Survival Guide for the End Times Part 2

That's enough for now for announcements. Last week, for those of you who tuned in, we did have some internet problems. It seems the internet just stopped working midway through the service last week. So there are 27 minutes of last week's sermon online that seem to have come through okay in the recording. And I'm not going to repeat everything that I repeated last night or last week, but I'm going to give the sermon over again, because there were only a handful in Orlando. But I'm going to begin pretty much where the tape legs off. So I'm not going to go through all the details, but I'm going to bring you up to speed on where we were just so that there's a continuity on what we're talking about here today. So if you'll turn with me over to 2 Timothy. We live in a world that is just so different than it was just a few months ago. If we go back to January 1, this year, 2020, I think we would all recognize just how much has changed in the world and how much, you know, probably has yet to change even in this year. We live in a different land than we did even six months ago. We live in a new day than we did six months ago. Time keeps marching forward, and we can't be ignorant of that or just wish it was going to go back to the way it was. It will not go back to the way it was before. We live in a different world with a different mindset. Things have happened that can't be erased. And as we watch God continuing to prepare the way for the prophecies, that, you know, He's known about for decades, you know, leading up to the return of Jesus Christ, we need to be aware of it. We need to be watching ourselves, and we need to be ready. So, last week I began a sermon on, you know, we as God's people have to be ready for the end times. God will see us through. God will protect us. But we have to be doing something to survive those end times. Because the Bible is very clear that if we aren't preparing, if we're not ready, if we're not doing anything, we're not going to survive those end times. We will fall. We will disappear. We will be part of that group that talks about in the Bible that they went back to the world, they gave up, they just kind of faded away. None of us want to be that. So it's time for us to be looking at the survival things that we need to do to stand and stand right through to the end when Jesus Christ returns.

And I mentioned last time that I've got three statements from the Bible. I didn't even get through all the first one last time, so probably this is going to go into another sermon. But the first one is going to be the longest one on a number of things that we have to do. Find this first one here in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 6.

It says, therefore, you know, here's Paul writing to a young minister, Timothy. There's no reason to believe that Timothy was having any spiritual problems. He was becoming a minister. Paul was telling him something that he needed to remember throughout his Christian calling, throughout his life.

It says, therefore, I remind you, stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

You know, as we stand here in 2020, June 27, 2020, and we see all the things that have happened that have happened so quickly, and realize suddenly our lives, our world, everything we thought can change literally overnight. You know, not just those of us in the church, but the whole world is realizing things just changed really suddenly. And as we realize prophecy and those things that we have talked about for so many years were coming about, there might be some fear in us, right?

It's like, oh, this is really real. Those things that Christ said will happen between now and the time of His return are about to happen. And we might find ourselves with a little bit of fear, but God hasn't given us the spirit of fear. He's given us the spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. And while we stir up that spirit, when that spirit is alive and motivated in us, we can stand through anything that God sends our way if we keep our focus on Him.

You know, I mentioned last week that when you read 2 Timothy 1, verse 6, and some of the newer translations, it doesn't say stir up the spirit of God. It says, fan the flames. Fan the flames of the spirit of God. And that's a way to look at it. We have to do the things to keep God's spirit alive in us, to keep it giving us the zeal that we need, the focus that we need, the direction that we need.

And it would be all too easy to just kind of rest on our laurels and think, I've been around for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years, and I'm okay. No, we all need to be reminded, no matter how long we've been in the church or how little or how short we've been in the church, we need to fan the flames of the Holy Spirit and keep it burning bright in us and letting it lead us and guide us.

If we go back to Revelation 2, it's the same thing, really, that Jesus Christ was telling the very first church that we have a letter to in the book of Revelation. And as He gives messages to the seven churches, as He gives messages to the seven churches, the very first message that He gave to the church in Ephesus was this very thing about stirring up the Spirit. Let's pick it up in Revelation 2, verse 2. He says the same thing He could say about every single one of us. I know your works.

I know your labor. I know your patience. You've been doing all those things, and I know that you cannot bear those who are evil. You can discern good from evil. You can discern truth from error. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. You listen to something, you can go back to the Bible, and you can say, that's not truth, so I'm not going to follow that.

I do what the Bible says, not what a man says unless he's following the words of the Bible. And you have persevered, and you have patience, and you've labored for my name's sake, and you haven't become weary. You're doing all the right things, but God says, I have this against you. You've left your first love. You no longer have the energy that you did back when you were called. You no longer have the energy that you had. You're not displaying that energy. You're not displaying that zeal that you have. I don't feel that you have the love for my way of life that you did back when you were called.

And if we do what it says in verse 5, if we remember back to the time when we were first called, if we remember what it was like, that we couldn't wait to open the Bible and read, that we couldn't wait to get one of those booklets and read it, that we wanted to pray, that we wanted to learn more, that we wanted to tell people about what we believed, that we were eager to get our lives in order with what God had wanted us to do, that we would probably, if we're being honest with ourselves, and saying, it's not the same zeal that I had back then.

I don't have the same fervency, the same fervor. I don't feel as alive. I've kind of gotten used to it, and I've kind of gotten a little tired and just kind of taking it for granted. And that's what Jesus Christ says, you know, stir up the Spirit. Keep it going. Fan the flames. Remember from where you've fallen. And he uses the word repent. Turn from the way you've been back to the way you were, back to the way God wants us to be. Repent and do the first works. And today we're going to talk about those first works as part of this first point that I have in our survival guide for the end times.

Repent and do the first works. Else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, and he repeats it. Unless you repent. Unless you return to me. Unless you come back to do things the way that I want you to do it and the way you were called to ask. So rekindling our first love. It's something to think about. It's something for all of us to analyze. It's not something for us even to ask God.

