Spiritual Lessons Learned from Moving

I thought we were going to have a song before I came up here, so sorry about that. Anyway, it is really good to be here. We are actually here now. We have moved out of our home. The movers came on Thursday, and then Barbara and I drove up here yesterday.

And so we're in the process of getting settled in. Our stuff will be here Monday. So it's been a wild ride, but we're glad to be here. It's a beautiful opportunity to serve here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Sherman as well. I appreciated the sermonette. It's certainly true that we can assume things, and we can get ourselves into lots of trouble when we make assumptions. I enjoyed the senior luncheon, and my wife did as well. We really had a very nice luncheon before services.

I appreciate Mr. Bowen being the emcee and doing a fine job with that. You know, Barbara and I lived in our last home for 19 years. By the way, if you want to start calling me, feel free to do that. It may take a couple days for me to get settled in.

Like I said, the stuff is coming Monday, but feel free to call me. I'll be glad to get together with any of you, and I look forward to getting to know all of you much, much better. Well, Barbara and I lived in our former home for 19 years. We were beginning to think that we would perhaps live the rest of our lives on our hilltop 10 acres near Kellyville, Oklahoma. We had a master bedroom on the bottom floor, so we figured that we could just live there the rest of our lives. You know, we're good to go. We don't have to climb the stairs when we get older, and we can just fade away in that home in Kellyville.

Well, that wasn't meant to be. We were thinking we might someday move to a smaller home because we had a large home on 10 acres, and we thought we might move somewhere else before we died, but we weren't in any big hurry for either one. So then I received a call from Mr. Kubik, and of course the rest is history.

We also got pretty scared. Initially, it was just a consideration. They were thinking about it. They wanted to feel me out and see if I would be willing to come here. And, of course, I was very willing to come and serve here. But we got scared, and we decided we really needed to get our house in order. After 19 years, it's easy to kind of neglect things, being very busy along the way, thinking again that we're going to be here for a lot longer.

So I'd like to ask you what spiritual lessons might a person learn from having to move to another part of the country? This is another part of the country down here, although it's very similar in many ways to Oklahoma. It's important to feel like home already. You know, God wants us to be aware of what's happening in our lives and what spiritual lessons we may learn as we face various physical challenges and circumstances that do arise in our lives.

Moving after 19 years in one home and in one area, however, is a monumental task if you've never done it. It is a bit daunting and overwhelming. But there are many, many spiritual lessons that may be learned, that may be re-emphasized and also reinforced through the course of pulling up stakes and moving on in life. So I'd like to share some spiritual lessons with you today. And the first one is, we should all learn to simplify and declutter our lives. Learn to simplify and declutter our lives in our homes.

We should stay focused on doing everything decently and in order. I said we got a little scared because we knew that we had been collecting things for about 35 years. Only there 19 years, but before that we'd had to move quickly. And we were moving to larger homes, and so we would just kind of pack it all up at the last minute and head to a larger home.

So when we got the call, we realized that we may not be able to get into a bigger house, so we'd better downsize a little bit and get rid of some of the stuff we've been collecting for so long. And most of it was hidden, really. I mean, if you came over to our home, you wouldn't realize that we had so much stuff, because a lot of it was in the attic, and we have huge attics. And that can be a problem, because you tend to fill those attics over the years, because you might just need something, possibly.

Typically, you never do, but you store it there just in case. So this stuff that we'd been storing away kind of nagged at us over the years, we would, from time to time, talk about the need to really clean those attics out. But for the most part, we were able to put all that to the side, we'd push it to the back, we'd forget about it, and we'd just go on living.

My question for you on a spiritual level is how much spiritual junk is cluttering up your minds and your hearts? How much have you stashed into the attic in your mind that you really haven't dealt with, and it's still nagging at you, and you know that you should overcome it. You should put it out of your life, but you're allowing it to continue, and you really know you need to do something about it, but you just haven't gotten around to it.

I think that's true for all of us. We allow some things to declutter up our minds and our hearts. So what little sins are you ignoring? What little sins, maybe even big sins, perhaps, in some cases are you storing away that need to be trashed right now so you can live a freer and more liberating life? Now, we had a feeling of a great weight that came off of us when we actually cleaned out our attic, when we got rid of a lot of the junk.

It wasn't all junk, but it seemed like a lot of it was. It was good junk, though. That's why we had to hang on to it. And I think the trash collector, the guy that picks up our trash, was probably about ready to drop us after three or four weeks, when he would drive up and see a mountain of stuff that he had to pick up and haul off for us. But we did have a great feeling, a great weight that came off when we got rid of a lot of that stuff.

You know, I really felt better about having less stuff around in the closets, in the attic, in my office, and in my garage. That was the hard part, that garage. Oh, man, I had a lot of stuff in there. You know, when you are selling a house, you're supposed to stage the house. You've probably heard that. If you've sold a home before, you're supposed to stage it. So you have to get rid of two-thirds of all of your clothes from all your closets.

You don't really need all those extra clothes anyway, and you realize that after a while, but you're supposed to get rid of two-thirds and about 90% of your shoes. And I know some of you have a lot of shoes. You really don't need 50 pairs of shoes, but sometimes, I guess, we think we do need some of that extra stuff. So we had to stage our house, and my wife's a good housekeeper, but you begin to realize how much extra stuff you have when you have to start staging your house so that you can get hopefully a good price for the house you're selling.

