Love of the Truth

Pentecost has always been a very special day for me personally. I'm sure you feel the same way. The thought of God's New Testament Church beginning on the day of Pentecost is certainly an exciting one. The thought of the Holy Spirit being poured out in great power upon God's firstfruits on the day of Pentecost is also very exciting. Thousands being baptized on that very special Pentecost. Again, exciting and very encouraging. Pentecost has also been very special to me in a different way. I was ordained into the ministry of Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost in 1985, so my 30th year today. So that makes it special. Barbara and I were able to celebrate and observe Pentecost in Jerusalem in 2010. That was my 25th anniversary into the ministry of Jesus Christ at that point. That was a real highlight for me. I also had to speak in front of about 40 ministers, so that was a... they gave me a split sermon that day on Pentecost. You know, what has been so special for you since you came into God's Church, whenever it was, whether it was 50, 60 years ago? For me, it's been 41 years. I've been reflecting on that. You know, it's 30 years in the ministry, and I think primarily it's a love of the truth that has really kept me in the faith. It's a love of God's truth. A lot's been said about love today and some of the other messages. God is love, and it's God's Holy Spirit that gives us a genuine love of God's truth. If we didn't have God's Spirit, we certainly wouldn't love God's truth. Brethren, we all need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. We need to be empowered by a genuine love of God's truth. That's what God stands for. That's what he's all about. He is holy. He's composed of Spirit, Holy Spirit. And as the song goes, He is holy. And we know that we are to become like Him. And that's certainly a tall order, isn't it? To become like God, to become holy. It is a love of God's truth, and it's the Holy Spirit dwelling in each and every one of us that will make all the difference in the world. As times get tougher in this day and age, it is a love of the truth. And it's God's Spirit guiding and motivating us that will see us through the difficult years ahead of us into God's kingdom and into eternity. So what is a genuine love of God's truth, and how may we all be empowered by God's Holy Spirit to really love God's truth? As I mentioned, perilous times are coming ahead. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians for a moment, and it talks about the love of the truth here in a very interesting passage, a time yet to be fulfilled in many ways. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Let's go there for a moment.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Let's read a little bit verse 1. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by Spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come, unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the Son of Perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. It talks about something yet to happen. He goes on to say, verse 7, For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. This was two thousand years ago. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And when the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth. That hasn't happened, has it? He will be consumed with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. So there's a time of great deception yet to come upon us. We've been tested in ways, but the testing has not yet concluded. There will be more testing upon God's people. And with all unrighteous deception, verse 10, among those who perished because they did not receive the love of the truth. That's going to be a real problem in the future for those who do not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. If we don't have a love of God's truth, we're not going to be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, who did not believe it, who did not love it, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Obviously, God wants us to be holy as He is holy. He has no pleasure in unrighteousness. God is righteous. God is completely righteous. God has never sinned. Jesus Christ has never sinned. God cannot sin. God cannot lie. God has set the perfect example for all of us, and we are to become like Him. We are to become mature as our Father in Heaven, as Jesus Christ is mature, we are to become like them. Notice verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification. That means He set you apart by the Spirit. He sanctified you by the Spirit and belief in the truth. It is God's Spirit that reveals to us God's truth. God's Holy Spirit opens up our mind. We can't understand the truth of God unless God is working with us. To open our mind is a miracle. And the vast majority of people throughout the ages have never experienced that miracle. But most of us in this room, those who are baptized, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, they've experienced this great miracle. Verse 14, to which He called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast. You stand fast and you hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle. These traditions, they're talking about the very commandments, the law of God, the truth of God. We are to hold fast to the truth and let no one grasp them from us. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. We are to be established in every good word and also work. So what we do is certainly important. How we live our lives, the decisions that we make, we are being judged by the decisions that we are making. Judgment has begun upon the house of God. We are part of that New Testament church of God. Judgment has begun upon us, so we are being held accountable for how we live our lives. So it is critically important that we have a love of God's truth. Again, it was a love of the truth that became the guiding force in my life when I was just 18 years old. And I'm sure that's true in your case. Whenever God called you, it has been His truth that has guided you throughout your life. It has been the love of the truth that has seen us all through the trials and the tribulations and the temptations of life. It's God's Spirit that shows us, tells us, instructs us how we are to live. And it's been God's Spirit that has given us, again, this love of the truth that we all have. What is truth? Well, truth is real. It's reality. The God of the Bible certainly is true, and He is real. He does exist, even though so many think He doesn't. But He does. He's real. And Christ is true, and Christ is real. The words of the Father and the Son, they are truth, and they are life. They're real. You can count on these words. They're true. God is indeed the Creator. He is also the lawmaker. In John 17, verse 17, let's go there for a moment. John 17, verse 17. Sanctify them by your truth, Christ says. Speaking to the Father, He says, Sanctify them by your truth, Father. For your word is truth. God's holy word is truth. The Scriptures. And here are the words of life. They are true. They are real. We can believe in them. We can have faith in the words of God, the inspired word of God.

