Spiritual Lessons from Moving

Well, Brother Barber and I have lived in our current home now for 19 years. Still our current home for a few more days. Less than one week now. We were beginning to think that we would perhaps live the rest of our lives on that hilltop 10 acres near Kellyville, Oklahoma. We have a master bedroom on the bottom floor, so we figured we were good to go for the rest of our lives. Even as we grew old, we could just forget going up the steps, just stay downstairs, and we could live there a long time. Now, we might have decided to downsize the bed had we stayed here in the Tulsa area, but we were in any big hurry to do that. But then I received a call from Mr. Victor Kubik, and of course the rest is history. Things began to change. When Mr. Kubik called, it wasn't a done deal by any means. He asked me if I would consider going. He was contemplating the idea of us going to the Dallas area. So it was just something under consideration, but Barbara and I got scared, and we started cleaning up our house.

So after 19 years of living in the same house, we realized that even if we didn't move, we really need to clean our house. And by the way, I would like to welcome some guests I hadn't even noticed before. In fact, we have quite a few faces in here I haven't really seen very often. Some that have returned from places up north, I haven't seen them in quite a while. So anyway, we're glad to have you with us today. It's good that you can be here.

So we kind of panicked a little bit. We didn't know for sure. We thought, well, maybe it won't happen. You know, it's just something they're thinking about. But we started right away to start going through our attics. Now we have big attics, and that can actually be a problem. Now, what spiritual lessons might a person learn from having to move to another part of the country? Texas is another part of the country. 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. And certainly this was one for us. Moving after 19 years in one home and in one area is a monumental task. And many spiritual lessons may be learned and also re-emphasized through the course of pulling up stakes and moving on in life. So I'd like to actually share nine lessons, all in one hour. So I'll have to move along. And the first one is learn to simplify and declutter your life. Learn to simplify and declutter your life and stay focused on doing everything decently and in order. Now that's a huge point. One, I'm sure that all of us could probably do better at. Some certainly do better than others. Some of us seem to have a weakness in this area. Not always doing things decently and in order. We're not very well organized. You know, it's a challenge. But it is important to learn to simplify and to declutter your life. Now again, there was a daunting task put before us. Not only 19 years in one house, but actually 35 years of accumulation. It seemed like we always had to move very quickly in our other moves within a few months. I think six weeks. We typically had to leave and that wasn't a problem in most cases because we were renting. And so it's a lot easier to go when you're renting. You don't have to sell a house. You don't have to get a house ready to sell. The only other case was a house we only had for 10 months. And it was already in pretty good shape. We didn't have to really do much to it. So that was simpler. So we really, again, we accumulated things for many years. We moved to bigger homes, so we were able to just box things up and move them along, put them in the attic.

So now we knew that going to Dallas, we would likely have to get a bit smaller home. You know, we have a big house out there in Kellyville. We thought we'd probably have to get a bit smaller home. It would be important for us to downsize. So we started with the attics and started pulling stuff out of the attics and going through boxes and throwing things away. I think the junk man was probably thinking about dropping us after the first couple of weeks, because every time you'd drive nearby, he'd see this massive amount of bags of trash and stuff that we were getting rid of. Thankfully, he did not drop us, and he continued to take away all the stuff that we were getting rid of. Now, a lot of that stuff was hidden stuff. You wouldn't see it if you came to our home. Barb's a good housekeeper, and we keep a decent house except my garage. Now, my garage is a different matter, but basically everywhere else, when I knew company was coming, I could clean up my office pretty well. So for the most part, it looked good when people would come, but there were things hidden away, hidden junk, that no one would see. But it was there, and we knew it, and it was kind of nagging at us all these years, because we knew one day we might have to actually haul that stuff out of that attic that gets to be about 150 degrees in the summertime. So it nagged at us a bit all these years. We were able to push it to the back of our minds and forget about it.

So the question I have for you from a spiritual standpoint is, how much spiritual junk is cluttering up your hearts and minds? That attic that we have in our minds, how much spiritual junk is in there? It's competing for space. It's nagging at us. Maybe it's something that we know we should stop doing, something we've been doing that we really know we ought not do, or something that we're not doing, that we know we should be doing, and it's kind of nagging at us.

Sometimes we pretend that things aren't there. And we kind of did that with our attic. We just pretended it wasn't in there. No one sees it. We don't have to think about it much. What little sins are you ignoring and storing away that need to be trashed now for a freer and a more liberating life? Again, what is it that you may be doing that you can stop doing, or what is it that you ought to do that you just haven't done? We call those sins of omission. Maybe we're not really serving like we could. Maybe we're not reaching out to people like we ought to. Maybe we're a bit more selfishly motivated, and not so much looking out for the other person.

So again, how much spiritual junk is cluttering up our minds and hearts?

In 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40, there's a principle given. Basically, it says, let everything be done decently and in order. Now, in context, it has a lot to do with an actual church service and how we do our services. I'm not going to focus on that particular chapter in the context of it, but the principle I want to talk about a bit, that everything be done decently and in order. That really is a spiritual concept that we should consider, and we should strive to be faithful to that principle. Let everything be done decently and in order. Now, Barb and I had a feeling of a great weight lifted off of us when we got the attic cleaned out, even though we had to put more stuff back in the attic once we threw away a bunch of stuff. There was still stuff we needed to hang on to, and we needed to get it out of the way because we had to stage our home. You can't have boxes sitting around when you're staging your home. People in real estate really know that. I didn't realize it so much because I hadn't really sold that many homes. There's a lot of stuff in our homes. For example, they tell you to get rid of two-thirds of the stuff in your closets. You shouldn't have all that stuff crammed in your closet. When people come in, they want to see how big the closet is. You want to give an impression of huge closets, so you've got to get rid of two-thirds of your stuff. 90% of your shoes, they have to go. I'm talking to you ladies out there. Now, some of you men probably have a lot of shoes. I have more than I need. I had to throw out some shoes, and I still have shoes I really need to throw out.