Now, in Matthew 13.22, it talks about a parable, and Matthew 13 is a chapter full of parables. Christ gave the parable of the sower. In Matthew 13.22, he talks about the need to get rid of the cares of the world and not let them choke you out, basically. Let's go to Matthew 13.22. I liken some of these things that we accumulate to some of the cares of the world that we let those things burden us to some degree.

In verse 22, it says, Now he who receives seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. He isn't productive. He's not getting along in life the way he should. He's not accomplishing the things that he ought to. And he's allowing the cares of the world to choke out much of the production that he could have if he was more spiritually focused. So how well do you prioritize spiritually? Are you really seeking first the kingdom of God? You know, that's the question we should ask ourselves on a regular basis.

Are we really seeking first God's kingdom? Or are we seeking to live today in this life? Is that our highest priority? We really do need to put God first in our lives. And there's a principle that God tells us about in 1 Corinthians 14. Actually, the Apostle Paul is talking about church services in context, and he's saying, let everything be done decently and in order. And that is a principle. We're not going to go there because the principle is what I really want to talk about, not the context necessarily, but we need to do everything decently and in order.

And we all understand that. We realize it, but frankly, a lot of us have a problem being organized. You know, that is a problem I have personally. Organization, I'm okay, but I could do better, no doubt. We all need to become organized, and we need to prioritize our lives from a spiritual standpoint. We all know that we should take time every day to pray. And generally, it's best to pray at the same time of day.

We also know we should study our Bibles, and we should carve out some time every day to study our Bibles and to read our Bibles. But how well do we all do that? That's a question you have to ask yourself. Are you doing everything decently and in order? Do we allow less important things to crowd out our prayer time? The cares of this world, are they choking out our prayer time? Are the cares of the world choking out the time that we should be praying? Which is certainly much more important than many of the physical things we allow to take up our time.

So have you ordered your prayer life? Have you faithfully set aside that time to study God's Word so that it's second nature that you just don't ever miss a day? Because it's second nature. You've organized your life spiritually. So are you regimented in prayer and in Bible study? And also, what about fasting? How about your fasting? Have you been fasting on a regular basis?

Now, the Scripture does talk about when Christ dies, when He returns to the Father, His disciples would fast. I don't think He was just talking about the Day of Atonement. So if it's been a long time since you fasted, perhaps your spiritual priorities are not what they ought to be, because some things don't happen except by prayer and fasting. So if you really want to draw close to God and be productive, and not just get by, then you need to be fasting.

Now, I came to really appreciate the more streamlined approach as I was getting rid of a lot of the things that were cluttering things up in the attic and in the garage. I said my wife is a good housekeeper, but the garage was really off-limits to my wife. I don't think she wanted anything to do with that garage. But I really came to appreciate the streamlined approach. I told my wife that before we left, I was going to park a car in the garage.

Because, believe it or not, in 19 years, I never parked a car in the garage. But there was a good reason for that, really. We had a used portico, fancy name for a carport, but it was a nice carport that was attached to the house and was a native rock. We could put four cars underneath our carport.

So we didn't have to park in the garage. So that's where all my stuff went. I do have a lot of hobbies and interests that I'm into, so lots of stuff came out of the garage. I'm going to have to figure out what to do with all that stuff, though. I got rid of a lot of it, but I'm afraid I hung on to it more than I should have.

But I am beginning to appreciate the streamlined approach. I am planning to have that approach here in Texas. Hopefully you will benefit from that. So that's the first point. We need to declutter our lives. We need to do everything decently and in order. But if you're not doing that, do yourself a favor and make that a priority. Start doing it. Don't make excuses, but actually do it.

Now, the second lesson that was reinforced to me is that you should not neglect maintenance, either physically or spiritually. There are certain things that have to be maintained. And if you don't maintain those things, you will suffer for it. And that's especially true in your spiritual life. If you are not maintaining your spiritual life, you can set good habits if you are determined to set good habits. But if you are not determined to do that, it's not going to happen. And you are not going to be able to maintain your spiritual lives.

You may fast regularly for a couple of months or four or five months, but if you don't continue to maintain that before long, you are going to be out of doing that. You have to plan that ahead. You have to order your life. Now, we decided to buy a house in Kellyville because it was about twenty-five miles west of Tulsa on the way to Oklahoma City, not too far from Route 66. In fact, about a half a mile off of Route 66. And we could get some acreage out there.

We were able to get ten acres, and we wanted the kids to experience the country. I grew up on a farm in the country, my wife grew up on the edge of town, her dad milked cows, and there were cows just right across the fence from where she lived. So we wanted our children to have that opportunity. So that's the main reason we wanted to get out in the country.

But, you know, due to little money and little time, many things were not maintained on that ten acres. You know, it was hard to keep up with all of it. I was pastoring three or four churches and lots going on, so I wasn't really able to keep up with it like I would like. So some things went by the wayside. So when we, like I said, we got kind of scared when we found out we might have to move, because we knew we had a lot ahead of us. So, you know, when you're at a home for as long as we are, you kind of get used to things, too, and you don't always maintain them.

