The Value of the Gift

Bring your greetings in the Master's name. It is a joy and an honor to be with you this morning. I really want to give a hearty yay and amen to what was brought forth so far this morning, and bring your greetings of love from the row. And yeah, thank you for continuing God's work in your corner of the valley here.

So I got to meet some new people this morning, and I always enjoy new places. So yeah, so let's look at God's word together here this morning. I'd like to begin with Psalm 100 as we're thinking about our attitudes.

This is kind of a Thanksgiving thought here this morning, an attitude of gratitude. And so as we want to tie all that together and start out with Psalm 100, it says, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures through all generations." This morning, even in 2020, that last verse is still relevant.

And that's why we can gather this morning with joy in our hearts. For the Lord is good, and His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures through all generations. So as we gather together as a group of believers and bring God's word with us, we can have full confidence that His word is still true today.

And as we think about understanding what His word should mean to us, just thinking a little bit about understanding the value of a gift we've been given, the gift of God's word that He has made available to us. Just thinking about William Tyndale gave his life at the age of 42 at the Market Square at Antwerp so that God's word would go forth. And my mind, just thinking about that, can maybe help add value to this thing. People were willing to give up their lives so that we would, this morning, be able to have God's word in our language right in front of us here as we enjoy it. So even that in itself can help us to understand the value of what we've been given.

And we know that the better we understand the value of what we have, the more safely we will guard it, the more precious it'll be to us. We can give a child a piece of gold and a lollipop, and they're probably going to take the lollipop, even though with that piece of gold they could buy 100,000 lollipops. But understanding, the void of understanding. And there's a statistic that I think 70% of the people that now we're talking about earthly goods, that when the lottery or so forth in, I think it was five or ten years, they're financially worse off than they were prior to winning the gold, so to speak. So the lack of understanding of the value of what they were given was what caused that to happen.

And so this morning, let's not be those that handle something of great value with a free hand, with something that it's just not all that important to us. So that is, I think, something that'll propel us well into understanding the value if we read it, make it part of our lives, and live it out day to day. And as we think about the part of gratitude, we know we have examples of the children of Israel. It wasn't long until they were grumbling, but this morning, I don't know that we're that much different, or I find myself. It can be too hot or too cold real quick. It can rain or sun too quick, too often.

And so let's be mindful. That is the exact opposite of gratitude. That is not understanding the value of what God has given us, the air that we breathe that allows us to live from day to day. So let's be mindful of how we express our attitude toward God and what He has given and the way He has made for us.

Okay, and then let's turn to Luke 18:15-17. I'm sorry, I skipped one there. Let's go to 2 Corinthians first. 2 Corinthians 6, as we think about

2 Corinthians 6:14-18, it says like this, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath unrighteousness with unrighteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with blough? Or what part that He believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. And as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate," saith the Lord, "and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters," saith the Lord.

As we come to this knowledge and understanding of what we've been given and how we deal with it, God has called us to be different. He called us to come apart. And if we think about the gift He has given us and how we handle it, how do we go forth after we have received this understanding and this wisdom of what truly is the value of what we had? It calls us out to, as He has cleaned us up and set us up on a new path, human's tendency can be to go back in the mire, to get it mixed back up with the world. And so why would we take something that God has cleaned up and set apart and go back in there?

And I hope this is not where we're at. I'm just thinking about where I came from, and I'd like to share some experiences where I felt God has led me through. And then another question is, as we think about, especially our young ones, it's my passion for youth, and I want a better way for you than what I chose, is what I'd like to lay out here this morning. And as sometimes I did, especially as we buck our parents and we think they're just being they just don't get it, they don't understand, why can I not go and do these things?

And this is our scripture, but yeah, let's think about it this way. You would understand that your parents would not allow you to go on a date with Satan, right? That seems to be pretty we can see through that. But ultimately, that is somewhat what they're trying to protect you from, because what Satan has to offer, as we get if we get muddied back up into this world, the things that the world tries to draw us into, it is basically Satan's goal is always death. It is never for your good. It is never just to go out and live a little. His ultimate goal at the end is going to be death, even though it might not be for today or tomorrow, but the path he is trying to get you to go is going to lead to death, and that is 100% of the time.

