Stirred but Not Shaken

Well, good morning, everyone! Happy Sabbath to all of you. It's certainly great to be in Michigan. And in Ann Arbor, thanks for coming over from Detroit. What a blessing it is to get together and praise God and celebrate the Sabbath on a beautiful winter day. We have been so spoiled in Cincinnati, it hasn't even been winter. But we still find ways to complain about it, no matter what. So it's so much easier to shovel rain than it is to shovel snow.

So there's some blessings that way, I guess. But my wife Kathy and I are thrilled to be able to be here this morning and see old friends and get to meet new ones. So it is good to be together and share in the wonderful blessings that God has certainly given us.

It's been a busy time at the home office, as usual. We're already into the second semester of Ambassador Bible College. And of course, we have our Michigan connections with ABC as well. We have Chris Sylvester, who is down at ABC this year, as well as Chandler Lee. So we have our Michigan connections as well. So we hear about their weekends sometimes that they've come back and spent time together with family and friends up here.

And so it'll be over before you know it. So they're in the midst of trying to decide what happens after ABC. But appreciate your prayers for the rest of the semester. They're going to get really busy. They do a big charity auction that's coming up next month where they raise money for LifeNets. And so they're looking forward to that. They're also going to be taking the chorale on the road. And so they'll be visiting different church areas and presenting special music there.

So we were even talking to them about maybe making a trip up to Michigan next year so they could come. And the students can come and they can do special music and kind of share in their talents and abilities with you as well. So we'll be talking to them about maybe doing that.

It's not all that far coming up here. So maybe that would be a possibility for next year. Some of the other things that are going on, next week there's a festival coordinators meeting. So they're going to be planning for this year's feast. Already you've heard about Greece. Jamaica is already having some reservations and things like that. And so plans are well in the works. You probably have heard that they're probably going to be heading back to the Dells this year. So how many of you have ever been to the Dells before for the feast?

All right. I know I've seen you there before. Absolutely. So I guess we're old habits die hard. So they're going to be heading back that direction, it looks like, at the Crystal Grand this coming year.

So that'll look very familiar once again to many of us. So those meetings are going to be happening this week as they kind of finish up some of their planning. Of course, a big thing that they've been talking a lot about at the home office is the possibility to build on a new television studio, which would not just the benefit TV. The Wave of the Future is not so much TV, even though that's important, but video for the web, which is becoming more and more important. So we're going to be doing a streaming video, whether it be on Amazon or YouTube or Netflix.

Some of our programming has changed a little bit to kind of flavor that for future streaming. So you may have noticed, even on the Beyond Today program, we have less commercials where we hold up a booklet and say, okay, order yours right now. That doesn't happen now until the end of the program, which allows us more time for a streaming type format.

So we're moving to that type of formatting to help maintain the viewers. And actually, we found – I haven't found, I don't do this sort of stuff, I just kind of go do my part – and the guys that really know what they're doing work with the video itself. And they found that with the longer format, that people actually are watching longer. And so they can track all of those kinds of things. And when we would do a commercial at about the eight-minute mark or so, there was quite a drop-off right away after that time. And they were able to track those things on the Internet. So now they've noticed that when we have that longer format, people are actually staying tuned for almost the whole program.

And so that's encouraging to see as well. So really appreciate your prayers. That all would continue to go well. And of course, we've got to continue to develop and grow and prepare new people to take over some of those responsibilities, because some of us aren't getting any younger either. And so appreciate your prayers in that regard and for our future ministry, so that we can continue to develop new ministers, because we need them. And who knows how long things will go? It could be a short time. It could be a little bit longer.

So we certainly want to be found so doing. And so we appreciate your prayers in that regard as well, so that we can continue to be able to have the funds in the church, to be able to hire new men and their wives, to be able to serve God's people throughout the world.

And so really appreciate your prayers for that as well. A couple of other things maybe quickly that we've got going on. We're still doing our Beyond Today seminars, our live ones. Coming up in about two weeks, we're going to be heading down to Florida. Now, imagine that, February in Florida. Boy, that's going to be rough. But it's only going to be for a couple of days. We're going to go down for... We'll be down there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

It's over the Presidents' Day weekend. And so we're doing two seminars, one in Orlando and one in Tampa. And so, appreciate your prayers that that would all go well. There seems to be such a challenge for people coming through the door. People watch, they listen, they identify with the Bible, the church, its teachings. But to come through that door is a big deal, and it is really difficult. And so, we found that even though people will sign up for the seminars, they oftentimes don't show up.

