God's Diary

The title of my sermon today is God's Diary. God's Diary. Any of you ever keep a diary?

You did? You have? One, two, only three, four, five... Oh, there's quite a few there.

What's in your diary? Do you mind telling us?

What's in your diary? Prayers.

Kind of makes everybody else feel bad.

I remember that. Oh, you have one back there?

I thought you were telling me about your diary. You tell me to turn this on.

I was getting excited about that. Everybody's waving at me like, hey, ask me, ask me. But that's not true. I just remember getting a big whipping.

That's what we called in the South when my father would pull out his leather belt all over diary because it wasn't mine. It was my sister's diary.

And I opened it and decided to spill things at the dinner table. And she was 14 years old, so you can imagine.

So, diaries were not really a part of my life from that time on. But anyway, but a lot of stuff in a lot of people's diaries are personal. They want to keep it that way. And they're very close to the heart. Many of you will know probably the most famous diary in history.

Very good. Diary of Anne Frank. I don't know if you were required to read that in your high school. I was. And I should have, but I didn't. I watched the TV show and movie. And but hers was very touching because we all know how it ended. And there were blank pages at the end of her diary. So we know. I think it was Auschwitz or was it Dachau? Well, the two that she was in her final days at.

So.

Read the book.

I ask you a question.

Did you keep your diaries to remember something?

Prayers. You go back. I just heard the announcement I was gone all week. Grenada and Trinidad. Just heard the announcement about Gordon, who I knew quite well.

And I talked to him just a few months ago and did not know that. But.

We look back at perhaps a diary and. Things we might have forgot are in there. But they were important enough at the time to write down.

And so. I want to look at God's diary in case you didn't know it. It becomes apparent through Scripture that he gives a diary.

And so I want to go into that today because hopefully. Most of our names are written in a diary.

And so I'd like to make the case. So if you will join me for the first Scripture in Malachi.

Malachi.

As I've mentioned here before.

Malachi, there's nothing. In any historical sources. Tell us anything about a prophet named Malachi.

The other prophets go back to Zacharias, Epiniah, a guy go through there and you find who their family was, their father was, all these things. But Malachi, nothing, nothing. There's something in Jewish tradition, but nothing really there. And as I've brought up before, is it possible to Malachi because Malachi in Hebrew means angel or messenger.

So is this possible that God ends his Old Testament scriptures with a message from an angel that would last for almost 400 years before the Messiah showed up? We have what was called the New Testament.

But in Malachi 3 and verse 16, it says, And those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. Do we?

I think we do. We come here each Sabbath and we talk to each other. Usually by something spiritual or about how we're doing, how the family's doing. You might say it's a very close relationship that we tend to have here. We have people going through some sorrow and tragedy and also joy and various things that happen that we share with each other.

And so this writer looks down and says, The Lord listened and heard them.

The Lord listened and heard them. You ever thought he might be eavesdropping on you?

That he can hear what's going on. Have you ever considered that?

Sometimes we need to watch our tongues. Sometimes we may need even to praise.

I don't think, according to my scriptures, he never gets tired of that.

According to my scripture, he sometimes doesn't hear it enough. So I think this is a very rewarding scripture. He said, Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on his name. And as we just heard from John earlier, there wasn't very many in the Old Testament who stuck to it.

It makes an interesting Bible study sometimes how many you can find who stayed faithful to God in the 4,000 years.

Interesting, interesting, smaller number than you might perceive. So a book of remembrance is written before him. Before who? Whom? Anybody?

Before God. Before God. Yes, him. It's capitalized H, right? Him. So a book of remembrance. Did he write it? It doesn't sound like it. Who would have written it? Hmm. Was it this Malachi? Was it an angel? Was there a heavenly scholar?

Was there a heavenly scribe?

Ever think about that?

Up there, a scribe. Now, scribes, if you study your biblical history, find that that was their only job. A scribe was to translate or to write down God's Word as it was to be exact. As a matter of fact, if their little pen I might call it or what they wrote with, the ink stayed too long on the paper and it made a dark indention they had to throw the whole thing away and start over.

That was a very tedious job and they were expected to translate exactly from one page to another page what it was. So is it possible that we have had a scribe of the heavenly realm that wrote this book of remembrance? Because it's not down here. It doesn't relay anything about it being down here. Now, the book of Numbers and various things that are in here, that's one thing. But God's diary that I'm going to talk about today doesn't appear to be anywhere here. It appears to be up there. Up there. Where it's in good hands. Where it is well kept.

Can you imagine how exact that scribe is, was, maybe still is. No mistakes were going to be made in the presence of God. Think about that. I would like for you to turn with me now Psalm 139. I'll read this from the New Living Translation since they do such a wonderful job in Psalm 139. Oops, that's my wife's Bible. I need mine. If I go to Psalm 139, it tells us in verse 16, as David is giving us this credible insight that really no other writer has ever given us.

