THE PARTY’S OVER!
INTRO.- What party? It might have been that New Year’s eve party.
Did you have one? If so, what did you do? Eat food? Play games? Watch TV? Watch some movies? Laugh? Talk? Enjoy one another’s company? I hope that whatever you did, you enjoyed yourself.
God does provides us with everything for our enjoyment. I Timothy 6:17 Every good gift is from above. James 1:17
We need to be thankful for the good gifts and the times of enjoyment that God gives us. IT IS ALWAYS GREAT TO BE GRATEFUL! God always appreciates our appreciation! And God always blesses the blesser!
ILL.- Let me tell you about a New Year’s Party that would be considered somewhat strange by most people’s standards. Each year, Brian Bierley of Bloomfield Township, Mich., toasts the New Year with sparkling grape juice and the same person - his grandmother Clara, now 90. They play cards, watch a little football, eat good food and make confetti with paper punches, the 30-year-old Bierley says. Then they watch Dick Clark’s annual New Year’s Eve show. Bierley says the tradition has probably "cost me a girlfriend or two."
"But I always told them that they can have 364 days a year of my time," he says. "This day is reserved for me and my grandma."
Very good, Brian Bierley! YOU DID GOOD! YOU DID VERY GOOD! Especially, in the light of what some people do on New Year’s Eve.
That New Year’s eve party is over. NOW WHAT?
There is always a time when the party is over and then comes the difficult stuff. It’s every day living. It’s going to work. It’s washing clothes. It’s cleaning house. It’s carrying out the garbage. It’s doing the every day stuff, be it good, bad or otherwise.
PROP.- Since the party’s over, let’s attend to business. Here is a part of our business as Christians. Important business.
1- Get spiritual
2- Touch others
3- Analyze everything
I. GET SPIRITUAL
ILL.- A preacher and his wife lived in southern California. His wife was driving one day as they entered the freeway during the rush hour. He said to his wife, "Keep on driving, dear, and I’ll keep on praying!"
I’m sure that driving on the California freeway during the rush hour is bad, like driving on a race track with cars zooming all around you. It makes you want to pray and pray hard!
I believe that life makes us want to pray hard! Life should make us want to get more spiritual, because our only hope of survival is by becoming more spiritual.
How do we get that way? Well, not the way a lot of people do it.
ILL.- I read an advertisement on MSN Live about a "new year, a new you." It read, "Are you striving for meaning in your life? Is this the year you’ve vowed to get it together - but you’re just not sure how. Spiritualist Deepak Chopra may not have all the answers, but he might lead you to the right questions."
HE MIGHT NOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS. I’ll guarantee you he doesn’t have all the answers. Just because he claims to be a "spiritualist," that doesn’t make him spiritual in the eyes of God!
Deepak Chopra is a "spiritualist" who deals with ancient poetry from India and Persia. His mission is that of "bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east."
Brothers and sisters, not everyone who is advertising spirituality is dishing it out!
ILL.- A preacher told a backslider in his church, "I want you to go outside and look up to heaven. You’ll get a revelation from the Lord." The man said, "But it’s pouring rain outside." The preacher said, "Just go do it and you’ll get a revelation from the Lord."
So the man went outside and came back in a few minutes soaking wet. He said to his preacher, "I kept looking up at heaven but I didn’t get a revelation. I’m just soaking wet and I feel like an idiot."
The preacher, "Not bad. That’s quite a revelation for a first try."
Brothers and sisters, there are times when we all need a revelation from the Lord. HERE IT IS: If we don’t get more involved with the church, it’s ministry, it’s outreach and get more involved in Bible study and prayer, life won’t get any better for us! In fact, we may not survive!
I John 2:15 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
V. 17 "The world and its desires pass way, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
That’s a shocking revelation to some people. DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD. It’s not that we can’t enjoy some of the things of the world. We can, but we are not to be taken in by the world or swept away by the world.
ILL.- For example, one night last week I wanted to watch a movie that was at the theater some time back, but I didn’t get to see it. It was entitled, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." I got the movie and watched it. Know what I think? It was action-packed all right, but really, kind of dumb. Not realistic at all.
It taught me nothing about life. Nothing about how to handle life, other than fight. It did nothing spiritual for me. It taught me no moral or spiritual lessons. IT REALLY DID NOTHING FOR ME. And that’s the way of the world, most of the time.
