Five Biblical Principles to Live For

Well, thank you very much again for that. Once again, happy Sabbath, brethren!

If you haven't noticed, we live in a rapidly changing world. More than any other time in human history, everything changes phenomenally. We have changes in politics. For a while people, you know, they rely on one party, they get tired of that, they throw that party out of office and they rely on another party. Even within our political parties, there's change going on, there are fringe groups even within our political parties all struggling for power. Fashion, I've noticed in my lifetime fashion constantly changes. Skirt lengths go up, skirt lengths go down. Ties get wide enough to basically cover a man's entire chest. Ties get narrow enough that they look like a pencil. They're so thin. Just things are in constant change and of course the fashion industry likes that because people are going out and buying the latest fashion. Fads come and go. A few years ago we just took mere pictures. Now people take selfies. Everything changes regarding fads in our culture. Technology's changing.

People run around with tablets. They're running around with phenomenal electronic devices and that's changing the way that we work. It's changing the way that we spend our off-hours at home. It's literally changing our lives.

The result of all of this is that our values are under constant assault. We live in a time of turmoil in our culture today, in our society, and change. Are there principles that we can rely on that help us to adapt to all of this change? Because the truth is that in all of our lives we are going to have lives that have hills and that have valleys.

No one's life is just kind of like this. Most of the time we're on the hilltop. We're looking down. Life is good. Thank you, God. I'm blessed. We have periods of life like that and then we have periods of life when we're kind of low. We feel like we're in a valley and we just see around us walls, problems, obstacles, trials.

So we go through the hills and valleys of life. And it's for that reason that I would like to talk about five biblical principles that we can live by that will help us to get through the hills and through the valleys of life. These five principles are powerful qualities and when they're fully developed through God's Spirit they can change our lives for the better.

They can make us better people and we can also have a more positive effect on those around us. Our loved ones, our co-workers, our brethren here at church, they truly can have a tremendous reflection of the light of God coming from us influencing other people in a positive way. So let's go to the first scripture as we begin to think about these five biblical qualities to live by, these five principles. Let's go to Ephesians chapter one and verse 11, which I always find to be a very encouraging scripture from Paul to the church at Ephesus because he is reminding us that when we have God's Holy Spirit that we are inheritors of all of God's promises.

That's really encouraging. And that we have a guarantee of that inheritance and that guarantee is God's Spirit living within us. We can rest assured of that. We can know that. Ephesians chapter one beginning in verse 11, he says, in him, speaking of Christ, also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. So we were predestined to be called now.

Most of mankind has been predestined to be called at a later time. Everyone will receive an opportunity for salvation. As was mentioned in our opening prayer today, we are the firstfruits. We are that small gathering of firstfruits that are reflected between that period of time, between the days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. And we are very special people according to the counsel of his will.

Look at the end of verse 11. We're not here by accident. We're not here just by sheer happenstance. We found a booklet one time and started reading it, and we ended up here. Or we turned on the TV broadcast, and we were looking for cartoons, but we found the Beyond the Day program. We're not here because of some just weird circumstance. We are here because of the counsel of his will. God said, I want you as part of my family, and I'm calling you in this lifetime.

I'm giving my truth to you. I'm going to allow those scales to fall off of your eyes, and I want you to understand who and what I am. So let's pick it up now in verse 12. That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

So all of the promises of God are sealed within us because we share something that Jesus Christ and the Father has. We share the Holy Spirit. And as Jesus said in his final discussion with his disciples before he was arrested and crucified, he said, we will come and make our home in a person who responds to their calling. So through the Holy Spirit, the Father and Jesus Christ make their home in us.

And therefore we are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And what is that promise? It's salvation. It is being part of God's family. It is the security of knowing that our sins have been forgiven and that we are being transformed in our lives to live for eternity as spiritual members of God's family. Verse 14, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, again, speaking about the Holy Spirit, until the redemption of the purchased possession, so until we are redeemed, right now we're just flesh and blood, we hurt, we ache, we just had our announcements.

A lot of us are hurting and aching through trials, health trials and problems. But until the redemption of the purchased possession, that's when Jesus Christ comes back and this mortal puts on immortality and this corruptible puts on incorruption, until that time we are guaranteed of that inheritance, we are sealed with the promise of salvation through the Holy Spirit. Until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory, therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayer.

So Paul prayed for the congregation every day. We should pray for one another every day, obviously. Verse 17, with or that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of His glory, of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe according to the working of His mighty power.