Psalm 139 from the New Living Translation. He said, you saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. He's got a book on us. He's got a book on you. You think it's just filled with just good stuff? I know my past. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Tell me that's not a diary. He has someone writing this stuff down. That's what David is revealing to us, isn't it? Guess what, Linda? Every love before the day is over. He's got this stuff that you said about Jeannie. And all the love that sisters have. But that is so revealing to us. You saw me before I was born, and every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God? He's doing it because he loves us.

How many diaries are filled with dreams of future love from teenage girls? What was it? Bread had a song back in the 70s. I found a diary underneath the tree. What was the rest of the word? Something. I thought I would open and find it about me, but some would come to find out it was about some other guy. How depressing! Do you remember that song? Made a hit. You didn't remember that? That was your age. My age. Bread. Bread. David Gates, wasn't it? Found a diary.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God? They cannot be numbered. Wow! You cannot be numbered. Billions and trillions. That's how many thoughts. That's pretty empowering to me. And that it's written down. And maybe someday I can go and look at it. And go and say, I don't want to worry about that one. Remember that day. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God? They cannot be numbered. I can't even count them.

They outnumber the grains of sand. Wow. What is it? 219,000 grains of sand in a 8-ounce cup. I don't know who counted that, but I remember that figure from a university that had students that had nothing to do but count grains. And when I wake up, you are still with me. He's keeping an eye on it. This is what David is telling me. So it's not good enough that he keeps an eye on it.

He's writing it down. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that empowering? Isn't it motivating that somebody is writing every day, every minute, second down? You know what it sounds like? Obsessed. He's obsessed with his love towards his. I read a while back a mother had kept a diary for 18 years of her daughter. And she wrote everything down from the day that daughter was born. Wrote it every single day. It took longer. It took four or five diaries to fill it because she just thought she would end it at a certain age.

And then she just got into a habit. She wrote what her child did and the good things. And occasionally she'd get in trouble. And when her daughter graduated from high school and she was going off to college, her mother said, this will stay in your room forever until I'm gone. And the daughter remembers going back after her mother had passed and reading. And it took her two days to read all the love. Tears just flowed because she realized this woman cared so much every day was laid out. I read the story and I was getting teary-up because I was like, wow, my mother didn't care enough about me. So, mother, if you're watching, because she snowed in so she can't go anywhere. I'll get my book when I get back to Tennessee sometime.

But isn't that rewarding to know that God cares that much for each and every one of us? Wow. Hmm. Yeah. Think about that. How big is that diary? Or how big is the library? Have you ever gone into a very large city's library? I used to go now. They now they condense it because they don't want to take up the space.

It'd take days to go through there. And my wife's not here right now, but she hates it when I go to a library and she can go right over and look. And I'm just like, oh wow, look at this and look at this because I just want to, you know, it's like going through a museum. There's a reason they put those little plaques there. You're to read every one of them, aren't you? Remind her of that. And she's like, are you going to read everything? Yes. This is what God is. He is writing a memorial to us. He's writing our life story right there, and he's keeping record of it. I think it's beautiful. And I can imagine seeing that library one day.

Whose diary? Whose writing would you like to go and visit? I don't think there's much to hide, much in David. David's proof history is laid out for us, but there are so many others I'd like to like Hannah would like to know what she went through with her other children after Samuel. I mean, these things are written down. They're so beautiful. Go with me to Hebrews.

Get back to Hebrews 12. Why this is so important? Because that library is up there. Hebrews 12, verse 22.

As a writer of Hebrews is telling them, just guess what? When you come to the Sabbath day, when you come to worship before God, when we come together like today, it's not like you're going to Mount Sinai where God was, and they all went to the foot of the mountain. But no, he's saying you come to heavenly Jerusalem because the heavenly hosts join us.

Let's read that. He said, but you have come to Mount Zion way up there and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable company of angels, ten thousand times, ten thousands and thousands and thousands, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. That's us. That's our church. Who are what? Registered. Registered in heaven to God, the judge of all, to all the spirits of the just men made perfect. Wow. That is. He says, registered in heaven, your name's written up there.

He's keeping good records. It's like the Feast of Tabernacles. Pretty soon in another month or two, we'll be registering for the Feast of Tabernacles. We'll go on the website, we'll register where we want to go. And here with God, we see that our names are registered. Anybody know when they are registered? Anybody? Ah, baptism. He knows those dates. He knows exactly when you become part of the God family. When you claim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, High Priest, soon coming King. Ah, that's big to Him. That's really big to Him. Because that's your true birth date.