For example, doors that stick, you can live with that, you don't have to fix it, you can just live with it. Doors that stick and things that locks that you're the only one that can open that door, because you have the knack. It was funny, the guy that was buying our house, you know, I could slip that key in and I could work that thing like crazy, but he was having a terrible time making that key work.

It was simple for me, but I was used to it. It wasn't so simple for him. He was starting to get the knack of it before we left, so that was good. At least he can get in the house now. We had to go through a crash course in getting our house ready for sale. We had to paint it inside and out. We had to paint inside and out the whole thing since we found out we were possibly going to be transferred.

So that was a monumental task. And then we had a guy that was hired to do the outside, but he walked off the job the very first day. He got up on the ladder. We had a large house. It's kind of like a Swiss chalet type house, and it was a very steep roof, and he was up on a ladder, and it was a windy day. And I guess he envisioned himself coming off that ladder and busting himself up. So he walked off the job the first day.

So we had to scramble, and I ended up on the paint crew, and four of us painted that house with scaffolding. And it was a big job. But with God's help and some determination on our part, we got it done. But you know, it would have been nice if I'd have painted it a few years ago. I mean, 19 years is a long time to go without painting your house. I mean, eventually you have to do it. So we knew that if we were going to get a good price for the house, we needed to paint it inside and out.

So the point I'm making is don't neglect maintenance. Maybe there's something around your house you could do. Possibly. You have to ask yourself out. But more importantly, what about your spiritual life? Are you maintaining your spiritual life? As I said before, do you have time every day to pray?

Do you take that time? Do you take that time to study the Word of God? In Ephesians chapter 5, it talks about the importance of redeeming our time. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14. Let's go there for a moment. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14. Therefore, he says, God says, Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

We know there's a parable about 10 virgins, and five of them are sleeping. So Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly. See that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise. God says, if you don't maintain your spiritual life, you're a fool. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. In other words, you have to use your time wisely and effectively, and don't allow the cares of the world to choke out the time you need to spend with God and with Christ. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit of God.

We all need to be filled with God's Spirit, and we have to be maintaining our spiritual lives if God is going to fill us with His Spirit. We've got to come out of the world, don't we? We have to be different from the world. God says to come out of Babylon. This world is a very confusing world. There's a lot of Babylon out there. It's chaotic, it's confused in so many ways, and it's getting worse and worse. So let me ask you, what are you putting up with in your life? What are you putting up with?

You know, one example really hit my wife and I very hard, because we had what I would call substandard woodwork. It was a beautiful home, and the woodwork was done very nicely, but it was 20 years old when we bought the house, or 25 years old by then, and it just looked kind of drab. And we didn't realize it. All we had to do was go find the right stain. And so we did, because we basically had to.

We had to do something to make it look nicer. And we found the right stain, and we stained along with... we had some help, but we got every piece of the woodwork basically stained throughout the house. And it looked so much better. It looked so different. And we put up with that for 19 years. We put up with it.

I mean, it wasn't that awful. I mean, it still looked okay, but it didn't look near as nice as it did when we sold the house. I mean, it was shining. It looked really good. And we did get what we were asking for on the house. So, you know, the time and the effort that we put into it, the money that we spent, it all paid off in the end, but it was not easy getting prepared to leave.

So the point, again, that I'm making is, are you just getting by in life, or are you excelling in life? You know, I'm good at getting by. I've been getting by for a long time, but, you know, I frankly would like to excel. I don't want to just get by.

I would like to really excel and get a lot closer to God and do it His way. And I would think that you probably feel the same way I do about that.

Let's stop getting by, but let's really start excelling spiritually and doing what we can do.

You know, as I said, we painted the entire outside of the house. You know, we fixed every board that needed fixed. Anything that was any kind of dry rot, anything at all. We fixed it, we painted it, and we really had it looking very nice, but had I maintained it. Now, a part of it is priorities. Again, I didn't really have the time. Ten acres. I mean, my place could have looked like a park if I would have had the time to devote to it, but, you know, you have to make your priorities and the physical things aren't the most important thing in life. So, in some ways, I don't really regret, because hopefully I was putting my time into something more important, and everything worked out great, and God blessed us, and we're here. So, you know, we're grateful to God for that. That's the second point, though, is maintain your spiritual life. Stay focused on maintaining your spiritual life, and don't just get by. Number three, things aren't as clean as we think they are, oftentimes. So, let's stay focused on cleansing our lives spiritually. Things aren't as clean, oftentimes. Now, again, my wife's a good housekeeper, but it is surprising how little nooks and crannies and things like that can build up some dirt, some cobwebs even. You know, especially if it's high up in the... We have a great room, which is, you know, you can't even reach it, and it was hard to get to. So, those were things that we also needed to focus on. We had to get people up there to fix some cracks that were way up high, and I'm not a good mudman, so we had to get someone there that knew what he was doing. And we just started to realize that there were other things that just had to be done before we could sell a house and get a good offer for it. So, when we look back at when we started, though, let me just tell you about that house when we bought it. When we bought the house, first of all, it was tick infested. And I had never seen anything like this, but they had a dog that went in and out of the house, and he would bring ticks back in, and they were in the carpet. And, you know, we knew we were going to have to get rid of the carpet anyway, but then when we found out we had ticks trawl on us from the house, we immediately tore everything out. Before we did anything else, it was the first thing to go. And, frankly, the house was filthy, and that's why we got it at the price we did. You know, you get what you pay for, and it was the house from hell when we bought it. I mean, you know, it really was. It was a trial in the beginning, but it had so much potential, and we could see the potential. And so, we just had to really work hard at it. We... that house was mice infested. Believe it or not, I trapped 200 mice the first winter. 200 mice. I got so sick of setting traps. My cats loved it. We had some cats, and then we developed a cat army so that we would never have any mice again. We had, like, 18 cats at one point. We were down to just one when we moved away, and it was an old tomcat that didn't want to go with us. So, he stayed around, stayed at the house, and the new owners are going to feed him and take care of him. So, that was best for him and us. But that was what we got into when we bought the house in the first place. Also, Chiggers. Have you ever heard of Chiggers?