So God wants to give us the spirit of wisdom. He wants to give us revelation that we understand His plan, we understand His plan for our lives as individuals because each and every one of us have a unique part to play in His family. We are going through experiences both good and bad, as I mentioned, on the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread, including the bread of affliction in our lives so that God can get us where He wants us to go and wants us to be so that we can see a unique role within His family.

God gives His spirit to those who dedicate their lives to Him. His spirit is in us and it's our guarantee of salvation. If you're sitting here today and your son is saying, you know, why should I make that commitment to be part of the church? Why should I decide to be a Christian? Well, the answer is simple. First of all, you will discover your Creator, and that is an amazing journey and discovery to get to know God more and to know who and what He is. And we do that by fellowshipping with people of like mind, and we also do that by reading His instruction manual.

I have in my lifetime been blessed to buy a few brand new cars, and you know what was there to help me to know how to maintain those cars? An instruction manual. It told me all of the maintenance things that I needed to do to keep that car running as good as it was designed to run by its Creator, which happened to be an auto company.

And the same is true in our lives. God doesn't leave us abandoned. He gives us a book that we can establish our values from. It's called His instruction manual, and it reveals to us how to get the most out of this life, how to be all that God intends us to be in this lifetime. And we know, of course, that this physical life is tough. No one gets out of this physical life alive. Only God's Spirit can give us real lasting purpose and meaning and personal fulfillment, no matter what happens to us today or tomorrow or in the future beyond tomorrow.

God's Spirit wants to give us wisdom. It wants to enlighten us, but we have to follow its lead. We have to stop resisting it. We have to stop putting down God's Spirit within us, ignoring it. When it sends us a signal through our conscience or through something that we need to take action or we need to stop doing something we're doing, we need to quit ignoring it.

Because if we ignore that single long enough, we grieve it. It will literally begin to go dormant within us. So we want to tap into the greatest power of the universe, understanding that first we need to change ourselves, and then we'll have the credibility to change the entire world. Gandhi said, I must first become the change I wish to see in others. In other words, he believed that he needed to make changes in his life first. And then the second step was that through our lives we can begin to change the world in a positive way. So let's talk about these five biblical principles to live by that will serve us well no matter what we're going through.

Whether we're on the hilltop and life is good and everything is going well, or whether we are walking through the valleys of life, the valley of the shadow of death in some cases, no matter where we are on our journey and what we're going through, these five biblical principles can help us. So here's number one. It's managed the incredible power of a positive attitude, managed the incredible power of a positive attitude. And we sometimes sell that short, but here's something that is virtually true. Attitude is everything. It literally is everything.

If you have the right attitude, no matter what you face in life, you will see potential and possibilities. On the other hand, if we have a stinking, foul attitude, we will look at even roses and walk right by them and not notice them. We'll look at beautiful flowers. Through all, we'll see our walls and obstacles and problems if our attitudes are poor, if our attitudes are weak.

I'd like to read to you. I kept this for years. It's entitled Attitude by Charles Swindle. I think I read this just before we started our first Kingdom of God seminar here a couple of years ago, but it's so powerful I wanted to read it again.

Here's what he says. It's entitled Attitude. He says, the longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace that day.

We cannot change the past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes. Throughout life I have noticed that there were people in the church who would face the exact same trials. The person in the church with the right attitude oftentimes didn't even perceive it as a trial. They looked at it as life.

Stuff happens, as we say in the gardening world. Compost happens. That's just life. The other person, oh, it's the greatest trial in human history I'm going through. Oh, it's bad! What was the difference? We're both going through the exact same trial, which happened to be job loss. We're both going through, and that's a pretty tough trial. We're both going through the exact same trial. What was the difference? The difference was their attitudes. Now, let me ask you this question. Who do you think interviewed better?

When they went for a job interview. What approach do you think interviewed better when they went for a job interview somewhere? So the first point again is manage the incredible power of a positive attitude, because that's what we have been called to live by. Let's go to Mark 6, verse 32, and see an example of this. Jesus makes a statement that stuns the disciples. Absolutely stuns them. It's like, in their minds, he's not dealing in reality. We're dealing in one world, and he's dealing in another. And actually, that was true. But I think this statement of him just absolutely shocked them.

But it's another example of Jesus Christ managing the incredible power of a positive attitude. Usually, Jesus Christ was very positive. Now, granted, he wasn't always extremely positive when he was dealing with religious leaders, because literally their salvation was at stake, so he would blister the Pharisees and the Sadducees and a lot of discussions. But primarily, his modus operandi, Jesus Christ, was incredibly positive about life and positive about the ability to virtually do anything.