In John chapter 15, verse 26, and yes, in John 17, it shows that we are sanctified by the truth. We are set apart by the truth of God. That's what makes us different. That's what really counts. In John 15, verse 26, but when the Helper comes, talking about the Pericletos in Greek, the Helper, speaking of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, it says, He will testify of me. But we know that the Holy Spirit is not another person.

It's not a masculine being, a part of the Godhead. It's the very essence and the power of God. So I don't really like to refer to the Holy Spirit as He. I prefer saying it because it just seems better. Because when we think of He, we think of someone who's a male, who's a being.

That's not the Spirit of God. And it is His divine nature. And we are to be partakers of that divine nature, as was already mentioned in one of the messages earlier today. So going back here, verse 26, The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, it will testify of me. The Holy Spirit will testify of God the Father. It will testify of Christ. It will reveal these things to us.

And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Of course, Christ talking to His disciples. And we read these words every year at the Passover. They're very meaningful words. In John 16, again, words that we read Passover evening, verse 12, I still have many things to say to you, Christ says, but you cannot bear them now.

However, when it the Spirit of truth has come, it will guide you into all truth. For it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever it hears, it will speak, and it will tell you things to come. It will glorify me, for it will take of what is mine, and it will declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of mine and declare it to you. A little while and you will not see me, and again, a little while, and you will see me because I go to the Father.

Again, it is a love of the truth that's going to save us in the final analysis. And if we don't have a deep love for God's truth, we will be in deep trouble in the days ahead. Being empowered by the Spirit of God and having this deep, abiding love of the truth, they are not independent of each other. They're inseparable. You can't be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God unless you truly love the truth of God.

And vice versa, you can't have a deep, abiding love for the truth unless you are being empowered by God's Spirit. So how do you know that you love the truth? How do you know that you love it? You know, other people, I think, they thought they loved the truth. They're not here. Did they really love the truth, or did they just kind of like the truth a little bit, or did they even believe it was the truth? What happened? I'd like to talk about seven principles, and I'm going to put these principles in questions.

I want you to ask yourself these questions, and I want you to analyze your love of the truth. How deeply do you really love God's truth? First question, number one. Do you have a burning desire to please the author of truth and righteousness? Is there a burning desire within you to please God? If there is, just how intense is it? How powerful is it? It is indeed the Holy Spirit that will empower us and give us this burning desire to please God, but again, we have to stir up the Spirit of God within us. We can't be neglectful when it comes to God's Spirit, or we're not going to have this burning desire.

It's not going to be there. So if you don't really have a burning desire, then analyze why is it? Why is it not the most important thing in your life? Why do you let other things get in the way? In Hebrews 11 verse 6, but without faith, it is impossible to please Him. We have to have faith if we're going to please God.

We have to have the love of God in us if we're going to please Him. For He that comes to God must believe that He is. That's fundamental, isn't it? You've got to believe that God is who He says He is in His Word. You can't vacillate on that.

