sometimes on holy days, it's longer than that. If there's a board meeting at night and a winter time, they go.

90 and 85. They're going to be in church. I know people in their 20s and 30s, it's a 15-20-minute drive. Well, I had a hard week. I'm going to stay home and catch up on some rest. Now, again, brethren, there are reasons to miss services. You've got the flu. You stay home.

You've had an operation or something, or you've got a sick kid. Stay home with the kid.

There's legitimate reasons for missing church. But the commitment or another one that I feel badly about. We have a holy day midweek. I can almost guarantee you the following Sabbath we'll have less people in church. For some people, it's kind of like, hey, I had church once this week.

I don't need to be there twice. Too much church. I'll go blind.

Let's look at Hebrews 10. Again, Paul talking to the same group. Paul was also concerned about this.

Hebrews 10, verse 24. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.

Let us consider one another to stir up love. Not animosity. Not rivalry.

To stir up love and jealousy. Stir up love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another. And so much more, you see, the day approaching. Brethren, is the day approaching? I say that it is.

I say the day is very much approaching. And we need to be...

Some of us need to be much better with our Sabbath attendance, our Holy Day attendance, and so forth. A third common sign of spiritual drift.

A third common sign is a diminished desire to do the work. We have whole groups of people who don't even care to do a work anymore.

They're perfectly happy to be in their living room when they can be with a group that is putting out a gospel message. And I'm not just talking about United Church of God. You know, we've got other fellowships out there that I believe are God's people. But, you know, people who just say, oh, you know, I've been hurt by organized religion. Well, I've been hurt by organized... I was disfellowshipped by our former association. I was marked by our former association. My name was put in the church paper and said, Delisandro, avoid him. Why? Why do you need to avoid Randy Delisandro? Because I was preaching the same things that would talk to me at Ambassador College in the early 1970s. But now, that's not the style. That's not in vogue anymore. So, Delisandro's disfellowshipped. Revelation chapter 2 and verse 4. Yeah, I've been hurt by organizations. Does that make me sour on the church of God? No. Why would I sour on God? Because people have done things they shouldn't do. How does that make any sense? I've got a great almighty father and elder brother who've done nothing but good to me. They've been there for me through thick and thin. They allow me to take the breath. I breathe. They allow me to enjoy that one slice of pizza.

Well, I could have that one slice of pizza. Or just lick my chops at the thought of having a Big Mac.

Revelation chapter 2 and verse 4. Nevertheless, I have this against you that you have left your first love. But unless you and I, all of us, look deeply into our hearts and ask ourselves, where are we with this? Where am I, Randy Delisandre? Where are you? You put your name in the blank. When you receive, when I send you an update from the church through email, or you get something in the mail from the church, a co-worker letter, do we go through that and read that with great excitement? Do we give God thanks and praise for what He's doing in the work and how people are coming out of the world?

Are we thankful that people are coming out of the world? Are we thankful that people's lives are being changed? Do we read and pray over those co-worker letters? What is their attitude when somebody gives a home office update? Do we say, well, why don't you just get to the sermon? Are we on fire for the truth of God, where we want to let those who give us the slightest chance, a co-worker, a next-door neighbor, a friend, somebody in a neighborhood, they give us the slightest opening.

We're so happy to have an opportunity to talk to them about the truth of God. Or do we just turn and walk away and say, well, I hope one of these days God calls them. Maybe God wants to use you to call them. The greatest way people come into the church is through other church members. It's always been that way, probably always will be that way. A fourth danger signal, a common sign of spiritual drift, is an increasing thrill over the physical things of the world, an increasing thrill over the physical things in the world, a worldly orientation, a preoccupation with the physical.

You know, there's nothing wrong with wanting a nice house. There's nothing wrong with wanting a nice car or wanting anything that's physical. There's nothing wrong. But it's like what the dietician told me, everything in balance. We have to make sure we're feeding our bodies properly, but we also need to make sure we're feeding our soul, our spirit, properly. Because somebody came up to me after service in Ann Arbor, well, how do I know if I'm overdoing the physical thing? Maybe I'm spending too much time on my hobby. I said, well, if you are truly feeding yourself, allowing God to feed you spiritually, and you're not slacking off in any way, you're putting plenty of time in, and you're really growing and enjoying your relationship with the Father and your elder brother, and you have some additional time, whatever it is you like doing, collecting box cars or whatever it is you do, whatever people do.

