Lord Jesus, thank you so much for your
word, Lord, and God, we thank you that
you are our all.
I just ask that you would speak through
this man this morning, that we would have
ears to hear and minds to process and
hearts to receive.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Thank you, Pastor Brad.
Good morning, everyone.
I hope that you had a good Christmas
and it's good to be together to worship.
Incidentally, next year, Christmas day, the 25th of
December is a Sunday.
So that'll be an exciting time, won't it?
Yeah.
I would like this morning just to, we're
going to take a Sunday off from the
Gospel of Luke.
And if you would turn with me to
Deuteronomy chapter 31, and I want to read
the first eight verses of the chapter.
And trust the Lord will give us a
word of encouragement this morning to our hearts.
Deuteronomy 31, and verse one says, Moses continued
to speak these words to all Israel.
And he said to them, I'm 120 years
old today.
Makes me feel like a teenager.
I'm 120 years old today.
I'm no longer able to go out and
come in.
The Lord has said to me, you shall
not go over this Jordan.
The Lord, your God himself will go over
before you.
He will destroy those nations before you so
that you shall dispossess them.
And Joshua will go at your head as
the Lord has spoken.
And the Lord will do to them as
he did to Sion and to Og, the
kings of the Amorites and to their land
when he destroyed them.
The Lord will give them over to you
and you shall do to them according to
the whole commandment which I have commanded you.
Be strong and courageous.
Do not fear or be in dread of
them.
For it is the Lord your God who
goes with you.
He will not leave you nor forsake you.
Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him
in the sight of all Israel, be strong
and courageous for you shall go with this
people into the land that the Lord has
sworn to their fathers to give them.
And you shall put them in possession of
it.
It is the Lord who goes before you.
He will be with you.
He will not leave you or forsake you.
Do not fear or be dismayed.
Father, your word is so tremendous.
And in these few moments this morning, we
pray that you would take your word and
impart it to our hearts by your Holy
Spirit.
That we might be strengthened in the inner
person and equipped that as we leave this
place this morning, there need be no fear
in our hearts, but fellowship and worship for
the one who is the Lord our God.
So Father, bless this time we pray in
Jesus' name, amen.
Well, you know, the week between Christmas and
New Year's is sometimes a time of reflection.
And if you like to look back and
think back, you can look and see, oh,
the Lord has actually met all those challenges
this year that I never thought I would
get through.
He has actually fulfilled everything that He said
He would do.
And although there were bumps in the road
in my year, every single one of them,
God in His grace met the need and
He has been so faithful.
So we can at this time of year
look back and say, wow, look what the
Lord has done.
And it's also a time when between Christmas
and New Year's, we start to think about
that new year.
And some people make New Year resolution and
some of us need to make New Year
restitution.
And there's a lot of things that go
on in hearts.
And about this time every year, I say
to myself, huh, you know, I would love
to lose 20 pounds, 40 pounds or so
in the next 12 months.
Yeah, maybe we won't linger on that thought
really long this morning, but there are times
when we sort of wonder what will this
next 12 months bring?
And that's what I'd like to just focus
in on for a few minutes this morning
before we wrap our Christmastime service up.
Just thinking about when we face those unknown
things that lay before us in the next
12 months.
And you know, the children of Israel faced
many unknowns.
And that's exactly what Moses is talking about
here as he speaks to them.
And these verses, he's talking about the fact
that listen, you're going to go on as
the people of God and that you're going
to experience some things.
But he also gives to us a perfect
jewel to hold in our hearts at this
time of year as we start to think
about a new year and all that it
could bring or might bring or all the
what ifs or perhaps kind of questions.
Here are some things that just encourage my
heart as I look here in the scripture.
You think about that which is unknown to
us, but look at what God gave to
his people.
And the first thing that you see is
God has a plan.
He doesn't just do things sort of willy
-nilly.
God has a plan.
And Moses is saying, I'm not gonna be
a part of that particular situation anymore, I'm
120 years old.
But God has a plan and he is
moving on along.
And oh, how that encourages my heart.
Some people have commented to me over the
past year as I've enjoyed it being your
pastor.
I think what they're trying to say, they
put it in nice gracious terms, but I
think what they're trying to say is, John,
there are from time to time situations where
we see that you're really Irish and stubborn.