See, I'm from the north. I didn't know what a Chigger was. But I had to clean our... I had to clean up our fence line, because the former... the person who sold it to us had never cleaned up the fence line. It was overgrown with everything, and the first thing I know, I'm mitching all over. And I had Chiggers. You know, you have to keep your place mowed if you don't want Chiggers, at least in parts of Oklahoma. I don't know if that's true here in Texas. I suspect it probably is. So, Chiggers aren't much fun. I haven't had Chiggers since. But, you know, once we got the place cleaned up, it was not a problem any longer. But, again, you don't know what's out there. You can't even see those things. In fact, don't they call them noceums? Or is that some other kind of flea, or... I don't know. I've heard people call them... maybe it's those sand fleas that they call noceums in Jekyll Island. Anyway, the point is, again, we need to clean our lives up spiritually as well. Sometimes we're not as clean spiritually, either. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, it talks about cleaning up our homes. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Let's go there for a moment.

1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 16 and 17. It says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Okay, this flesh that we have is the temple of God's Holy Spirit. And so we're supposed to take care of it. We're supposed to keep it clean.

We're supposed to maintain it. We shouldn't neglect it. God's Spirit dwells in us.

So it's very important to realize that you are the spiritual temple of God's Spirit.

God is now dwelling in us. He's not dwelling in a physical temple. He's dwelling in us.

And in chapter 6 verses 15 through 20, here it says, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?

Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her?

For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with him.

It's important that we set a right example of unity. In our marriages, we are to draw close to each other. We are to reflect God's character, God's love in our marriages. He says in verse 18, To flee sexual immorality, every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you whom you have from God and you are not your own? Okay, that's important for us to remember. We are not our own. There's been a price paid for us. Of course, that price is the shed blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So God wants us to cleanse ourselves spiritually, and Christ set an example for us when he cleansed the physical temple just before Passover in the very first year of his ministry. He cleansed that physical temple. Remember when he drove out the money changers? That was in John chapter 2. He cleansed the temple, and then in Matthew 21, it shows that he cleansed the temple a second time at the end of his ministry, and that was also before Passover.

And every year at Passover, we are to cleanse ourselves spiritually.

It's not that we aren't to be clean all year long, because surely we are, but every Passover, it's a reminder of how much God wants us to be cleansed spiritually.

So, brethren, it's time to wake up. You know, it's time to stop sleeping spiritually, and it's time to listen to God, to listen to Christ, and to make some changes in our lives.

It talks about how we are to be clean from a sexual standpoint. Now, sexually, it's easy for men and for women to slip up, to make mistakes, to sin against God, but it shouldn't be that way.

With God's help, we can overcome. We can put sin out of our lives, so we need to be doing that in every aspect of our life. In Jeremiah chapter 17, it talks about the deceitfulness of our hearts, this is certainly true from a sexual standpoint. We can deceive ourselves, we can think that we're all right with God, but we're really far from God. We are doing our own thing and not God. So, let's look at Jeremiah chapter 17, and let's see what it says here. It's instruction to every one of us. Jeremiah chapter 17, I know you remember Jeremiah 17, because it talks about the heart and how deceitful it is, but let's look at the context for a moment of this verse. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 5, Thus says the Eternal, Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength. If we trust in ourself, or if we trust in other men, we're making a big mistake, whose heart departs from the Lord, and he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Eternal, and whose hope is in the Lord, in the Eternal. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought.

Now, we've been having a drought in Oklahoma, and this spring I had one of my pecan trees die.

We have several pecan trees on our property, but it was sad to see this one pecan tree die.

It was a weaker tree, I could tell that. It didn't look as healthy as the others, and it was the only one that died. But it died because it was not strong, and the drought took it. So there's a spiritual lesson in that as well, and that's what it's talking about here. The heart is deceitful above all things. It is desperately wicked. Who can know it?

No, God knows the heart. Christ knows our hearts. God looks on our heart.

Verse 10, I am the Lord. I search the heart. I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. We all reap what we sow. That's another principle in God's word, that we reap what we sow. And we need to be strong spiritually, because times are going to get harder in the future. Times are pretty hard for some of us already, but they're going to get much harder for the majority of people, in fact everyone around the earth. We don't know how soon that's all going to hit, how soon it's going to happen, but it's gradually taking place.

So we need to be strong when times get harder, so that we will survive a drought. Very, very important that we examine our hearts and we draw nearer to God. Christ said, "'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'" So how pure is your heart?