Help me. Teach me. Teach me how to rekindle my first love. Teach me. Or show me where I am lacking in your eyes. So rekindling our first love. No one verse I could have made at the first point beyond this is, God says what you ask you will receive. And sometimes we have to remember to just ask God.

Ask Him. How do I go back to my first love? What do I need to do? How do I stir your spirit up? And you know what? God is faithful when He sees that we want something, and our will is His will. He'll answer. He'll provide. And we'll see. So let's look at... I got through, I think, about the first three points on the tape last week or on the sermon last week. So I'll recount those. The first point I had was, read the words of the Bible.

Just read. You know, sometimes we can get ourselves and we think, oh, I've read the Bible. Some people might say, I've read the Bible through 20 or 30 times. There's nothing more I can read in it.

No, we have to read. These are the words of life that are sitting there in your lap. Right? These are the words of life. It's great to read the booklets. It's great to read the magazines. It's great to listen to sermons online. If that's all you're doing, if that's replaced, you're reading the Bible, then you're missing the point. Then you're not fanning the flames of the Holy Spirit. We need to be in the Bible. The Bible daily.

That's our words. That's God's word to us. The explanations, the instruction, that's all good. That's great. I'm not discounting that at all, but we need to be in the Bible too and not discount that. So reading, you know, I think I mentioned last week, if you're feeling down, if you're feeling distant from God, sometimes what you do is just pick up the Bible and start reading.

You know, you can pick up the Psalms that I mentioned. If you read the Psalms, I guarantee you, if you're focused on it and you're letting God lead you, as you begin to read the Psalms, you're not going to read just one. You're going to read another and another, you're going to see the mind of God that was in David that's recorded in those words, and it's going to ignite you. It's going to inspire you. It's going to get you going again. You can read back through Genesis and the creation.

You can't read that creation story and not be motivated to worship God and to see the works that he's done around us. So just read. You know, there's things we do with the Bible. We read the word. Sometimes it's just... ...that's recorded in those words, and it's going to ignite you. It's going to inspire you. It's going to get you going again. You can read back through Genesis and the creation.

You can't read that creation story and not be motivated to worship God and to see the works that he's done around us. So just read. You know, there's things we do with the Bible. We read the word. Sometimes it's just... ...that's recorded in those words, and it's going to get you going again. You can read back through Genesis and the creation. You can't read that creation story and not be motivated to worship God and to see the works that he's done around us. So just read. You know, there's things we do with the Bible.

We read the word. Sometimes it's just... ...that's recorded in those words, and it's going to inspire you. It's going to get you going again. You can read back through Genesis and the creation. You can't read that creation story and not be motivated to worship God and to see the works that he's done around us. So just read. You know, there's things we do with the Bible.

We read the word. Sometimes it's just... ...that's recorded in those words, and it's going to get you going again. You can read back through Genesis and the creation story, and it's going to get you going again. ...that's recorded in those words, and it's going to get you going again. ...the words, if we ever don't feel like we're reading the Bible, kind of remember this, right?

It says, it is the Spirit in John 6, verse 63. It is the Spirit which gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. You want to feel life? Go back to the Word of God. It's the source of life.

You know, we go through the days of unleavened bread, and we say, eat that unleavened bread. Eat the bread of life. Every single day. It's one of the lessons of the spring holy days that we have just gone through. Read it. Digest it. Make it part of you. Reading can inspire. Reading can give us knowledge. Study helps us to put it in our hearts.

And that's what we're all here to learn the details of what God wants, and then to have it planted in our hearts. And it's the study that can do that, and then the, of course, application in our lives. Third point I had that I got to last week was pray. These are not anything new to any of us, right? These are things that we do, but you know, God says, remember the first words.

And these are things we need to remember. You know, our prayer life can become stale, just like our reading the Bible can do. You know, if we just get on our knees and we think, well, I've got to pray to God. I've got to get down on my knees, or I've got to go out for a walk and pray to God. And that's what we're doing just because it's like, well, I've got to.

Not because we really want to, or we have anything that we need to say to God. And we think, what are we going to talk to God about today? And let's face it, we've all been there sometimes, right? What am I going to pray about today? And whatever. You know, we have to do it anyway. Our prayer life has to, we have to remember always, we're in communication with God. God, at the time we come before Him in prayer. You know, we would never go into our boss and act like, I don't know what I'm doing here with you today. I mean, I don't know, tell me what you want me to say.

We would never do that. We would look alive. We would be alive. And we would engage God. And maybe if we ever feel that way, we ask God before we even ever begin our prayer. Help me to pray the way that you want me to. Let your Holy Spirit motivate me. And then when you begin the prayer, you'll see that God will lead you to pray the things that He wants you to pray for. The things that come to mind. Prayers are not always about us. And I don't think we can forget the verse that we read last week, and we've read a few times here recently back in Romans 8.

Romans 8 and verse 26. You know, in Jesus Christ, when He went to pray to God, and the apostles went to pray to God, and Paul went to pray to God, you know, their prayers were meaningful.

They needed God. They had come to the point where, I know I rely on you. I need your direction. I need your guidance. I need you to show me the steps I need to take.

They weren't there just to put the time together. And they always would receive the communication. There was a communication that goes on in prayer. It's not just a one-sided thing. Romans 8, verse 26. We only can understand this verse if we've been there. If we've had God's Holy Spirit, and we've experienced this in our lives, which I hope everyone in this room and everyone listening has. Romans 8, verse 26 says, That's Paul writing that. Well, what do we pray for? We might ask ourselves. Well, it says it right here. We don't know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. When you are there with the right attitude, when you've asked God to let His Spirit lead you in prayer, and you are dedicated and committed to praying. You know what? The Spirit's going to lead you into the prayers. You will find the thoughts go in your mind. You'll all of a sudden find yourself having a communication about things you didn't even think about before that you can pray for. People who have problems, issues in the work, issues that you have, relationship problems that need to be resolved. Whatever it is, God will lead us to what we need to pray for. That's part of what His Spirit does when it's energized, when we're inspired, when we've fanned the flames of the Spirit. That's the way it works. For He says in verse, in the groanings which can't be uttered, sometimes just words don't even come. You can just kind of feel that God knows what you're thinking, and you can feel that connection. Now, He who searches the hearts... Next week we'll talk a little bit about how do we build our hearts? How do we fertilize our hearts?