And I think another thing we can do well is understand his hatred toward us. As we understand how at what level, and I don't even know if we can humanly, understand the level of Satan's hate toward mankind, the idea that lowly man made from dirt has an opportunity to go spend eternity with God, and he does not. He's squandered that opportunity. And day in and day out, seeing lowly man turning toward God or turning their hearts toward him or begging him, I think it just causes him to hate us even so much more. So even when he comes to us in sheep's clothing, he might offer you just some little fling or something that, for me, it was just go out in the world and live it up a little, just loosen up, forget about this going to church thing, and we're going to go out and live my own life.

I'm going to go experience those things that are out there. And ultimately, it was going to lead to death. So as alcohol was offered, as all these things got wrapped up in the sports and all those things were offered, I was taking it all in. But what was I doing? I was just at the first drink or the first smoke or the first whatever it was, you can put anything in there, it didn't kill me, but eventually, it would have. All those things that he offered and the path I was on was leading to death.

His intent was, for me, to not make it to glory, and the same as each one of us. So just as we think about our attitude and what we've been given, the gift that God gave us, the value of it, that it enables us or is a way forward that we can have an eternity with God, that just as we think about that, that can help us understand the value of what we've been given, that we might be more careful with it, that we might not have just a lackadaisical attitude toward it, but to guard it and to protect it, to understand that eternity is at stake. There's some things that, yeah, I got into that I just want to think a little bit about.

If you're here this morning as parents, my parents obviously weren't perfect, but they did a lot of things right, and I'm very thankful for that this morning. So if you find yourself there, just a word of encouragement that as I went, my parents prayed for me. Looking back, I can see many times where there were many steps I didn't take that I have no idea why I didn't because I was meant to do it. And just I was protected so many times over. So if you have a child in that state where you feel like they're not safe, continue to pray, don't give up, be like the Prodigal Father that has open arms to welcome him back if he does return.

So as we think about going out with that date, that's why your parents don't want you to go to run with the questionable crowd. That's why your parents are holding back when it feels like they're just being too uptight. That's because they don't want you going down that path. They want to protect you, and they love you dearly and don't want to see you going through those mistakes. And I too, there's nothing out there. It might look glamorous. It might look great. The big stadiums with the ballfields and all the people, everybody's doing it. What's wrong with it? Well, I had a real good friend that he's a minister at Keystone Church now as well.

And he shared, I guess, his thought pattern, the spirit laid on him of what that really looks like to God as people, especially God's people, go into a big stadium. They have their little gods out there running around on the field, and these people are cheering them on, just like they did back in the Romans and the Colosseums. And actually, today, some of the stadiums are called Colosseums. And he said God just showed him what that looks like to him as people, they put their names on their back, they put their numbers, they go around wearing them and put them on their head, and they go through their life just worshiping these gods that are running around on the field and trying to do, waiting for the next great things and cheering them on.

And yeah, I just really appreciated that picture. It helped me to set in order, again, the right attitude for what that looks like to God. And I just leave that as a challenge. I hope that's not where you're at this morning. But if your parents, it feels like they're trying to hold back too much, really, in the eyes of God, there's nothing out there. And again, with whatever else, alcohol, drugs, you always need more. And the end of the road is death. And I got a very good friend that that happened to.

We grew up within a mile of each other. He was probably about six months younger than I was. And I was allowed to stay at home. I had one younger sister, and she seemed pretty stable, so I guess my parents allowed me to stay home. And I'm very thankful for that this morning, but this is not a one-size-fits-all.

And my friend, he was not. And his parents, they turned bitter. And he seemed like he was just bent on doing whatever he knew that his parents would disapprove of. And so he ended up down on the back eighth street, the worst part of town, in drugs. And there was a number of times, going back to the idea that my parents were praying for me and many of my loved ones were, he would be like, "Hey, come on down sometime."

There was always a party going on at his house. And I intended to. For whatever reason, I never got around to doing it. And it was probably, I'm going to say, four years into it, one night, drugs, dead, gone, just like that. His opportunity, the window closed.

Why am I not there this morning?