So that's what you need to do when you stage a home. You have to make it look really great, and clean it up really nicely, and make it look really decent and in order. We should think of our spiritual house in the same way. Is your spiritual house decent? Is it clean? Is it orderly? Or do you have some clutter there that you really need to focus on? Don't wait until you panic.

Like we did. We kind of panicked. It's worked out well, and God's blessed us, and things have gone well. But don't wait until the Great Tribulation comes upon you before you realize that you should be doing something in your life now to bring it into decency and in order.

How well do you prioritize spiritually? Are you really seeking first God's kingdom? And are you really seeking first His righteousness? We talked a lot about that in the series on the Biggest Loser, where we talked about losing that sinful weight, the sin that weighs us down, putting sin out of our life as we prepared for Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Now, in Matthew 13, verse 22, it does speak about the parable of the sower. Matthew 13 is a parable chapter, basically. It has many parables in it, and this is the parable of the sower, and it's near the end here in verse 22. 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. So there are many cares of this world that will get in our way spiritually, and if we allow that to happen, it will choke us spiritually. So we really do need to prioritize our lives. We need to bring things into decency and in order. We all know that we should have a time to pray and read and study our Bibles every day, but how well do we do that? How regimented are you when it comes to your prayer and your Bible study? How about fasting on a regular basis? Is that something that you do as a part of your Christian life? Is that what you do to clean your spiritual house, to keep yourself maintained and in order? So have you ordered your prayer life? Have you faithfully set aside that Bible study time so that it is second nature and so that nothing crowds it out? Nothing gets in the way?

Does it happen like clockwork? Now this is only one point, obviously, but it is an important one. Those who neglect their Bible study and their prayer and don't fast, they will suffer spiritually.

Now I really came to appreciate the more streamlined approach. Once we got things staged and things looking good around the house, my office was cleaner, less stuff. I really appreciated that and I plan to take that streamlined approach with me to Dallas. That's my goal. No more clutter, no more stuff. So simplify and declutter your life. Stay focused spiritually. Do everything decently and in order. That's the first lesson. Secondly, and it goes right along with the first point, is don't neglect your spiritual maintenance. Stay focused on maintaining your spiritual lives.

It goes right along with what we've just talked about. Don't neglect the maintenance, the things that need to be happening each and every day of your lives. Now we talked about that a little bit, but there's more to be said. Now we decided to buy in Kellyville because we could get 10 acres out there. It was something we could afford. We certainly could not have afforded that closer to Tulsa, but it was something we could afford. I grew up on a farm. My wife grew up on the edge of town, and her dad milked cows every day for a while.

So we both had a country background. We wanted our children to have that background as well. But along with that came a huge yard demo, a big yard, and a big house to keep maintained. And due to little money and little time, many things were not maintained in a timely manner. It was just too much. We really couldn't do it, all of it. I could have had that place looking like a park if I would have had the time. Because we had trees, we had nice property, that we really could have had looking certainly a lot better. But you make choices, you make priorities, and some things are more important than other things.

Perhaps we should have gone with a smaller place with less acreage, less things to take care of. But we also wanted to do it for our family, and wanted to do it for our peace of mind. And it is on the way to Oklahoma City. It really did serve us well in being able to serve three congregations and then four congregations. So we feel very blessed to have been out there for the last 19 years.

But you know, you get used to things when you're there for a while. We got used to doors that stick, doors that don't lock very easily. I mean, you know the trick. You can do it. You can lock it. But others come along, and they have a hard time. We tend to notice things when we go to someone else's house.

But we don't notice our own house. We don't notice the things that we're neglecting in our own home. Now, we had to do a crash course in getting our house ready for sale. We had to paint that thing inside and out, because there were some cracks developing. And we have what they call a great room, which is way up high. It's not something that you can fix easily. You've got to get someone that knows what he's doing, that can get up on a ladder and not kill himself, and fix it and make it look good.

And I'm not the best handyman in the world. I'll admit to that. So some of those things got neglected, but we realized that if we're going to sell this house and get a good price, we have to do these things. So we had to have a painter come in and paint all the inside of the house. He was supposed to paint the outside of the house, but he actually got scared and walked off the job the very first day. He got up on a big ladder, and it was a windy day, and he visualized himself coming down off that ladder and basically busting himself up.

So he walked off the job. So I ended up on the paint crew, and we ended up getting scaffolding. We had a crew of four guys, basically, that painted the entire outside of the house, and it was a big task. And with God's help, we got it done and actually looked pretty good when we were finished. And we were happy with the results. But had I maintained it and painted it a few years ago, then I wouldn't have had to cram it all in together so quickly.

Had we maintained it better, but again, if you don't have the money and you don't have the time, you tend to neglect those things.

But, you know, more importantly, how about spiritually? Are we not maintaining ourselves spiritually? Have we become deadened to our own sins of neglect? Have we been neglecting things in our lives spiritually? Has it become a part of our lives that we really don't notice? Perhaps we haven't fasted for months, maybe not since the Day of Atonement. Spiritual habits, again, need to be established in our lives. They say it takes 21 days to establish a habit. Now, I think there is some truth to that. However, I think I've done some things for 21 days and then stopped on the 22nd day. So, I don't know just how hard and fast that rule is. But it is good to at least try to establish these kinds of habits, spiritual habits. Again, life gets very hectic. So, has spiritual neglect become a part of your life that you don't even notice? Maybe you need to search deep within yourself and be honest with yourself and ask, are there some cracks in your spiritual house? Are there some cracks on the walls? Are there some doors that stick? Can you get oiled up better? The Holy Spirit is symbolic of oil. Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. So, maybe you need to get oiled up a little bit, greased up a little bit.