And why is it you just don't give
up on some things?
And I like to just look at it
this way.
If God's not finished, neither am I, amen.
If he's not finished, neither am I.
And so when you think about the coming
days and the challenges that they will bring,
and sure, they will bring some, but they'll
also bring some blessings because God has a
plan.
And in his plan, he never abandons his
people.
So I rejoice in this as he's talking
to the people and he's saying that, look,
this is God's plan and this is what's
going to happen and so on.
So we can really do a whoo-hoo
as we think about that clock ticking down
to the end of 2010.
I have an Irish pastor friend, Jim Sinclair,
if he was here, has also met this
brother, Hugh Moore.
He's a Pentecostal pastor over in Ireland and
I remember reading his year-end report one
year and this is what it said.
This year is over, thank God.
All I can say, he said, is good
riddance.
Now, you know, I kind of scratched my
head a little bit when I read it
and then I thought, but you know, Hugh
is looking forward to what God is going
to do in the coming year.
And isn't that where we want to be
on New Year's Eve at the end of
this week?
Looking back at his faith, faithfulness, but looking
forward to all that he's going to do
in the days to come.
As we focus in particularly on verse eight,
what else did God give to his people
as they step on into an uncertain future?
Notice he's making promises and you can just
take the verse and break it down.
It is the Lord who goes before you.
Wow, I love that thought.
You mean no matter where I go in
the coming year, the Lord is gonna go
before me?
That's exactly what he's saying to his people.
It's the Lord who goes before you.
And oh, what a difference that makes in
life.
You know, I like the promises of God
because they're so rich and so full.
You know, in Isaiah 46, verse four, he
says, I will be with you even to
your gray hairs.
Hallelujah!
Just think, as you step into every day
with the Lord Jesus as your Savior, he
is going before you.
As you go into those exams and move
on along through another grade in the coming
year, he goes before you.
As you go into those situations that you
wonder about and they're heavy on your heart,
he goes before you.
Keep your finger there in Deuteronomy 31 and
just flip over with me to Isaiah 49
in those last three verses of Isaiah 49.
I doubt that there is a person in
this room who does not have a family
member that you worry about and pray about
and are concerned about and think, how will
they ever come to know Jesus?
And how is this situation in my life,
my family going to change?
This morning, as we just reflect for a
few moments on the things that God gives
to us as his people, let me just
read these three verses and comment on them
briefly.
God's been really working on this in my
heart and it says, can the prey be
taken from the mighty or the captives of
a tyrant be rescued?
For thus says the Lord, even the captives
of the mighty shall be taken and the
prey of the tyrant will be rescued.
For I will contend with those who contend
with you and I will save your children.
I will make your oppressors eat their own
flesh and they shall be drunk with their
own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know that I am
the Lord, your Savior, your Redeemer, the mighty
one of Jacob.
You know, it would seem almost impossible if
you think of something that's been taken as
prey in the wild.
Animals take things for prey and they take
them to kill them and to eat them
and that's the end of the story for
that thing, isn't it?
And God's question is, can the prey be
taken away from the mighty?
And in a spiritual sense, there is one
who is malevolent and evil and he loves
to hold onto hearts and to lives and
to destroy them and to destroy families as
well and to bring devastation and destruction and
death.
Can the prey be taken from the mighty?
And the other part of that question, captives
taken away from the tyrant, there is nobody
more tyrannical than the evil one himself who
loves to really mess up lives and families.
And oh, dear ones, this morning, if I
could just encourage you, even as God has
encouraged my own heart in these verses, would
you look at the promise?
Maybe you have a brother, a sister, a
father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a
cousin, someone who is far away from God,
seemingly captivated by all the things that are
wrong and all the glitter and the tinsel
and the things that are supposed to satisfy
us and yet they never do.
Just look at the promise of God.
What is it that he says here?
The answer to his question is yes.
And the reason that God says this can
happen is right there in the middle of
verse 25.
For I will contend with those who contend
with you and I will save your children.
Whoa, there is a promise.
You know, it's not that you and I
have to do it.
It is that we, as we lay hold
of him and follow him in obedience, trust
him.
I will contend.