Now, He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. The Spirit will lead us to know what God's will is. Sometimes we need to ask God and just stop telling Him what we hope His will is. Just ask God, what is your will? Teach us what your will is. I've got a situation here. I know what I want to do. I know what I would naturally do. But what is your will? Because I want my will to be in concert with your will.

And sometimes we don't even give God the chance to show what His will is. Because we have our minds made up of how it should happen and things like that. So praying is one thing. You know, where the tape ended last week was I had turned to Colossians 4. Let's turn to Colossians 4. And look what Paul said, because as he worked with the churches there in Asia Minor, where the church was headquartered—not headquartered—where the church had moved to during that time, and those seven messages to the seven churches in Revelation, these epistles that we have, to the churches in the various areas that Paul would write to, in Colossians 4 he tells them something that maybe we have not talked about enough, you know, in our recent times.

Colossians 4 and verse 2, he tells us, continue earnestly in prayer. He puts the word earnestly. Have feeling behind it. Don't be going through the rote of it. Just continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. See those action words he puts in there? Be vigilant in it. Make it alive. Make it alive. Make yourself do it. God will bless your efforts if he sees that you really are wanting to pray the way he wants us to pray.

Meanwhile, he says, praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains. So what he's saying there is, you know, hey, it's great to pray for your local church. It's great to pray for your needs.

It's great to pray for those that are sick. It's great to pray, thy will be done. You know what? Keep in mind the greater work that God has. You know, because when he looks down, he's given us a work to do, and we do what we can in Jacksonville and Orlando and whatever area you're listening to us from today. But there's a greater work that he has. You know, in Matthew 24 it says, Christ says, this gospel will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. He says, go and make disciples of all nations.

There are commands he gives his church, so there's why it's more than just about you and me. It's more than just about Orlando and Jacksonville. Great to pray we should be praying for each other. But you know what? There's a wider work. There's a wider work and a greater work we need to be keeping in our prayers as well. And those prayers can be, as Paul said here, open the door. You know what? The prayers can also be, help those who have the decision-making, help them to see where the open doors are.

Help them to see where your will is, where you are leading, and where your guidance is. Because we can all learn a lot about what God's will is when we get our will out of the way and put God's will and seek it and seek it alone without filling in the blanks and letting him show us. So there is a work that we can be mindful of. And I know as we learn more about the work and what's going on, that energizes us as well.

The last few years, you know you've heard about the people in Angola who God has called. But no one knew this group of 5,000 or 6,000 was out there, but it's kind of like the time of Elijah, when God said, Elijah, there's still 7,000 who haven't bowed to Baal. It's not just you. And God's been working with us people over there in Angola for years. And I think it all excited us to see what God had done and how they were just there. And they know and understand exactly what we have. You heard about the people in Mizoram, India, same scenario. Not thousands of people, but hundreds of people that God has been working with.

That they understand the same things we have. So as we hear those things, pray for those people. Keep them in mind, because outside of the United States, while I'm sure our time is going to become more difficult going forward, people that don't live in the United States have a harder time, so much harder time.

If any of us went and lived in another country for even six months, believe me, we would come back and we would so appreciate the blessings that we have in the church, you know, just as far as how the church operates and what other people have to go through. So keep your brethren in mind. And once in a while, pray for the wider work.

I'm going to give you two more verses you can write down there. 2 Corinthians 1, 8 to 11. You know Paul talks about that. And also in Romans 15, 30 to 31. And as I go through those first three points, you know, one thing that could be kind of another mini-point, I guess, is sometimes, you know, it's good for us to write. To write. I mean, actually take out a pen and paper, right, and write down things. It's very easy in today's world to hop on our computers and get our keyboard out and just kind of type everything out, and it all goes in there, you know, easily.

It's got spell check for us. It's got grammar check for us. Even if we want to do that, you know, we have that. We put it in a computer and we can read it later. Tremendous tool. But you know what? To write things down. To actually engage our minds in writing the things down, the thoughts that we have. You know, as you read the Bible, you know, thoughts will come into your mind, and you'll think, I want to remember that thought.

It's not going to be there an hour from then, but if you take the time to, I'm going to remember that, I'm going to write that down on my tablet with my pen and my paper as we study, you know, and as we're in church, to take notes about things you hear, to actually write it down with pen and paper.

You know, it doesn't escape me at all that God, in Deuteronomy 17, told kings, and all of us here are future kings and priests, that he said, I want you to write down the words of this law. You know, he could have told them just memorize it.

The Jews did that back then, right? He didn't say just memorize it. He said, write it down. There is something when we write things down that engages the mind and makes it part of us. I don't understand all the psychology of it, but there have been studies done on it, and if we can just write some things, write some of the thoughts you have, even write out what you need to pray about. If you need reminders of, you know what, I haven't prayed for the work in recent times.

I need to go back and see, you know, these requests that come out, or what's in the United News, or what's in the other announcements that come out about what is going on in Angola, what is going on in Misurim, what's going on in South America, what's going on in these various areas. Sometimes you can go on the Good Works website, too, and you can kind of see some of the things and the needs of the work there, as well, of the people that are there.

You know, we might have to have reminders. And when I go into a prayer, I'm going to pray. There are so many people that we have on our prayer list anymore. We can forget half of them easily, right? Sometimes you want to adjust, and your prayer that day is going to be for everyone who needs prayers, for sickness, illness, problems in their home, situations they're dealing with.