In Ephesians chapter 5, let's go over there, it talks about the importance of redeeming the time. To redeem our time, in other words, to use our time effectively, wisely, in a spiritual way is very, very important. God puts a lot of emphasis on redeeming the time. Notice what Paul says, inspired by God. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14, Therefore, he says, Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. So, he's saying that some of us are spiritually sleeping, like those virgins. You know, five of them were asleep. They were still a part of God's church, but they were sleeping. So, he says, Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. Awake you who sleep. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. You better believe the days are evil, and if you don't see that, then you're certainly blinded by the God of this world. The Bible says that Satan has deceived the whole world, that he's blinded the whole world. And if you don't see that we're getting worse and worse in so many ways spiritually in this country, things are becoming more acceptable. That once would never have been accepted, but now they're becoming accepted by more and more people, and we're going to see a lot more of that in the days ahead. So, it is important to wake up and to redeem the time. The days are evil, 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, and don't allow anything to get in the way of your spiritual growth. God says, to he who overcomes will I grant to sit with me. So we need to be overcomers, putting sin out of our lives on a regular basis. So little things make a big difference when it comes to maintenance. For example, in our home, Barbara and I put up with woodwork that really was substandard for years. Now, we lived in that house for 19 years, and all we had to do was go find the right stain. We were able to make that house shine and look really wonderful and beautiful, and some of you helped out with that as well, and we'll talk more about that in another point. But we stained just about every piece of woodwork in that house, and it looked so much better. I'd gone up those steps hundreds and hundreds of times, and there were places that didn't look very good. Had I realized that that's all it would have taken, I would have gone and done that years ago. But, you know, you get busy with life and you don't take care of things. You don't maintain things. But, man, I wish I'd have done that years earlier. What about spiritually? Are there certain things that we're neglecting? That we just need to get on our knees and pray more fervently and fast more faithfully, and God will begin to work in our lives in greater ways? We should ask ourselves that. You know, one thing I've realized is I'm pretty good at getting by. I'm good at getting by. But I've had asked myself, how good am I at excelling? You know, I'm good at getting by. How good are you? Are you good at getting by? Is that all you're doing? Is getting by? Or are you excelling in your life? How often do we just get by? You know, we settle for less. We don't put a prod on ourselves. We don't expect more. And so we settle for less. So again, there's a balance, and we have to have a godly balance in all this. For me, I'll speak for myself personally. You know, I have been one who's tended to neglect things. And I personally could do better. Instead of just getting by, I'm sure I could excel in some areas where I'm simply not.

So, this second point is, don't neglect maintenance. We were forced to paint every bit of our house inside and out, basically. You know, and have to do it under the gun, because we hadn't stayed up with it.

Let's go on to a third lesson. The second lesson again was, don't neglect the maintenance. Take care of yourself. Maintain your spiritual lives. Focus spiritually. Number three, realize that things aren't as clean as we think they are. Things aren't as clean as you think they are. They may look clean, but they're not nearly as clean. So, the point is to stay focused on cleansing your lives. And again, I know these points, they go hand in hand. They go together. Stay focused on cleansing your lives spiritually. Again, you have a spiritual house. Are you keeping that house clean? I've mentioned that Barb is a good housekeeper, and she certainly is. Well, when we moved to the house 19 years ago, frankly, it was a filthy house. It wasn't clean. Even, I mean, whoever told them to stage that house, they really didn't do a very good job. I mean, they had carpet in the kitchen that had been there for years, and it really wasn't clean. You know, we got rid of it immediately. It didn't look good, and that's one reason why we were able to buy that house for the price that we got it for. It was a good deal, but it was, you know, you get what you pay for to some degree. It needed a lot of work. So, it was filthy. The great room where the big carpet is filled with ticks. They had a dog that went in and out of the house, and it would bring ticks in and bring ticks out and have babies. And there were ticks crawling on us from the house. I couldn't believe it. You know, I'd never experienced anything quite like that before. So, we gutted the house. We got rid of the carpet. The downstairs, upstairs, the dog must not have been upstairs much. They must have kept him downstairs. So, anyway, we got rid of that carpet. We cleaned it. It was a filthy house. It wasn't that hard to see that it was. It needed a lot of work. Now, Barb has kept the house neat and clean for 19 years, but you never realize all the places where dirt accumulates and where you need to clean it until you put your house on the market. Okay, then you realize there's a different standard when you put it on the market. Once again, it reminds us how much work it is not only to get our spiritual house immaculate. That takes a lot of work. To have an immaculate spiritual house, to truly be clean and pure, takes a lot of work. It says we're to work out our salvation with fear and with trembling. That's part of what it's talking about. You know, God wants us to have an immaculate, pure spiritual house. I mean, that's what He wants. He knows He's not going to get it because He knows we're weak, we're frail. We will let down, but that doesn't give us an excuse. We should strive for perfection. That's what the Bible tells us in Matthew 5.48. Become you therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Be holy, even as I am holy, is what God says. So that is something that we are to strive for, to have an immaculate spiritual house.

Barb jokingly said that she would never again buy a house from someone who did not keep the days of unleavened bread, because at least they had to clean the house once a year.

So it was really, I mean, that was a difficult house when we first got in there. It was hard. I remember trapping 200 mice. Like the first winter. Every night I set traps. I got so sick of setting traps and catching mice. It was mice infested. So every night I would catch all the... the next morning I had seven or eight mice, and the cats went crazy. Then we built up some cat, a cat army, and we don't have problems with mice any longer, because I had to trap a lot of them, and I had to get control of it. You know, I had to do something. If I hadn't done anything, we'd still have a mice infested house. So you have to do something in your spiritual life if you're going to be clean. Now you can't set it... you know, you can't sit around doing nothing, thinking that you're okay. You're just getting by, and you're just barely getting by. You know, God doesn't want that. He wants us to learn to excel and to strive for perfection. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, it speaks of a spiritual temple. It speaks of your spiritual temple. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God? Now he's talking to the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth had a lot of issues. They had a lot of problems. They had people that really were not cleansed spiritually. They had a ways to go. God was working with them, though, and God was... we're all imperfect, and God takes us, but they were supposed to change, aren't we? We're not supposed to stay the same. So he said, 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. If you defile it, if you dirty it up, if it becomes filthy, then God will destroy you. That's what he says. We have to have repentant hearts. Now that's the main thing. God looks at your heart. No, it's not a bunch of do's and don'ts. You know, this sermon is not about a bunch of do's and don'ts. God looks at your heart. I hope I've gotten that through in the 19 years I've been here, is that God looks at our hearts. You know, God wants to see your heart. So we need to strive to put the sin out of our hearts and minds. If we become defiled, God will destroy us. For the temple of God is holy. Which temple you are. You are the temple of God.