So if you just remember that little thing, that those that sign up would show up and ask God to bless them and encourage them. We found it doesn't matter if it's raining, snowing, it doesn't matter if it's a beautiful day. There's always an excuse for not coming. And so, just that God would certainly work with them and bring them through the door as He's working with them and calling them.

Because that can kind of be a scary place. It's not scary coming through these doors here, but once they're here, they would feel at home. And they would see, hey, there is a sense of God's Spirit among us.

That initial opportunity to come through those doors sometimes can be kind of challenging. So certainly appreciate your prayers that those that God is calling would come and then experience a little bit more deeply what God is doing today. So appreciate your prayers in that regard.

Now, one of the things, of course, when we show up, when people haven't met us before, particularly me, you know what their number one comment is? It's not like, wow, you do an amazing job on the program. You are so inspiring. You are so wonderful. No, it's not usually that. You know what it is? You're a lot shorter than I thought you were on TV.

That's the number one comment. Like, yep, I'm short.

So you've heard TV makes you look bigger. It makes you look a lot taller than you really are as well. So, yeah, in person, I guess I'm kind of like Paul.

In person, I'm not so impressed. I'm not so impressed.

Well, hopefully not so much in the message, though. But yeah, that's the way it is. Darius is the taller one. Not that he's that much taller, but Gary Petty and I, we kind of tease it. With Darius, you get like 10% more. He's like 10% taller. And so we have to tease him about that as well. So it's not all business and seriousness with us. We do have fun and enjoy being together and sharing the responsibilities. So it's really been a blessing that way. And yeah, it is what it is. We are short and we admit it. But that's okay. We can identify with those who aren't. They did tell me that somehow this lectern goes up and down. And is that what this switch is? So see, I could feel really tall. It would look much more impressive.

It doesn't matter. That's okay. Well, anyway, I did hear that some of you had tuned into Cincinnati last Sabbath.

So then I had to throw my notes away. And it's like, okay, I guess I can't give that sermon that I gave last week. But that's one of the challenges with Cincinnati since we webcast so often and they archive the messages. Once you do it, you can't ever do that one again. They can go back and look at it. So you have to kind of try to generate some new things or new ways of saying things. Or sometimes my kids will say, I've heard that sermon before. It's like, no, it's just the same old jokes or the same old stories that I had. But it does become a challenge. I mean, we live in this kind of world. Many of you have probably read the letter that Dr. Ward had sent out about the times that we live in and the challenges that we face. Sometimes things may look, well, it's going to be a sunny day for a while. Or maybe it won't be. Maybe it'll turn around and it could go the other direction pretty easily. And it seems to definitely weighs on us. You know, where are we? What's going to happen next? I was reminded of this. Someone told me the story about a little one who was kind of feeling the challenges. There was going to be a new addition to the family. And this little five-year-old, this little kindergartner, was really kind of excited about a new baby brother or sister coming in the family. He started telling his kindergarten teacher about it. And we're going to get a new addition. And it might be a new brother for me. And he was so excited about it. And then one day, Mommy let him touch her tummy. And he could feel the movements of that little baby. And he was pretty surprised by all that. Kind of impressed, but kind of incredulous about it.

Never said another word to his kindergarten teacher after that. And so after a while, the kindergarten teacher started wondering. It's like, well, whatever happened to that little brother or sister that you were expecting at home?

A little boy just burst into tears. And he said, I think Mommy ate it.

He was definitely under stress, right?

Definitely under stress. Now that's a different kind of stress, I suppose.

The other day I was reading through a couple of surveys. There was a stress survey that was done by the American Psychological Association.

And you could probably imagine the areas that really we all feel stressed. And they become pretty obvious with the way life is going. And it is trouble with our jobs. It is trouble with money. I don't think any of us would be shocked to see the findings that they came up with. Job issues, family responsibilities, whether it's a new birth into the family, or whether it's our health as we get older. We are faced with challenges, and that's a major source of stress. And so these personal things, health issues, even our safety at times, can certainly weigh on us. And when that does, what does that do to who we are?

Well, it leads to fatigue. It leads to sometimes a lack of motivation, a lack of it. You know, when you're weighed down with a lot of stress, do you really feel like, oh boy, I'm really back at it again, and let's go.

No, it can weigh on you. It can make you feel like, well, what's the point? And in fact, they say that it affects our health with headaches.

