Reflections at the Gate of the Year

Mr. Carlson, I want to say, isn't the stage looking beautiful today? Lovely! Beautiful, beautiful flowers. I do want to mention also, I want to say thank you to all of those who have been contributing to the food bank, and that it's slowly growing. Many of us are trying to shrink, but we want the food bank to be growing, and we are slowly getting up there. I believe the goal is 450? Just 400! So we're climbing away, and Tina, we're going to go how long on that?

How much longer? To the 31st. So next week, so we have about how many more pounds to go, Tina? 170 pounds. So here we go. We have a goal before us. We do thank you for the contributions that have come in so far. Also want to mention that we do want to remember the helmets right now. I think all of us realize that, you know, Mel had that knee surgery, and as much as he would like to be with us, he cannot right now, he's going through his own challenges.

And I'm going to bring you a message because here we are at the end of the year and about to go into another calendar year. And often this time of year, I either send out or I'll mention in a message one of my favorite quotes, and I'd like to share it with you once again. It's from King George VI, New Year's broadcast, many, many years ago now, nearly 70 years ago. But I think the words are as true today, perhaps more so than even then. So I would ask that you might listen for a moment and then we'll expand upon it.

And this is a quote from his New Year's broadcast. I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year, give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be better to you than light and safer than unknown way. So I went forth in finding the hand of God trod gladly into that night. And he led me towards the hills and the breaking of the day in the lone east. So heart be still. God knows and his will is best. The stretch of years which winds ahead, so dim to our imperfect vision is clearer to God.

Our fears are premature and in him time hath full provision. I would suggest in talking to an audience this size, and even talking to an audience full of Christians, that we have hearts that may not be still on this day for a number of reasons. And what a wonderful opportunity we have today to consider God, consider his promises, consider our purpose before him, so that as we go into the next year that our hearts can be still.

We all stand at the gate of a new calendar year. And it's a time to pause, take note, just as we do during the biblical Holy Days as we come up to the New Testament Passover and we go through all the Holy Days. A calendar year grants us, guess what, friends, another opportunity to stop, to pause, and to think. Now why is that so important?

Because the rush of time does not always come with trumpet blast or lightning or thunder or a clash of symbols to show the passing of time, and therefore it can just kind of slip away. And then we just continue abiding in time just the way that we have up to this moment.

But this allows us an opportunity as a calendar year passes and a new calendar goes up under the wall and this coming week is to ask ourselves what kind of a person do you and I desire to be before our God. A very important biblical instruction is one that I like to direct your attention to in the book of Psalms.

Join me if you would. And it's in Psalms 90. I've often said that Psalms 90 is the wisdom of the wilderness. And there is a wisdom that comes through wilderness experiences. You think how often God sent His servants into the wilderness. Be it in a Brahm, be it a Moses, be it an Elijah, be it Jesus Christ when He was here on earth. Notice what it says in Psalms 90, verse 12. So teach us to number our days. Teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom. This really came into play just this past week in a sense, even today, as basically as one that is called an inhabitant of the baby boomer generation.

We are in a sandwich generation. We're taking care of the younger folks, and we're also taking care of the older folks.

I couldn't help but think today because right now my mother last week broke her shoulder, and she's been having challenges for the last couple of years and increasingly challenged in a number of capacities. Susan and I are doing as much as we can, and I've been spending the last four nights over there basically sleeping on the floor because my dad's 90 years old and somebody has to take care of her to go to her in the night. I go to take care of my 87-year-old mother, and as I pass down the hall, I see pictures of her as a beautiful young lady of age 18 or 19 or 20 or 21. You ask yourself between the picture that's on the wall and the lady that I'm having to now take to the restroom at night, where did the time go? Where did it all go? Then this morning, Amy and Ben came over. Amy's our daughter, and she came over with the grand man. That's the grandson. Remember, after the five granddaughters, we have the grand man, and we love all of our grandkids equally, but we call him the grand man. There's little Mason, and he's already about to walk, and it's just like he was just born. I says to myself, where did the time go? Three o'clock in the morning when I'm taking my mother to the restroom and seeing that picture on the wall, and then seeing Mason down below. I says to myself, life is fleeting. It's like that vapor that the book of James speaks about. It's here, and it's gone, and what we have the responsibility to do is to do something with the time in between, because it is going to go. With those thoughts in mind then, to recognize how fleeting time is, that's why I want to take this opportunity today as the calendar year passes, because as time moves on, again, there's no clang of symbols. There's no blowing of the trumpet, per se, at least in our society. Let's take stock for a few minutes here, friends, and ask ourselves as we lean forward, hopefully with Christian confidence, into 2012, that how will God's story and us play out in 2012? Join me, if you would, in Ephesians 2.10, one more scripture to set up the theme here. Ephesians 2, verse 10.