Fine! There's nothing wrong with any of those sorts of things. But make sure that we're getting spiritually fed first. Put priorities where they need to be. God first, then family. 1 John 2. 1 John 2. Verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Here we're talking about loving these things more than loving God. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world is passing away in the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. So remember, there's a spiritual component and a physical component to our lives. We want to make sure that spiritual component is being properly fed.

So we've looked at a couple of things, danger signals in terms of spiritual drift. We look at some common signs of spiritual drift. Let me conclude this sermon today by talking about fighting the good fight. Let's be proactive with this. How do we fight the good fight against spiritual drift? How do we do that? I'll letter these. Letter A, have a daily spiritual compass check. Take a look at Hebrews.

Again, Paul writing much on this subject. Hebrews 2. And, you know, brethren, if you think that this sermon is a little too close for comfort, maybe you might want to study this book. Hebrews 2, verse 10. For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Now, I want to isolate this thought here that Jesus Christ is our captain.

You know, if we've got the proper captain, he's going to help us on our journey. We won't drift if we're continually looking to the captain. The one who charts our course. By the way, that's the general meaning of this term here, captain. One who charts the course. We want Jesus Christ to chart our course. We don't want to chart our course. You know, I had to relearn that. I had learned that so many years ago, but I had to relearn that this last year. You know, well, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do that, and we're going to do this at the face, and we're going to do that at the face, and we're just going to have a good old time doing this and that and the other. The next thing. Well, no, we're going to open up your chest. We're going to stop your heart. We're going to plug up a, we're going to, you know, take this big old vein out of you, and we're going to start chopping that up and reworking the plumbing of your heart. Then we're going to close everything up and send you on your way, and there's going to be no feast for you this year, and so on and so forth. So, you know, you learn what the Bible says. We'll do this or that, God willing. God willing. As long as we've got Jesus Christ as our captain, then we remember, you know, Christ willing will do this or that or the other. John chapter 17. John chapter 17 and verse 17. John 17. 17. Sanctify them, set them apart by your truth. Your word is truth. So not only should Jesus Christ be our captain who charts our course, we should make sure that the proper charts that we use come from the Bible. They come, you know, God's Word is our chart. This is what tells us, you know, here's where we can go where it's safe, and here's where we go where it's not safe.

I've made mention on a number of occasions that when I was a young man, my family owned a boat. And we didn't get on that boat as much as we would have liked. It was a nice 23-footer, a day cruiser. But my dad, being an old-fashioned kind of a guy who, during World War II, was in the Navy and he was on PT boats. He had a special love for Higgins wooden boats. And I thought, well, that's nice. That's romantic and all that sort of stuff.

Till I had spent too many summers scraping the hull of that thing and painting it. You know, these fiberglass boats are a whole lot easier to work with.

But when we had the boat, when we did have the boat in the water, there we had a parked over in New Baltimore, going into Anchor Bay and Lake St. Clair and so forth. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun on a summer day, nice and warm, to park off a little island or a sandbar and just jump out of the boat into the water and swim around. But you know something? When you're, you know, that boat had a draft, I think it was close to three feet. Three feet, the boat itself sank into the water because of the weight. And then you had another couple foot under that where the prop was. So you had to know where the shallows were. You had to know where the rocks were. Otherwise, you're going to destroy or gut your boat. Same thing is true for us in life. We have to know where the rocks are, where the coral is. Because if we just go running around any which way, we can end up being shipwrecked. So Jesus Christ must be our captain. The Bible must be the charts that we use, the charter course. Let her be in a fight against spiritual drift. Allow God to propel your life toward His kingdom. But let's never forget what we're here for. We're not here to rise to the top of our company. If that happens and we're close to God, that's fine. But you and I are here because we are children of God doing the work of God. And we're here because this world is a crucible. This world is a training ground. We must never forget why we are here.

