Where Your Attention Goes Your Energy Flows!

And God led me to begin this sermon with a discussion about a dump truck. Now, doesn't that sound inspiring, ladies? We're going to talk about a dump truck. Not just any dump truck, but the world's largest dump truck. It's the Caterpillar 797F dump truck. Now, Dave probably enjoys this. He probably like to work on that animal.

This thing, when it is sitting, without moving, is two stories high. Two stories high. When the dump mechanism is fully extended upwards, it sits five stories high at its height. Payload. Now, this truck is used for mining operations in this country. It clears away what's called the overburden, when they're blowing things up, when they've got all that rubble, they've got to cart that off. And so this truck was designed to take that away. Their capacity, the capacity of these trucks, is 400 tons. Now, I say 400 tons to you, that means absolutely nothing.

It means absolutely nothing to me. So I was trying to figure out, how can I explain this in a way that you might understand it? And I got to thinking about my wife's car, since we've been spending so much time together. Mary loves driving a Volkswagen Beetle. And if you're looking at the weight of her car, not the volume, but the weight of her car, that dump truck would hold 277 Volswagens. 277. Fully weighed in at the truck plus the load would be almost 1.4 million pounds.

Now, you wouldn't want to take that truck to the gas station. Number one, it would crush all the concrete under it. But secondly, the fuel capacity is 1,000 gallons. And fully making its way at top speed, loaded, this truck moves at 42 miles an hour. It's quite a lot to be pushing for 1.4 million pounds.

But it does have almost 3,800 horsepower. Dave would love to have 3,800 horsepower, not Volvo of his. But you know, brethren, as powerful as that truck is, that truck doesn't do anything until somebody gets in the cab, starts the engine, puts it in gear, and steps on the gas.

It just sits there until the power is used. You and I are fortunate that God has called us to his church, and God has given us tremendous power. But that power is no good to any of us in this room, unless we put that power into action, until we put that power, God's Holy Spirit, in gear. And then you and I can do something with the power God has given us. So if you like to take notes, and you want to take notes on this message today, here is the theme of the sermon today.

Where your attention goes, your energy flows. Where your attention goes, your energy flows. If you think about that, brethren, that's a very, very true statement. Because in our lives, we pay certain attention to various things in our lives. And as you and I pay attention, as we prioritize things in our lives, then the energy of our lives, the power of our lives, goes that direction. So I've got three points here for you today. Number one, if we want to have the energy going to the proper location, number one, we need to pay attention to godly priorities.

Pay attention to godly priorities. If we do that, then our energy will flow into those priorities. Let's ask some questions. Does our attention and therefore our energy flow toward God and the things of God? Or does our attention and therefore our energy flow toward the world and the things of the world? Now, none of us has a free pass on this. All of us have got to take stock on where our attention is, where our energy goes in life.

No one is exempt from doing this and doing this properly. It's so easy when we're at the feast. We're energized by services every day. We're energized by special music. We're energized by being with the brethren. The gathering of God's people and the gathering of God's Holy Spirit is an energizing experience for every one of us. But we come back to our regular life.

We come back to getting up early, getting ready for work, going to work, working hard, the rat race that sometimes work is. In some cases, the backstabbing you've got to put up with the politics you've got to put up with work. Then, maybe the long commute back home, taking care of the house, taking care of the kids, or whatever. Before you know it, the day can be spent. Maybe you said in the morning, I just don't have time for my spiritual disciplines.

You say, I'll get to it later in the day. As you all know, as we all have been guilty, sometimes those things never get done. Let's take a look over here at Mark 1. Here we see the beginning of Jesus Christ's ministry, Mark 1. Was Jesus Christ a busy person? Did he have a lot on his agenda, a lot on his schedule? Was he busier than us? Well, the answer to that is yes. As he began his ministry, I'm just going to paraphrase or discuss some of the background here before I get to the heart of what I want to cover in this chapter.

There's a great deal in this chapter. Incidentally, when we start our in-home Bible studies, we'll be going through the book of Mark. But here in Mark 1, verse 25, we see where a demon confronts Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is beginning his ministry. Now, we're not told in this narrative whether the demon had been there as a member of that synagogue for some time or he just came there that day.