Let's notice what it says here. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. What's fascinating about Ephesians 2, verse 10, it is to remind and refresh us that creation did not end at Eden. It is a continuous process through this moment and beyond this second time that God is continuing a work and continuing to mold and to shape us towards His purpose and towards His glory.

And it's not always in the way that we might imagine or the way that we might want it to be, but after all, that's why Father knows best. And what I like to do is to give you a few steps that I like to encourage you. And this is going to be an encouraging message for you to consider as you go into 2012. And you alone will be able to walk this as you give yourself to God.

I have just five brief points, and we are going to be done on time, and we need to leave this afternoon. But before that, I want to give you these five points so that in that sense then, that you can indeed be able to number your days as you go through 2012. Point number one that I like to give you is simply this. And I mean this from the very bottom of my heart to each and every one of you. Prepare to understand and experience God's grace. Allow me to repeat it, because I think it's that important. Prepare to understand and experience God's grace. And when we open ourselves up and recognize that we're recipients of that and have that confidence, you and I will experience that just as much as the ancient Israelites when they were in the wilderness. And the wilderness experience, and I think life's experience itself, tells us we only have one day at a time. One day at a time. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not arrived. Have you noticed that? We have one day at a time. And just like ancient Israel, God says to his people today, I will give you your daily bread. But you have to ask. You have to understand. And you have to know how to experience it. Join me if you would in Ephesians. In Ephesians 1. And let's just read together and allow the Bible to give us the encouragement that God wants us as we move into 2012. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. When you and I consider this world around us, all of the challenges internationally, financially, domestically, in our families, in our own individual lives, have I missed out anybody yet? Or am I talking to the right audience? How much we need that grace and how much we need that peace. The peace that's spoken of here is the peace which was a Hebrew phrase of shalom. But when a Jew says shalom, he is not just saying peace. His thought and the framework behind that is that God will give us all of the framework and all of the background and all of the tools that we might have that peace in our lives. Notice verse 3.

Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of, notice again, his grace, which he made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence.

And having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. Let's notice what it mentions up here in verse 3 now. Very specific. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Sometimes as Christians we perhaps feel that after baptism that God still has something on the shelf that he hasn't quite delivered to us yet, that somehow is beyond our reach. That maybe in 2012 God is going to give us, like toothpaste that gets new and improved. Where would Procter & Gamble be if they didn't have new and improved products every year? Why is it new and improved? So you'll go out and buy it, so that the stockholders will have more shares. What God is saying here is that there is no new and improved. He's given us the shelf. He's given us, in the sense, his store. He allows us to walk in those aisles. He's given it to us all up front. But we have to understand it. We have to accept it.

We have to receive his grace. We also have to understand our own responsibilities. Let's talk about, for a moment, what is God's grace. Very important. Simply this. Number one, God's grace can be defined in just three parts. Number one, God's grace is his initiative.

It begins with him. It starts with him. And it moves from him. It is from him, beyond our imagination or our thought, our reality. The initiative begins with him that he's called us to be a part of his family. Secondly, it's by his grace is his invitation.

He has chosen us. He has selected us. He has invited us to be a part of his family.

Number three, God remains involved with us. The initiative is not only his. The invitation is not only his, but he remains involved with us. Even when sometimes we don't think he is.

I know this past year, and I look forward to this year, I continue to be amazed at how God works around Susan and I in ways that we don't even understand sometimes. I've had to come to understand that sometimes I have to thank God for what I understand. And I also have to thank God for what he's done that I don't even realize that he's doing for me or doing for our congregation or congregations or church. So often we just see that which is in front of us when God is involved in so many ways in bringing out his purpose and bringing out his will. Notice again what it says over here in Ephesians 1 is Paul's prayer to the church where it says in verse, and he's talking about that God will give us this and God will give us that to the church. Verse 18, that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened. The one thing that I would like to encourage all of you this year to remember, and I hope you might just write it down, that if you have been recipients of God's grace and you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior, I want you to understand something. Nothing happens apart from God's will. Nothing this coming year is going to happen apart from God's will. I did not say it's God's will of everything that comes into your life because sometimes you might even yourself start things that God says, no, no, no. But even so, nothing is going to happen in your life apart from God's will. Join me if you would. Just one other verse I want to share with you on this one point to encourage you.

James 4. James 4. And let's pick up the thought in verse 6. But he gives more grace.