And also that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. God is going to pour out blessings upon us if we will submit ourselves and surrender ourselves to Him faithfully, knowing that He exists and knowing that He rules in our life. We are set apart by God's truth. There are many things that make us different. Probably when you went out to eat today, there were things you had to be careful about. Things that you weren't going to eat. Because God says they're unclean and they're not fit for human consumption. He doesn't want you to eat them. And so you had to be careful that you did not violate that law. You might have even had to ask the waitress about the beans or whatever it is. Are these beans okay? Should we eat refried beans? We've all been through this before, trying to figure out if these refried beans are okay or not. But we take it seriously. I mean, that's just a small point. God's commandments set us apart. God's laws of marriage, they set us apart. We're different. We're going to become more and more different as the world continues to become more and more permissive. And anything goes and anything is allowed. These days that we observe set us apart. There aren't many people actually observing this day of Pentecost. Not in the way that we do. And certainly not the other holy days. They're not keeping these days as God has instructed and as God has commanded. So they set us apart. Some think it's strange, again, because of our religious beliefs. They think we're odd. We are a peculiar people, the Bible says.

We're different because we're sanctified by the truth, and that's a good thing. It's not something to be ashamed of. It's something to be grateful for. So that's the first question. Do you have a burning desire? Are you truly zealous for God's truth and to please God? Is that what you want to do in your life, is to please Him? Secondly, ask yourself this question when it comes to your love of the truth. Just how truly thankful are you for the gift of God's Spirit? Mr. Fay talked about the gift of God's Holy Spirit. How thankful are you for it? How often do you thank God for His Spirit? Hopefully very often, because it is the best gift of all. The gift of the Holy Spirit. How much do we think about God's Spirit and what He's given us and the impact that it makes? As was already pointed out, it makes a huge impact in our lives. When we allow the love of God to live in us and to guide us, we are far different people than so many who are just not yielding to God's Spirit of love. We know that we are to be sanctified by this Spirit of love as well. That is something that's to set us apart. By this, you will know whether they're really truly Christ's disciples, if they have love for each other. Have we all learned to love the way God wants us to? Do we have a ways to go? Again, how thankful are we for the gift of God's Holy Spirit? We know that lots of grumbling and complaining took place in the wilderness with the children of Israel, but we also know that it should not be so among you. We're not Old Testament Christians. We're New Testament, part of the Church of God, New Covenant. Now, certainly Caleb and Joshua and Moses, they had God's Spirit dwelling in them, and they were they were like us. They were different. We're all to have the Spirit of Joshua and Caleb and Moses to a man, to a woman, because the Spirit of God dwells in us. That makes all the difference in the world. Yes, Israel is a stiff-necked people, not if God's Spirit is working mightily in them. They become a malleable people. They become a yielded people, a submissive, a surrendered people.

So this grumbling and complaining is not to be so among us, it says in the Scripture, we are to be different. So we need to put away grumbling and complaining. That's right. You need to put it away. And of course, you shouldn't give others cause to grumble and complain either. Make it easy on them, especially we married couples. You know, we spend a lot of time with each other, so be nice to your mate. Don't, you know, give them very little reason to grumble and complain. Try your best to give them very little reason to grumble and complain. You know, we really owe it to our mates, we owe it to our wives and our husbands to treat them well. We love them, remember? That's why we married them, because we love them. And yet what happens over the years? We let Satan creep in. We let Satan affect us. We become grumblers and complainers. Instead of drawing closer together, sometimes I see people drawing further apart. That's a sad thing. Shame on us. Shame on you. If that's what you're doing in your marriage, shame on you. You need to change. You need to repent. If you love the truth, you will. Because it's more important to you than whether you get your way, or your wife does everything the way you want her to, or your husband does everything the way you want him to, you'll figure out a way to work things out together if you both love the truth of God. God's Spirit gets, you know, it does meddle in people's lives, frankly. It does. It meddles in our lives.