We can feel down, discouraged. We have that sense of, well, I could just cry. Or maybe it affects us physically, that I've got an upset stomach, or that I've got this tension in my muscles and teeth grinding. All of this list of things that this survey found were all those things that, well, we probably all experience those things. And maybe right now, we're facing those kinds of things in our life. Because life shakes us up sometimes. And it can put us in that kind of a frame of mind that, while we weren't expecting that, we get kind of blindsided by events or issues that might come up, that it does discourage us. And it's an attack that's unexpected, and a situation that takes, maybe it even takes our breath away. Because I wasn't expecting that to happen. And so we can get anxious. One of the things this survey talks about was the fact of how many of us, as Americans, are anxious, and anxiety issues are moving up the scale of health issues that we have a tendency to face today. And so when we're dealing with those kinds of difficulties, it does seem that we can become down and discouraged or overwhelmed by the various issues that we face.

And so I think that's an important thing to consider, is how do we deal with those kinds of things? How can we stand for what God wants us to stand for and be strong in His way, and not be overly stressed and overly concerned by the things that are happening around us, things that are happening to us? So how can we be excited and encouraged and motivated to live God's way? Or in a way, how can we be stirred up and not be shaken by the things that occur around us, by the things that are happening in our lives?

So let's think about that for a few minutes. How can we be stirred but not shaken by these things?

I think there's a number of things that we can do, things that we know, but sometimes I think maybe the first thing we need to do is we need to remember.

It's been amazing. We've been going through the former prophets in ABC, and ancient Israel always had wonderful, amazing times. And then the next page, they're down in the dumps, and terrible things have happened, and they're doubting God, and they're wondering, they're lost. And then things are great again, and then they're down. And oftentimes when they get to those points where they're on the upside of things, one of the things that seems to happen over and over again is that they begin to remember.

They're reminded about who they are and who God is.

And oftentimes that's what we need.

Any of you ever get into a situation like that, where you need to remember something and you maybe tie a little string on your finger? My grandmother used to do that all the time. She'd have four or five strings on her finger. And what was that? Well, I forgot what that one means, but I was supposed to do something.

And maybe that was an old-school kind of a thing, but I think in some ways we need a spiritual string kind of tied around our finger to remind ourselves that there are some important things that we should keep in our mind, especially when we're facing those challenges. And the Apostle Peter talked about this. You turn over to 2 Peter chapter 1.

He talks about the fact we all need a reminder. And it doesn't matter if we've just come to the truth of God and we're learning God's way or whether we've been around for 50 years.

We need those kinds of things that help frame our life and remind us of what's most important. And Peter wrote about this. You talk about a man who had his ups and downs and his challenges. Peter was certainly one of those. Had the highest of highs sometimes and then sometimes, wow, he had a hard time even admitting he knew Christ. And so we remember those things about Peter. Here's a man who's speaking from experience. And he just got done going through a number of things that we're supposed to keep in mind. Notice what he says in verse 12. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 12. He says, For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things. Though you know and you're established in the present truth. So I'm kind of encouraged by that because even if I'm stressed, maybe over-anxious, maybe even down, discouraged, doesn't mean I don't know the truth. Doesn't mean I'm not grounded in the truth. But even though we are in these kind of situations, we still need a reminder. We still need to remember. So Peter talks about that. Verse 13, he says, I think it only right for me to stir up your memory of these things. That's what it says in the Good News. He says, this is what King James says, verse 13, I think it is right as long as I am in this tent to stir you up by reminding you.

So he's going to bring to memory some critical issues that can help frame our mind and our mindset so that we aren't going to be shaken when challenges arise.

He goes on, he reminds them, verse 14, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

So even after my death, that shouldn't be something that, well, the apostles died. Now what are we going to do? Well, he says, we shouldn't be shaken by those kinds of circumstances. And so he doesn't want to be careless. He doesn't want to be negligent by not bringing things to mind to God's people. And so he says, this is a good thing. This is a proper thing to do. And he wants to make certain that even though life has its challenges, and even we face death, he says, keep in mind what's most important. Keep in mind what's most important. And it kind of points to that tendency that we all have. Because he just got done saying a couple of verses early to keep the faith, to remember to be virtuous, to get rid of things that are selfish, have self-control.

Yeah, we know all those things.

But it can be such a challenge sometimes to be consistent in all of those things. Having that consistency, because it points to our tendency that when things are going okay, sometimes that's when I get complacent. That's when I might let down. Or when I feel overwhelmed, then it's like, well, what's the point?