You might just have that list. All you need is their name. And it will remind you of what you're going to pray for. Not wrong. Not wrong to do that. It's not showing God any disrespect. You know, when I go in, when I used to work, I would go in and talk to my boss. And even today when I go to the home office, I have a list of things that I want to discuss.

Because if I went there and I was up here, I'd come back and be like, we didn't talk about that, we didn't talk about that. You know what? We can do the same thing. Now, some prayers shouldn't be that way. They should just be flowing. But at times, it's not bad to have a list. Certainly not bad to have a notebook and write things down. It's part of what we do.

That's a point that will go along with the first three and some of the others as we go forward here, too.

The next one I want to talk about is one that we talk about, but in the world today, I think it's been really...the meaning of it has been lost. And that's meditation. Meditation, we read about it in the Bible. King David should pop into your mind because he meditated a lot. As you read through the Psalms, you see where David would meditate day and night. He would lay out under the stars, and he would meditate about God's creation, how good God is. He would meditate just about how his body was put together and what an amazing body God has given us to be able to do all the things that we're able to do.

And that would fan the flames. And David, when he would take the time to just think. We live in a world where we can be connected, and we are connected, 100% of our time. There's always a text that comes through. We all have our phones with us. We have emails. If we get bored, we can turn on the TV.

We can watch hundreds of channels all through the night. We can fill up our time and be very lazy about the time that God has given us. Meditation has to be something that we pay attention to, that we schedule, or that we make ourselves do. Because it's all too easy in a time to think, well, I've read today, I've studied today, I've prayed today, you know what, I'm just going to flip channels for the rest of the night, and I'm going to go to sleep, and whatever. But we do need to take the time for meditation. It is a quiet time.

And that means sometimes it's got to be scheduled. It's got to be away from family. Right? Can't meditate at the dinner table. Can't meditate while the TV is on, and you're sitting there with the rest of your family watching things. You've got to go away and meditate. You've got to make time for it. And if we're not meditating the way God wants us to meditate, we are missing something huge. Something huge in our spiritual life.

Meditation, you know, the studying that we do, the hearing of the word that we do, the reading of the word that we do, the praying that we do, all necessary.

But meditation helps it all tie together. You know, we have pieces out here, and pieces out here, and pieces out here. And when we meditate and we allow God to infiltrate our mind, and we yield our mind to Him, and purpose and ask Him to help us yield our mind to Him, you'll be amazed at how the dots are connected. You'll be amazed at the things that come into your mind.

You'll be amazed at how scriptures fit together, or answers that you've been seeking, you know, may come. Scriptures will come to your mind. It has to happen. Let's look at a couple verses on, well, maybe more than a couple verses on meditation. You know, we talk about it often, and often it gets confused in the world today with yoga and the Eastern form of meditation. The Eastern form of meditation isn't the meditation of the Bible. That isn't what God is talking about. It is a time that we clear our minds and allow God to His Spirit to work in our minds.

And just being quiet, you know, we talked about in James, you know, it's a time to be swift to hear. And meditation is a time for us to be swift to just listen and engage. Put the thoughts in our minds.

Maybe it's reading a scripture. Maybe it's forcing ourselves to begin something. But as God sees where our hearts are, you'll learn what meditation is. Here in Genesis 24, if we go all the way back, in verse 63, you know, Isaac has... Isaac is out here in the fields in verse 62.

And in verse 63, notice what it says. It says, Isaac, you know, the men of God meditated. I mean, not just David. Here it is in, you know, Genesis. Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening. He went away from his home. You know, maybe when we meditate, we go out to a park. Just sit on a bench. Maybe we go look at some water. Maybe we go into a forest.

Maybe we walk. We go to a quiet place where we can't be interrupted. You know, Jesus Christ, how many times we read that He would leave the apostles and He would go out to the garden. He was praying there, probably meditating during that time as well. Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening, and He lifted his eyes and looked, and there the camels were coming.

And so there was his wife. There she was. You know, at the time He was meditating. Over in Joshua. Joshua 1. And verse 8. As Joshua takes up the role of leader of Israel, as they're going to be marching into the Promised Land, God gives him some instructions, just like He gives us instructions as we march forward in our lives, as we progress toward the time that He has promised will come to us.

And in verse 8, He says, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. God will tell us that today. You know, you need to know this book of the law. You need to know the Bible. It shall not depart from your mouth. But you shall—not a suggestion—but you shall meditate in it, day and night, that you may observe to do all—that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

You shall meditate on it, Isaac. Read it. Study it. Meditate on it. Because that's the way you're going to be able to observe to do what it is. That's when the thing sinks into your heart, and it becomes part of you, and that you can apply it into your lives and realize, I've got to do it the way God says, and not just gloss over it, that you may observe to do all according—that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Well, God's pretty clear in those areas. Let's look at a few verses, other than the obvious ones in Psalms that we talk about often. In Psalm 4, Psalm 4 and verse 4, well, here's an admonition of the first sentence of Psalm 4 or verse 4 that many of us can take to heart. Be angry and do not sin. Meditate. Meditate within your heart, on your bed, and be still. Well, sometimes we have those sleepless nights. It could be a gift from God. Use the time to meditate. It's a choice we have to make. Notice he says, be still. Be still. Listen to that still, small voice that comes from meditation sometimes, not from the loud and boisterous other areas you may look at because a lot of the truth, a lot of what sinks into our mind can come through meditation. And I dare say, when we were first called and part of our first love was thinking about and contemplating what God had given us, the truth that we were understanding, and how it all fit together. And maybe we spent more time back then truly meditating the way God would want it to, and that's what motivated us. It has to be part of our lives today as well.