Didn't say new and improved, but it does give more. And therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This is something that all of us, I think, friends, and I'm just speaking from the heart today, all of us have to look at ourselves in the merit times and just frankly ask ourselves, how humble are we before Almighty God? How much of us, how much of Robin Weber still exist? How much have I put off territory in my life apart from God's grace that he can work and mold and shape me to be the very best servant of his, the very best tool for him, the very best saint that I might be to return that glory back to him because of what he has given to me? I want you to think about this as we go into this year.

That's simply this. God cannot use pride. God cannot use pride, no matter how large.

God just can't use pride. It's not in his tool case. But he can use humility, no matter how small it is. Can't use pride, no matter how big. But he can use humility, no matter how small. The reason why I want to share this with you is simply this. I believe when you and I understand that we are recipients of God's grace, apart from ourselves, that it's not because of human works or mirror-mirror on the wall who deserves the grace most of all.

When we understand that we have been recipients of God's grace, and because of that outflowing, outgoing concern of love towards him when we did not merit it, when you get set, when you understand it, when you embrace it, I will share something with you. You will look at life differently. You will look at people differently.

You will look at this world differently. You will become a different person when you understand who God is, what he has done in our life. And if he's done that in our life, but has for one reason or not yet chosen at this time somebody else, we are going to recognize that that person is yet to be a work of God. We will look at people differently. When you understand God's grace, you will be reminded that every human being, even those you don't like, even though you're a Christian. You love them, but you don't like them, maybe. And that's simply they are made after God's image. And that alone, that alone demands the respect of every Christian man and woman towards every human being. Can we as a congregation make a goal going into this year that we will appreciate and understand God's grace more? You showed me a person, a people, a congregation that does that, and they are a growing grounds for the kingdom of God. Allow me to take you to point two.

Point number two, prepare to further learn that God's timing is different than ours. God's timing is different than ours. This coming year is not made up of simply turning the calendar month by month. I think in turning a calendar month by month, I might be able to handle life better. But it's not the month that gets me because life is also made up of minutes.

And it's the minutes that seem to get to us and where the challenge is. You say, well, what do you mean by that, Robin Webber? It's simply this. We want everything right now. And to be frank, in the technological revolution that is occurring, you know how culture is just changing everything, where we want everything right now. And if we can't get it in the megasecond, Chris? Megasecond?

You got it. You know what I'm talking about. If we can't have it in the fraction of this second, some company is going to come out. I like my term Megasecond. Paul, I made up another word. What happens is you have a company out there that's going to try to deliver it, even that, because you can't stand to wait one more moment.

Now, that's kind of a roar of a voice, but I can tell you something. You roar like that in sight sometimes when you're not getting your way on the second or on the dime.

We all get caught up in the moment. And yes, we stand so often watching that proverbial teapot boil, where we want to stand and watch the grass grow underneath our feet.

We want everything now. Here's the point I want to make to you. Friends, Christian to Christian, to where we can enhance God's grace in our life this year and be the tool that we need to for Him.

When we forget that moments and events and years or decades are not an end in themselves, so often we get caught up friends in time and space when God is inviting us to eternity.

I think that's one of the greatest challenges that I see within the Christian community and within the body of Christ today.

God, who inhabits eternity, that's what the book of Isaiah says, calls us towards eternity, gives us His ageless spirit to be within us and yet we live at times as if it's our last second and we have to have everything now rather than looking at things in the scope of eternity.

Now, does that mean that some things don't have to be done today? Absolutely.

We need to be good stewards. We need to be prudent.

Something is done. We need to get it done. I understand that. But I'm talking about expectations. I'm talking about the demands of life. I'm talking about personal. I'm talking about a lot of different things that we want everything now. Why has not God healed this individual today right now? Or why hasn't why has God allowed me to suffer this job loss? Or why has God done this? And you just fill in all of the blanks and to recognize that when you look at things through the lens of eternity, your life is going to change. Your life is going to change.

So often we want it all now. You've heard me talk about the little boy before that had the conversation with God. The little boy that said, you know, God, I have a question for you. And that's simply this. What is a million years like to you? And he said, my son, a million years is like but a second.