But in any case, we realize here's Satan trying to do his best to throw a monkey wrench into the work of God. We see in verses 30 through 34, great healings were taking place. Let's just take a look at verse 33. The whole city was gathered together at the door, then he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons and did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him. Brethren, this is draining work. I don't know how often you've dealt with demons. I've had the occasion to do that from time to time. This is a very draining endeavor to do this. Jesus Christ, of course, was full of God's Spirit. He was God in the flesh. We drop down to verse 36, and Simon and those who were with him searched for him because Christ was not to be found.

When they found him, verse 37, they said to him, everyone is looking for you.

So here we've got an individual, Jesus Christ, in tremendous demand, doing very important work. And remember this, brethren. Remember this. Jesus Christ had to fulfill every Old Testament prophecy about his first coming. He had to be busy to do that. He had to train the men, train the disciples. He had to start the New Testament church. He was a very busy man. So when we are face to face with God the Father of Jesus Christ, we can't say, well, you know, I was just so busy.

You know, where's our attention? Where's the energy flowing in our life? If we're not praying and studying and doing those things, where is our attention? Where is the energy in our life? But notice, I skipped one verse here. Let's go back to verse 35. Mark 1.35. Now in the morning, having risen a long while before the daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place, and there he prayed.

Man who worked long hours, difficult hours, stressful hours, got up a great while before the daytime when there were no distractions, when he was able to think clearly, and before anything would be distracting him from that day, he went to a solitary place where he could find time to pray. So brethren, let's make it a point, you and I, all of us, to allow our attention to be on the great priorities of life. And the great priorities of life are our spiritual disciplines. Pay attention to our spiritual and our godly priorities.

Brian Tracy is a popular time management expert. He wrote a book entitled, Eat That Frog.

You're not going to do that, and I'm not going to do it. We might read the book. We're not going to eat the frog. But Brian Tracy said this. He said, there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things.

There is always enough time to do the most important things.

When I was a young man at Ambassador College back in the early 70s, I went to Ambassador Club, you fellows who have been to Spokesman's Club, same thing, same manual, just a different name.

But in one year, I think it was my second year in college, I would have been 19, we had Dr. Herman Hay as our evaluator, overall evaluator. And he got on the subject of priorities. And one of the things he said, and I've never forgotten this, he said, fellows, you need to be able to practice the art of selective neglect. The art of selective neglect.

Now, some of you ladies think your husbands do that all the time.

They get a honeydew list, and they're practicing the art of selective neglect. They're going to do, they want to do on that list and not do your stuff.

But that made a real impression on me, because as we go through life, there's a lot of things we want to do. But there are certain things we just simply have to not do, because other things are more important. In your notes, you might want to jot down Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1.

I'm going to read this from the God's Word translation. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1. Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under the heaven.

Everything has its own time, its own attention, its own energy.

If you would, brethren, turn over to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. Here in verse 11 through 14.

We, you and I, we want to recognize the urgency of the times we're living in.

We are about to elect a new president. And as I've mentioned to you in the past, as you well know, whoever wins this election in terms of being a president will be the most unpopular new president this nation will ever have elected. Each of the candidates has their own issues, their own baggage, and certainly, as I made mention last week in Chicago, I'm not about to vote for either one of these two individuals. I don't feel either one of these two individuals is qualified, but even if one of them I felt was qualified, I still wouldn't vote, and here's the reason for that.

God is going to put into office who he wants to put into office.

And there are times God doesn't want the best person in office. And if I think I'm voting for the best person, but God wants the other guy or the other lady to be in, why would I want to fight God and what God wants to have happen? So I'm going to let God take care of that. I'm going to let God put in office who he wants to put into office. Next time I'm here together with you, we're going to start going through the book of Daniel, a tremendous book. And there you've got an individual who was living during and living and helping to rule, not politically, but as an advisor under two of the greatest world-ruling empires that ever existed.

And we'll talk about that as we go through, starting next week, the book of Daniel. But let's take a look here about our having a sense of urgency, Romans chapter 13 verse 11.