If we are going to be spiritual and get more spiritual we must be careful about listening to the world. WE MUST BE MORE ATTENTIVE TO THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT: CHURCH, BIBLE STUDY AND PRAYER!
Rom. 12:1-2 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."
We are not to be conformed to this world. We are not to be "conformists," but rather "transformists." We are to be in the business of transforming the world instead of conforming to it.
ILL.- Think of it this way: you are either a "thermometer" or a "thermostat." You either regulate the temperature around or you just record the temperature around you. YOU GO WITH THE FLOW OF WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND YOU!
If you want to be a "thermostat" in this world, a regulator in this world, a transformist, then you need to get spiritual! YOU NEED TO GET MORE SPIRITUAL! You need to get with the church more often. Church will help you. Our church may not always offer exactly what you need, but we do offer some good stuff. And I try hard to give you the best I can! I spend much time in study and prayer. AND IT’S FOR YOU! For your sake! I don’t preach for me. I study and preach for you, for your sake, for your spiritual growth!
Not only do you need more church to be a thermostat, you also need to get alone in God’s presence!
No one was more spiritual than Jesus. And listen to what He did.
Mark 1:35 "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."
Jesus had been in the world so much that He also needed much time in God’s presence too! We all need to "get away" and get into God’s presence every day.
Ps. 37:7 "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."
Ps. 40:1-2 "I waiting patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit...."
Perhaps if we’d get into God’s presence more and be still, He would lift us out of our slimy pits! AND MAKE US THERMOSTATS IN THIS WORLD!
We need to "get spiritual" in order to survive and succeed.
ILL.- There’s a "hacker" out there! Huh? You’ve heard of computer hackers. They say these computer/internet hackers can steal your identity, destroy your data or use your computer to launch attacks on Web sites or your friends. But the greatest hacker of all time is out to do even more! HE IS OUT TO STEAL AND/OR DESTROY YOUR SOUL!
We human beings may have a security hole left wide open which makes us completely vulnerable to the greatest hacker of all time, THE DEVIL!
That security hole is not working at getting more spiritual. GET IT? GET WITH IT!
II. TOUCH OTHERS
ILL.- The manager of a restaurant called his waitresses together and said to them, "Girls, I want you all to look your best today. Greet every customer with a smile. Put on a little extra makeup and make sure that your hair looks nice. "What’s up?" asked one of the girls. "Are there a bunch of big shots coming in today?"
The manager replied, "NO, THE MEAT’S TOUGH TODAY."
Brothers and sisters, I don’t care if the meats tough or tender, we should still smile and be nice to people! We should still reach out and touch people in some loving or kind way.
GET THIS STRAIGHT IN YOUR MIND: God put you here to love people! God put you here, not for yourself, but for others. To love others, to demonstrate kindness in various ways.
ILL.- Someone wrote an article titled, "How To Be Miserable." It says, "Think about yourself. Talk about yourself. Use "I" as often as possible. Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others. Listen greedily to what people say about you. Expect to be appreciated. Be suspicious. Be jealous and envious. Be sensitive to slights. Never forgive a criticism. Trust nobody but yourself. Insist on consideration and respect. Demand agreement with your own views on everything. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them. Never forget a service you have rendered. Do as little as possible for others."
ILL.- Preacher Dwight L. Moody said, "God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves."
Gal. 5:13 "Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
Gal. 6:2 "Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."
The party’s over. It’s time to stop thinking about ourselves. It’s time to be in the "reach out" mode. It’s time to think more of others than we do ourselves. It’s time to love and serve and be kind.
Matthew 8:1-3 "When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ JESUS REACHED OUT HIS HAND AND TOUCHED THE MAN. ‘I am willing,’ he said, ‘be clean!’"
Isn’t that beautiful? Jesus reached out and touched the man. And he wasn’t just any man. He was a leprous man. Leprosy can be a dirty, rotten, stinking disease and probably was with this man. Still, Jesus touched the man. WOULD YOU HAVE TOUCHED THE MAN?
ILL.- LISTEN TO THIS SHOCKING DISCOVERY: In a South American orphanage, Rene Spitz observed and recorded what happened to 97 children who were deprived of emotional and physical contact with others. Because of a lack of funds, there was not enough staff to adequately care for these children, ages 3 months to 3 years old. Nurses changed diapers and fed and bathed the children. But there was little time to hold, cuddle, and talk to them as a mother would.