Well, smart little boy put two and two together. And God is wishless going. He says, well, I have a question for you. One more question, God, before I leave. And that's simply that. What is a million dollars like to you? God said, my son said a million dollars is like a penny. Well, the little boy again put two and two together. And then he finally said, well, well, God, I just simply have one more question for you. That'll be it. Can I have one of your pennies? God paused, thought about it, looked at the boy and said, yeah, but you'll have to wait a second. Now, all of you are laughing for a very important reason. And that is simply it's called gallows laughter because you and I are there just with that little boy. And we want everything right now. And God's not going to give us everything right now. God is going to allow us to go through some things this year to help us to appreciate eternity. Join me if you would in 2 Corinthians 4. And I say this while we can have a good laugh. That doesn't mean that a lot of us aren't going through some very serious challenges right now. But again, let's consider looking through the lens of eternity and what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16.

Famous line, therefore we do not lose heart. Now, why does Paul say that? Why does God inspire Paul? Because there are two things that can happen to a member of the body of Christ.

They can either lose the truth or they can, number two, lose heart.

And I've often found that seemingly at times Satan can come at us or we can come at ourselves. And it's not so much the truth. It's the losing of the heart. Because once you, if you want to look up here for a moment, here's the truth up here. Let's say this plant. But here's the heart. Here's our life. And it's like pulling the rug out.

When somebody loses heart, the revelation of God can come crashing down. That is why Paul says, don't lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now here's Paul, who had been rung through the keyhole.

And he says to others, do you think this is heavy? Compared to what God has in store for us and what he is developing us for. And why we are receiving his grace is so much more incredible than what you're going through right now. Thus it is light. Which is but for a moment. Sometimes, let me ask you a question. Let's be honest. You're saying, when is this ever going to end? This thing just keeps going on and on and on and on. And notice what God says here through Paul. It says, it's but for a moment. But it's for a purpose. It's working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. I would recommend and suggest that this coming year can be a blessing when you come to understand that the power and the purpose of God is bigger than the power of a minute.

Let me repeat that. The power and the purpose of God is more important than the power of a minute.

Minutes are a tyranny on the human race. We live minute by minute, rather than having that eternal gaze and that confidence that God's grace will remain with us. Allow me to take you to point number three. Plan to receive God's Word with readiness of heart. In 2012, plan to receive God's Word with readiness of heart. Acts 17. Notice what it says here. Acts 17 and verse 11.

Speaking of our friends the Bereans, these were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Do you have a ready heart to receive the Word of God? Allow me to share one more verse, a power verse. It's the story of Ezra. Ezra 7. Join me if you would over there for a moment. Ezra 7 and verse 10.

And notice the attitude and the approach of Ezra. Ezra 7 and verse 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. These two verses give us, frankly, a lot to think about. As Christians, how ready are our hearts? How set are we, once we come to something in God's Word, to perform and to do it? I look forward this coming year to continue reading God's Word a little deeper, much wider than ever before.

Not simply to survey it, but to excavate it.

Susan and I, in the morning, we have an opportunity. It's the nicest part of the day for both of us. Susan reads upstairs. I read downstairs. And the twain come together. We go through a daily reader. A part of it is Old Testament. A part of it is the Psalms or the Proverbs. And a part of it is the New Testament. And then we share with one another what we're learning, what's happening.

And of course, two personalities, two different reads, are going to bring out different things.

Male mind, female mind, her better mind, my lesser mind, etc. But we get into it. Different perspectives, different ways. It's the nicest part of our day.

How ready are we going to be this coming year to do that? Very important.

As we do, as we read the Word of God this year, an encouragement to all of us, I hope this year that we will utilize God's Word not to be a telescope or a microscope on others, or the condition of a sin-sick world. I think we understand it's a sin-sick world, but allow God's Word to be a mirror to our own souls and before a perfect God.

Rather than just reading the Bible, allow the Bible to read you. So often we read the Bible, rather than allowing the Bible to read us and to allow God to begin to shape and to mold us where we are. The reason why I mentioned this, I think it's very important.

I've shared this encouragement with all of us before, but I think it's something that all of us need to grow in as a congregation, as Christians. Life is made up of words, and so often conversations are made up of words. Have you ever been in a conversation with a Christian who's living without his God? Think about that for a moment. Have you ever been in a conversation with a Christian who's living or existing without his God? Where they just begin to unwind and to share and to share and to share and to share. It's like an old 45 record going around that's gotten stuck on the track. Remember the old Frank Sinatra song, now, over and over, I keep going, I want to sing Frank, but over and over and over again. They just keep on playing the same song, same song Annie, same tune Jim. You can almost come along with them. You've heard it so often. When we read God's Word, here's my encouragement to you. Not only that it shapes and molds us, but that we might be able to use God's Word and point other Christians in 2012 to God's Word. If you're talking for an hour as Christian to Christian with somebody and the promises of God have not come up, the framework of God's calling has not come up, or to be able to go to a scripture of encouragement, a scripture of promise, and follow the example of Jesus Christ as it is written. Or as Paul says, what says the scripture?