Matthew 6, verse 32, so they departed to a deserted place in a boat by themselves. But the multitudes saw them departing. They just wanted to get away for a while. But the multitudes weren't going to let that happen. Hey, there's Jesus! There's that preacher! All right, everybody, let's run over there! And that's exactly what happened. And many knew him and ran there on foot from all the cities, and they arrived before them and came together to him. And Jesus, when he came out, he saw great multitude and he was moved with compassion. He didn't say, Get out of here! All I want is a little peace and quiet! Can't you leave me alone?

No, he doesn't say that. He allows himself to be interrupted. And he's moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. And when the hour was now far spent, at three o'clock, four o'clock near, you can see the sun is getting close to just a couple of hours from sunset. It's been a long day. His disciples came to him and said, This is a deserted place. There aren't any giant eagles around here.

This place is pretty deserted. And already the hour is late. Send them away that they may go to the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.

And Jesus says in verse 37, probably almost flippantly because the disciples didn't have the ability themselves to do what he's about to say, he answered, send them. Well, if you give them something to eat, that's not a problem. Go ahead, give them something to eat.

And they said to him, Shall we go and buy two hundreds of nara, a worth of bread, which they probably didn't have, into their name, and give them something to eat? But he said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they found out, they said five and two fish. And he commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. So he organized everybody together. And we won't read the rest of the story, but with five loaves and two fish, he feeds five thousand people. You see, brethren, great people see a need, and they find a way to get things done. At this point, the unconverted disciples who don't have God's Holy Spirit, they're downers. They're looking for obstacles. Everything's a problem. Everything's an obstacle. Everything is a hurdle in their lives. On the other hand, Jesus had faith, and he had a can-do approach to life and most situations. He told his disciples in Matthew 21-21 that with faith, they could move a mountain into the sea. How did he know that? How did he believe that? Because he managed the incredible power of his attitude, and he knew it was true. Well, let's see after the day of Pentecost, when they did receive the Holy Spirit, if they caught it, if they caught his teaching, if it sank in, if they understood it. Let's go to Acts 5 and verse 27, if you'll turn there with me. Let's see as they became new creatures in Christ, if their attitude and approach to things changed, if they learned how to manage the incredible power of a positive attitude. To give us a little context here, after Jesus ascends to heaven and they have Pentecost, all that occurs, they're preaching the Gospel, and the Jewish leaders don't like that, and they put them in prison. And the prison doors open, an angel is there, the prison doors open, and they're told to go to the temple and preach, and that's what they're doing. So we'll pick it up here in Acts 5 and verse 27. It says, and when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying they had been arrested again preaching in the temple, did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name, and look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us. But Peter and the other apostles said to him, we ought to obey God rather than man. In other words, Peter and the other apostles are saying, look, we have two choices. Obey you or obey God, because he said we need to preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the world, and the fact that Jesus Christ is the king of that kingdom, that he is the Savior and a prince. That's what God tells us to do in contrast of what you're telling us to do. Verse 30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you murdered, I'm sure that went over real well, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God is exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior, ultimately to be a government authority and the religious authority, a political ruler and the savior of all mankind because of his shed blood. Two different titles.

He gave repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin, and we are his witnesses to these things, and also, and so also, is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. So what do you think they did after that? You think they called CNN? Look at the marks in my back. Could you bring the camera a little closer? I want to play the martyr a little longer. Look at what that abusive leader did. Oh, wow! Isn't that terrible? Is that what they did? It says, no, verse 41, so they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame in his name. They're happy. They're rejoicing. What a privilege to be beaten! Have you ever felt it was a privilege to be beaten? I haven't. I'm still working on that one. I still go, ow, when I'm beaten. So, again, you can see that they caught it. They got the teaching of Jesus. They managed the incredible power of a positive attitude. They were going to do what God told them to do. They were not going to see everything as a barrier, as an obstacle. I'm afraid of the high priest. I'm afraid of the council. They weren't going to have that approach. They were going to do what God told them to do, and they were going to do it in a positive way, rejoicing, no matter what happened in their lives. Verse 42, what was the result of this? And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. So what a change we see in the very same disciples. Jesus had given them a commission and a goal to preach the gospel to the world, and even beatings, even being intimidated, could not dampen their enthusiasm. And what made this possible? Well, the power of the Holy Spirit in them made this possible, and that's why their minds flipped from being negative and always seeing problems and obstacles everywhere, to being positive and seeing possibilities, seeing the potential that lies in every event and every opportunity.