That's your spiritual birth date. Because then you said, I'm going to follow you. And everything else is in the past, all is forgotten. So it's beautiful about that wonderful time of your baptism. And your name is, okay, there they are. That's my children.

What a beautiful time. Go with me to Luke 10. Luke 10 verse 20.

The 70 went out and they cast out demons and they did all these incredible things. And they came back, oh, I'm excited. I'll get Him, man. Because, hey, we didn't know we could do this. And anything came wouldn't hurt them, wouldn't harm them. Wow, they were empowered. And what did Christ came back and goes, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this. What a joy killer.

Wait a minute. And you realize what we just did. We healed sick. We did all this stuff and we were excited. And you came back and he says, but do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you. But rather, and I have to tell you in the original Greek, rather is not in there. So if it's in your Bible, scratch it out. It's not in the manuscripts or what's in you. It wasn't in anything. They just thought it sounded better. But, hey, I think as good as it was. So let me read it as it was. But rejoice because your names are written in heaven. That's that registration. Christ is telling them, oh, that's exciting what you do on this earth. Oh, no, but the big stuff, it's up there. It's up there. That's what you rejoice about. That's what you get excited about. Now, well, okay. You know, not I had a pretty good day today. No. He actually said, rejoice because your name is written there. Isn't that incredible? How often does he tell you to rejoice?

Always. But here he's telling you rejoice because of that single solitary thing. Because he knew whose names were already written up there. And he knew these guys names were going to be written there. So he told him, hey, that's that's the big stuff. That's the big stuff. Go with me to Daniel.

Daniel, Chapter 12. Daniel, Chapter 12, Verse 1. So we wrap up the book of Daniel here.

It says, at that time, Michael shall stand up. Who's Michael?

Okay. What's he do?

Yes, he does. Yes, he does. He stands for the people of Israel. He stands for spiritual Israel. He stands. This is his job. He oversees it. I'm glad we got a big guy like that. And I think he's a big guy.

At that time, Michael shall stand up. The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. Is that you? And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. So he's talking about the last days, the end time. And Michael's still there. Michael's there for us. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. Who?

Everyone who is found written in the book. The diary.

The diary of God written in the book. What book? Book of life. It, matter of fact, it's mentioned and we'll touch on the book of life, but it's actually the book of eternal life because that's why your names are registered in heaven because they're going to stand forever and ever and ever.

Amen. What a beautiful thing that's going to happen. Delivered if found in the book. But what if it's not?

I'll leave that up to you. I think you can figure that out.

Doesn't take Matt Locke to figure that one out. Either the old show or the new show. Go with me to Philippians 4. Philippians 4. This is how I know this.

Because of the beauty that's here in these scriptures for us.

Philippians 4 verse 3. I heard you also true companion. Help these women. What women? Huh. Who labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are written in the book of life. That's those registered names.

They're in God's diary. Every single minute of every single day.

You may say, that's a lot of days. You may say, that's a lot of days.

If you live to be 80 years old, that's a lot of days. Not compared to Enoch. Not compared to Noah. How big is that book?

What? 950 years of Noah?

Whoa! You better be an angel. Your arm maybe won't get tired keeping those.

Here's my little book. Here's Noah's. I mean, think about it. But it's a beautiful thing. So he said, who's now? Who are these people? I'll go up to verse one. Therefore, my beloved and long for brethren, my joy and my crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. I implore you, O diya, and I implore Sendhike to be of the same mind in the Lord. That's the two women. And he says, everybody pull those together. They just, yeah, their names are written in the Book of Life. They're part of it, but they really don't like each other. They don't get along very well.

God never said you had to like everybody. He said you had to love everybody.

And sometimes, as one of my mentors said, you have to love people at a distance. But still, love. He wanted the church. They were his. His crown. I mean, look at those. Well, he is in my joy and my crown. Stand fast in the Lord, beloved. How many times you got to say, beloved, I urge you also true companion. Help these women who labored with me. These names are written.

Brother, that's what makes you important in God's eyes.

What is there? The Book of Life. Go with me. I have three, four more scriptures, and I have two eighteen minutes to do it. I think I can do that.

Revelation 3. Revelation 3. Very important. As he's actually writing to the churches, writing to members. Revelation 3 and verse 5. He who overcomes, or the Greek word conquer, he who conquers, that's what that word overcome means in the Greek. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not block out his name from the Book of Life. He gets to stay in the diary, doesn't it? So what if you don't overcome? What if you don't conquer?

Sounds like there's a big blotter! And God doesn't, I don't, he doesn't want to blot anyone's name out. He says that in scripture. He wants all to come to the glory. The glorified state that his son is in now, and he wants to give to each and every one of us.

But what does it say in the rest of verse 5? But if your name's not blotted out, I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. It's easy! Open up the diary! Open up the book! There's your name. He says he will confess him before all of them.