Psalm 19. In verse 14. So we can meditate in our bed, lying still. Psalm 19, verse 14. Notice a prayer that David has. We can ask God, teach us to meditate. If we don't know how, if we don't understand it, ask Him. He'll give it. He'll do it when He sees that's to the will of our heart. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord. My strength and my Redeemer. God asks, or David asks God, teach me. Let my meditation be pleasing to you. I'm doing it for you. Teach me how to do it. Lead me in that way. We can ask God and not just assume we know it. Because I daresay we probably don't know exactly what God had in mind when we learn to meditate. And He is a teacher. He is our teacher. He will show us. But He wants to know we want it. That's why He says, ask, and you will receive. He wants to deny us the things that He wants us to have when He sees it's our will to. But if we never ask and if we never try, then He knows what's in our heart as well. Psalm 49. Psalm 49 and verse 3. My mouth, my mouth shall speak wisdom. Now we know how, you know, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. My mouth shall speak wisdom. Now we remember wisdom is not only having the knowledge of God, but how to apply it into our lives. My mouth shall speak wisdom. And the meditation of my heart will give understanding. I will get it. I will understand it. And when I get it and I understand it, my mind changes. I follow God from then on because I get it. The meditation of my heart will give understanding.

Psalm 77.

Verse 10. And I said, this is my anguish, but I will remember... See what David is doing here? Now this is Psalm evasive. I'm remembering, just like it was told us in Revelation 2, verse 11. Verse 11. Surely I will remember your wonders of old. Sometimes when we meditate, we just think about what God has done. The creation, how it all fits so perfectly together. How there is no way that this world and this earth is the way it is without God. And the love that He had for all of mankind that He allowed us to be here and to enjoy it. I will remember the works of the eternal. I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your work. And I will talk of your deeds. So many things we can meditate on. You can go through the Bible. You can find things that you can meditate on that David meditated on and other people meditated on. God tells us what we can meditate on. We just have to make ourselves do it. It's not going to happen naturally, but you're going to have to get your mind off of one thing and do another in order for it to ever happen. Finally, let's read all of Psalm 1. The very first Psalm here, as the book of Psalms, one of the wisdom books is here, we learn so much about what a book is from this very first chapter. As we go through the book of Psalms and as you study it one by one, not just some of them are very short, but what is the meaning behind these Psalms? What is it that God is wanting us to know? This is wisdom that the men that he inspired to write these were. Psalm 1, That's not wisdom. If there's someone grumbling and complaining and, you know, always, you don't want to be in that, God's not going to bless us if that's the company that we're keeping. Now, 1 Corinthians 15, 33 says, Now, none of us can spend 24 hours in meditation, but it's the same concept that Paul talks about when he says, Pray without ceasing, right? It's not something we do once, and then a year later think, Oh, I haven't meditated for a while, we'll do it again. It will be something we build into our lives, and it becomes something that is just part of our daily, or part of our routine, if you will, of being with God with our heart.

The ungodly are not so. They're like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Well, that's an interesting few verses if we read those verses there. I think we want to be part of the godly, and not ungodly. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

We can add to our survival guide under the first point, meditate, and maybe put a little more time into thinking about what a meditation is, and building that into our lives. Another one, you should be able to follow where I'm going here. I'm remembering the first works, fasting. It's a word that probably we don't really like to hear, because it means that it's uncomfortable, we don't drink for a while, we don't eat for a while. Maybe that's what we think of in fasting, but because we have never really understood or seen the benefit of fasting in the way that God wants us to. I'll include that in thinking about this. Fasting is something that God says to do, and we know there's benefits from it. Throughout the Bible, there's the fasting that gets done. Maybe we need to ask ourselves, as I've asked myself, do I really know the benefits of fasting? Do I really fast the way that God wants me to? I can go through the process. I can go two or three days without food. At the end of those three days, do I feel the energy that God expects me to feel when I do that? Do I feel like the Spirit has been motivated, exercised? Do I feel alive, and do I feel really committed to do God's will because I've done it the way He says?

I don't know. I don't know. Well, actually, I do know. That's why I keep asking God, teach me to fast the way that you want me to fast. Help me to understand what it is that you wanted us to understand from fasting because it just doesn't seem like it's producing. I'll speak of myself what God would want it to produce. Let's look at Isaiah 58.

Isaiah 58 and verse 6. God gives a good definition of what the fast that He would like to have us have, and He puts it in words here in Isaiah 58. But we have to feel it in our heart. We have to put those words into our lives. We have to feel what God is writing here, and not just say, oh yeah, those are nice words. I do that when I fast. It's a matter of understanding, a matter of heart, having it become part of our heart. Is this not the fast that I've chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed grow free, and that you break every yoke. Now, those are words we've read. All those words have a deeper meaning than what we've had. There is something to meditate on. What do you mean? How do I fast that I loose the bonds of wickedness? Well, maybe we get that one a little bit. I don't know. I can be honest with you. On a fast day, I've never done that. I've never gone out and shared my bread with the hungry. I've never brought to my house the poor who are cast out. I don't even know that God wants us to do that, but there's a spiritual lesson in there, and something that He wants us to do. He doesn't put those words in there like that. He says, I've never done that. I've never done that. I've never done that. I've never done that. He doesn't put those words in there lightly. Is it not to share your bread that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked that you cover Him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh, the attitudes that He wants us to develop, the things that it should motivate us to do, to grow in the agape love that He wants us to grow, that when we're done fasting, we feel the need and the desire to do that. Is that the result of our fast? Is that the result of my fast? Do I feel that? Am I fasting the way that God wants us to? Because it's a tool that He gives us, a necessary tool. Christ Himself said, when He departed, as long as He was there with the disciples, they didn't need to fast. But when He departed, His disciples would fast. And so today we know that's part of what we need to do. Maybe we need to explore a little bit. How do we do that? Are we doing what God wants? Because look what He says. Look at the benefits. Then, He says in verse 8, then your light will break forth like the morning. Your healing will spring forth speedily. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. I mean, wow, those are tremendous benefits. Those are tremendous benefits when we fast the way God wants us to. I dare say, when we get to the point that we see those things happening in our lives after we fast, we're going to desire to fast a little more often because we're going to feel God in our lives. We're going to feel His presence. We're going to feel what it is that He wants us to do. But we have to develop that. We have to practice it. We have to practice meditation. We have to practice praying. We have to practice fasting. And every time, ask God, help me to fast the way that you want me to fast. Teach me what your will is. Teach me how to do it the way you designed it to be. Well, I think that's enough for fasting. Let's move to the next point here. And to move to the next point, let's go to James. James 1.