And then in chapter 6, let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. And Paul continues this theme here in verse 15. He says, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? If you call yourself Christians, then you are a part of the body of Jesus Christ. You are part of His church. Christ is the head of His church. 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. Now you can't serve God and Mammon. You've got to just serve God. You've got to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. You have to make a choice. You can't be double-minded and please God. Verse 17, but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. He says, Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

It's very important to be clean sexually.

You know, that's not an easy thing for human beings, because human beings oftentimes have strong sex drives.

You know, it's not easy to be pure. And this world doesn't teach purity when it comes to sexual relations, do they? You know, what's the norm on TV these days?

It's not virgins until marriage, is it?

Now, is that what we see portrayed in all the sitcoms and other things on the TV?

Of course not. You know, it's normal to have sex before you're married. But that's not normal from the Bible. That's not what the standard is. That's not God's standard. That's sinful man's standard.

So what is your standard? Ask yourself, what is your standard? What about your sexual life? How are you doing? Are you clean? Are you pure?

God wants us to take these things seriously.

Again, do you not know, verse 19, 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, for you have been bought with a price.

You call yourself a Christian because supposedly you believe that Christ died for you, that he paid the penalty for your sins, and now you're going to live for him.

Now that's the contract that you're supposed to make with Christ, is that I accept you, Christ, as my Savior. I accept the fact that you were pure.

You never sinned. You were pure, and you laid your life down for me.

So my sins could be forgiven. But I'm supposed to walk in newness of life.

I'm supposed to put the sin out and keep it out.

Okay, that's the bargain that we make when we call ourselves Christian.

So, brethren, it is important that we consider that we are the temple, the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God dwells in us. Now, I'm very, very grateful that God is merciful, because I fall short. How about you? Do you fall short? I would guess that you do. In fact, I'm sure that you fall short.

But I have confidence and faith in Christ who died for me, who paid the penalty for me.

And I'm far from perfect after 40 years in the Church. You know, I'm far from perfect.

I'm a sinner. I have to ask for forgiveness and repentance constantly.

My mind is not pure. I wish it were. It isn't. But I know that Christ has forgiven me.

And I walk in confidence knowing that. And I walk in faith knowing that. And I walk in strength knowing that. And I don't want Satan to ever pull me down and make me think otherwise. And I don't want Satan to pull you down and make you think otherwise.

In John 2 and in Matthew 21, and we're not going to go there. We don't have time to go there. But this shows where Christ cleansed the physical temple twice. According to the Scriptures, He cleansed the physical temple twice. He did it at the very beginning of His ministry around Passover.

And He did it again at the end of His ministry at Passover time.

Now, every year we get cleansed, don't we, around Passover? Now, we think more seriously about our lives and that we are sinners and that we do need to repent. And we come to Passover and we accept the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we are cleansed. Of course, we can be cleansed daily if we walk in the Spirit. And God gives us a repentant heart and mind. We don't have to wait until Passover. It's symbolic. It's something that we need to be doing continually on a daily basis, not on a yearly basis, on a daily basis. But the Passover keeps us ever mindful.

These Holy Days keep us ever, ever mindful of our calling and what we are to be doing in our lives.

Christ cleansed that temple and He is cleansing you. But of course, you have to yield to Him. That's all that you have to do is yield. Humbly submit and yield. You're not going to be perfect in this life, but you should strive for perfection. In Jeremiah 17, I do want to go there.

It talks about the heart and how it is deceitful above all things and that it is indeed desperately wicked.

Jeremiah 17. Now, if we don't understand this yet, we need to understand it.

Jeremiah 17. The Old Testament is very much alive these days. We should read it. We should consider it. And we should understand it. Jeremiah 17 verse 5. Thus says the Lord, "...cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength." People who follow other people in God's church make big, huge mistakes. We're not to follow other people only as they follow Christ. When they're not following Christ, we ought not follow them. And sometimes it's pretty clear that they really aren't following Christ, but we follow them anyway.

He says, "...cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For 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, on the other hand, who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when he comes, but his leaf will be green, and he will not be anxious in the years of drought." Okay, we've had some drought here lately, and some things have died. I had a pecan tree die.

It just died this spring, and it just could not withstand the drought.

Now, other of my trees survived. They did find most of my stuff has survived, and I'm not one who waters much either. If it doesn't survive on its own, or without God's help. Now, some flowers I do water some flowers, but the bushes, the crepe myrtles, they're on their own.

I don't have time. I used to do that. I quit doing that. I don't have time for that.

He says in verse 9, The heart is deceitful above all things, it's desperately wicked. Who can know it?

I, 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. God is a God of justice. He's a God of equity. You can count on God. You can trust in Him. But realize the heart is deceitful above all things. Take heed lest you fall. He who thinks he stands, take heed lest you fall. That is a warning.

We should take it very seriously because the heart is deceitful above all things.

Now, we don't need to go to Matthew 5.8, but you can write it in your notes. It says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Again, God looks at the heart, and blessed are those who are pure in heart. You will see God. So it's an interesting thing. We have a deceitful heart, and yet blessed are those who are pure in heart. You know, Paul talked about this in Romans 6, 7, and 8. He said, O wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me from this body of death. You know, because Paul could see that, his heart was pure. That's what made his heart pure, is that he could see it and admit it. You know, that's what made him pure. Do you admit your sins?