Have you considered my servant?

What's your name? What a beautiful thing! What a beautiful moment! What a beautiful name! Revelation 13. Revelation 13.

And verse 8, And all who dwell on the earth will walk, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world. Who's he talking about? Ah, the beast! All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life. That is why it's so important. Stay the course. Stay the road. Keep your name.

Clean, pure, holy, sacred in God's eyes. That's what he wants us to be, because we are his children. So this doesn't happen to you. Imagine a blank page where yours is blotted out.

What used to be there? Hmm. Revelation 20. Revelation 20. Verse 11.

Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it.

And from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was no place found for them. I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. How about the diary? The book of life that's been kept about you all that time, because you're so precious in his sight. Remember the grains of sand? Walk on the beach. Walk on the beach. Pick you up an eight-ounce cup and dip it in the sand.

And then spend the rest of the day counting those grains of sand.

Might help God. It might help us to remind us just how precious we are. So I've got.

But if you do, don't like I did in Grenada this week, because we were able to knock it out in about two, two and a half days. So we had a half a day, which Wednesday is my normal day off, but I only got a half a day Wednesday. So I walked down by the beach, walked on the beach in Grenada.

This, if you do, carry sunscreen. I didn't plan on having time, and so guess what?

And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which are written in the books, not book books, these books that are here. But what a what a what a beautiful picture of a diary being opened. We're in it. We are in it. Go with me to chapter 22.

22 kind of ends this way towards the end.

Chapter 22 verse 18. So for I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. In case you haven't read those, read them again. It'll keep you, especially if you're a speaker, making sure you don't add to it. His words are powerful enough. Don't add to it. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life.

Wow! From the holy city and from things written in this book.

It's interesting that when this is brought out, that when you read verse 19, because it's amazing, this scripture, because it says, what? Don't add or take away. And it ends up, verse 19, the translators took it away. And so I look at it and I'm going, can't you read? Can't you read? He says, don't do that! And they did it anyway. So here is what it's supposed to say. Verse 19, and anyone who takes away from the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life. But the book of life is not in the original translation. It's not there.

What was there was the tree of life. The tree of life. Remember what the tree of life was for? Remember where the tree of life showed up? It showed up? Okay. Isn't that beautiful? Because he wraps it up at the end with the same thing that he began with. The tree of life, which just makes it. Tree of life means you live forever. I have covered today the diary, the book of life. It's written words. I've only covered 11 scriptures. There's almost double the amount of scriptures talking about the book of life and just how important it is that God wanted to make sure that we knew it. We had it. We have it. We have our names there. How important is that? There isn't this time of where you walk up to the pearly gates and Peter's looking there and he goes, oh yeah, let's see.

Huh. Carol Lynn. Let's see.

Donny Avlak. I don't know. But, you know, people make these, say they have jokes. You see cartoons and everything. It's not like that. It's not going to be like that because he knows. He doesn't need Peter to check. He doesn't need anybody to check. He knows what it's about. Do you, do you ever think about that? Because I've only covered a few. I mean, of 11, this book. But I think I've made the point. It's important that your names are registered and how precious they are to God. It all fits together. It's his diary and it's God's. You know, the amazing part. It's not like my sister Bonnie when I opened up her diary. She hit a key.

She had to have a key. Did anybody have to have a key to? Oh, you okay. So I didn't know I had one. I just know that eventually, over time, as I kept looking, I would find it. And I found it. And I opened it. And he's talking about a boy named Lance from school that she had a crush on. This was so devastating to her at dinner that night.

And I look back and I think about God. Nobody can see that. Nobody knows.

It's God's except for the angels. It's the heavenly hosts that have access to that. And maybe it's one of those who has to help you out this week. Maybe they have to stand in the gap.

And how beautiful is that? Because they know who you are, because your name is written, registered. It's just not written. It's not registered. I do. Mary remembers, but had somebody say one time, Oh, we got these tickets for you for this country singer or whatever. And you pick them up. You just give your name up at the call. Call the escrow, whatever. We'll call. And so we're like, OK, that'd be great. So we walk up there. We promise really good seats. And so I walk up there and I gave my name and the guy goes, Nope, I don't see anybody here. Well, check again. You remember that, Mary? I don't know whether you walked up there with me or not. You know, I think we both took the walk of shame back to our car because our names weren't registered as people who were going to get in to see this concert for free and have these things. And that was a little depressing.

I think we had to leave and go find a bar and have a drink of wine or something. But can you imagine how depressed it would be if you found your name wasn't written there? Or worse, you find your name was what? Blotted out. It was there. It was there.

And it was blotted out. How powerful. Well, whether your names are registered. Registered in heaven.

It says you made the list. You made God's diary.

And all He asks is for you to be all you are meant to be.