Why try? And so we face those two sides of the coin at times that Peter says, all right, we need to be stirred up. We need to have that kind of motivation. And this particular Greek word kind of ties in with being awake.

Not just stirring the pot kind of a thing, but really to wake up or arouse your mind. It's kind of where Peter is talking about here, that we're going to get the light on, turn on the light, wake up, get ready to go. Just like we did this morning. It was still dark out when we were getting going here, and it's like, oh, is it really time to get up? It gets dark early in Michigan this time of the year, right? But we got to wake up. We got to get going. And so Peter's talking about constantly being in that state, not to allow complacency to take us over, not to feel that, well, this is good enough. You know, I've been around a long time.

Not to allow even the fact of just being tired. Don't allow that to take over our frame of mind. And so this spiritual string that we have, we should have it tied on to remember these kinds of things. And of course, if you remember what Paul wrote to Timothy, Paul thought the same thing. He told Timothy, don't neglect the gift that's in you.

And of course, that applies to us, too.

God's given us the gift of His Spirit.

And sometimes we've got to be motivated and not neglect those things. So we know we've got to be doers of the Word, not just hearers only. We've got to be people of action.

And so we need that reminder. We need that encouragement. And so sometimes maybe, well, if you're like me, sometimes you think, well, that side of things will just take care of itself. Right? I'll just be improving, getting better. I'll get stronger. And somehow it'll just automatically happen.

But it doesn't work like that, does it? These kind of things don't automatically... Do I automatically feel motivated? You know, you may have felt like, I don't know if I feel like going to church today.

What do you do? Well, I think that's where I've got to wake up. How important is it to be here? This is critical. This is critical. It's a command to be here. This isn't just a get-together. This isn't just a service. This is a holy convocation. This is a commanded assembly. This is a holy gathering that God says, Be here. So when those feelings come, I've got to have... I've got to look at my finger, look at that spiritual string, and say, No, wait a second. This is for my own good. God knows what's good for me. He knows what's best. I need to be there. I don't want to neglect that spirit that God's given me. And so I've got to respond to it. I've got to submit to it. I've got to learn to have God feed me. And if God's going to feed me, I've got to show up for the meal. Right? How can I be fed if I'm not nourished? If I'm not nourished? And so that's something that leads to this motivation. And boy, it reminds me, I can't just think it's going to happen automatically.

Because we know this in so many different ways, at so many different levels. I mean, think about our pets. How many of you have a pet?

Okay. Do they take care of themselves?

Well, maybe to some level they do.

But, no, normally we've got to remember when it's feeding time.

If we don't remember their feeding time, sometimes they're right there at their bowls, and, come on, what are you doing? It's time to feed me. And we've got to take care of that. And then, of course, we remember, oh, you know, a little frisky here loves fancy feasts. So I've got to make sure and get that one. Or I've got to get the premium pate cat food. And so we've got to take care of them, right?

We even do that with our plants. Do plants take care of themselves?

Go to my office. You'll see. No, they do not take...

I go... I look at the plants in my office, and when they're dragging, it's probably time for some water here, right? I probably should take care... Yeah, we can't neglect our pets. We can't neglect our plants. We're not supposed to neglect our cars. We don't change the oil. We don't respond to the check engine light. It's going to be bad. It's going to be bad. The students at ABC, you can't neglect your studies. You're not going to pass the assessments if you don't study. And so if you do special music, you play piano. If you don't practice that hymn or keep up with it, usually goes downhill from there. And so we know those. And it works the same way spiritually. Spiritually, it's the same thing. So we can't expect that somehow, when it comes to the church, when it comes to our growth, that it is just going to happen automatically. And so that spiritual strain, what Peter talked about, what Paul told Timothy, we've got to be sure that we're doing and we're acting and we're being fed. And we're feeding ourselves. We're taking that as a personal responsibility to do that very thing.

And it's certainly a reminder. This is not just some trivial thing.

When it comes down to real life, I mean, this is a life and death thing. When we talk about a physical life, but eternal life, it really comes down to the fact that our eternal life is at stake.

And so we've got to be stirred up and putting these things into practice and being fed and being doers in order to be showing God, this is where our heart is. This is where our intent is. And it really does come down to that difference.

Like I was reminded of this. I was reading a little about where words developed from and what was the history of how we got different phrases.