Why is this important for us in San Diego? Why is it important for the people in our circuit? Because frankly, friends, I can't be everywhere anymore all the time. Frankly, it never was.

And as we know, it's gotten more challenging for all of the ministry and even our elders as they're trying to do one job and then do the job of being an elder. That's why the members have got to become involved. Members have got to be encouraging one another with the promises of God, the encouragement of God, and direct and point people to the Bible.

Otherwise, all you're doing is hearing the echo of self.

You ever heard that with somebody that you're talking to? Maybe like yourself?

All you're doing is echoing. All you hear is, me-me, me-me-me-me-me-me, me-me-me-me, no. The tune of human nature, me-me-me-me. That's all you hear. Brethren, that's got to change. You can be a part of the solution by approaching God's Word more than ever this year. Point number four. Plan to picture God's family as God does. Plan to picture God's family as God does. The body of Christ is a spiritual organism. It's not a physical organization. Its head is Jesus Christ, not man. Its lifeblood is Jesus' sacrifice, not financial donations. Its working energy is the Holy Spirit, not simply any one organization's well-thought-out plans this year. Its membership is known everywhere by one individual, God Almighty. And whoever is in that body of Christ, and they will be witnessed by the testimony of Jesus Christ and the keeping of the commandments. Let's remember something. And may I commend you as a congregation. I think you're just marvelous in this. And you are to be applauded by how you receive people and how you interact with people. But let's remember a very basic thing. Christian responsibility. In 2012, let's build upon what you've been doing in San Diego. It's not our job to choose God's family. It's our job to accept them. When you understand that, your life begins to change. It does not lessen your God. It does not make God smaller. It makes God much greater, much bigger. And to recognize what the words of Jesus were in the book of John, when he says, there is going to come a day when you will neither worship on this mountain or that mountain, but those that worship the Father will worship Him in spirit and in truth. God alone knows who those are. Let me go to point number five. Prepare now to respect God's Spirit in every person.

Prepare to respect God's Spirit in every person that has surrendered themselves to God.

This coming year, let's be a committee of one in respecting the Spirit of God in every member of the body more than ever. And to embrace reality that other than God and other than His Word, people are our most important asset. And to treat people with all of the respect and all of the dignity that they deserve. Can you make that a goal? Can you make that a goal? I want to make that a goal of mine more than ever this year, individually. And may I say also as one of God's ministry. And that is something that we had to come to terms with 16 years ago.

That we had not always treated people in a godly fashion. And that cannot just be words on a piece of paper. That's got to be our reality to change that. We have to be a committee of one to make that happen. And to give every person respect and dignity. And to listen to them. To seek to understand before we seek to be understood. If we could just apply this one principle. Let me take you to a verse in James 1. James 1. If we could just apply this is a verse that I probably used more than any verse in ministry. For over 35 years. It's in James 1 verse 19. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. Slow to speak.

I look at that verse and I smile and I think of the cable news stations.

Everybody talking over one another. Everybody trying to get across their point in their moment of time. Swift to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to wrath or anger. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. So where are we going to be this coming year? Allow me to repeat the points that I hope that we can all set as goals this year. Prepare to understand and experience God's grace. I love God's grace. I know you do too. Without it, we are nothing.

Point number two. Point number two.

As I find it here, my notes went away. My notes went askew. Prepare to further learn that God's timing is different than ours. Point number three. Plan to receive God's word with readiness of heart. Point number four. Point number four. Plan to picture God's family as God does. And number five. Prepare now to respect God's spirit in every person. Let's conclude. Let's conclude one verse. Philippians 4. Because in that opening statement of the New Year's broadcast, it said, heart be still. And if you're a little bit like me in the human condition and seeing all of the challenges in the world and all that's perhaps going on in our own families and in our own lives, I hope that Philippians 4 and the message thereof will be a blessing. Be anxious for nothing. Last time I saw nothing means nothing. So whatever you think is not nothing or doesn't count, it says don't be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving and giving God thanks, knowing that not to be thankful for something that's tough or challenging, but thankful that he is going to supply what we need to come through that to give him glory. Let your request be known to God in the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. That is the peace of God, the tools of God that are going to give us what we need to move through that hoop of life, surpasses all the facts that are on the ground, and that he will guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ. He will literally put Roman sentries, that's the analogy that's being, he will put guards to your heart for what purpose and for what reason, to give him glory and to give him honor in 2012 as we move through it together.