Locally, we just completed a study on the book of James. We'll look at a chapter of the first chapter, James 1, 22. But this is a point that we need to be paying attention to. Verse 22, Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. It's great to have all the knowledge, but you know what? We have to make ourselves do it. We have to get out of bed and do God's will. We have to get out of bed and do what God wants us to. We have to stop doing what we want and make ourselves do it.

And that takes discipline, and that takes setting the purpose and setting our minds that no matter what comes up today, this is what I'm going to do. I will find a place, and I will find the time to go out and meditate.

And I will stay there until I feel it. I will take the time to pray in a private place about whatever I'm going to pray. I will take the time to do it. I will clear my schedule when I have time, remembering that we have work, remembering that we have other responsibilities.

But we all have time in our days that we can do these things. We have to make ourselves do what we know to be right. Jesus Christ did it all for us when He died for our sins, but salvation is on us. He's opened the door, but He tells us, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We have to make ourselves do it. Be hearers. That might mean that we write down some goals. You might hear some things as we're talking about it and say, you know what? I've got to pay attention to that. I've got to write down some goals. Next week I'm going to do this, this, this. And then you've got to make yourself do it. Again, if we go back to the workplace, if you worked in a place, you have annual reviews, you have goals, and sometimes you've got to keep those goals in mind and make yourself do it.

That's where you ask God for the strength, but you've got to be the one doing it. And we've got to practice. We can't try meditation once and say, well, that didn't really do anything for me. I fast and I don't feel anything other than a little hungry and a little thirsty at the end of the day. And say, I give up on that, that's not working.

We've got to practice at it. We've got to ask God to help us grow, right? Grow in the grace and knowledge. Grow in the way God wants us to live. At the end of the book of James, James 5, verse 12, there's an above all, a few above all verses we're going to talk about here. You know, when the Bible says, above all, you know, doesn't mean above obeying God.

It doesn't mean above the Ten Commandments. But, hey, this is the stuff you do as you're living your Christian life. Verse 12 of chapter 5 of James, it says, But above all, my brethren, don't swear, by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no-no, lest you fall into judgment. Above all, do this. What he's saying is, you know what? If this is a problem that you've got, if you're always, if your language is not where it should be, if your yes isn't yes and your own is in no, and you're always using other language that the Bible says don't use because part of our purification process is our language becomes pure, too, and we weed out, weed out words and sayings and slang and euphemisms that are not part of what God has called us to.

He says, above all, do this. That means we have to make the choice. When it slips out of our mouth, we have to say, oh, man, I can't do that again. I've got to catch myself to do that and ask God for the strength. I can't do that anymore. But it takes our incentive. It takes us deciding to do that. God will give us the strength. He needs to see that we want that and that we're committed to it.

So, James says, above all, practice. Practice this way of life. Practice what God has called you to. Set goals. Write them down. Write down weaknesses that you have to remember. And ask God to help you with that, to remind you, to catch you when you do things that you no longer want to do. And when He catches you, repent. Repent and put it away. And don't do it anymore. Okay. Another one. Let's turn to Hebrews 10. Everyone could just remember we started 15 minutes late, so I'm going to go 15 minutes longer than I normally do.

Hebrews 10. Verse 24. A verse that we have heard. Probably when you heard me say Hebrews 10, you knew exactly where I was going to. It's a verse that we have to keep reminding ourselves of what God wants us to do. And as we remember the first works, as we do what God wants us to do, there's a reason this verse is in the Bible, and that He commands us to be together. Verse 24. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. There's that word, stir up.

Let us consider one another that we can stir up each other, that we can be a benefit to each other. There's only one way for that to happen. No, it's not going to happen if we all are sitting in our homes never seeing each other, if God called us and didn't make us part of a body that we learn things from each other of.

Verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Now, what that verse doesn't say, or that line doesn't say, it doesn't say, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together on the Sabbath day. That's just a command. Right now, the way God has determined for us in this time in 2020 is, a few of us can be together in a congregation, the rest of us are coming together before Him and assembling together by Internet.

And so, on Sabbath, that's just kind of what God expects. That's just the law. That's just His expectation. And we are together by Spirit, you know, today, as we have the 25, 30 people that are with us here today, and then the hundreds who are with us by the Internet. We're all together. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. But it doesn't say on the Sabbath, it says, just don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Get together. Get to know each other. One of the things we've been called to do is to learn to love each other and practice and grow in agape love. You know, that just doesn't happen, we're learning, on just the Sabbath day. If the only time we're together ever is on the Sabbath day, we're not going to become the people that Jesus Christ wanted us to become. No one will walk into our congregation if and when the time is that we're all together in one room again and say, Oh, look at that people. That's our identifying characteristic. They have love for one another. You know, that develops by time. More time than just on the Sabbath day. That's more time together, getting to know each other, getting to understand each other, paying attention to each other, understanding and bearing with each other in our weaknesses and in our faults, helping each other, not judging each other, looking down on each other and saying they should know better, helping each other do that. Just as Jesus Christ helps us and wants us to be in the kingdom, that's what we pray for each other.