And I got totally sidetracked from the topic at hand, but it was kind of cool. I was reading this little story about England. England, at one point in their history, was running out of places to bury people. And so everybody was kind of together in these little towns that they didn't have places to bury them. So what they started doing, they would dig up the coffins of people that had been long dead and then they would take these bones to the bone house. Anybody ever heard of bone houses? Well, they would do that for a while and they would then reuse the grave.

But a weird thing happened when they were doing this.

They found that these coffins that they were digging up, one in 25 of them, they found scratch marks on the inside of the coffins. Okay, so we're going back a ways. We're going back quite a ways. But that's what they found. And so they realized they were burying people alive.

And so you know what they came up with a solution to do. Now some of this is folklore, but some of it's real.

The solution was then, when they would bury people, they tied a little string around their wrist and ran a hole through the coffin up to the ground to a bell.

And so if they weren't really dead and they woke up, they could move their wrist and then they had this guy that sat there all night listening for the bell. And you know what shift he was on?

He was on the graveyard shift. And supposedly that's kind of where that word...

And when you think about that, that's when if that bell went off, someone could be saved by the bell. Right? They could be saved by the bell. Or that person, if they did save them, they'd call them a dead ringer.

A dead ringer. And so some of those words, supposedly do go back to that very... Now imagine being buried dead alive. That'd be awful. I mean, you can't even imagine what that would be like. And our lives aren't anything like that. But I think when you consider that, we've got a bell to ring.

Right? We've got to be exhibiting godly traits. We've got to be growing in the faith. Because if we're not growing, we're probably going the other direction. We can't be stagnant. We can't be stagnant. We've got to continue down this path. And so even though, yeah, life sometimes feels like we're being buried alive, doesn't it? Feels like we've got these great weights on us. That we're not going to be able to get out from under.

But the reality is, God is with us. God does want the best for us. And so we want to be sure that we're awake.

That we're fully motivated. And that we've got that kind of mindset that God can give us to really shake things up in a right way and be stirred to action.

Because it's one of those things that has to be constant. In fact, I think that's a second aspect to consider. Not only do we have to remember things, but once we're stirred up, is that something that happens only once? Well, now I'm stirred up and I'll never feel discouraged again. Or I'll never feel... No, that's something that just, with the nature of life, it's something that has to continue to happen. So we've got to continue stirring. We've got to continue to have that frame of mind. In fact, if you're still here in 2 Peter... Or why don't you turn back to 2 Peter? 2 Peter 3, verse 1. A little bit later on... This must have really been on Peter's mind as he wrote this letter. Because he comes back to this subject a couple of chapters later. 2 Peter 3, right at the very beginning. He says, I write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder. So there's our first point. Okay, I've got to remember. What are God's promises? What are His purposes? What does He want for me? He wants the best for me. How can I serve Him? How can I serve God's people? Well, I've got to be motivated. And so here's that same word used once again to bring these things to mind and arouse and be woken up. But one of the interesting things about the way that English works, sometimes it doesn't really reflect everything that's in the Greek. Now, of course, this was originally written in Greek.

And when Paul talked to Timothy, he actually used a different word. We probably are very familiar with this passage. Go over to 2 Timothy chapter 1.

2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5. I mean, it sounds the same, but this one's different.

Instead of being woken up or being fully awake or stirred or aroused, this one's a little bit different. But you probably are very familiar with the way he uses this phrase here. Verse 5, 2 Timothy 1, he says, I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, Timothy, which dwelt first in your grandmother, loeth your mother, Eunice, and I'm persuaded is in you also.

Then he tells him, that's not good enough.

That's a great start, but you've got to keep it going. Verse 6, he says, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you, through the laying on of hands.

Well, what do we receive at the laying on of hands?

Well, first it's God's Spirit. We receive God's Spirit by the laying on of hands. I mean, he could be referring to an ordination here, but I think it's even more simple than that. The laying on of hands, we've received God's Spirit because then he comes back and says, verse 7, God's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

And so, Paul tells Timothy, stir up the gift.

So rather than just being awakened or aroused, this stirring up refers to a flame, a fire, that the fire can cool.

And you've got to stir up that fire to get that flame going again. So I know you are familiar with this. I don't know if you like to camp or not. Anybody like to camp, the fire can start to go out. It's amazing. You start stirring that thing up and suddenly it can turn back to a flame again. And so Paul is referring to that, to rekindle it, rekindle it. And sometimes we need that. With the challenges of life, we've got to bring that fire again. We've got to be rekindled and have that full flame burning again. We've got to keep that love and that enthusiasm for God's way and His purpose and His plan and My growth. Got to keep that at the forefront of My mind. And that's something that has to be ongoing. And so in a way, God's gift is like a fire.