Let's go to Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8, a scripture that many of us have read over the years, but it never fails to remind us of the very core value that allowed Paul to wake up each day and to march into a strange new city, not knowing what would happen. Not knowing that day if he would face a welcome from people when he preached the gospel in a synagogue, or if the town government authorities would beat him and would ridicule him, would mock him and run him out of town on a rail.

Every day he woke up and he had to face that possibility. And here's how he could do it. He says in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8, I only have one verse down there, so let me...

Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8.

It says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are good, reported. If you notice one negative thing in all those qualities, not a single negative perspective, not a single reflection of having a negative attitude. He says, if there be any virtue and if there be anything praiseworthy, meditate in these things, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you.

He says, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that at now at last your care for me is flourished again. He was in prison, that you surely did care but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I'm in, and sometimes Paul lived in poverty, sometimes he lived in comfort, sometimes he was healthy, sometimes he had eye afflictions or he had other health issues that were bothering him. Whatever state he was in in life, I am learned to be content. I know how to be a based and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need. And here's the whole key, verse 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You see, Paul understood that he was just a mere weak human being. Lots of things that he was struggling with in his life. But with the power of the Holy Spirit in him, Jesus Christ living his life in him, that he was capable of doing anything, going anywhere, and completing the job that God had for Paul's life.

God's Spirit can help us become more positive if we follow its lead. When we think and dwell in positive things, we become more positive. We become enriched with a cheerful attitude. If we immerse our thoughts in positive reflection and in positive action, we can face problems with a new approach and focus. And we have that choice each and every day that we wake up. We can choose A, I am going to be a sour-faced grump all day because that's maybe how I feel right now.

Or we can choose to embrace this day with the awesome power of a positive attitude. In each new day, we literally make that choice. How about us? Are we allowing God's Spirit to transform us from a defeated negative approach to a positive can-do Spirit? I really appreciate the kind cards and the comments, emails and comments I get about God's people here in the Cleveland congregation. I can remember years ago when some people would attend church every Sabbath and they looked like they were attending God's funeral. They'd come in all sour like they'd been sucking on lemons all morning getting ready for church and they'd all come in all sour and somber and sober like God had died and they were coming here to pay their last respects to Him. Well, brethren, this is a feast day. We are here to celebrate the goodness of God. This is a worship service with praise and with joy. It's not a funeral that we attend. So we need to realize the incredible power of a positive attitude and how it can transform our lives. It will transform our thinking and some things that we will view as negative and as trials we will come to see that they're just part of everyday living. They're part of what everyone else goes through and will stop being martyrs and we can begin to grasp the good things of God. So again, that was number one, manage the incredible power of a positive attitude. Number two is hold fast to godly values.

Hold fast to godly values. Movies have been mentioned the last few weeks here. We've heard about Rocky. We heard about sappy romantic movies today. In Superman 1, Lois asks Superman, she says, Superman, what do you stand for? He says, I stand for truth, justice, and the American way.

At this time, this is when the fan was supposed to come on and blow my jacket back a little bit. But, excuse me, I'm sorry for that. I know it sounds corny, but until you clearly define what your values are, until you decide your values will be determined by peer groups, people you work with, or complex in California called Hollywood that should be appropriately named Holly Weed, considering the quality of the material media they put out, our values will be the result of media or peer groups, time or circumstances, or anything else. And society suddenly decides what's wrong is now right, and we see that today with same-sex marriage. And I'm telling you, and I've warned you for a long time, that is only the beginning. Now the things filtered through the courts are people who legitimately, because of the change in same-sex marriage, are saying, well, look, now you cannot deny me from having two wives. If it's not required to have one man and one woman in a relationship, then you cannot stop me from having one man and two women, or two women and one man. You're violating my constitutional rights. After all, you created these laws. You obviously can change them whenever you want to. They're secular laws. They have no moral bearing. So, you know, the genie's out of the bottle, and it's only going to get worse and worse and worse, because we live in a world that has very few truly biblical values based on the Word of God. The people who make it through the rough times in life, those valleys that I talked about earlier, are those who have prepared themselves in advance. On the hilltops, they took the time to establish their values, and they fixed their own convictions through the Word of God. They've decided in their peaceful moments what is really important in life and what they're going to value. They've decided that people are more important than possessions, that a clear conscience is of greater value than just making profits or having toys or lots of things. They've decided that friendship is worth more than dishonest glory. The people whose faith endures are usually those who have done their cramming beforehand. When life was good, they firmly established their values. They have faced their doubts. They raised the hard questions to themselves in advance, and they have searched for honest answers in their lives. They have prepared themselves for the storm, and when it arrives, the foundation of their lives is built on solid rock.