Are you sexually pure, or are you struggling with that? A lot of people struggle with those issues, and it's just time to go to God and get the help that we need.

We can make excuses for not maintaining a cleaner home, a cleaner physical home, but we better not make excuses for not developing and not maintaining cleaner hearts and minds spiritually. God looks on our heart and He's looking to find a pure heart, a heart without hypocrisy, a heart that is close to God and is like God's. So that's the third lesson and a very important one. Now, the fourth lesson is one that may seem out of place here, but it really applies in our case. It's about gossip. You know, gossip can be very, very harmful.

In fact, we had someone that wanted to look at our house a second time. They came the first time, they liked the house, they came back the second time. And I talked to the realtor after the second time and he said they were going to make an offer until they talked to your neighbor.

And basically what the neighbor said nixed the sale. This was after three weeks and we hadn't had any bites on the house. And I won't go into the story because it can be a little long, but the basic thrust was, I'm not sure of the motives. I don't want to assume my neighbor's motives, but the people that were looking at the house had like seven big dogs.

And my neighbor liked dogs, but I don't know if he liked that many dogs.

So a story was told about someone maybe poisoning a dog up there where we live. Now, that was a rumor I had heard about. I don't know if it was true or not, but it wasn't about us. It was just about the neighborhood and it actually nixed the sale. It was a gossip. I don't know if there was any truth to it, any of it or not. But gossip can hurt, so we have to be very careful. We have to examine our motives. What are your motives? The Bible says the words of a tell-bearer are like tasty trifles. They go down into the inmost body. In other words, they make a huge impact.

So you have to be careful what you're willing to pass on to other people. Is it going to help that person or is it going to be a burden to that person? Is it going to hurt someone else?

If it's going to do either, then why do you have to share it? Why do you feel the need to share it?

The Bible says that the tongue is a fire. It is a world of iniquity. That's in James chapter 3. It says it's a world of iniquity, a world of sin. It's an unruly evil. It's full of deadly poison.

So we have to be very careful what we say. So examine your motives before you speak and make sure you're saying things that are helpful and productive and not otherwise.

Because God will hold you accountable for what you say. You will be held accountable. There are no idle words in that sense. God listens to everyone.

Now, the neighbor, I don't think he necessarily meant to hurt us because, you know, they loved us. They started crying when they found out we had to leave.

So it wasn't that they were out to punish us at all. And again, I don't know all the motives behind why this story was told or why he felt he had to tell the story. But all I know is it nixed our very first potential buyer. Now, thankfully, within a couple of days, we had two more offers. So that was good. And I did have a few words with my neighbor, though, after I heard the story. Because I wasn't really real happy about my realtor telling me that it was his story that backed the person off from buying the house. And I just didn't want this to continue. I didn't want every person going over there hearing stories. So I just had to politely tell him that I'd appreciate him not telling that story. You know, it really wasn't productive, certainly for us.

So that's the fourth principle. Gossip can hurt lots of people. So let's be focused on using our tongue profitably. Now, we passed things up with my neighbor. It helped when we got those offers coming in. That certainly helped from my perspective. I was already in the process of patching things up because I never want to leave with hurt feelings or with some kind of a problem between us. So we passed things up and we're friends today. I'll go see them whenever we go back. I suppose it worked out for the best because I know that all things work together for good for those who love God. Maybe we would have gotten it. Well, we got a great offer after that. As I said, we were able to get what we were asking. That might not have happened with the first person. Maybe the second people or the people that ended up buying it will be better neighbors. We'd like to have good neighbors up there. So I don't know all that, but all I do know is that you have to be careful with your tongue. The fifth lesson from moving, a spiritual lesson, is when the pressure is on, don't pressure each other. Instead, stay focused on the fact that you're converted, right? Even when you're being stressed out, you're still converted.

Now, moving is a time of great stress. In fact, it's way up high on the level of stress. They have a stress level. What stresses you out the most? Moving is up there high. The to-do list gets very, very long when you're having to move, and the pressure mounts. Money seems to be flying out the window. No, it doesn't seem to be flying out. It is flying out. And, you know, you have to oftentimes spend money to make money. You've heard that expression, so you have to be... Thankfully, we had some money saved, and we were able to do that, but it would have been very, very difficult. Otherwise... So my wife and I talked about what was about to happen when we found out we might be moving. And we decided that we were going to be good to each other, and be patient with each other, and be loving with each other. So we saw the potential to not be so nice to each other. So we discussed it in advance, that we really needed to be aware that although we needed to do our best and be kind to each other, it's possible one of us might just snap!

Thankfully, we didn't snap much. I don't know that we really ever snapped, but we decided ahead of time that we'd be patient. There were a couple times that I probably could have kept my mouse shut, not said certain things, and maybe the same with her. But, you know, we were grateful that things worked out so well. But it is important not to pressure someone when the pressure is already there. So be careful, be nice to your mate. And when it's stressful, just go out of your way to be more kindhearted and nicer than ever. It's also important to have a sense of humor in order to be able to see yourself through stressful times. Don't sweat the small stuff, because there's going to be plenty of big stuff that's going to come along. So you better be able to smile and laugh and see things from that perspective. Now, I'd like to tell you a story that actually occurred when I was first hired into the ministry. Now, this happened back in 1989. We were living in Hudsonville, Michigan. We had just bought our first home 10 months before. And we loved that home.