So let's not be grumblers and complainers. Let's put, you know, let's let God's Spirit dwell in us and be stirred up within us. That's the second question. Just how thankful are you for the gift of the Holy Spirit? Are you really thankful for that gift? Are you stirring it up? That's another point we'll actually get to later. Number three, another question. Will you allow anything? Will you allow anything to deter you or to derail you from the course, the narrow course, that leads to the kingdom of God and eternal life? Are you going to let anything derail you? Have you allowed anything to derail you in the past? How about right now? Is there something that's getting in the way? Are you going to allow anything to deter you or to derail you from this narrow path that leads to the kingdom of God? Ask yourself that question. If you're struggling, then perhaps you really don't have the love of the truth in the way that you need to have the love of the truth. It's the Holy Spirit that will grant you persistence and perseverance through all of life's trials. We have to have the Spirit of God working in us mightily if we're going to persevere and if we're going to persist through the days that are coming. Those who love the truth are focused on God's kingdom. They stay focused and they are persistent in their trials. They don't get sidetracked by Satan's deception, by the world. They stay the course because they have a deep love of the truth and because of that they have the strength to stay the course. God gives them the strength. God empowers them.

When we stop and think about it, what is there in this life that compares with eternity in God's kingdom? I mean, everything is so shallow when you consider a future, an eternity in God's kingdom. Stay the course because you have a deep love of the truth. When you get discouraged, when you become depressed about things, remember who you are. Remember what God is doing in your life. Don't allow the cares of this world to get the best of you.

Let's fight the good fight. Let's never give up. Let's never quit. Let's always fight the good fight. Let's go to 2 Timothy 4, where Paul talks about the fight, this good fight that we all must fight. 2 Timothy 4.

2 Timothy 4, verse 7. Paul says, For I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. Paul knew that he was about to die. He knew that his number was coming up. He had been imprisoned. He had been persecuted. He knew that time was drawing near for him. He said that with tremendous confidence. Paul did. He believed it. He said that with tremendous confidence. Paul did. He believed it. There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me. There is no vacillating on whether or not he is going to be in God's kingdom. Because he has faith in God. And he knows that God will never leave him. And God will never forsake him. And he will be in the kingdom of God. He will give to me on that day. And not to me only, listen to this, not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. They love the fact that Christ came the first time to die for us, to lay his life down, to shed his blood for us. And that he is coming again, bringing salvation with him this time when he comes again. If we truly love that, if we love his appearing, then we have nothing to fear. Because God will see us through everything. If we have this genuine love of the truth, and we love Christ appearing with all of our heart and soul, God will see us through. He will help us fight the good fight. We can't do it on our own. We don't have the power. We don't have the courage, the stamina on our own. That's why God gives us his spirit. Now he's just given us an earnest, a down payment, of what is to come later when we will be born of the spirit. That's extremely encouraging. Brother, let's have faith. Let's believe that we fight the good fight for good reason. We fight the good fight for good reason. We will be in God's kingdom.

Let's ask ourselves a fourth question. Are you motivated by the right reasons to obey God's word and truth, no matter what the cost? So are you motivated by the right reasons to obey God's word and truth, no matter what the cost? Ask yourself this. It's a measure of your love of the truth. When people love the truth, they're going to follow it. If you love the truth, you'll follow it because you know it's good for you. You know that it all works out for good. If you'll just humble yourself and surrender yourself to the truth of God and follow it with a deep conviction, even to your own hurt physically, from a fleshly standpoint, sometimes we may think we would be happier if we went a course that's contrary to God's law. People have done that, haven't they? They were enamored by something in the world. Another person, perhaps? They went out and committed adultery. That never works out. That's stupid. It never works out. It's always bad. Never works out. It doesn't mean that God might not allow them to pick up the pieces and go on and put their life back together and still be blessed because God surely does that. But make no mistake. There are consequences for breaking God's laws. They hurt us. Let's be good to ourselves. Some people feel that I really can't afford to keep the Sabbath because I may lose my job. That's a real test of faith. That's a test of whether or not you love the truth. Are you going to go ahead and put your life in God's hands? Or are you going to make some stupid decisions that you'll pay a price for? There will be consequences for it. These are choices that we make. A lot of it gets down to faith and it gets down to really loving the truth. Staying in a less than ideal marriage because you love God and his truth may be exactly what God wants you to do. That may be exactly what God wants you to do. You've committed yourself to another. And if both of you have God's Holy Spirit, there's certainly no reason why things couldn't be worked out. If you truly yield to that Spirit, we honor God when we keep our promises.