So these are the reasons, again, your parents don't want you to go out and go into the world and mix this thing up where you get into the unclean. God has set you up. He has made a way for us. He has given us his word. And if we can understand the value that can add to our lives and our experience, let's not be of those that go and go back into the unclean.

Now, if we read in chapter seven, the first verse, "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." He laid out a perfect way forward. As we accept God and his word and his way for us, we fit in this category. And he calls us dearly beloved. And your parents see you as this as well. Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, and to whom we can live a life that is honoring and pleasing to him.

Okay, now let's turn to Luke 18.

Luke 18, verses 15 to 17. It's talking about the children here, bringing the children to Jesus. And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them. But when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him and said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not. For such is the kingdom of God. Verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."

So why is this important? Going back to our attitude, the attitude that we can have as little children. And I know this is something that I need worked on from time to time, and we probably all do. Accepting his gift as a little child, the attitude that we have toward God for this gift he has given us, is it a proper attitude? Is it one that, with grateful hearts, that we can, as a little child, if you hand them we have an example in the Bible about bringing them a drink of water. Just open-handed, just thankful, a pure heart, clear eyes, all these things, even as we become more to the acknowledge of growing up and those things, we can still be have that or I'm sorry, we can still have that heart as a child.

And he said, "Forbid them not. For such is the kingdom of heaven." That is the way the kingdom of heaven will operate. We can only say thank you. There is no point in trying to earn our way or to just, "Am I good enough? Am I good enough?" God has extended this all as we know it. But just maintaining that heart of true appreciation for what God has given us. And as we gain the knowledge and understanding of the gift, that can be more clear in our hearts as well. So just a challenge, again, to keep our hearts soft, keep them, as a child, toward their father, that they would be open to accept the good that our parents have for us.

Again, thinking about what our parents are providing for us and the home that was provided for most of us as we grew up. Can we appreciate that? Can we see the value of it? Or was it just never quite good enough? Or do we always want more? And again, that is our human nature that wants to keep cropping up. And again, Satan will always be looking for a way. He is never done with you. He will always or I'm sorry, he'll never give up on you.

He will always be trying to offer you another way or another route because of his pure hatred for you as one that is made in God's image. Okay, now let's look at Revelations 22. I'd just like to go down through there a little bit, thinking about why. Why is this important? What is this all about? And as God closes his letter, his way toward us, toward mankind, I'd just like to turn our thoughts a little bit toward why is this important or what's this all about? I'm going to read it and make a couple of comments.

Revelations 22. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life." And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb of God. And in the midst of the street I'm sorry, in the midst of the street of it, on either side of the river, there was a tree of life, which bore 12 manners of fruit and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves thereof were the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their hearts forever.

There shall be no night there. There's no need to candle, neither light nor sun, for the Lord giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever." I'm going to stop there. And just that beautiful picture, picture of eternity, the things that Satan knows that he's going to miss out on, the things that he has been barred from, those are available to us. So let's, again, renew our commitment to seeing this thing through to the end, that we might not come up short, that we might not be wearing well doing, that we keep in our minds what this is all about. Because Satan so much wants to distract us with the busyness of life. We all know what, in this age, what this world, the speed it operates on.

And just stop again and think and etch in our minds the beauty and the gift and the value of this thing that is made available to us, this gift from God that, through Christ and the price Christ paid, even that in itself, understanding the value of this gift that we might not just, again, let it lay on the nightstand all week, but to each day, again, read it, look at it, handle it with love, handle it with something that is of great value. Because let's read this picture again, just slowly. "He showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

Pure water. There's not much more beautiful than just a stream, clear flowing stream. And these things are available to us forever. And that in itself is something we can't wrap our human minds around either. "But in the midst of the street, on either side of the river, there was a tree of life." And I'm just picturing a beautiful tree which bore 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nation. We rejoice when somebody's healed, right? It is a beautiful thing to see somebody that's sick, to be back to health again.

And the next one is something that is worth getting excited about. Verse three. "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him." The idea that Satan will no longer be able to try to distract us, try to bring us down, that there's no more curse, there's no more weeds, so to speak.