And do this knowing the time. Brethren, it is time for us to appreciate where we are, where this nation is in prophecy. I feel very strongly that we are going right now into the teeth of prophecy. Our nation is going down. And it's just a matter of how much time does God want to give his church to get the job done that God has given us to do. So we need to know the time that now it's high time to awake out of our sleep.

Now it's high time to wake out of our sleep. You know, the Sardis church was a church that was called dead. The Laodicean church was a church that was lukewarm. They were unaware of their true spiritual state. We have taught, and I certainly believe, in the church eras. But we've also taught that there are people from all seven eras in every era, historically speaking.

So today, in whatever era we may be in—and I frankly think we're in the Laodicean era myself— today, in this era, this epoch of time we're in, we've got those in the church who are Sardinian. We've got people who are dead spiritually. Oh, they come and they warm a seat. But they're not alive. We've got people who are Laodicean in nature, who think that they've got it made kind of self-righteously. But they are really unaware that they're naked, and so forth, as the Bible says. So it's high time for us to awake out of whatever sleep we're in.

For now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Many of you in this room came into the church years and years ago. This is a seasoned group of people that I'm speaking to. Some of you have been in a church for many more years than I've been. I came into the church back in the mid-60s, and some of you were in the church way before that. So it is time. You know, from a time that we were first called to, now we're much closer. Salvation is near.

When I graduated from ambassador, I went back home to my hometown of Detroit, Michigan, and I was a member of the Detroit East Church back in the worldwide Church of God days. Back then, the Detroit East Church was about 375 people. We had a number of churches in the Detroit area. On Holy Days, we would have 1,200 people come together for a Holy Day. Now that's a feast site. Now that's one of our bigger feast sites. That was just a Holy Day back home in Detroit.

The one Sabbath, one of our bachelors picked up three siblings. All three were teenagers. It was two young boys and a young girl, brothers and a sister. Came to services. Services came and went.

It was time to go home. When this gentleman took the three with him, pulled out of the parking lot, he was hit broadside and killed instantly. Only a matter of feet from where he had been worshiping just a short time before. None of the kids wore seatbelts. The boys and their sister were thrown throughout the car. The two boys, both of their spleens burst on impact. The young girl, their sister, I was called to anoint her. I don't remember now if they went to separate hospitals, but I don't know who anointed the boys. I was not called to anoint them, but I was called to anoint their sister. I remember going to the place where she was, and her face was just one set of cuts after another young girl who was 15 years old at the time, 15 or 16. And I actually prayed. I said, Father, please allow this young lady to be healed and never to have a scar on her face.

You know, God healed her, and there has never been a scar on her face.

But when she has had dental work done and they've done x-rays, she says, Mr. D, you should see my x-rays. It looks like a mask with nothing but fractures all through.

But the three of them were spared. They're all healthy right now. They're all doing well right now.

But again, brethren, that could happen to any of us as we leave this building. That's why when we give our closing prayer, we ask for a safe passage home for each and every one of us.

Verse 12, Romans 13, 12, the night is far spent. We're deep into the dark of this world.

Brethren, this world is so dark. You know, as you're aware, I just had twin granddaughters born, and you've been praying for them. They were both born. They were both less than two pounds when they were born. They were three months premature. One pound 13 ounces, one pound 14 ounces. One was 12 inches, one was 14 inches. For a while there, you know, it was kind of touch and go. Both had heart murmurs. Not that that's real uncommon, but now they're home. They're just little twin girls, identical twins. They're six pounds. They're healthy. They're doing what little girls do that are that age. They're being born on July the 11th.

But, you know, when I think about them growing up and the kind of world they're going to grow up in, I remember not too many years ago there was a parade in one of our American cities, and one of the local girls was on a float, and she I think was some sort of a beauty queen or something or other. One of the guys, just not one of the guys, but a guy jumped into the street in front of the float with an Uzi and just raked that float full of bullets, killing her instantly.

When they arrested him, they said, why did you do that? He said, well, I'm a part of the gang, and I need a rep. I need a rep. So, but to get his reputation, he took somebody's life.