Have you fully repented of your sins? If you haven't, then you're carrying a burden that you don't need to carry. Repent of your sins fully. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now, of course we can cleanse our hearts, and the Bible tells us that we need to cleanse our hearts. You know, Paul certainly wasn't a perfect man, but neither was he some decadent person either. I mean, you know, he just realized that compared to God, he fell far short. Compared to God, we all fall far short. We're certainly less than perfect. We're less than God.

So that's principle number three, is how clean are you spiritually? How clean is your spiritual house? Number four. Now, this may seem a little out of place, but it has to do with gossip. You know, gossip really does hurt. So we need to stay focused on using our tongue profitably. Now, again, this may seem out of place, but actually it really has a point here, because gossip had came into play in the sale of our home.

Now, we had someone that came back for a second look at our home. They were very interested in buying the house, but they talked to our neighbor. And the neighbor knew that, for one thing, this guy had lots of dogs. I think he had seven dogs, and he wanted to buy our house, you know, live up there with all of his dogs. He had a wife, and I don't know if he was...

I heard they were rescue dogs or something. I don't know if they were St. Bernard's or exactly what... I think they were big dogs. Anyway, he talked to the neighbor, and the neighbor commenced to tell him about one of the neighbors who supposedly poisoned a dog. Now, I don't know that there was any proof that a neighbor ever poisoned a dog. I had heard that rumor myself from this neighbor, but, you know, this is a neighbor, by the way, that we're close. You know, they cried when they heard we were moving.

You know, that's how close we were. You know, they didn't want to see us go. We were good neighbors. We got along well. I, you know, just about every week, at one time or another, I'd talk to the man of the house, and he was an older man, and we got along very well. We respected each other quite well and got along fine. But the real estate agent told me that they were planning on putting an offer on the house, and this was after three weeks, and nothing solid at all, no real bites, nothing, you know, good in terms of someone actually buying the house.

So that was pretty disappointing to find out that the one person that was really ready to buy the house was going to back out now because of a story, a tale, that he was told by a neighbor. Now, again, the story I heard was that the neighbor was trying to kill some coyotes, and one of the dogs got into it.

And then there was another story where he actually did try to poison the dog, so I really don't know the truth of any of that. But really, not the kind of story you want to tell when you love a neighbor. Now, when you love a neighbor, and you know that they're trying to sell, they've got to sell, they've got to move, so I had some words with my neighbor afterwards.

And, you know, because I wasn't real happy about it, so I just didn't want this happening again. I didn't want every neighbor up there. You know, I wanted to, you know, I said, you don't have to tell them everything. You know, there are certain things, especially when some of it's questionable, whether it's really true or not. Well, we did patch things up, and certainly it helped when two days later we had two offers on the house. So that helped a lot. It made it a lot easier from my perspective, for sure.

And maybe he's got a better neighbor that'll be better for him now. Everything works together for good, I guess, so I'm just going to... for those who love God anyway and are called according to his purpose. So, regardless, it worked out fine. But the point I'm making is, the story pretty much nicks the cell of the house initially, and a tell-bearer can really cause problems.

Let's go to Proverbs 18. Again, this is a part of being pure. If you're pure, you're not going to be a gossip. You're not going to go around telling tales that cause strife and grief.

Proverbs 18 verse 8, the words of a tell-bearer are like tasty trifles. People like to hear those tastes. They like to taste it or hear it, and they go down into the inmost parts of the body.

Now, this is actually also in chapter 26 verse 22, basically word for word, double emphasis here.

In other words, the tells of a tell-bearer make a huge impact. They can make a huge impact, so much so that a person could decide not to buy a house or to buy a house. In James chapter 3 verse 5 through 9, it talks about how the tongue is a fire.

Let's go over to James chapter 3.

James chapter 3 verse 5, "...even so the tongue is a little member that boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. And it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil. It is full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth, proceeds blessings and cursings, my brethren, these things ought not be so." God's saying we should not use our mouths, our words in that way. We should speak profitable things, uplifting things, not gossiping and not hurting one another through the tales that we tell. So the neighbor not only heard us, and someone who maybe would have been very happy in our home, and maybe would have been a great neighbor. We don't really know how that would have turned out. And again, I'm grateful that we were able to pass things up, and we're getting along fine. Again, it just shows the importance, though, of being careful what you say and how you say it, and consider how it might impact somebody.

Okay, let's go on to a fifth lesson. Fifth lesson is, when the pressure is on, don't pressure each other. When the pressure is on, don't pressure each other. Stay focused on your conversion. Stay focused on your conversion when you're being stressed. Now, moving is a time of great stress. I think anyone who's moved would probably admit to that. It's way up there on the stress list moving. You've seen these lists that, you know, stressful things, moving is near the top.

The to-do list gets even longer, and time pressure mounts when you're moving.

Money seems like it's flying out the window. No, it doesn't seem like it is. It truly is flying out. When you're having to spend money on the inside of the house, the outside of the house, you know, painting inside and out and doing everything that needs to be done, it takes a lot of money. It takes resources. Thankfully, we had some money saved up, and we were able to make these improvements that needed to be made. Basically, it was just maintenance, though. We didn't know if we would really get the money out of it, but we knew that we'd have a hard time selling it. If we didn't spend the money, you know, we had to spend money to make money. You've heard that before. Well, it turned out well for us, but it is a difficult time. It's a stressful time. There are so many unknowns. Now, how long is it going to take to sell this house? You know, am I going to have to be commuting between Dallas and Oklahoma for months and months? Are we going to get enough money to buy a decent house there? You know, there are many, many unknowns, and so it's easy to get a bit stressed out over all that. So the tendency is to snap. You know, you snap under pressure.

Sometimes you take it out on those who you should be supporting. So Barbara and I basically made a pact when we realized we were being moved. When we heard we were moving, we immediately saw the potential to not be so nice to each other. So we discussed it in advance, and we realized that we needed to be aware that although we needed to do our best to be kind to each other, that we most likely would snap a time or two. In other words, we would say something that we really wished we hadn't said, something that was hurtful. So we realized that we needed to be patient with each other, and we also needed to forgive one another if we did snap a little bit.