Don't you love it when you hear somebody
in prayer pouring out their heart to God
when they get to that level and that
place where they're really saying, God, oh God,
do as you've said, Lord.
Come and contend.
For the battle is the Lord's and he
will not lose it.
I think at this time of year, just
how difficult sometimes it is in family life.
And I love to take and apply the
promises of God into there because that's a
place of hope and that's a place of
security and that's a place of strength and
that's a place where we can stand our
ground just like Ephesians chapter six says, having
done all, stand, leave it in his hands.
So God gave to them, not only the
fact that he has a plan, but there
are many, many promises, are there not, that
apply even to us today.
It is the Lord who goes before you.
Well, that means I can step out knowing
that he'll go before me.
And maybe you're thinking about Christmas and the
debt load and all the struggles and all
the bits and pieces.
Where will the resources come from to meet
those needs in 2011?
It is the Lord who goes before you.
Oh, we have so much to be thankful
for, for the one who faithfully fulfills his
promises.
You think about the burdens and they bury
us, don't they?
But oh, when we turn our eyes to
the word of God, it's full of hope
and it's full of him.
And that's the second thing that we see
here in verse eight.
He will be with you, Moses says.
Not only that he goes before you.
You know, I used to love to play
soccer and I used to love to play
with a fella called Trevor May because he
was nine feet tall and three feet wide.
And I played the position right behind him.
And it felt so good when big Trevor
was there.
And when I think about the Lord goes
before you, it's not a problem for him
to clear the way.
How about it?
The verse doesn't stop there.
The verse goes on to say, he will
be with you.
Oh, it's nice to know that he's out
in front.
But oh, my friends, just think about this
word.
He will be with you.
Yeah, but there's all, no, but he will
be with you.
Isn't that exactly what we want?
His presence.
And isn't it exactly the same thing that
is repeated to Joshua?
Joshua, in Joshua chapter one, be strong and
courageous.
And God says, I'll never leave you.
I'll be with you.
You know, folks, I'm not a Hebrew scholar,
but you can check this out.
Those of you who are taking the Hebrew
class, you can check it out with Rabbi
Jeremy.
There is just a comma between the end
of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Joshua.
It's the end of the life of Moses
and the beginning of the public ministry of
Joshua.
And there's not even a period in there.
It's just a comma.
Because God has a plan.
And he has his promises for us and
his presence with us.
He not only goes before, but he goes
with.
I was telling Brad the other day, one
of the people that I have loved from
church history is a character called D.L.
Moody.
He was not an educated man.
In fact, he said Jerusalem in two syllables.
So you can try that sometime, just for
fun.
Had a grade four education and reached hundreds
of thousands of people for Jesus.
But you know, he had a singer called
Sankey.
And one day, Sankey sang a hymn, a
glorious hymn before Moody preached.
And afterwards, this man came up to Sankey
and said, that's the second time I've heard
you sing that song.
And he said, well, I've only sang it
once in this series of meetings.
He said, no, you were a Union soldier
in the Civil War.
And on guard duty one night, you sang
out that hymn all alone in the middle
of nowhere.
And as a soldier of the Confederacy, I
had you in my sights.
But as you sang that song, I knew
there's no way I could pull the trigger.
I'll go with you.
I'll be there.
That's exactly what it is, isn't it?
His presence in the middle of all the
busyness and all the rest.
Could it be this morning that some of
us just need that fresh touch of the
presence of God?
We look back at verse eight in Deuteronomy
31.
He'll be with you.
He will not leave you or forsake you.
Do not fear or be dismayed.
There's the power of God with the presence
of God.
His power at work.
And all friends, I just remind you, Satan
is a defeated foe.
And all of the fears and the struggles
and all of the things and the what
ifs, they all fall into that category that
God has enough power.
To change every single one of them.
It's limitless, isn't it?
It provides us with hope and strength and
grace and his healing touches, just so that
we can step on with him.
God's power to me is absolutely an amazing
thing.
I remember in the early 1990s, Dr. Billy
Graham going to Moscow to hold an evangelistic
series of meetings.
After the Berlin Wall had fallen, after communism,
as some of us would remember it, had
come crashing down, the meetings were called just
one single word, revival.
Can't say it in Russian, sorry.
14 trains every night came into Moscow from
all over the place.
Just to hear the gospel.