Every step should be a step toward God's kingdom. Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians chapter 3.

In verse 12.

Not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I don't count myself to apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus. He had spiritual goals. I think it was not last week, but the week before. At my cardiac rehab, my case manager, I was on my, I think I was on the treadmill doing my walking, like a nice little squirrel there. And the case manager said, well, Randy, what are your goals? What do you want to accomplish between now and the time you graduate at the end of January?

He said, well, I need to lose 50 more pounds. He said, okay, well, you're not going to lose 50 pounds between now and the end of January. He said, how about, how does 20 pounds stop between now? And I said, that sounds good. We'll work on losing 20 pounds in the next couple of months.

What else are your goals? Well, I need to make sure I'm eating properly. I've had too many times where too many pieces of diet of an evening on my dinner table, too many times where I've sat down to a nice half gallon of ice cream with chocolate sauce, too many times, you know, and taken, you know, all also, you know, not just go to McDonald's and have a Big Mac, but back when I would go, I'd have a Big Mac and a quarter pounder when I'd order. Those days have got, those days are long gone. That's not balanced living. And so we talked about a number of other goals. That's physical.

Brethren, what are your goals spiritually speaking? What are my goals spiritually speaking?

Are there portions of the Bible you would like to know better?

We've got so much help. We've got the Bible reading program online that goes through almost the entirety, if not all the entirety of the Old Testament. I mean, what do you know about the book of Lamentations? When was the last time you studied that? I've got to be honest, I can't remember last time I studied it. There are plenty of things that we can have, you and I can have, as spiritual goals, understanding God's Word a lot better. You know, we have a goal toward personal growth in various areas of our life. Paul talked about how he was striving. He was, you know, he kept on rowing. He kept the sails up. He wanted to keep on moving. He pulled the anchor up on the ship. And we need to be doing the same thing. Lastly, let her see. Let her see in our fight against spiritual drift, watch out for the undercurrents. Watch out for the undercurrents because they're there. Let's take a look at just a couple of scriptures here. Jeremiah 17.

Jeremiah 17.

Which says, The heart is the sequel of all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?

Did that change in the day of your baptism or mine? No. Didn't change in the day of your baptism or mine. That's an undercurrent we've got to deal with. Human nature. I don't know about you, but my human nature is just as cantankerous now as ever it was. I'm sure in God's eyes I'm just as much of a rascal now as I've ever been. I need to quit being so much of a rascal.

1 Peter 5 and verse 8.

Where it says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Are we going to let him in?

We've got to watch out for that. He's always there. He wants to shipwreck us. He wants us to drift. He wants us to be fully in his court and in his possession.

Brethren, the story is told, and I'm told this is a true account of two young men who are fishing, and they're fishing near a waterfall area. And they were so intent on their fishing that they lost track of time, they lost track of everything. They just had their eyes focused on their lines in the water and so forth, but they were drifting. And it got to the place that their little boat drifted into a very strong current, which was taking them downstream to that waterfalls.

And eventually, because they were young men and the stream was too hard for them, they went over. They went over the falls, and some folks saw them go over. Because of the currents and the rocks and what have you at the bottom of the falls, nobody saw bodies coming up. And so they had to dispatch some divers to go get them. It took over a day to find the first one. It took several days to find a second one. Drift caused them to die. That could happen to you when I, spiritually speaking. Or, spiritually speaking, let me read to you a section in Matthew 25. This also could happen to you and I. So he who had received the five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I've gained five more talents beside them. His Lord said, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I'll make you rule over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also had received two talents, came and said, Lord, you delivered me two talents. Look, I've gained two more talents beside them. His Lord said, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I'll make you a ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. So the question, brethren, for you, the question for me today is, are we going to be the victim of spiritual drift? Or are we going to have an abundant reward supplied to us by our Heavenly Father and our elder brother, Jesus Christ?

Only you and I can make that determination. You and I make the decision on that. What's your decision on this very important topic?