And if we neglect that fire, we don't keep getting the wood to feed it.

Yeah, we know it goes out. The fire can go out. And so we cannot allow that to happen. Can't allow that to happen. So we've got to keep stirring that flame. We've got to make sure we've got enough materials as well. I was reading the story about a man in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This is something like 230 years ago. There was a guy named Tom Dalton.

Not the Dalton Gang Dalton, but a different Dalton. And he lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And he started a fire with Flint way back 230 years ago or so. And you know what?

That fire, that same fire that Tom Dalton started 230 years ago, is still burning today.

It's still burning today. Now, they move the fire from here to there, one cabin to another cabin. But Tom and then generation after generation of the Dalton family have kept that same fire going. All those years. And in fact, it's gotten to a point now, they actually inherit the fire. They will the fire to the next generation because it's kind of become that thing. And so this Blue Ridge Mountain fire that Tom Dalton started is actually the oldest ongoing fire that was started by a human being in America. They think that maybe even in the entire world, this is the oldest fire around.

So you think that just took care of itself?

No, not at all. I got sidetracked again. I was reading about this fire. And it has been no easy task over the years to take care of this thing because it doesn't matter if it's hot weather, cold weather, raining, snowing, beautiful.

That fire takes a lot of wood to keep going. So even when it's hot, this is the one figure that was kind of interesting about this fire. Even when it's the middle of July and it's hot, it still takes a quart of wood a month to keep that fire going. And so if you've ever chopped wood, a quart of wood, that takes some effort. And so even if you've got a log splitter, it still doesn't happen by itself. And so what a reminder. I thought that is an amazing reminder of what it's like for us. That if we're going to keep the flame of God's Spirit burning in our life, we've got to make sure that we've got the materials to keep the fire burning. We've got to stir up that flame and feed that gift, don't we? We can't just take it for granted. That's a critical aspect of not only do we stir it up to keep it going, even if we keep stirring and stirring and stirring, we're going to run out of material. We've got to feed the fire. So I think that's an important third aspect. Not only do we remember that God's given us amazing gifts, amazing blessings, but I've got to stir that flame and then I've got to feed that fire. That's what Paul was telling Timothy. Feed that fire, stir it up.

In fact, he said, be mindful. Be mindful of these things. Have that on our mind. Keep it in mind because, boy, it's easy to forget. It's easy to take it for granted. It's easy to think, well, it'll be okay.

But that's exactly what he says. In fact, if you look back at 2 Peter 3, he said that, be mindful of the words that were spoken. Be mindful of the words. You see, the feeding points back to God's Word. Have I really been into God's Word? Have I continued to read it and study it? Peter's saying, hey, I want you to remember what God talked about. What did the prophets say? What did Christ say?

Keep those words in mind. Feed them. Stir it up. Get it out every day. Look at it.

Read it.

Make it a part of your life. He says, remember it. Don't forget these things. Keep them in mind. And in order to keep them in mind, that means, yeah, I can't get off the path. Can't get off the path. In fact, it's interesting that phrase for be mindful.

Sometimes if you look that up in various translations, it kind of hits home maybe a little bit closer, maybe makes a little bit more sense. For me, when I look that up, one of the translations says, don't be distracted.

Have an undistracted perspective.

And for me, boy, I can get off over there and over there.

And maybe it's not blatant disobedience.

I think for most of us, it's not that. It's boy, I got off track. And I went that other direction. And now I was totally distracted by something. And boy, what a tool of Satan. Just to get us distracted. Not just to be blatantly evil, but just to get us off track enough that we end up somewhere that we don't want to be. We don't want to be over there. And so, no wonder he uses those words like, don't neglect this. Don't be shaken. Don't be distracted.

Keep full attention. It's a different way to look at it. Keep your full attention on God's Word.

And so, what a challenge for all of us to have our noses in our Bibles, reading His Word, studying His Word. And we know oftentimes, over and over again, God's Word points us in that way. I mean, how many times, even in the Proverbs alone, doesn't talk about that. Hear the instruction. Be wise. Don't neglect it. Look at my words. Hear my sayings. You know, those phrases come up over and over and over again throughout the Word of God. And so, that is so critical for all of us. If we're not going to allow those things of this world to weigh us down, to distract us, to throw us off the path, boy, we've got to be mindful. We've got to feed the fire. We've got to feed the fire in a number of ways.