And we love one another. So don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Today by Internet, you know, certainly not a plan thing, but these weekly Bible studies we have, to me they've been a blessing to be able to see you online. You know, I know we can't often. We have different schedules. To be able to see everyone online weekly has been a blessing to me. I hope it is to you. But it is one of those things that, you know, we have the opportunity to do it and we shouldn't forsake the assembling of ourselves together because if we're thinking, who needs that? Now we won't want to think of this verse because that's part of what God has called us to. You know, it's helpful to be able to hear others' comments and the questions and to be able to participate or just see each other is a wonderful thing. So don't do that. Don't forsake it, he says. Again, it's not a suggestion, he says. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some.

Now we all know, as is the manner of some, we know the some, you know, just by being around for a while. But he says in verse 25, But exhorting one another, always there to benefit, encourage, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. We're in a new day, brethren. We're in a new day. Now we see the day approaching. So more and more, God will give us the opportunities to be together. Don't forsake them. Because as a church, we need to learn how to love one another. We need to grow in that. We need to work with each other because, you know, when the time comes for Jesus Christ to return and the time leading up to it, oh, we will rely on God. But you know what? We're going to find strength in each other as well. When persecution comes and tribulation comes and people are attacking us because of what we believe, believe me, we will draw strength from one another. But we won't feel that strength at all if we don't know each other. If we haven't bonded together as a congregation, as a body around the world, we need that. We have to have it. Not my idea, it's God's idea. It's to what He proposed, and our job is to follow His will and do what He says and not superimpose our ideas or His will on His.

Ecclesiastes 4. Ecclesiastes 4.

Another one of the Wisdom Books. Verse 12.

Solomon writes, Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And we know that, right? You might be walking down the street being approached by someone. If you're by yourself, you probably feel kind of vulnerable. If you're there with someone, you might feel a little more secure and able to withstand what might be coming your way. Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.

Strength comes from the ropes and the binds that God puts us in. That we take the time, and we put together. God gives us the opportunity, but it's us who has to make the sacrifice. It's us who has to make the time. It's us who has to be there to become one with one another, as well as one with God, the Father, and Jesus Christ. It's our job to do that. It's our job to do the things and yield to what God's will is. So, you know, one or two, we can look at that with each other, right? And just think, if God is that third strand, that third strand of that cord, how powerful is that rope at that time? When brethren are bound together and God is part of it, and they're bound to him as well. One with each other, and one with God. A three-fold cord is not quickly broken. A couple of above-all-else verses. Let's turn to 1 Peter. 1 Peter 4.

Peter. You know, he certainly wasn't minimizing obeying God. He wasn't minimizing obedience of the Ten Commandments. He wasn't minimizing anything. But as he looks at the profitable servant, the man of God, in verse 8 of 1 Peter 4, he says, And above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Above all things have fervent love for one another. God expects us to be developing agape. That can only come from being together, practicing to being together, getting to know each other, and sacrificing for one another. We can't minimize that. We know that Jesus Christ loved us because he gave his life for us. What do we do to sacrifice for each other? Do we ever think of that? Just a couple of books back here in Hebrews 13 and verse 16. It says, Don't forget to do good and to share. Those are works that we do, things that we do. Don't forget to do good and to share. For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.

We can sacrifice our time for one another. Sometimes we can sacrifice and pick up the phone and talk to someone who we know needs to be talked to or wants to talk, who may be feeling alone, especially in a time that we are more or less homebound, many of our elderly. It's good to pick up the phone and sacrifice. Give them the sacrifice of an email or a text or whatever it is.

Sacrifice. Think of them. Do whatever it is. We have some among us who are disabled. They need some help sometimes. That's a sacrifice to help them. God says, They're here. Look at what they need. Do it for them. Sacrifice for them. And when we sacrifice, that love will build. The only way to build a gape is to do things and to make the choice to do it. Because it doesn't always come naturally. We can all make excuses of, I don't have time for this, I don't have time for that. We've got to do it. We've got to make ourselves do it. Well, we read one in 1 Peter. Let's look at Colossians. Colossians 3. This is Paul. He has an above all or else verse as well relating to the same thing.

Colossians 3. And verse 14.

But above all these things, Paul is right. Above everything else, it doesn't mean above the Ten Commandments and obeying God and all those things that we know we need to do. But you need to do this. Above all these things, put on a gape, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

When we develop that gape, when we see it in each other, when we feel it, it will be visible to us. We will know as a congregation and as a people we've become or are becoming what God wants us to become. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes our sacrifices. It takes our commitment to do it.

We've got to do it. We've got to do it if we want to be there and stand and be standing when Christ returns.

Okay, just a couple more and then I'm not going to get into my second point today. We'll do that next week, though. Let's turn to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles 20.

Here's one we may not have thought about. But as we're talking about fanning the flame of the Spirit, as we see these successes, when we see our ways prospering, not monetarily, but our ways prospering in the way that we look at each other and the way we feel with each other and the bonds that we have and the excitement that we have about the church, about God, about what His plan is, when we see those things happen, that's what prospering and that's what success is. That's what's going to fan the flames. Here's another way we see in 2 Chronicles 20. We open the chapter here in the first five verses. We see King Jehoshaphat. He was one of the good kings. He's faced with a terrible situation, an army that can easily overwhelm his people at that time. We might find ourselves in a similar situation somewhere down the road, that we can easily be overwhelmed by this group of people who hates us, who doesn't want to hear our message, who wants to do, that can shut us down, that can end the internet, that can end our ability to meet together in a rented hall, or any things that could come among us. It could be daunting. With Jehoshaphat, it was an army. Let's look at the first few verses here in 1 Corinthians 20.

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon and others with them besides the Anamanites came to battle against Jehoshaphat. And some came and told him, saying, A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria, and therein hazes on Tamar. And Jehoshaphat did what comes naturally, right?