So they can endure anything that goes on. Those people who put off firmly establishing their values build their lives in a foundation of sand. And when a storm comes, when a problem comes, when an issue comes, they fade away. And I've seen that in the church so many times over the past 40-something years. People built their foundations of their Christian lives on sand and not on the solid rock of God's values. And what do you know what a value is?

A value is something you're willing to die for. I think I told you before one of my favorite stories from Martin Luther King when he was addressing a church audience that was reluctant to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement. And people said to him, well, Dr.

King, my boss will notice me on TV and I'll get fired. Someone else said, they'll put a dog on me, and the dog will bite me, and I don't want to do that. Another person said, I'll be beaten with billy clubs and jailed. And he tried to reason with them, and then after a while he said, you know what?

He said, if you're not willing to die for something, you're not fit to live. Pretty strong words. But the point is, when we value something, our values should be something that we are willing to die for. That's how deeply embedded they should be in our hearts and in our minds. Let's go to Numbers 13 and verse 25. Numbers 13 and verse 25. Look at the example of a remarkable individual, a rare individual in the nation of Israel named Caleb.

Numbers 13, a little context. They were told to go out and spy out the promised land to see what was there and to come back with a report. And these were the so-called leaders that Moses chose. In verse 27, they've come back. Then they told him and said, we went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey. This is its fruits. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descents of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south. The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the mountains.

And the Canaanites dwell by the sea along the banks of the Jordan. So they're all downers. They're all thrown up roadblocks. They have no values. Their only values are me, my comfort, what I want out of life. And notice the contrast. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once.

What are we waiting for? The same God who parted the Red Sea is still with us. The same God who gave us food every day as manna. That same God still lives. He's still there. There's nothing stomping us. Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it. It's about 40 years old at this time. A pretty powerful statement he makes because he knows what his values are. There is a God. He promised, I'm going to go on the promised land.

Done! It's not that hard for Caleb. He sees his values and God's promises very clearly. But many within the community were negative and they doubted God's ability to intervene. And he was the exception. He was righteous, faithful. He knew what his values were. Because of his values, they were a central part of his life.

And he was able to overcome overwhelming peer pressure from the other spies. He was like two out of twelve. Overwhelming peer pressure against him. And all I wanted to do was bleat and complain and whine about the fact that we can't go there. And he says, yes, we can. We not only can, we are well able to overcome it.

Let's now go to Joshua chapter 14. Let's see 45 years later, fast forward 45 years, and see if this guy still has the same spunk. From a 40 year old to an 85 year old, let's see if he maintains the same values. Or if he gave up on them, if he changed. Joshua chapter 14 and verse 10. And now behold the Lord has kept me alive. As he said, these 45 years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness.

This is Caleb talking, obviously. Here I am this day 85 years old. So if he was 45 years since what was originally said in the book of Numbers, and if he's 85 years old, he was about 40 years old when we read what he said in the book of Numbers. He says, as yet I am as strong this day, as on the day Moses sent me, just as my strength was then, so is my strength for war, both for going out and coming in. Now therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day.

For you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.

What? This little 85 year old man? He says, just tell me the mountain's mine. And here I am, an 85 year old man, and I'm going to drive out the people from that land. By myself, if I have to.

You think he knows where his values are? Verse 13, Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephthahna as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephthahna that can have the right to this day because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. Did he know what his values were? Yeah, here they are. He wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. Those were his values. So again, here's an 85 year old man who had waited patiently for God's promise to be completed. And by the way, he's also symbolically an example for you and I, because the end result is, is after 45 years of waiting for that promise, he entered the Promised Land in good health and he received the promise. Right? Someday, we are going to be in the kingdom of God with fully restored health, the prime of our lives when we are changed from mortal to immortal and we are going to receive our promise of the Promised Land, which is eternal life within God's family. That was number two. Hold fast to godly values.

Number three. God designed life with a great time lag. God designed life with a great time lag.