In fact, if you are still there, 1 Timothy 4, maybe I made you go back to Peter for a moment, but if you go back to 1 Timothy 4, Paul told Timothy a couple of things here that add to that in a way that we can feed the fire.

That way, we don't just have a little campfire. We can make it a bonfire. We can make this way of God a bonfire. 1 Timothy 4, 12. Here, Timothy is told, Let no one despise your youth.

It doesn't matter if you're young. It doesn't matter if you're old.

He says, Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Those are all the things we're all striving for. That's the mind of Christ. That's His character. That's what we're all striving to do.

How do I do it? Well, I've got to be reminded to do it, because without a reminder, I forget to take out the trash sometimes.

Without a reminder, yeah, I get distracted. I do other things. Okay, how do I do this? Verse 13, He says, Till I come, feed the fire. Or in other words, He says, Give attention to reading.

Get into your Bible.

So certainly, that's one thing He points to. Pay attention to this. Recognize this. Give attention to reading. Then He says, to exhortation, to doctrine.

So we've got those aspects of feeding the flame, feeding that fire.

Be in the Word. Read that word. Then exhortation. We've got to encourage. When we know there's someone that's been dealing with difficulties, can we encourage them? Can we exhort them? Can we help them? Build them up?

Certainly, we can do that. That's part of using and submitting to God's Spirit, that I can help others. It's not all about me. It's also encouraging others, being a part of their lives. And so we can certainly do that. Of course, then we've got to have the right teachings. We've got to have the true faith, the true doctrines. So that exhortation can also mean comfort, can mean encouragement. It can be urging someone to do what's best and just being there for someone. So all of those things seem to point the way to feeding that fire, to having that motivation and being more focused in accomplishing these things. Because that's kind of where he goes. Verse 14, he says, don't neglect that. We read that before. Then he says in verse 15, meditate on these things.

Think about these things.

Some translations say, be diligent in these matters.

Then he says, verse 15 in the middle, give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Now, I'm not trying to be a show-off or a bigwig or anything. That's not why I do what I do.

But when you live a godly life and you strive to do those things, well, the fruit should be evident. It should be. And who gets the credit?

Well, I don't get the credit. God's got to get the credit. God gets the credit. And so he says, give it your all. We heard that in the sermon. Give it your all! That that progress may be evident. Verse 16, take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Now watch your own life. Don't be too concerned about other people. And sometimes that's pretty easy to do. Oh, boy, you see the problems they have. And at least I'm not as bad as they are. Those kinds of things can sometimes come into my way. I kick that out. I got to take heed to myself. I'm going to look at my own life. And so then he concludes by saying, continue in them. For in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

And so that focus of, you know, we're here just for a short time.

Life is short.

It is just amazing. We were talking about that at ABC. We had said life will go pretty fast here at ABC. And now here we are. And the students were just talking about that as we started our second semester. I can't believe it's the second semester. I got to think about what I'm doing after ABC. And I can't believe it went this fast. And so we're kind of teasing them. Well, tomorrow it'll be May and it'll be time to go. And life is kind of like that sometimes. And so to keep that focus, I think that can help us, you know, as you consider not being distracted, not getting off track, that we remember we only have a short time. And we don't know exactly how long that will be. And maybe part of the reminder is, we're physical. Maybe sometimes the health issues remind us, yeah, life isn't supposed to go on. This life isn't what it's all about. This is just a temporary step in God's plan. And so if I keep that focus on that, it helps set the tone that, you know, I do have a limited time. Do I really want to be more intent? Do I really want to be more dedicated? Of course I do. Can this help me to have that perspective?

I think it can.

It was kind of a gross way that in the Middle Ages, they kind of tried to keep that frame of mind that life is short.

You've probably seen a famous painting that was done by Van Dyke. It was a painting of a monk.

And this painting, maybe it doesn't sound familiar yet, but do you remember a painting of a monk who is holding a skull?

Or maybe you've seen pictures from the Middle Ages where monks are sitting at their desks and they're copying, you know, scripture, and there's a skull sitting there on their desk. And it's like, wow, that's really disgusting. How weird is that? Where some of them even have, okay, now go home and Google this sometime.

They'll even have a candle on the skull's head. And it's like, that is just morbid. That's weird. Why in the world would they do such a... Those Catholics are crazy, right? Yeah, you think that. But if you look into the reasoning behind that, why was that skull there?