It was also out in the country. We had about an acre of land. It was really nice, backed up into the woods and all that good stuff. It was only 25 minutes from Lake Michigan. And it had many good things about it. So at the very end, when we were about to leave, I had loaded up the car top carrier. You know, that's the last thing you do, is load up the car top carrier. So I had loaded that up, and then I was out at the Garbies. And I think I stepped on a rake that I was throwing away. It whacked me in the face. I had some reading glasses on, I think. Or maybe it was it was probably my regular glasses. And they fell into the trash. And I was down there looking for the trash, into the trash for these glasses. And then my wife had come out and gotten in the car and taken off. She had to make an errand to Walmart or something. And I'm looking down the road at, well, some car comes by after she left. And he screeches on his brakes. And I'm looking down, and there's things flying out of the car top carrier. You know, left and right, it's coming out sleeping bags. Other things are coming out. A blanket comes out, and the guy behind her wraps it around his drive train. And he has to come to a complete halt, because it was smoking and causing issues for him. And I'm watching all this develop, and she's totally oblivious.

She's continuing to drive down the road. And so I hopped in the other car, and I went down. I was going by the guy that was stopped with the blanket on his drive train. And he said, Hey, did you see that crazy woman that just stuff flying everywhere? I said, Yeah, that's my wife.

I've got to go catch her. So I went and caught her. And thankfully, that car wasn't damaged. He must have been a nice guy, because we never heard from him again. So evidently, he was able to get things going. But I could have blamed my wife for not for driving away like that, and not paying more attention, you know, being oblivious to things coming out. I could have done that, or she could have blamed me for not clasping that car top carrier and locking it down properly. Well, we really didn't take the time to blame each other. We just thought it was funny to one degree.

We were already so tired, I guess, you know, who cares? But I could have blamed her, she could have blamed me. But what would that have, you know, what would that have resulted in? It would just make feelings worse between us. So it's better to laugh at those kinds of things, have a good sense of humor when those things happen. Don't stress out over them. You know, just realize that when the pressure is on, you really should not pressure each other. Back off, be good to each other.

Now we can smile and laugh and tell that story, but right at the very minute, it was a little stressful. That's principle number five, the lesson. Again, don't pressure each other when the pressure is on. Now, researchers from the University of Utah found that there's a price to pay when couples don't get along. Videotapes recorded 150 husbands and wives discussing sensitive issues like how to manage money, who's going to do what household chores, that kind of thing. And they found the following that women who buried anger, rather than speaking out, were more likely to succumb to heart disease than wives who were vocal. Now, my wife isn't going to ever have to worry about heart disease.

Because she's pretty vocal, and she lets me know when I need to know something.

So she won't have to worry too much about that. And the study went on to show that when women become domineering and controlling, rather than seeking consensus, damage is done to the husband's coronary health. So you don't have to worry about me either. I'll be fine, because she's not domineering or controlling. You know, we have to pick our battles carefully in marriage and in all relationships, not just marriage, but all relationships. We should pick our battles carefully. If it isn't going to help, perhaps it's better to hold the tongue. Think before you speak.

You don't want that, what is it, hoof and mouth disease? You don't want to stick your, you know, your foot in your mouth. Be careful what you say. Think about it before you say it. If it isn't going to be helpful, then go pray about it. But don't say it. You'll get a lot closer to doing something profitable and good. A British research project yielded remarkably the same results. After a 12-year study of British civil servants, most of whom were married, English researchers concluded that those with hostile intimate relationships were 34 percent more likely to experience chest pains, heart attacks, and other heart trouble.

Even after typical contributing factors such as obesity, smoking, and drinking, when those things were eliminated from the equation, those in troubled relationships were still at 23 percent greater risk for a heart attack. So Roberto de Vogli, who was the lead researcher on this study, said, if you have good people around, it's good for your health. So it's important to surround yourself with good people that are going to be good for you, and it's important for you to be a good person as well. So when you get married, it's really important to marry the right person, isn't it? So be careful, any of you that are contemplating marriage in the future, that you think it through very well, and that you marry someone that's going to really benefit you, and you'll benefit each other, and things will go well for you. Now, in Ephesians 4, verse 31, it talks about letting all bitterness—I'm in Ephesians 4, verses 31 and 32. Here it says, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, which is loud quarreling. Have any of you ever been guilty of loud quarreling? Now, I have. You don't have to raise your hand. I'll raise it for all of you. I don't think there's anyone here that hasn't been guilty of loud quarreling at times, at least once in your life. We've all been guilty to some degree, but God says, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. So, frankly, this applies to each and every one of us. We should consider this.

Let all bitterness, all wrath, all anger, all loud quarreling, let all of it, all the evil speaking, let it all be put away from you. So, if you're having a struggle in your life right now, with any of this, you really need to go to God with it. Go to God with it and help him, ask him to help you deal with any bitterness, with any wrath, with anything that's troubling you in your life. God will give you the strength, he'll give you the help if you go to him in faith, believing that he's going to help you. So, that's the fifth principle.