And this is important for us to understand as we're going through struggles because sometimes in life it seems like the bad people are being blessed. Seems like those who drift, those who are perverts make money and are celebrity and get all these good things and the people who keep the Sabbath, or the people who are faithful to God's way of life, seem to struggle. They struggle with financial problems or other issues that they go on and sometimes life doesn't seem like it's very fair. Well, I have an old-fashioned coffee grinder in my home. My wife and I discovered it when we were cleaning the kitchen for the days of Unleavened Bread and I used to use it a lot. I don't do whole coffee grinding it into beans much anymore, but I used to do it a lot and to achieve a perfect cup of coffee what I had to do was put those fresh whole coffee beans in there and at the hand crank and grind and grind and grind and grind and grind some more. Sometimes it reminded me of life because life doesn't seem fair, does it? Some choose to take the wrong road and nothing seems to happen to them. Some refuse to accept their responsibilities and they seem to get by. On the other hand, we may take the right road and we struggle towards a worthy goal and we don't seem to be blessed. It doesn't seem like anything good is happening. We may do everything right and not seem to even be blessed for it in any way. But always remember that the mills of time are grinding slowly towards their inescapable results. When you struggle to do your best and things seem to grow wrong, remember that God's mill, that is His plan, God's mill grinds slow but exceedingly sure.

If you've done your best, if you have the right values and you have the right attitude, learn to wait and be patient. Someday you'll come out to where you're supposed to be. It may be like Caleb. It may take 45 years, but someday God's mill grinds slow but exceedingly sure. He has absolute laws established in the universe. What goes around comes around.

Right? If you give, you receive back in return. There are certain invisible powerful laws that govern this universe. Let's go to Genesis 6 and verse 12. Take a look at a man who had to learn about God's great time lag, and he probably suffered persecution for it. Genesis 6 and verse 12. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. He says, And this is how you shall make it. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits. It's with fifty cubits. It's high thirty cubits, and you shall make a window for the ark. You shall finish it with a cubit from above, and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third deck. So it's three stories high. And behold, I myself am bringing flood waters on the earth to destroy it from under heaven. All flesh, which is the bread of life, everything that is on the earth, shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall go into the ark. You and your son's your wife, and your son's wives with you. How big was Noah's ark? Well, a cubit was the difference, the distance between a fingertip and an elbow. There's a little bit of a problem with that, because not all of us have the same distance between a fingertip and an elbow. But approximately, it was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, and it was three stories high.

It's hard to picture, but a few illustrations might give you an idea of how big the ark was. It was taller than a three-story building. It had a total tech area the size of 36 tennis courts, or 20 basketball courts. That's pretty big. It was as long as a football field goalpost a goalpost, and about as wide as a football field. So that's pretty big. If you stood the ark up on its end, if you took it and just stood it up on its end, it would have been as tall as the Great Pyramid of Giza. There was enough room in it to contain 522 standard U.S. railroad stock cars, railroad cars within the ark. Now, the reason I say all that is, according to biblical tradition, Noah constructed the ark 120 years before the flood came. So he finishes this ark. Can you imagine the comments that he got after he finishes this ark for 120 years? What a lunatic! Hey, that's really nice! Going swimming soon? You can just imagine the mocking and ridicule that he received for 120 years. Why? Because they didn't realize that God designed life with a great time lag. And they laughed and they mocked until the day came when the floodgates of water opened up.

And they weren't laughing and they weren't mocking anymore because God designed life with a great time lag. Luke 21, verse 10, if you'll turn there with me. Luke 21, verse 10.

Jesus talking about what it would be like at the end time, the final days, and some of his own believers experienced this right after his death. He said to him, obviously in a much smaller way, that would foretell what would happen in end time events. Nation shall rise against nation. Kingdom against kingdom. Rome eventually came and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, tore down the temple, just completely flattened it. There will be a great earthquake in various places and famines and pestilences. There will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for my namesake, but it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore, settle it in your hearts, not to meditate beforehand on what you'll answer. For I will give you a mouth in wisdom, which all of your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

And you will be hated for my namesake, but not a hair of your head shall be lost. Verse 19, By your patience possess your souls. We need to have patience, brethren. That happens to be one of the fruit of the Spirit. And the reason that patience is so important is God designed life with a great time lag. But eventually, even though God's mills grind slow, they grow exceedingly sure. And eventually, we come out exactly where we're supposed to be, according to His plan for us.