It was really for that reason of being morbid. The Latin moribundus, where we get morbid from, oftentimes they might even have an inscription by these skulls where it would say, sumus moribundus. Sumus moribundus.

And what that meant in Latin was, we're destined to die.

We're destined to die.

And so when we consider it that way, does that keep in mind? This life is short.

This life isn't going to keep going on. We are going to age. That's the nature of life. That's God's plan. That I'm not going to be healthy all the time. Can I understand that that is part of God's purpose? If I was healthy all the time and felt like an 18-year-old, and able to do all that, what would be the point of the kingdom? Why would we need the kingdom?

Well, we wouldn't. We wouldn't. But that's not the purpose. God has a greater purpose in mind, and this life can help teach us the lessons we need. So we recognize how awesome a God we have. What an amazing purpose. What an amazing plan that He has. Because we are destined to die.

And yeah, hopefully we don't need a skull on our desk. That is kind of weird. But it should be that reminder for us that life is short. Life is short. And so we have to keep fanning that flame. We have to keep feeding the fire. And when we do that, when we do that, and we remember these things, and we love God's Word, and we're in God's Word, and we're learning it, and we're searching it, and we're growing in that way, and we're hungering for it, we're feeding that fire. We talk about it. We talk about it at church. We talk about it in our families. We think about it. We put it into practice. We strive to improve and submit to God's Spirit more and more. And we take every opportunity to be together and strengthen each other, and we assemble, and we worship together. And we build God's family. And by doing these things, something critical happens. In fact, I think it has to happen. Something important. Something that can't be denied happens. In fact, something that Peter wrote about here, as I think something that will naturally happen because we do these things. If you're still there in... Well, I'm not there, so I have to go back to 2 Peter 3.

2 Peter 3 verse 18. Another very familiar passage.

But think about it in this context.

What happens when we do these things? What happens when we tie that spiritual string around our finger and we're reminded of all the challenges of life, and yet God's got the solution for us. God has His Spirit for us. The fact that I have to feed this flame and build it up.

When we do these things, when we submit to God in His will and His way, 2 Peter 3.18 has to happen that we can't help but grow in grace and knowledge. So that's what Peter says here. After stirring us up, reminding us of these things, he says, Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever.

So no wonder Peter could say it that way because he started with, Be more diligent to make that call sure. Don't be distracted. Fan that flame. Stir that fire. Keep it going. Be zealous for God's way. Strive to be motivated. And as we do that very thing, we can expect growth. We can expect a better relationship with God. We can expect a closer-knit family when we come to church. And we have the kind of urgency that we need because we know life is short. And who knows how long we have?

We have a new president. Does that mean, wow, everything's going to be great? I was telling Mr. Hobb before church. I think it was right after President Trump was elected. I got a thing in the email that said, wow, this is God's gift to the United States. Everything's going to be fantastic and we'll have this wonderful time.

Well, I got another email that said, Donald Trump is the beast.

His name matches with 666 over and over and over again. And the list went on forever.

And I think that was the point of Dr. Ward's letter.

Yeah, we could have a window of opportunity here. But you know what? Things can spiral downhill just as fast. He could make certain decisions that would throw the world in turmoil.

Within moments, it would be possible. And so we can't get into the political side of things. That's not our focus. That can be such a distraction. That's not where we're at. We're not into that. We have a different calling. We have a different citizenship. We have a different focus. And we're not going to be distracted by whatever goes on in the political world because we know that is not God's way. That God has a purpose and a plan. And that's what we're looking for. We're going to live by the laws of that kingdom. We're going to live by the way of God. And we're going to put that into practice in our life. And then we're going to be that kind of individual that is shining forth the character of Christ because we are stirred up and we are motivated. We've got the string tied on our finger so that we have that spiritual reminder that no matter what's going on around us and whether it is the stress and the challenges of our job or our health or whatever it may be, that we're going to be motivated and inspired to think differently, to have a different perspective, to really be woken up spiritually. And we're going to be doers of the Word. We know the Word. We're going to study the Word. It's going to be something that's constantly on our mind and on our thoughts. And it can't help but then be exhibited in what we do. So we can be fired up. We can be a full flame and not be off track by the events or the circumstances or the evil. The evil that is around us. And so whatever it takes, let's continue to do whatever it is to draw closer to God, to be used by Him, to be guided by Him, to submit our lives to Him. And of course, when we do that, He promises us that we will be stirred, that we would never be shaken.