I truly believe that there are those in this country now who are growing up who have no conscience at all. None. We live in dark times, brethren. We need to know the times in which we're living. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. This world needs our example. We're not perfect people.

We're sinful people. That's why we go to Passover every year. That's why we're so thankful to go to the Passover every year, because we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Verse 13, let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. Let us walk properly. So, brethren, let's make it a point that we pay attention to where we're at, and we let our energies flow to our prayers, to our fastings, to our study, so we can be the people God wants us to be. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 and 16.

See that you walk circumspectly, and not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil, redeeming the time. Brethren, let me ask you a question. I'm going to say this at the outset. I have been guilty of this. Maybe you've been guilty of this. But have you and I allowed ourselves to be controlled by our circumstances? Do we find ourselves like a ping-pong ball? Something happens in life, we react. Something else happens in life, we react to that.

With God's help, we need to make sure we're living life differently than that. We don't want to be going through life always reacting to the world around us. We want to set sail the way God would have us live our lives properly, redeeming the time. You know, Mary and I just have moved into a brand new house. Lovely home. But that home can burn down. We can buy another house.

You know, the car that we drive. I can get in an accident. I can get another car.

But the time you have right now, the time I have right now, if somebody wastes our time... And, brother, let me say this. One of the greatest things Satan loves to do is waste our time.

If there's something in your life where your time is being wasted and your energy is being dissipated because your attention is on something of no consequence, you and I don't get that time back. That's time that has come. That's time that it's gone.

As you know, I've not always been in the ministry. When I graduated from Ambassador College back in 1974, I moved back home to Detroit for two years. I was a warehouse manager, and then for eight years I was in sales. I was your proverbial road warrior back in those days. We're talking ancient times. We're talking the late 70s, the early 80s. I covered the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, mostly just Chicago and Illinois. How long ago was that for our young people?

There were no cell phones. There were no laptops. There wasn't any internet.

I drove 60,000 miles a year, not counting the miles I flew. But my one sales manager, when I was given this territory, he said, Randy, and he sat me down, I said, listen, that was a young man in my early 30s. He said, your sales time is valuable time.

If you're lucky, you might get four, maybe five hours a day to sit in front of a decision maker, a key decision maker, to make a presentation, to sell your product. That individual you're talking to, they've got things to do. They've got their own things that they've got to take care of, paperwork, this, that, and the other. They've got other people to see. They want their lunch break, and so on and so forth. So your income, your ability to feed your family, rests on you understanding that every minute of sales time is valuable. Don't waste any of it. I've never forgotten that because that's true for us on our Christian walk with God. Time is valuable. If we squander it, we're actually squandering our relationship with God, and we don't want to do that.

Matthew 6. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33. You know this well. Matthew 6, 33.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Seek the kingdom of God. Seek that first. Let that be our priority. Let that be where our attention is, and if our attention is there, our energy will flow there. The word seek in the Greek is a present imperative. It's a command to fulfill a continuing task, to seek continually, and we're to seek his righteousness, to live as God lives, to seek total loyalty to him, total commitment to him. Not to any man, not to any organization, but to God and Jesus Christ. To God and Jesus Christ. I'm about to make a statement that I think really gets to the heart and core of the sermon today.

If we go through life attempting to assign the appropriate amount of time to the kingdom of God and our worship of God so that we can figure out how much time we have left for other activities, then we reduce Christ's lesson that he gives us here as a lesson in sequencing, as a lesson in planning. Is that what we want in a relationship with God?

I would have to admit that too many times in my life past when I was a younger Christian, that's kind of how I looked at things. I assigned Christ a time frame. I assigned God a time frame.

Question. Is that how you view your wife? Is that how you view your husband? Is that how you view your children or grandchildren? Do you assign them a frame of time? Or do you want to spend as much time with your maid, as much time with your children, as much time with your grandchildren as you possibly can? We want to spend as much time with God as we possibly can.