Whoa! Whoa! That looks daunting. He was a little bit afraid. Just like we might be a little bit afraid when some things happen to us down the road. He might take us a little bit by surprise and think, oh, it's here. Jehoshaphat feared, but look what he did. He set himself. That means he made the decision. It occurred to him, seek God, and set himself to seek the Eternal, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. He knew what the benefits of fasting were and said, you know, here's what we have to do.

I'm kind of afraid of what I see out here. The only answer is God. We live in that time today. Our only answer is Jesus Christ. There is no answer in this world to the problems that face us even today, much less the problems that are going to appear, you know, from here on out.

He set himself to seek the Lord. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And so Judah together asked help from the Eternal. And from all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. And then in verse 5, Jehoshaphat prays a beautiful prayer. We're laying it out to you, God. You are our help. You are our rock. You need to show us the way. You need to help us through this.

Let's drop down to verse 13. When he's done with the prayer, he says, All Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, they stood before God. They stood there as a united people. We're seeking God. We're not looking outside. We're not looking for all these other things we can do. We are focused on God. He will be the one to deliver us. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehoshaphat, the son of Zechariah, and on and on. Verse 15, and he said, Listen, all you of Judah and the habitus of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, Don't be afraid or dismayed, because of this great multitude.

For the battle is not yours but God's. You know, it will do us good that down the road to realize the battle is not ours, it's God. If we're going to rely on our resources, if we're going to look to the world around us and say, I'm going to fight the battle this way, and I'm going to use this resource, this resource, this resource, we will fail. The resource is God. The rock is God. And the prophet here told them that, Don't be.

This battle is not yours but God's. And as we go through these trials, we have to train ourselves. Look to God. Trust in Him. Rely on Him. Tomorrow, he says in verse 16, go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jerul.

You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves. Stand still and see the salvation of the Eternal, who is with you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don't fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them, for the Eternal is with you. Pretty stirring words. And it did stir up the people. Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Eternal, worshipping Him.

And the Levites and the children of the Chorathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high. So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of T'koa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah, and you, it happens as of Jerusalem.

Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established. You want to stand? Believe in God. Believe His prophets, and you shall prosper. Don't be looking off. Don't be doubting like Peter did when he looked off, when he was walking on the water. Keep your eyes on Him. Keep your eyes on the truth, and you will prosper. And when he was consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and were saying, Praise God, for His mercy endures forever.

What did they do? They sang to God. They assembled there together, and they sang. And when they began to sing, verse 22, and to praise, God set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were defeated. They sang to God, and that singing motivated them. Perhaps you remember when Paul and Peter were in prison. What did they do when they found themselves in an untenable situation?

They sang hymns to God. In Colossians, we're told, sing psalms with one another. Sing to God. And you know, singing to God, sometimes in the middle of the night, when you sing to God, when you just find those hymns that we sing at services pop into your head, and you just sing to God, you feel the energy.

You feel the closeness to God. When you look at the words that we sing, and you sit there and lay there on your bed, or as you're walking through someplace and just find yourself singing, don't discount that. Listen to those words. Pay attention to those words. Go ahead and sing to God. I don't mean out on the street corners with people watching, but sing to God. He appreciates the praise. And sometimes it's through prayer, sometimes it's through meditation, sometimes it's by talking to others about what God has done, sometimes it's just singing to Him. He makes singing part of our worship service to Him.

Don't discount it. Don't neglect it. Singing lifts our mood. God created music. And it does motivate—and we see even David, you know—he was motivated by music and praising God. So if you're having a hard time, something else, get out the hymnal and just start singing. Just start singing to God. And look at the words that are there. And that can be something that can rev up your heart and fan the flames of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm. Let's look at Psalm. Psalm 27.

Psalm 27, verse 6. The Psalm of David.

Notice what he says. He says, And now my hands are up above my enemies all around me. Therefore I will offer the sacrifices of joy in his tabernacle.

Here's a sacrifice I'll bring to God in his tabernacle. I will sing. Yes, I will sing praises to God.

You can mark down in Hebrews 13, verse 15. It says the same thing. Offer the sacrifice of praise to God.

Singing is one way to do it. You'll feel. You'll feel the Spirit stirred up and flamed in you.

Last one, and I'll go through it very quickly here, is, and I would be remiss in not saying it, we have to be grateful, right? We have to be grateful people. We have to be thankful to God for what he's done, and we have to remember all the benefits that he's given us. You know, an old song when I was growing up in the church, and I wish it was still in the hymnal actually, was, Count Your Blessings. And I still remember the words that day, and sometimes when I'm laying it on my bed at night, I'll think, Count Your Blessings, name them one by one, and it will amaze you what the Lord has done. You probably, many of you, remember that song. And it was a good song to remember. It's a good thing to have, because when we count our blessings, and when we praise God and thank him for the many things that he does, boy, it does lift our spirit, and we realize how good he is. Sometimes we can feel pressed down, we can feel overwhelmed, we can feel depressed. When we start counting our blessings, our spirit will be elevated, and our closeness to God, we'll find ourselves closer to God. Let's look at Philippians 4 and verse 5. Paul doesn't use the words, above all else, in these verses, but what he says is, above all else.

Let's look at verse 5, though, to begin here in chapter 4. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. The time of Jesus Christ is imminent. It's coming. Be anxious for nothing. Don't fear. But in everything, by prayer, using that tool, and supplication, fervent prayer, and the various kinds of prayer that we would offer to God.

And he says, with thanksgiving, right? But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. He could have put it in there, and above all else, in your prayers, be thankful to God. Honor Him. Praise Him. Give Him thanks for what He has. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And all understandings will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So I'm going to stop there. So our point one for a survival guide to the end times is, we've got to continually fan the flames of the Holy Spirit. And there, buried in verse 7, is the second point that we will talk about next week.