God says liars won't be in the kingdom.

Not unless they repent and they stop their lying. We honor God by keeping his laws, his commandments. We show that we love him. That's what keeping the commandments are. If you love me, keep my commandments, Christ said. Show me that you love me. Let's go to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2.

1 John chapter 2 verse 1. 2 John chapter 2.

My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin.

This whole book is written so we may not sin.

And if anyone sins, then thankfully we do have an advocate. Because anyone sinned here? Yeah, right. We all sin. We all understand that part. We know that. However, we shouldn't sin. We shouldn't make excuses for our sins. We should come out of our sins. And when we are coming out of our sins, then we have an advocate. When we're coming out, when we're actively coming out of our sins, we're putting them away, we're continuing to fight the good fight, we're remaining faithful. Then we have an advocate with the Father. His name, of course, is Jesus Christ. Christ the Messiah. Christ the righteous, it says here. And He Himself is the propitiation. He's the mercy seat for our sins. He paid the penalty for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the entire world. Yeah, we love the world. I mean, we don't love the world. The Bible tells us we shouldn't love the world, but we love the people in the world. We don't love the evil world that we live in. In fact, we're supposed to hate that, but we are to love the people, and God loves the people. God loves all people. Christ died for every person. But we happen to be among the firstfruits, which is indeed special. And I don't make any excuses for that. That's wonderful to be a part of the firstfruits. We should thank God that we have been called out as one of the firstfruits. And now by this, we know that we know Him. We know that we know God if we keep His commandments. If you're keeping God's commandments, then that's evidence that you really know who God is. And you have faith in Him. And you believe in Him. And you trust in Him. And you take Him at His word. And He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments. Guess what? He's a liar. The truth isn't in Him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this, we know that we are in Him. And He who says He abides in Him, ought Himself also to walk just as He walked. Just as Christ walked. That's not easy to do, but that's something that we're supposed to be doing. To walk exactly like Christ walked. To follow His example, and to have it become our very lives. Our example.

In 1 John chapter 3, verse 24, let's go there for a second. 1 John chapter 3, Now He who keeps His commandments and abides in Him, I'm sorry, Now He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, abides in Christ. And He in Him, Christ abides in the person who keeps His commandments, because we can't do it without Christ. We can't. We have to allow Christ to live in us, as Galatians 2.20 tells us. And by this, we know that He abides in us by the Spirit that He has given us. Okay, God has given us the Spirit. Yes, I believe I have the Spirit of God dwelling in me. I've believed this since I was 18 years old. The Spirit of God has been present, dwelling within me. There are times when I have not yielded to the Spirit. Shame on me. There are times when you haven't yielded to the Spirit, and shame on you.

But this is what our calling is all about. It's learning to yield to God's Spirit within us, pleasing God, showing Him that we truly do love Him, and we love His truth, and we love His way of life.

So that fourth question, again, are you motivated by the right reasons to obey God's Word? And truth, no matter what the cost. A fifth question that we should ask ourselves in regard to a love of the truth is, do you really have a repentant heart? Do you really? Do you really have a mind that leads to real change and overcoming sin? Be honest with yourself. Are you repentant?

If you're repentant, then things should be going pretty well in your life. I mean, it doesn't mean that everything is going to be going well. Your car is still going to break down. You know, you're still going to have water in your house, maybe, when you get home. I might have some. I don't believe I will. I think, you know, I'm trusting. And people were praying last night for me when I was fast asleep. And I appreciate that. I thank you for that. I mean, I talked to some people that they were praying during the middle of the night for me, and I'm fast asleep. So I really appreciate that. But this question again, do you have a repentant heart? If you do, then you've got a pretty good life. You've got things going on. You're close to God. You know, God's living in you. It doesn't matter what else happens.

Are you changing? Are you going to change? Are you changing? Are you growing?

Our conscience obviously should grieve us with a godly sorrow when we sin. If we sin, it should matter to us. It should be a big deal.