We want to be thinking about what is his mind? What is his will? How would he do things? What would Christ say at this time? How would Christ act at this time? And just let our whole mind and being be absorbed in that. Years ago, again, when I was a younger minister, I was in an area where we had an older minister. He was not employed by the church, but everybody always paid very close attention to what he said. He was a man of profound wisdom. And people would make a comment, and we would all have our various thoughts. And with him, it was always the same thing.

Well, what would God do right now? What would Jesus do right now? What is a Bible? What principles can we bring to bear on this situation right now? I always thought that did a really good job of shutting me up. You know, it doesn't make a difference what Randy Delosandro thinks or wants to do or what I'm opining. It's what does God want? What does Christ want? What does the Bible say?

Put God first. Focus on Him first. Put our attention there first. Then our energy will flow there.

So, point number one, let's pay attention to our godly priorities. Point number two, let's analyze the challenges we have.

Let's analyze the challenges we have. We want to put the proper amount of attention on the things that need attention, really need attention. So, our energy, so God's energy in us flows that direction.

Questions. Does the challenges of our life draw us closer to God and thought indeed? Or do the challenges draw us closer to worldly thinking and action?

What do the challenges of light, where do they take us?

You know, do we have somebody at work that we just like to punch their lights out?

I had that, you know, when I was first out of Ambassador College, I worked in the warehouse. I was a warehouse manager. And for whatever the reason, the office manager of that company, it was a furniture company, she hated my guts. And I don't know why.

But every time I'd walk into the office, she would find some reason, you know, all five foot four of her, little thing that she was, stand there almost on my feet, almost pounding on my chest, yelling at me. And boy, that just really rubbed me the wrong way. And that went on for a year and a half.

Every day, every day, it's kind of like the girl that followed Paul, barking out at them.

Finally, Paul said he got annoyed. Well, I got annoyed at her real quick. The day that I walked in, found she had quit. All right. Didn't have to, you know, work so hard on my attitude. A group of people were asked to write down some of the things that caused stress in their lives. Here are some of the things that these folks said. It says, at the moment, the most stressful things for me are dealing with my health issues and feeling worthless because they can no longer do what I used to do. Anybody relate to that? I think some of us relate to that. Is that one of our challenges? It's one of my challenges. You know, as I was coordinating the feast this year in O'Connell Walk, people would come up to me and want to give me one last announcement or say one last thing before I went upstage to do announcements. And invariably, they'd walk up to me and talk to me in my deaf ear. And so I've got to turn around to hear them. And then I turn around and they turn around, so we're kind of doing a minuet there. You know, I wish I wasn't nearly deaf in my left ear, but I am. If when I sit down, we go to a restaurant like after services tonight, where does Randy Del Sandra? I need to sit where you're on this side of me. Because if you're on this side of me, I'm not going to hear hardly anything you say. Another person said, I tend to worry over a matter.

Any worry warts here? I tend to worry over a matter. What if this happens or what if that happens? Or how can I solve this? So I worry over problems. Real or not real? The job status, money, my anger. I worry about all those things. You know, Mark Twain once made the comment. He said, of all the things that I've worried about in my life, he said none of those things ever came to pass.

One person wrote, I take on things I feel I can't handle. I don't know how to say no and say that's too much for me right now. I stress over everything.

So here's a person choking over life's activities. Another person writes, it's very hard for me not to be able to please everyone, so this causes stress in my life. So again, here's a person who's reacting like that ping pong ball. Let's take a look at Philippians chapter 4. What we're looking at, brethren, is proper thinking. If we're going to make sure that our energy, God's energy in us, His Holy Spirit is flowing to the proper priorities, we're taking care of business, spiritual business properly, we need to have a positive mindset.

Now, what we're about to look at here in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8, the apostle Paul wrote this. The apostle Paul was not a Pollyanna. He was not a, you know, goody two-shoes. He was not a Holy Joe. The apostle Paul was the same guy who had been beaten many times, who'd been stoned many times, been thrown in jail. You know, he knew the darkness of life. But notice what he says here, and I want to bring this up as well, brethren. Sometime in the future, I'll go through and give this verse as a whole sermon. People say, boy, I wish we had more spiritual conversation on the Sabbath. Every church I've ever passed, or people come to me invariably at some point, say, Mr. D, we need to have more spiritual conversation in this congregation. Every congregation feels that way. Well, here's something we can do about it.

Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, are just, are pure, whatever things are lovely, have good report. If there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

So we're meditating. We're thinking about these things. These things are going over and over in our heart and mind. Like David, we're on our beds at night. We're thinking about spiritual principles. We're thinking about how this principle works, interacts with this principle, you know, kind of the mechanics of it all. We're meditating on that. Now, how does that give us better spiritual conversation on the Sabbath? Well, in your notes, jot down Matthew 12.34.

Matthew 12.34. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If we're meditating on the things that it says here in chapter 4 and verse 8 of Philippians, if this is what's in the heart and core of our being, then it's going to come out of our mouth. We're not going to have to worry about, you know, an artificial conversation on the Sabbath, because we're thinking about all these wonderful things. And when I give the sermon on this, we'll go through what each of these things, what does it mean to talk about what things are true? What does it mean to talk about things that are noble? We'll go through that in that sermon. So we want to focus positively on what God has been doing for us. That's a part of analyzing the challenges at hand. Mark 10, verse 27. But Jesus looked at them and said, With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible.

What challenges are before you right now? Where are you standing at the foot of your Mount Everest?

Do you think that you're facing a challenge that just can't be beat?

Well, if you are feeling overwhelmed, brethren, that's why the Bible says that the scriptures are there for our edification. The scriptures are there for our comfort. Because we've got a whole book full of people who could have felt overwhelmed by their circumstance.

They could have felt that their circumstance was an impossible circumstance.

Noah, do you have issues with people? Maybe at work or a neighborhood? Do you have a rock band next door? Issues of people? Noah took on the whole world and was successful with God's help.

Do you have feelings where you feel insecure? Maybe you don't feel secure with your job? Maybe you don't feel secure with your level of income? There's issues of security. Maybe you feel threatened? Maybe you live in an area where maybe it's not as safe as it once was?

Abraham had issues with security, and yet Abraham left everything he knew because of his faith in God and was able to overcome. Do we have issues with health? Again, I think probably most of us in this room do. Sarah, Abraham's wife, had a baby when all thought that was impossible.

Do we have issues with government? Well, every April 15th, I think we all do. Issues with government? Moses took on the mightiest nation of his day. I mean, we can go on and on and on.

Do you feel guilty about what you've done in your past?

Do you feel guilty about... do you walk around with a ball and chain around your ankle with guilt?

Now, Brother Guilt, as I've said in the past, guilt's a good thing. Guilt brings us to repentance, but after it's done that, we need to jettison the guilt. How about Rahab? I'm sure Rahab had issues with her past, and yet she's in the Hall of Fame of Faith. So keep those things in mind.

Keep those things in mind.

Let's look at Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians chapter 3.

We're talking about analyzing the challenges, making sure we're properly paying attention to them in a proper way. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you are also called in one body, and be thankful. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Brethren, is God's peace ruling in your heart? Do you have peace right now? To what degree do you have peace right now?

Well, Mr. D, I've got horrible circumstances in my life right now.

Is that what makes for a peaceful heart, having tranquil circumstances in our life? Let's take a look at John chapter 16 for a moment.

John chapter 16. John chapter 16 verse 32.

Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, and now has come, that you will be scattered each to his own, and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

Interesting the way Jesus Christ looked at peace.

Chapter 17 is a chapter we read virtually the whole thing on Passover evening. Why is that? Because we're now looking at a time just before Christ is going to be tortured.

Crucified. Horrible circumstances are about to take place in his life, and yet he's talking about peace. You see, brethren, sometimes I think we believe that happiness and peace are synonymous.

That's not the case at all. Peace is a relationship we have with God, regardless of our circumstance. Notice what Christ says here.

And yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.

He had peace because of his relationship with the Father.

Verse 32. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation. Notice the relationship there.

You're going to have hard times. Your circumstances are going to be wretched, but because you have a relationship with me, you can have peace.

And even joy. Again, people think joy and happiness are the same thing. The Bible talks about how for the joy that was set before him, Christ endured the cross.