After three months many of them showed signs of abnormality. Besides a loss of appetite and being unable to sleep well, many of the children lay with a vacant expression in their eyes. After five months, serious deterioration set in. They lay whimpering, with troubled and twisted faces.
Often, when a doctor or nurse would pick up an infant, it would scream in terror. Twenty seven, almost one third, of the children died the first year, but not from lack of food or health care. They died of a lack of touch and emotional nurture. Because of this, seven more died the second year. Only twenty one of the 97 survived, most suffering serious psychological damage.
SURELY THIS SHOULD TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT THE POWER OF TOUCH!
If we do not reach out to people in love with a touch, a hug, a smile, a laugh, a look, a look of compassionate and concern, a note, a kind word, a good deed, etc. then it may be that their souls and spirits will shrivel up and possibly die!
Jesus touched people in many different ways: a literal touch, a listening ear, a compassionate look, a kind word, a prayer for them, a blessing on them, etc. WE SHOULD GO AND DO LIKEWISE!
III. ANALYZE EVERYTHING
ILL.- A motorist had a flat tire in front of a mental health institution. He stopped the car, jacked it up, and proceeded to take off the wheel. He laid the lug nuts in the gutter, but they fell into the sewer drain. There was no way he could get them back.
One the hospital’s patients happened to be watching and suggested that the man take one lug nut from the other three wheels in order to hold the fourth in place until he could get some place and buy more of them.
The motorist thanked the patient and said, "I don’t know why you are in that mental hospital." The patient replied, "Hey! I’m in here for being crazy, not for being stupid."
Brothers and sisters, we may be crazy, but we are not to be stupid. We are not to be stupid when it comes to life. To what is happening in this life and world.
I Thess. 5:21-22 "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."
We need to examine and test everything in life. We must analyze everything that is going on around us. At work, in the world, while socializing. We must hold to the good and reject the evil.
ILL.- I am reminded of the story about the little boy who told his mother that he was 8 feet tall. She questioned his accuracy and he replied, "I AM 8 FEET TALL BECAUSE I JUST MEASURED MYSELF WITH THIS LITTLE RULER I MADE."
I just measured with my own little ruler. We often do this in life. We analyze things, but with our own little rulers.
ILL.- Chuck Colson said, "According to sociologist Robert Bellah, 81 percent of the American people also say they agree that ‘an individual should arrive at his or her own religious belief independent of any church or synagogue.’ Thus the key to the paradox is the fact that those who claim to be Christians are arriving at faith on their own terms -- terms that make no demands on behavior.
"A woman named Sheila, interviewed for Bellah’s Habits of the Heart, embodies this attitude. ‘I believe in God,’ she said. ‘I can’t remember the last time I went to church. But my faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheila-ism. Just my own little voice.’"
That’s the thinking that so many people have today. If we think something is all right, then it’s all right. But what we need to realize is this: OUR THINKING IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT!
But I know of some thinking that is always right!
II Tim. 2:15 "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
The Word of God is the word of truth. It is always right. It always contains the truth about life.
We should measure everything or analyze everything with the Word of truth! That’s the way to know whether or not something is good or evil! That’s the only way to know for sure!
Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."
The Bereans examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. That’s exactly what we need to do with all preaching and teaching and everything that the world is throwing at us!
The world is preaching to us every day, whether we realize this or not. The world is preaching to us through the TV (TV news, programs, soaps, movies, advertisements, etc.) The world is preaching to us through the internet, the newspapers, the movies, billboards, and the people around us (friends, neighbors, family members, work associates).
ILL.- When I was 18 years old, living only about 10 miles from Kansas, some boys were preaching to me. They were preaching to me, "Come on, Steve, let’s go to Kansas and get some beer." And I didn’t have the good sense and a knowledge of the Word of truth to refuse them!
Brothers and sisters, if something doesn’t stack up with the Word of truth, then it doesn’t stack up at all! And we should refuse it!
CONCLUSION---------------------------------------
ILL.- It was said that when Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?" "Sorry," the woman told him. "I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person."
"But I’m starved," the governor said. "Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer."
Governor Herter was a modest man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. "Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state." "Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister."
Brothers and sisters, God is in charge of the chicken. And everything else. He should be in charge of our lives.
God is saying to us all: get more spiritual. Reach out to others in love. Be discerning. Doing these things will please me, bless others, and bring joy to your life.