And thankfully, that's worked out. We're still getting along well. She's still riding with me to church. We still love each other. Now, it's also important to have a sense of humor in order to do all this. Again, don't sweat all the small things in life. Be able to laugh at the situation that comes around. For example, I'm going to tell you another story about moving. Now, this happened when we were first hired into the church. It was back in 1989, and we'd had a house for just 10 months. And they called me and asked me if I wanted to go full-time.

And so we thought about it for less than 24 hours, I guess, and we decided that we would.

And so we were going to have to move from Hudsonville, Michigan to Guesswhere, Tulsa, Oklahoma. That was the first time back in 1989. So I probably told this story to you about 19 years ago, but let's see how many of you remember it.

Okay, we're getting right down to the wire. I mean, it's loading up time. We had a car top carrier on top of our car. I loaded it with sleeping bags, with blankets, with a bunch of stuff.

And then I got busy messing with other things. And I remember I was, I think if I remember correctly, I was out in the driveway. I was putting stuff in the trash. And I think I stepped on a rake or something. It flew up and hit me in the face and knocked my glasses into the trash.

I was looking for my glasses. And then I looked down the road and Barbara is driving down the road with that car. And things begin to fly out of the car top. I hadn't clasped that thing yet. And she had taken off. And things were flying out left and right. And then some car zips by behind her. And the next thing I know, I hear a big whining from his car because he's got a blanket wrapped around his drive train. And I'm continuing to watch this develop and unfold. And things are continuing to fly out of the car. And I, so I, so I jump in the car and I decide I gotta go get her and let her know what's happening here. Because she's obvious, obviously oblivious to what's happening. She's not noticing what's going on. So I drove by the guy that was sitting along the road.

And he said, did you see a woman drive by here with stuff flying out of the car?

I said, yeah, that's my wife! I need to go catch her. So I went on past him. And I did catch her.

Not everything had flown out of the car top carrier. There was, there were still some things there. But you know, Barb could have blamed me for that. She could have blamed me for not clasping that thing down tightly. Of course, I could have blamed her for not paying more attention to what was happening. I don't think we blamed each other much. There could have been a tad bit of that. But you know, I don't think, I don't think there was much. We're still together after all these years. So, but it's a story that we now look back on and it's somewhat hilarious.

At the time, it was kind of stressful. You know, this guy has this thing wrapped around his car, and I'm thinking, oh, is he going to charge us for some kind of repair to his car? But you know, he was able to get it off, I guess, and I never heard from him again. So I guess he was okay with it. Anyway, we realize that there will be stressful times when it comes to moving.

And that's true in life, isn't it? Not just moving, but there's always stress of some kind that pops up from time to time. And we need to be careful that we don't lash out at each other during times of stress. And we also need to be patient when someone does lose it, that we forgive them, and that we go on and we patch things up.

Now, researchers from the University of Utah found that there's a price to pay when couples don't get along. There's a price to pay when couples don't get along.

Videotapes recorded 150 husbands and wives discussing sensitive issues, such as how money is managed or doing household chores, who does what and whatever, and they found the following.

Women who buried anger, rather than speaking out, were more likely to succumb to heart disease than wives who were vocal. Now, my wife is never going to have to worry about heart disease.

Because she's pretty vocal, and she lets me know what I need to know. And maybe some things I don't need to know. But she's pretty vocal. But it says that people who hold it all in, they will perhaps suffer heart problems. And when women become domineering, the study said, and when they become controlling, rather than seeking a consensus, damage is done to the husband's coronary health.

So it works both ways. Thankfully, my wife is not domineering. We get along well.

I don't let her push me around too much.

No researcher Timothy W. Smith understood that there will be disagreements in a marriage, but how you handle yourself in resolving disagreements is important.

Can you do it in a way that gets your concerns addressed, but without doing damage at the same time? That's not an easy mark to hit. So this is true not just in marriage, but it's true in any relationship. Any relationships that we have, we need to ask ourselves, how is what I'm about to say going to affect our relationship? Is it going to improve our relationship? Is it going to make it better? Or is it going to put some strife there that may not be easily overcome? Sometimes there's a time to wait, to be patient. You can't always lecture and get your point across if a person isn't quite ready to receive it. So sometimes it's better to bide your time and come back later on when you can make a difference and you can improve the relationship, rather than you don't always have to say everything you think you should say. There are times when you really shouldn't say some things. There are other times when you do need to speak out, but you need to wait carefully how you say it and the words that you use make sure they're profitable words. Pick your battles carefully in marriage and in relationships.

If it isn't going to help, again, hold your tongue. A British research project yielded remarkably similar results to the one that I just mentioned in Utah from the University of Utah. 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% more likely to experience chest pains, heart attacks, and other heart trouble. Even after typical contributing factors such as obesity, smoking, and drinking, when these things were eliminated from the equation, those in troubled relationships were still at 23% greater risk for a heart attack.

If you have good people around, it is good for your health, said lead researcher Roberto de Vogli.

If you have bad people around you, it is much worse for your health.

So the Bible does say that bad company corrupts good habits. Bad company does affect us. So be careful who you choose to marry, for sure. Be sure that they're going to be good for you, spiritually, that they're going to be good for you in the long run. Not just the short run, not just right now, but for the long haul. Are they going to be good for you over the long haul?

Excuse me. This came from Ted De Vilbus. These two studies that I mentioned came from Ted De Haas, who was the assistant editor of preachingtoday.com, from an article, The Fine Art of Marital Dispute. So this was back in 2007 when this was written.

So in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 31 and 32, it says, "...let all bitterness, wrath, anger, and clamor..." Clamor is loud quarreling. Have you ever quarreled loudly? Any of you guilty? You don't have to raise your hand. I'll raise my hand. I'm guilty. Loud quarreling. I've done that. "...let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, loud quarreling, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another. Tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." So, brethren, again, when the pressure is on, don't pressure each other.