It wasn't a happy thing, but he had joy because of his relationship with the great God. Point number one was let's pay attention to our godly priorities. Point number two, let's analyze the challenges we have at hand.

And number three, as we're paying attention to our energy and where it's flowing, our attention where the energy is flowing. Number three, bring to bear the power of God's Spirit. Bring to bear the power of God's Spirit in our lives.

God's Spirit transforms us. We don't do it ourselves. If we do it ourselves, and we're a do-it-yourself Christian, and that's not any good, we've got to be a Christian where God transforms us.

There's an interesting section of Scripture we've read so many times. I want to turn back to it. Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2.

Romans 12 verse 1 and 2. Romans 12 verse 1 and 2.

Romans 12, 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

So this is what God expects of us here in verse 1. Now how do we do that?

Verse 2. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

A transformation.

A metamorphosis is what the Greek word is here. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So it is through this transformation process that we can do what it says in verse 1.

We're familiar, brethren, with the process of metamorphosis. We're familiar with the fact that you'll have a little bug that is born. This little bug is a caterpillar.

The caterpillar's main job in life is to eat. Eats and eats and eats and eats.

Just like right now, our job in life is to eat, to eat in the word of the God.

God's word. Then there comes a point where that caterpillar spins a cocoon, goes dormant.

Much like we rest in Christ. We will live again, come to resurrection. And then the caterpillar breaks forth from that cocoon as a lovely butterfly, much like we're going to be children of God. But it's interesting. The analogy can only go so far. There's a story, I believe to be a true story, about a little boy who found a cocoon next to his bedroom window. And he watched that cocoon, who was looking forward to the time when the butterfly would want to pop out of there.

And so as he was looking at the cocoon, the one day he saw, well, yeah, that butterfly is wanting to come out of there. It's struggling and struggling and struggling. Little guy thought, well, I'll give it a hand. And so he went and got a pair of scissors, and he snipped off the end of that cocoon. And sure enough, the butterfly just came right out. He thought he'd done a good job, a good thing. He went out and played, came back, butterflies just walking all around the window sill. Didn't want to fly away. Went to bed, got up the next morning, butterfly still on that window sill, walking around. He came to find out later that the way things work, that butterfly, as it was trying to break through that cocoon, struggles and struggles mightily. And as it's struggling, using those wings to try to pry itself out of that cocoon, as it's working in those wings, back and forth, the liquid in those wings are being drained out of those wings, being totally pumped out. And so when the when the butterfly comes out of the cocoon, the wings are light, the butterfly can fly away. Now in this case, the path was easy. Just came out of the cocoon, but the wings were laden with fluid. And that little butterfly would never fly in its life, because the wings were too heavy. We ask ourselves, why do we go through trials?

Because we're pumping the stuff out of our system that needs to be pumped out of our system, so we can be the things that God wants us to be. So as you go through those trials in life, please understand that. Romans chapter 8. Let's go back a little bit. Romans chapter 8 and verse 14.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

You know, our attention is on the things of God. And because our attention is on the proper issues, the proper things, God's energy flows there in us and we're led by God.

Colossians chapter 1 and verse 27.

Colossians chapter 1 and verse 27.

To them God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in us, the hope of glory, His power, His strength, allow God's power to transform us, allow God's power to lead us, allow God's power to help us be the people God has called us to be. That's the power that energizes us. That's the power that helps us. One final scripture today, brethren, we'll be out early today. One final scripture Philippians chapter 4 and verse 13. Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I can do all things through Christ so that we do all things on our own, by our own power.

No, our attention is on the things of God, the principles of God. When our attention is on those things, when our attention is on God, on Jesus Christ, on God's Spirit, on the power, then that's where our energy flows. And that's what we have here in this particular verse. Verse 13.

I can do all things, because I'm paying attention to the proper things, through Christ who strengthens me with that energy, with His power.

So today, brethren, I just wanted to touch base with you. We're back home from the feast. We've got so much to learn, so much to grow. Let's remember the valuable lessons we learned this year at the feast, and let's remember that we are God's children, and that we want to be just like Him, and that we're going to dedicate ourselves to doing just that.