It is the transgression of God's holy law. It's not something to take lightly. You can go to 2 Corinthians 7 later on, where it talks about true godly sorrow and how it leads to true repentance. That's a wonderful thing, a clearing of the self. The guilt goes away if you've repented. You don't have to carry that around. It's gone. It's a wonderful, beautiful thing. The guilt is gone because you've truly repented. And you are striving now to live by every word of God and not to repeat the sin and not to go back to the vomit that you left. So that's the fifth question to ask yourself. A sixth question. Do you really hate all forms of sin? Do you hate all forms of sin? That's another good question to ask yourself. Do you hate all forms of sin? Is your heart tender and sensitive to all sins? Have you learned to hate every form of evil? Every form of sin? Now, that's going to take some thought to analyze your life and to think about it. I know there have been times in my life when I did not hate certain things the way I should, and even today, I still don't hate them like I should because I still want to do them. It's an evil desire. You know, Christ did not have evil desires. Christ was tested, but he wasn't tempted to sin. Huge difference. He was pure. He was tested, but he was not tempted to sin because he didn't have these evil desires. He understood the law of God. He understood it fully and completely and totally. He hated sin, just as the Father hates sin. If you've seen the Son, you've seen the Father and vice versa. So Amos 5 verse 15. Amos chapter 5 and verse 15. What does it say about our attitude and approach toward sin?

Amos chapter 5. It's right before Obadiah, if that helps you find it.

Probably not. Amos Obadiah. Okay, here we go. Amos chapter 5 verse 15. Hate evil and love good. Okay, evil is the transgression of God's law. It's sin. Sin is the transgression of the law. So hate evil. A poor evil. Do that which is good. The Scripture tells us, hate evil and love good. So do you really hate all forms of sin, all forms of evil? If not, ask you to give you that pure hatred of sin and evil. Pray about these things. Develop a tender and sensitive heart. Become pure in your thoughts. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who was not tempted to sin. And then the last question, number seven. Are you consistently stirring up the Spirit of God within you? Is this something that you're consistently doing, daily doing, on an hourly basis? Are you doing this? Or are you taking some trips to Egypt every now and then? You know, Israel wanted... The children of Israel wanted to go back to Egypt. They didn't want to stay headed toward the Promised Land. They wanted to go back. Sometimes we allow our minds to take some trips back into Egypt. We need to stop taking those trips and focus on the Kingdom of God that's in front of us. So are you consistently stirring up the Spirit of God within you? And are you consistently walking in the Spirit? And I gave a whole sermon about that just a few weeks ago. Are you walking in the Spirit? Are you producing the fruit of the Spirit of God? Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and self-control, meekness, faithfulness? Are these attributes that you see you becoming? Are you becoming this way? Are you walking in the Spirit? If you really love the truth of God, then you will get a lot better about walking in the Spirit. God's truth is all-important. It's been at the center of my life and your life for many, many years.

Loving God and His truth is essential if we are to endure the temptations that Satan the devil will continue to try to tempt us with. And also, life isn't necessarily going to be all that easy. There will be trials in life. Again, it doesn't mean that we can't be happy. It doesn't mean that we can't be very fulfilled and very thankful and grateful. But life's hard. You know, I don't find life to be that easy. I mean, it's got its challenges. It's tough. And as my son at age five concluded, Dad, it's hard to be good. That was very profound. I'll never forget that. I think I had to discipline my son because he did a bad thing. You know, he did something contrary to God's law or my law. And he had to be disciplined for that. He'd been praying about it. And he said, Dad, it's hard to be good. And I said, Son, you're right. It is hard. But it's worth it. And we have to keep striving to be good. God is good. God's Spirit is good. And God's Spirit lives within us. God is truly gracious and forgiving. And he and his son will be partners for our entire lives. Once you've accepted Christ as your Savior, once you've understood who the Father is, partners for the rest of your life. They'll never leave you. They'll never forsake you. You can always count on them. They'll always be there. They're not like mortal men and women who sometimes let you down. They never, ever, ever let you down. Always acknowledge God and always put him first. Put his way first in your life. He will direct your steps. You can count on that. It's a promise. He'll direct your steps. He will bless you along the way. There are blessings for those who diligently seek God. Learn to love God's truth. Learn to love his way of life with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul. Learn to do it with all your might.