But in order for that to happen, we have to be patient. Verse 19, in the translation God's word for today, by your endurance you will save your life. People who take the long view of life manage to live it at its best. From such an advantage point, they discover there are certain unfailing principles in the world. They know that time tolerates no unpaid debts. If you sow good seeds, you will someday eventually reap a good harvest. After a while, the tide brings back what it sent out. Be patient for things. View everything in life in the long term, and you will come to see that today's problems won't last forever if you work at dealing with them, if you take one day at a time and have the right attitude, and if you understand the importance of patience, and if we have the right determination to stay close to the trunk of the tree, that is God's way of life, and we know what our values are, we will come out exactly where we're supposed to be.

Number four, determine to be joyful and happy. Determine to be joyful and happy. Happiness or personal fulfillment is not simply a destination that down the road that we can someday hope for. God intended happiness to be part of the journey of life, not to be something that someday is going to happen. I'm going to give you what I've heard over the years. I've written this down. Some of my clients and things people tell me. I call this the happiness lifecycle of a human being, and a lot of it is intended to be a little tongue-in-cheek because it's so ridiculous, because oftentimes we as people are ridiculous. Here's the someday happiness lifecycle that most people go through in the world today. I'll be happy when I get out of high school. I'll be happy when I get my first car. I'll be happy when I get my first job in a good paycheck. I'll be happy when I get out from under these car payments. I'll be happy when I get married. I'll be happy when my divorce is final. I'll be happy when I'm remarried. I'll be happy when my kids grow up and leave the house.

I'll be happy when I retire. I'll be happy when I get my health back. I'll be happy when the kids come over and visit me. I'll be happy if anyone visits me today. You see, always putting off happiness, pushing it off into something, some destination to arrive at someday. But brethren, happiness and joy, and as we mentioned on the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, the difference between the two, joy is internal and it radiates internal to the outside. It is part of the journey. It's intended to be part of our everyday lives, not something we're putting off some day, when all the pieces fall together rightly, when just everything is going our way. No, don't deny yourself that. One of the fruit of the Spirit is joy. It's intended to be part of the journey, not something that we experience someday. Deuteronomy chapter 12, if you'll turn there with me quickly. Deuteronomy chapter 12. It's a real mistake to think that happiness is always down the road or just over the hill. The fact is, if we can't find a little happiness where we are, we will likely never find it, even if we roam the farthest reaches of the universe. Brethren, we can decide we're going to be happy regardless of our circumstances. We can't choose every circumstance in life. We can't choose everything that happens to us and some of those things that are bad, but we can glean some joy even during our most personal difficult trials and tribulations.

Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 1. These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land, which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess all the days that you live on the earth. So God gives His commandments. And you know what? The commandments are not supposed to make us so serious that we become grumpy old people.

They're liberating. We heard a sermonette today about God's commandments. Help us to come out of slavery. They are not a form of bondage. They're not intended to dampen our lives simply because we keep God's commandments. I want you to notice what it says in verse 7. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God and shall rejoice in all which you have put in your hand or in all to which you put in your hand you and your household in which the Lord your God has blessed you. You see, it's part of the journey. It's part of the Sabbath. It's part of the festivals. It should be part of our daily lives. We maybe can't radiate joy and happiness every day. Sometimes we have just pretty miserable, lousy days, don't we? I mean, I do. I assume that you may as well. But for most of the time, we should be able to radiate joy and experience happiness as part of the journey.

Let's take a look at verse 12. You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. Again, it's part of the journey. It's not something we put off to someday. God intended us to enjoy the journey of this physical life. And living God's way of life is supposed to produce joy. And this joy is the result of having a relationship with God.

It transcends possessing things. It transcends receiving praise and preeminence from the world.

The joy is radiated because we have a personal relationship with God. It's an inner attitude of appreciation and contentment and security, knowing that we have that down payment of God's Spirit within us, and that we are sealed, and that the promise is there of eternal life.