And one night, the Red Army Choir sang.
You know what they sang?
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord.
And every evangelical preacher in the place was
standing there weeping.
And one of them said this, leaning over
to speak to Billy Graham himself, he said,
what a thing it is.
These are the enemies who persecuted the church,
who sought to bring to nothing the gospel.
And here they are singing.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord.
And can I ask you just a little
question before I kind of wrap things up
a bit?
If Jesus was to come in the next
five days before this year ends, or in
one of the 365 days of 2011, would
you be ready to say, my eyes have
seen the glory?
I'm ready.
There's nothing in between.
You know, we have all of these great
things that verse eight pours out for us,
but I want to just read two other
verses because there's one potential problem with all
of this.
God's side of this is absolutely marvelous, but
there's one potential problem.
Let me just read verse 16 and 17.
And the Lord said to Moses, behold, you're
about to lie down with your fathers.
Then this people will rise up and whore
after foreign gods among them in the land
that they are entering.
And they will forsake me and break my
covenant that I have made with them.
Then my anger will be kindled against them
in that day.
And I will forsake them and hide my
face from them.
And they'll be devoured and many evils and
troubles will come upon them so that they
will say in that day, have not these
evils come upon us because our God is
not among us.
You see the potential problem?
God knew that even knowing all these things,
his people had it in their hearts to
turn away from him.
And the problem is still the same today,
isn't it?
The same in us.
Our own hearts need to know that closeness
with God.
And oh, my friends, as I close out
the message this morning, should we not also
think as we close out this year, Lord,
I wanna be faithful to you.
I want you to fill my heart with
your presence, your power.
I don't wanna be tossed about anymore.
One poet put it this way, I challenge
you.
I challenge you now at this crisis hour
to take up your cross in the savior's
power.
Oh, do something worthy for God and man.
Come sacrifice all for the savior's plan.
I challenge you now when the need is
great.
I challenge you now when the hour is
late.
Remember how brief is your life's short span.
Oh, do something worthy for God and man.
When you see the cross of the son
of God, when you see the martyrs who
shed their blood, when you are your record
of living scan, what have you to offer?
What have you ever suffered for God and
man?
Gladden your savior's heart, share his burden and
do your part.
Prove to him that your love is true
and the price is worth paying to give
and to do.
Come do something worthy for Jesus now.
Come finish your crying for his thorn-pierced
brow.
Don't shun the cross, but complete his plan.
It's now or it's never for God and
for man.
Let's pray.
Father, just in the quietness of this moment,
we can face the coming days in all
of the unknown because God has a plan
and he's given his promise to go before
us and he's given his presence to go
with us and he's given his power to
dwell within us by the Holy Spirit, but
we must also do our part to live
a surrendered life and if you're here this
morning and struggling with some things, could I
just encourage you to surrender them at the
cross and take instead the fullness of the
Holy Spirit and walk on into the future,
not in fear, but in fellowship with the
living God.
Now, Father, as we bow in your presence,
we thank you for your word and we
thank you for your promise and oh God,
would you continue to equip us as your
people to strengthen and to help us, to
minister to every single one who is here
from your goodness and your grace.
And Lord, add your blessing to this, your
word in each of our hearts this day,
in Jesus' name, in God's people's sin, amen.
Let's stand together as we close.
Look at that, it's one minute after 12.
Is it?
It's 12 on Brad's Apple iPhone and they're
never wrong.
So there's the first miracle after Christmas, the
preacher finished on time.
We're going to just ask the Lord's benediction.
I want to say some elders and the
pastoral staff will be here at the front
if you need prayer for anything.
You step on after the benediction and come
and we'll pray together.
It's important to walk in the fullness and
the nearness of the Lord.
And now, Father, we ask that you would
add your blessing to each life that is
here, from the youngest to the oldest.
And that you would keep us in your
grace, Father.
Fill us with your spirit so that as
we step from this place, we can indeed
go, knowing the depth of your care and
the wonder of your love.
The love of God the Father, the fellowship
and salvation of God the Son, and the
great enabling of God the Holy Spirit be
upon each one of us every day of
this week and every day of the coming
new year.
For it is in Jesus' name that we
ask it.
Amen.
And God bless you, Glencairn.
We love you.