Principle number six is, some jobs can't be done alone. Okay, this is another lesson that we learn from moving. Some jobs can't be done alone. As I said, this was a daunting task. I knew that if we were ever going to get moved here, we might need some help. And thankfully, I didn't ask for the help, but certain ones volunteered to help, and we actually had some work parties. Now, we had never had work parties at our home before in 19 years, but people from the Tulsa congregation and some from Oklahoma City, they volunteered to help us, and so we needed to be humble enough to take the help, because we surely needed it. It would have been very, very difficult. I wouldn't probably be here having a house already sold and everything if I hadn't had help. So, we need to be willing to humble ourselves and accept help when we truly need it. If it's offered, let's be humble enough to accept the help. There is a great synergy that takes place when people work together.

Now, we accomplished a great deal as a group. We got together, we had work parties, so we supplied food, and there was lots of fellowship. It was really a wonderful opportunity, frankly, to get together and spend time with brethren and actually get some work done. And I've always liked work parties. In fact, when we lived in Michigan, we would go cut wood all day long.

Several, like 15 or 20 guys, would get out in the woods and we'd cut wood for elderly people, people who couldn't do it themselves, who needed help. And we would cut enough wood for the whole winter, and we would do that for several people every year. I always looked forward to those times when we worked together. But we had an old pool that needed to be torn down. It had developed a rust hole. It was an above-ground pool, and it would no longer hold water. And I didn't have time to take the thing down, and I was hoping I might patch it and put water in it again.

But it just wasn't practical. I had to just get rid of it. And we had a big deck, a wooden deck, around it. And it was a solid deck. It was in the concrete, in the ground, several feet.

It was a lot of work. And we had a work party to help tear that thing down. We had to tear a shed down and get rid of it because the roof had blown off. It was one of those tin roofs, and it was dilapidated when we bought the house. So it was just a big job, but it really worked out with other help. We needed help. In Galatians 6, verse 2, it talks about burying one another's burdens. Galatians chapter 6, this is a principle that I hope all of us have learned. It was certainly reinforced to me that we should be willing to bear each other's burdens to help each other out at times of need. Verse 1, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass or sin, you who are spiritual restorest it to one in a spirit of gentleness. Notice that, a spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself lest you also be tempted. We're all subject to temptation.

And bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Christ certainly laid down his life for us, didn't He? He bore our sins. Our sins were forgiven because of Christ's sacrifice. He went to work for us.

So let's bear one another's burdens. Some couldn't help physically because of age or health, but I know they were praying for God's blessing on our home and on the cell of our home and the move and everything. So it was really a great blessing and we were very grateful for the people that were able to help us out. We had lots of help. And you know, it reminded me of 1 Corinthians 12, and we don't have the time to go there, but it talks about each part of the body of Christ doing its share and everyone working together to accomplish something worthwhile. You know, that's what God wants us to do. The Bible says God hates division. God wants us to learn unity.

He wants us to become united. He wants us to work together and to serve Him, to keep His commandments, to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. So let me ask you, are you a good Samaritan?

You know the parable of the good Samaritan. The question is asked, who is your neighbor? Okay, the good Samaritan realized who his neighbor was. His neighbor was the man in need, even though he may have been Jewish and not necessarily well-loved by the Samaritans. And they didn't love the Samaritans either. But he was willing to pitch in and help out. He was willing to bear that man's burdens for the sake of Christ. Christ tells us that parable because He wants us to become good Samaritans. So are you a good Samaritan? Who is your neighbor?

Again, anyone who is in need is your neighbor. So won't you be my neighbor?

That's point number six. Some jobs can't be done alone. Humble yourself, accept the help when offered. Number seven. When you have done all you can do, trust God to do the rest. Focus on God's love, His mercy, and His blessings. Some things are outside of our control. Some things we can't do much about. Now, we had little control over the road that we lived on. As I said, we were off of Route 66, but it was about a half a mile to seven-tenths of a mile on a gravel road. And this road was not a good road. It had potholes, it had rocks and gravel, and it just wasn't a very nice road. Now, we drove this road for 19 years, and our cars didn't wear out. I'm in awe, really. God blessed us so much. We own old cars. Yes, we have a Lexus and we have a Mercedes. That sounds pretty impressive, right? But the Lexus is old and the Mercedes is old, and we bought both of them for little money. You know, we haven't had a new car since I was first hired. You know, we had a, I think it was a Lumina. We had it for one year. It isn't about the material things that we have. Now, God's blessed us, and we've had good cars, and most of my cars end up with 220 or 30 or 40 or 50 or even 300,000 miles before we would get rid of them. You know, I've had several cars with well over, at least five or six cars with well over 250,000 miles on. So I know God will bless us if we strive to put Him first in our lives, because I've seen God do it many times.

So we need to trust God for what He can do. We didn't have any control over our road. We knew that some people wouldn't want to buy our house just because of the road, and that was true. Some people didn't buy our house because they loved the house. They loved the 10 acres on top of the hill, but they didn't want to drive that road every day. But we knew we only needed one buyer, and God sent us that buyer within a month. So there were things that were happening, I believe, that certainly God was blessing us with. Some things we can't...

we have no control, so we have to just have faith and trust God.