Pull together as God's people, as husband and wife, and as people in a relationship. We're in a church together. Now, we need to work out our problems together, and splitting up, frankly, isn't the solution. We need to work on these things, and that's principle number five. Principle number six, some jobs can't be done alone. Some jobs can just... they can't be done alone, so it's important to humble yourself and accept help when you need it. If it's offered and you need it, be willing to accept it. Again, be humble enough to accept help. There is a certain synergy that can be accomplished. There's a synergy that... there's an energy that is stronger when people work together to accomplish something. We can do more as a group than we can as individuals.

Now, we had a monumental task ahead of us. We knew it. We understood it, and some of you understood it.

For sure, and some volunteered to have work parties. And many of you came over during the work parties. I know some of you couldn't because of health, because of other issues and reasons, jobs. Look, we don't... you know, we haven't thought two seconds about that. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who came and who didn't come. But I appreciated the help that we got. You know, some people were able to come. Some people were able to help us out. You know, we hadn't had a work party in 19 years at our house that I remember. But we sure had some during a whole month there, almost every Sunday. And we got a lot of work accomplished. And frankly, I don't know that our house would even be on the market today without the help. You know, maybe... maybe I could have gotten it together. I don't know. I would have probably had to spend more money, or it would have taken a lot longer. You know, but I know I really appreciate all the help that was offered, all the help that was given. We had a lot to do at the house. Those who were out there, you know, they... you understood that. And working together, we got it done. We can accomplish a whole lot more when we work together. Now, back in Michigan, I remember going to a number of work parties to cut wood. Now, I'm one who likes getting outside. You know, I... in fact, I look for an excuse to get outside and have a work party, because I enjoy that. I mean, I don't like being cooped up in my office at a computer. I would much rather get out and help somebody clean their house, you know, so you should have been calling me the last 19 years and letting me know, because I surely would have come to help.

But, you know, we really did need help, and you guys came to our rescue. And in Michigan, we would go out and cut wood. In one day, we cut enough wood to keep families going for the whole winter.

Now, we had elderly families that relied on wood to burn. It was cold up in Michigan. Every winter, they needed wood, and they needed it right there. And we would go out and cut it for them, and we'd stack it for them, and we would help them. And, you know, that's a good thing. So I would encourage more work parties in the future. No, they really are healthy. So if you see someone that needs help, then by all means volunteer and get involved. In Galatians 6, verse 2, it talks about burying one another's burdens.

Galatians 6, verse 2, it talks about burying one another's burdens. Let's just read part of it here briefly. Galatians 6. Let's read verse 1, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restores it to one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Okay, there are many burdens that we have. We have spiritual burdens. If someone is struggling, then try to be there for them. Try to encourage them and lift them up and be a friend to them and do what you can do. You know, that's what God would have you do. So look out for the needs of one another and bear one another's burdens and be willing to go out of your way and be willing to be a living sacrifice. I know some of you prayed certainly for us. Maybe all of you prayed for us during this time. I know some of you may not have been able to come out and work, but you prayed for us. And we appreciate those prayers every bit as much as we do the physical. In fact, in many ways more so, because God answered those prayers, and God heard your prayers for us, and we've been blessed.

In 1 Corinthians 12, and we won't take the time to go there, but it talks about a church working together, the body of Christ, every joint supplying what the whole body needs. We're all a part of this. We all should do our part in the body of Christ. We should edify one another, pull each other up, and help each other. Each part doing its share to accomplish something worthwhile.

Now ask yourself, are you a good Samaritan? Are you personally a good Samaritan? Who is your neighbor? That was the question. Who is your neighbor? Well, the good Samaritan realized that anyone who was in need was his neighbor, whether they were Jewish or not. You know, the Samaritans and Jews didn't get along all that well. But this Samaritan came to the aid of his neighbor, a neighbor who was in need. Anyone who is in need is your neighbor, whether they're in God's church or not. And if you have the resources to help them, and they're genuine, and if some people have their hand out, and it's not genuine, you know, I don't recommend helping someone who is not willing to help themselves. Only help them in a way that will truly help them. So are you a good Samaritan? Are you willing to help out? Help your neighbor? Help them if you have the power to do it?

So I want to say a big thank you to all you servants here, and I'm counting everyone in this room because you all serve in different ways. And over 19 years, you've made my job much, much easier because you've all been faithful servants. Now, I have not had to worry about a lot of details when it comes to Sabbath morning. You know, when I come here, things are set up.

People do this. They do it behind the scenes. They serve selflessly week after week, Sabbath after Sabbath. They don't ask for any accolades. They don't ask for any gifts. They don't ask for these things. And I'm sure I haven't been as good at acknowledging these things as I could have been. But let me tell you, I have appreciated everything that you've done. Now, there is not a single Sabbath that I have not appreciated what is done behind the scenes. And as the pastor, I am grateful for that. I am truly thankful for that because you have been wonderful servants and I commend you. And I believe God commends you and keep up the good work. You know, continue to serve.

Continue to knock yourself out, you know, because that's a good thing, you know. So that's point number six. So again, thank you for all that you've done, the servants that you've been. Humble yourselves, get help when you need it. Let's pull together. Number seven, when you've done all you can do, trust God to do the rest. When you've done all that you can do, trust God to do the rest. Focus on His love and His mercy. Focus on His blessings. Some things are just out of our control. Same things we can't do a thing about. Now, if anyone's been out to our house, and I know many of you have been to our home, you've been up our road. And you know our road is not the finest road in Oklahoma by a long shot. It's not a very nice road. It's dirt, it's gravel, it's potholes, it's bumps. But you know, short of putting thousands of dollars into that road, that road wasn't going to get a whole lot better. And so we just had to pray that God would send someone up that hill that didn't mind the road so bad. And we got a buyer. You know, we only needed one, and we realized that. And you know, I'm sure a lot of people would have overlooked the road. I mean, the house is nice, 10 acres, 25 minutes from downtown Tulsa. There was a lot going for us. But we knew there wasn't anything we could do about that road, and some people would decide not to buy the house because of the road. Some people might love the house, they might love the acreage, but they didn't want to drive up that road for the next 19 years or however long they lived there. But we realized that. We put it in God's hands and you know, it sold within a month.