Okay? And verse four. "They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads." Going back to the idea of where in our sports world, where we wear their names on our backs and we wear the hats on our heads, but that's nothing compared to having what an honor to have God's name on our backs, so to speak, or his stamp of approval on our lives.

It says, "His name shall be on their foreheads instead of what the world has to offer. And there shall be no night there, no need for candle, neither light from the sun. For the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever." The idea that we can reign forever and ever, I have no idea what that looks like, but that's okay. We'll figure it out when we get there. But the question is, let's get there first, right?

The idea of no night. I don't know, maybe some of the older ones have a hard time sleeping at night. The nights can get very long, right? But there's a day coming that there's no night. And then continuing on in verse six, "He said unto me, 'These things are faithful and true.'" Again, we don't have to doubt about God's word. We don't have to worry about getting to the judgment seat and God being like, "Oh, didn't you get the update? Didn't you get the revised version? You were supposed to be doing this." This word, as it was laid out, is going to be true when you get called to that time in your life. "They're true and faithful.

And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel and showed in his sovereignty these things which must be done shortly." It is going to happen. We know that in the last times there's going to be naysayers. He hasn't showed up. Where's he at? What's going on? Why are we still here? This is all a joke. It is not. And his shortly might just look a little different than our shortly, that's all. But it is coming. And we can look forward to it. "Behold, I come quickly," verse seven. He reassures that. "Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings, the prophecies of this book." And again, just remain faithful, just stay strong, continue in God's word.

Pick his word up daily and read it with a reverent fear and a love that will basically lay out your attitude for the rest of the day. And God's I'm sorry, verse eight. "And I, John, saw these things and heard them, which had been heard and seen. I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, and when he showed me this thing, and he said unto me, 'See thou do it not, for I am a fellow servant, and thy brother and prophets, and a brother and prophet, and of them which keep the saying'" Let me try that again. Verse nine. "And then he said unto me, 'See thou do it not, for I am a fellow servant, and of thy brother and the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings in this book, worship God.'" Again, Satan likes us to get us into worshiping people or things.

Or we know idol worship was something that back in the Bible looked a lot different, I think, than what it does today. Our idols can be people or can be we can find ourselves worshiping objects. He said, "See thou do it not, worship God. And he said unto me, 'Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.'" The time is here to spread God's word. Don't seal them, don't let them lay around and never be open. Be in it, use it. It is available. It's not to be something that is put away and hid in the closet.

Then in verse 11, we understand it'll come quickly, as lightning from the east to the west. He explains how things will be when your time or time on earth ends. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. He which is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. To give to every man according to his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." When these things come, he will have his gift with him.

I kind of picture Jesus as he has this gift for every man that is following him. He has his reward with him. He is anxious to hand out the good things that he has for us. Verse 14, again, take heart. Don't give up. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they might have the right to the tree of life, that they may enter through the gates into the city. For without our dogs, sorcerers, warmongers, murderers, idolaters, and whoever loveth and maketh a lie." All these things we can leave behind, all these things that we maybe feel like we're battling from day to day. Maybe one of these things is a very source of your temptation from day to day.

All those things we can shed off as we enter the gate. These things cannot come in. And verse 16. "And I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things to the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star." Jesus did his part. He gave us his life. The word was made available. Now it's up to us.

His work is done. "And the spirit and the bride say, 'Come.'" The spirit's inviting us. The bride's inviting us. "Come. Let him that hear us say, 'Come.' And let him that be a thirst, 'Come.' And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Again, we know it's made available for all. Are we doing our part to invite the rest of the world around us? "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add to these things, that shall God add unto the plagues that are written in this book. And if a man shall take away the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book."

He gave us a warning that there's not to be added or taken away. God's word is final. It is something that has been set. It is not changing. And again, I gave you an example of why it is good it's not changing, because it never becomes out of date, so we don't have to worry about it getting the latest updates.

And it was available. It was made available. We know what William Tyndale did. He gave his life. He was willing to give his life so that more people would be able to read his word. So again, God did his part. We are without excuse.

And again, a reminder in verse 20. "He which testified these things said, 'Surely I'll come quickly.' Jesus himself said, 'I will come quickly.' Amen. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly." And he left us with a promise there in verse 21. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." So his grace has been extended to all man. May God bless you.