Number five. The fifth and last of the biblical principles to live by is thirst for the knowledge of God. Like a thirsty man, like being in a desert with the hot sun beating down on you, thirst to know and understand more about God. Thomas Jefferson was our third president. He was a very gifted man, and he viewed life as an opportunity to explore the universe and to gain knowledge about the wonderful creation that he saw around him. He wrote the following statement in 1786, and it reveals his zest for life even with all of his trials. Now, my dad did his wife died when he was in his 30s. He had numerous children who died within a couple of years after they were born. He suffered from migraine headaches. He had a lot of trials and problems in his life. And here's what he wrote. He says, hence the inestimable value of intellectual pleasures. In other words, he wanted to gain knowledge. Well, we'll see what kind of knowledge. Ever in our power, always leading us to something new, never cloying, that's an Old English word. I mean, we don't do this in excess. We ride serene and sublime above the concerns of this mortal world, contemplating truth and nature, matter and motion, the laws which bind up their existence, and the eternal being who made and bound them up by these laws. Let this be our employ. He said, so let this be our employment, learning more about the creation, learning more about God, and all the things that he established in this universe. That's what Jefferson suggested. It's obvious in his writings, if you've ever read his biography, he had an enthusiasm for life. It's as if he knew that contemplating truth and nature and character development would serve him beyond a physical lifetime. Let's go to Proverbs chapter 2 and verse 1. Proverbs chapter 2 and verse 1. Do we thirst to know God? Do we thirst to thrive on having a deeper relationship with God, no matter where we're at, that relationship can be more enriched, that relationship can be deeper and better? Is that something that we strive for? Or are we just coasting? Have we built a wall? Have we built a barrier up and said, God, thank you for calling me, but I just don't want to get any closer than I am now? Because God's willing to move. We are the ones who moved. If we don't feel like we're as close to God as we once were, we moved. And we need to get back and close to him once again. Proverbs chapter 2 and verse 1. He says, My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your air to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment, you want to have the ability to discern a problem and say, this is the right decision I should make. Do we cry out for the ability to make a right choice over a wrong choice? That's discernment. He says, And lift up your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, the truth of God is like a hidden treasure, brethren. Jesus in a parable said it's like a pearl of great price. And it takes effort. A hidden treasure, you have to search it. You have to look for it. You have to want it bad in order to find that hidden treasure. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, for the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints. As I said a little while ago, that mill that God has, it grinds slow but exceedingly sure. He preserves the way of his saints. Verse 9, Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you. Understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perversity of the wicked.

So is this how we are? Are we seeking knowledge, discernment, and wisdom as someone digging for silver? Do we seek to know God in a way as if it's a hidden treasure? And we have to look everywhere for it. I don't mean looking outside of the faith or outside of Christianity.

Christianity, I mean with the zeal and the determination to want to know God. Are we willing to do that? Don't ever give up a love and a personal quest for the knowledge and the wisdom of God in your life. He gave us a mind that thrives on learning new things. His word is the foundation of all knowledge, and once we have that foundation, we can put learning in a proper perspective, and we can understand new things and say, that's right, that's wrong, that's not what I'm told makes sense, that doesn't fit with the foundation, that's wrong, then we can have that kind of discernment.

So, God's word is the foundation of all knowledge, and with that foundation, we can put all the things that we learn in proper perspective. I encourage you to pray and study regularly, because that's how we grow, and that's how we build that relationship with God. I encourage you to attend Sabbath services regularly, because we talk about God, we dig into the Word of God, we grow in understanding and knowledge about God, that's how we fill that need. So, I encourage you to do those things. As a recap for today, here are the five biblical principles to live by. Number one was manage the incredible power of a positive attitude. Number two was hold fast to godly values.

Number three, God designed life with a great time lag, so don't get discouraged when you see evil being seemingly blessed, or people doing good things and they don't seem to be blessed.

Leave it in God's hands, be patient, because it all comes out exactly where it's supposed to. Number four, determine to be joyful and happy through the journey of life, not as some destination to reach someday, and thirst for the knowledge of God. Study the Word of God, make a connection to God through prayer, attend Sabbath services regularly, and fill that thirst and that need for the knowledge of God that we all have. In closing today, I want you to remember this. God has created many things in this vast, huge universe, but nothing is more precious to him than you. To God, you are a marvelous, unpolished gem. You are the jewels in his crown, and as a master craftsman, you go through this life, you're taking this journey, and he is shaping you, and he's grinding, and he's polishing the rough edges off of our lives.

Make each day a fresh start. Realize that these five principles, these five things we can live by, can make us a more positive people, can make us a people with deeper values, can help us to be patient, can help us to realize that joy is something we can experience every day, and our knowledge of God can increase and grow. As long as we're alive, it's never too late to draw upon God's Spirit to enhance our lives. Determine to take a positive approach to each and every day as it comes, and along with his Holy Spirit, to glean the most out of it, because that day is an experience. That day is an opportunity, and if our attitude is right, God will use that day to even draw us closer to him and to get us to where we eventually need to be. The same Spirit in love that was in Jesus Christ, that same Spirit is within us, and it's willing to lead.

The question is, are we willing to follow? Have a wonderful Sabbath day.