Now, we're going to be renting here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the time being, and we have faith that God will supply our needs and even some of our desires, because God really does want to bless us. He really does. So we're looking forward to seeing what kind of blessings God pours out upon us. He will make sure we have what we need to serve Him and to serve all of you. So, you know, we're just going to wait it out for a while and see what transpires. So we do appreciate your prayers, that things will work out and that we'll make a sound, wise decision, and then whatever that decision is, God will bless.

So the seventh lesson is some things you just have to put in God's hand and trust that they're going to work out. We pray for guidance, we pray for wisdom, and we pray that God will open doors for us and God surely will. So that's lesson number seven from moving. And remember Proverbs chapter three verses five and six, it says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him. You know, God will surely bless us if we acknowledge Him in all our ways and if we trust in Him with all of our heart. So that's lesson number seven. Lesson number eight is learn to really appreciate the blessings that God has given you. Now, I know my wife and I really came to appreciate our home even more than we had for the past 19 years. Now, we certainly felt blessed to have our home all these years, but it meant more to us the last few months because, you know, we realized we were moving, that we were leaving, and thankfully I can look back and just be grateful. Now, we had a good run in Tulsa and in Oklahoma. We had a good run. We loved the people there. We hated to leave them, and I know that you wouldn't want us if we didn't hate to leave the ones we just left.

But we knew that one day we would know, no, we probably would have to leave, although we were beginning to think maybe not after 19 years. You know, there's a song that popped into my head not too long ago, and I'm sure you've probably heard it, at least you older folks.

Maybe you younger ones have never heard this song. It goes like, you don't know what you've got till it's gone. They paved paradise and they put up a parking lot.

You know, it's not that our home was paradise and it's not that Dallas is a parking lot.

That's not the point. Parts of Dallas, yes. But certainly this area is beautiful in many ways.

But you know, you really come to appreciate things oftentimes when you know you're not going to have them any longer. So the lesson to learn is to appreciate those blessings right now. So you should ask yourself, what blessings do you have? Are you grateful for those blessings? Are you thankful for them? You know, we had a real haven up there on that hill for 19 years. It was a dead-end street. The road was bad, but it was a dead-end road and it was so quiet and peaceful up there. It was a real haven for us and we were able to serve four churches and we were centrally located for all the churches. We might ask ourselves, why would God give you more if you don't appreciate what you have? Why would God give you more if you don't appreciate what He's already given you? I don't know if we're going to get more. That's not what it's about physically.

I know God will supply our needs and I'm not worried about that.

So the point, again, is to appreciate what you have. Appreciate it because God will bless you. And frankly, if you're not happy where you are, move! Go somewhere else. I mean, if you're not happy where you're at right now, then why not find somewhere where you'll be happy or learn to be happy where you're at? Now, it is possible to be happy wherever you are. Paul said he became content no matter what was going on. You know, he got to the point where his priorities were correct.

He had the right priorities, and so he became content no matter what was happening, even when he was shipwrecked. So learn to really appreciate the blessings God has given you. That's lesson number eight. And then lesson number nine, his home is where God and His people are. Now, that's really where home is. Home is where God and His people are. Our real home is the church, and it has been for over 40 years in my case, and my wife started coming to church when she was even younger. Our real home is the church. Our real living room is wherever we're meeting with God's people. Now, in the past, that's been buildings all over Grand Rapids, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Northwestern Arkansas, all over the state of Oklahoma. It was in California for a short time. We miss all those real homes and living rooms. Not so much the physical homes, but God has been gracious. You know, we really enjoyed the people, all of God's people that we got to know over the years. We have friends in every one of those cities. Pittsburgh, Grand Rapids, out in LA, Pasadena, all around the world, and certainly in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Well, God has been very gracious. He's blessed us in many, many physical ways, but more importantly, He's blessed us in spiritual ways. And no matter where we live in Texas, we are excited about our new spiritual home. We will miss our church family of the last 19 years, though we're already developing strong bonds to this area and to all of you. We're very excited about the years ahead of us with all of you. We're looking forward to that. We're looking forward to getting to know each of each of you quite well. Certainly, we are moving on. Barbara and I hope to keep in mind the lessons that we've learned from moving. I wanted to share these lessons with you because there's so many wonderful spiritual lessons that we can learn as we go through life. So to summarize, number one, simplify and declutter your life and stay focused on doing everything decently and in order. Number two, don't neglect maintenance. Stay focused on maintaining your spiritual lives. Number three, things aren't as clean as we think they are.

Stay focused on cleansing your lives spiritually. Remember that gossip does hurt. It can hurt everyone. So stay focused on using your tongue profitably. Number five, when the pressure is on, don't pressure each other. Stay focused on your conversion. And if you're not yet converted, remember that you can tap into God's Spirit and you can produce the fruit of God's Spirit now.

So when the pressure is on, don't pressure each other. Be kind-hearted. Be tender-hearted to each other. Number six, some jobs can't be done alone. So humble yourself and accept help when offered.

Be humble. Number seven, when you've done all you can do, when you've done what you can do, then trust God to do the rest. Focus on God's love. Focus on His mercy. Number eight, learn to really appreciate the blessings that God has given you right now. Appreciate those blessings. Be grateful for whatever it is that God's given you. And number nine, remember that home is where God and His people are. And brethren, we are now home.