So that was a real blessing for us, and we're grateful for that.

Now, as I said, we're going to be renting in Dallas-Fort Worth for the time being.

We do know that God will supply our needs. If we're praying for wisdom and guidance, He will make sure we have what we need to serve Him and His people. Now, I would have liked to have found a home. I would have liked to be moving into our house instead of moving into a rental home that I know I'm going to have to move out of again. That's what I would have preferred, but it didn't work out that way. No, things will always go 100% the way you'd like them to, but God provided a rental home. And things will work out, and in many ways it may work out better for us this way. But I would appreciate your prayers that God will provide a home that will be suitable. One that will serve our needs as well as the needs of the congregation and everyone. Now, God will take care of us, so again, I appreciate your prayers for His guidance and His wisdom in opening doors for us as He sees fit. In Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, it says, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, in all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. We need to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, with all of our being.

So when you've done all you can do, trust God to do the rest.

Now, we do need to do our part, but God can take care of the rest.

Focus on His blessings and be grateful for them. Which leads to point number eight.

Learn to really appreciate the blessings that God has given you.

No matter where you are in life right now, I hope you are appreciating the blessings that God has given you. No matter where you are, what station in life, what job you have, what house you live in, whatever it is, appreciate what you have right now. Because if you don't appreciate what you have right now, God may not give you anything nicer. You know, He may not bless you with anything better. So you've got to appreciate what you have now. Now, I really came to appreciate the good points in our home the last month, the last couple of months. I mean, not that I hadn't appreciated it, because trust me, I've been very grateful for our home for the last 19 years.

I have beautiful views out of my home, my office upstairs. I can look outside, I see the trees. Again, I could have seen a park if I'd have gotten out there and worked harder.

I didn't get to see that, but I got to see some nature, and I enjoyed it. It was pretty.

Got to see some sunsets out my office window. Out of our master bedroom, we got to again see some nice views. And we came to realize after we looked at other homes in the Dallas area that, you know, that was the biggest master bedroom we saw in all the houses we've looked at down there.

We like ours the best, you know, the one we have now.

And it's more money down there, or up there, down there. It's more money. So, you know, we're confident God's going to bless us and take care of us. We don't have any fear of that. We know we don't have to have what we've had the last 19 years. We understand that. We can live in a lot less. We can live in a two-bedroom apartment, you know, if that's what we need or a tent, if necessary. You know, really, a tent wouldn't be that bad. It wouldn't be great. I mean, I kind of like to camp out. I think I'd get sick of it after a while. I know Barbara sure would.

But really learn to appreciate the blessings that God has given you, and also realize that God may give you more blessings if you'll just get out and do something, get off your duffer, you know. Don't blame God. There may be things that you could do to help bring about some blessings. You know, you have to make choices in your life. You have to decide what you're going to do, where you're going to live. You know, these are your choices in life. You have to make them.

So think about it. Make good choices. Be happy. Do what you need to do to be happy within God's law. That's, I think, good advice. Trust God and have faith.

But being grateful makes a huge difference in a person's satisfaction level if you're grateful.

Now, again, the last couple of months, I think we came to appreciate things more than we had.

You've heard the expression, they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot. Remember that song?

They paved paradise and poo. Okay, that's the song. I won't sing it too much. But they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot. Now, you know, that little house up there, that big house up on the hill was not paradise in many ways, but it was nice. We enjoyed it. Dallas is certainly not a parking lot, but parts of it are. And we don't want to live in the parts that are a parking lot, frankly. No, we don't. We want to get out a little bit and have some nature. And I think God's going to give us that. He's going to give us something that we can appreciate and enjoy and love. And we're looking forward to the Dallas move. We hate leaving all of you guys because we love you and we hate going. And it would have been easier to just stay here, frankly. A lot easier!

But it didn't work out that way. So, again, be grateful for what you have now.

But if you can better your life, get out there and do it and trust God along the way. 9th point. Home is where God and His people are. That's where the real home is. It's where God and His people are. Now, that's our spiritual home. That's really why Barb and I are happy people.

We're in God's church and we love the church. We love God's people. We love the truth.

We have a love of the truth. And that's what fills our hearts every day. It's not that we have a 1996, was it? An old... We have a Lexus and a Mercedes. Sounds good, right?

Yeah, one's old and the other's old.

And I bought the one real cheap and the other one I bought pretty cheap, too.

It isn't the physical things that we have. God's blessed us. I mean, it is remarkable to me that my cars have done as well as they have over the years. I stand in awe that we haven't had to spend a lot more money on vehicles. God has blessed us. We haven't had a new car since I was first in the ministry. We had one for one year. We had a new car for one year.

And that was a... I forget what it was... Sierra.

Anyway, what? Oh, it was a... Yeah, it was a Lumina. You're right. Anyway, we had it for like one year and then we had to turn it in and we never had one since. And we frankly can't afford a new car. Maybe we could, but we'd go into debt and we don't like doing that. God's blessed us with old cars and nice ones. But the important thing is not the physical things. It's not the house. It's not the cars. It's not any of that stuff. It's where God's house is and God dwells in us and God is in the church and God is in all of you. And that's the most important thing. You know, the Sabbath is a delight for me because I spend it with you and I spend a lot of time out driving and knocking myself out every Sabbath. But I'm grateful to do it. I'm thankful. And to me, it's been a blessing.

And I hope it's been a blessing for all of you for 19 years. I mean, I would hate to think I'm doing all this for nothing. I think it's been a blessing. But home is where God and His people are. And that's nine lessons and that's about all the time I've got. So I'd take the time to read all over. I could read through them all, but that was my great conclusion, is to go through all nine principles. But hopefully you've got them written down. If not, you can go listen to the sermon later. But let me just tell you from my heart that it's been wonderful. It's been a great run. 19 years, it's been a great run. And I thank all of you for it.