Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Our dear Heavenly Father.
[00:00:05] Ah.
[00:00:08] Somewhere in my heart I hear that whisper, come, Jesus, come.
[00:00:18] Somewhere in my soul I recognize that this world is not my home.
[00:00:27] Just passing through.
[00:00:33] Some way, your spirit whispers to me and I feel hope in the future that you create that will be infinitely better than anything we can make ourselves.
[00:00:49] So in my soul I say, come, Jesus, come.
[00:00:55] I pray this morning that through the psalm you would help us to see that you are the author of a better future.
[00:01:03] By living well, we create a future that is consistent with your eternal purpose and plan.
[00:01:13] In Christ's name, amen.
[00:01:17] In Psalm 37, David is teaching us how to live better in the coming new year.
[00:01:27] He's giving us ideas that we can use this year that will make next year different.
[00:01:37] Ah, church.
[00:01:39] If we're not careful, we fall into ruts and then we just repeat year after year.
[00:01:48] And next year is very diff.
[00:01:52] Not very different than this year, which wasn't very different from last year.
[00:01:57] And that's not God's good idea.
[00:02:00] God's good idea is for us to be learning new life skills and creating a better future.
[00:02:13] So this is what David mark the blameless and behold the upright.
[00:02:22] For there is a future for the man of peace.
[00:02:27] But transgressors will be altogether destroyed.
[00:02:32] The future of the wicked will be cut off.
[00:02:37] David starts by saying, we need to distinguish those who are living well through righteousness from the life fads of our generation.
[00:02:52] What creates your lifestyle?
[00:02:54] The lifestyle you're living right now? What creates that lifestyle?
[00:02:59] Is it the fads that. That this generation produce?
[00:03:06] Ah, I can remember when the fads were very different.
[00:03:15] I can remember thinking the best clothes you could buy in the world were at Whitey's, army and Navy.
[00:03:24] Anybody remember?
[00:03:30] Ah, every generation produces lifestyle fads.
[00:03:39] And if you're not careful, you just get swept along in that.
[00:03:45] And David is saying in this psalm, take a minute and start recognizing the qualities of life that the blameless have.
[00:04:02] Here's what he's saying.
[00:04:04] Are you paying attention to life or are you just running day after day after day, running through your schedule, running through your schedule? He's saying, pause for a minute.
[00:04:20] Pay attention to life.
[00:04:22] Can you learn from those who are getting it right?
[00:04:27] There are people out there who are living a good life.
[00:04:31] They're getting it right.
[00:04:33] They're thriving.
[00:04:35] They're living an interesting life.
[00:04:37] They're living a happy life.
[00:04:40] Can you mark those people and try to learn something from them?
[00:04:46] If you can't, then you have to go the opposite way.
[00:04:50] Can you learn from the Losers.
[00:04:53] Can you learn? This person tells me, that doesn't work.
[00:04:58] Church.
[00:04:59] You can look at people's lives who are a mess, and you can simply say, that doesn't work.
[00:05:08] So David is saying, you're going to live a better life next year. You gotta pause for a minute and you gotta pay attention.
[00:05:16] What really works in life? What really doesn't work?
[00:05:21] How can I incorporate more of what works and get rid of more of what doesn't work?
[00:05:29] Ah.
[00:05:30] We have to question our cultural assumptions.
[00:05:36] Every day you're bombarded with messages.
[00:05:41] If you drive this car, your life will be ridiculously awesome.
[00:05:48] You'll be on an adventure every day.
[00:05:52] You'll be parking your truck at the top of a mesa and strumming a guitar.
[00:05:59] That's how awesome your life will be.
[00:06:03] Ah.
[00:06:06] Ah.
[00:06:07] It's a myth, Church.
[00:06:11] Ah.
[00:06:12] Although generally people who drive F150s are happier than other people.
[00:06:20] Generally.
[00:06:23] All right, if you, if you, if you wear this jewelry, you'll be a movie star.
[00:06:35] If you have this handbag, ah, you're just out of this world. I mean, there's no one like you.
[00:06:45] All right, we have to challenge these cultural assumptions. Assumptions.
[00:06:53] Don't we? Haven't we all learned that it doesn't matter what you get?
[00:07:01] In a little bit, it's not as cool it was as you first got it.
[00:07:07] And in a little bit longer, it's not cool at all.
[00:07:11] And in a little bit longer, it's sitting in your closet or garage or storage space or whatever.
[00:07:23] David is saying, if you want to live well, challenge your cultural assumption. Assumptions.
[00:07:31] What you consume does not determine the quality of your life.
[00:07:37] One more time.
[00:07:40] What you consume does not determine the quality of your life.
[00:07:50] Sharon and I have eaten at some pretty nice restaurants, but we agree.
[00:07:56] One of the most pleasant dinners we ever had was a Whopper cut in half, a shared Coke sitting on a park bench together.
[00:08:09] Church, my mouth is watering.
[00:08:18] That's back when a Whopper was really a Whopper, before they started producing whatever these mimic things are. All right.
[00:08:29] Ah, David is saying, don't let this culture talk you into this nonsense. The quality of your life is not determined by what you're consuming.
[00:08:47] Ask yourself these two questions.
[00:08:51] What does living well look like for me?
[00:08:56] Can I define what living well looks like for me?
[00:09:03] Can I take a sheet of paper and say, when I'm living well, these things are happening and these things aren't happening?
[00:09:12] You see, that's what David is saying. You want to live a better life next year, then start defining for yourself what living well is.
[00:09:24] If you don't define for yourself what living well is, how do you know if you are.
[00:09:30] How do you even know what to try to do?
[00:09:33] Ah, for some of you, it will be easier to say, what does living well feel like?
[00:09:42] When I'm living well, I have these feelings.
[00:09:47] When I'm not living well, I have these feelings. You see, David is saying, mark the blameless.
[00:09:58] Start paying attention to what living well looks like. Start. Start defining it for yourself.
[00:10:05] And because I'm a Christian, I want to ask myself, when I'm examining my own lifestyle, am I living by faith?
[00:10:16] What, what effect does my faith in Christ have on my life? On Monday morning when I go to work, what effect does my faith in Christ have on my life?
[00:10:30] Thursday night when I'm tired and I'm starting to feel grouchy, I want to start examining my life and saying, what does it. What does faith in Christ actually look like in my daily living?
[00:10:50] Can you define righteous attitudes and behaviors?
[00:10:56] I know I don't go. I want to go one step beyond living well to living right.
[00:11:04] Can I. Do I have clarity of thought about what living right really looks like?
[00:11:13] What. What is a right attitude?
[00:11:17] What are right behaviors?
[00:11:20] All right.
[00:11:21] David says when we start thinking this way, going to create different patterns for ourselves in the future, and we'll live a better life.
[00:11:33] Does that make sense to you? David was a pretty smart guy, I think.
[00:11:39] Then he said, start looking around for examples of living well.
[00:11:46] Behold the upright.
[00:11:49] When you look at life, are you looking for people who are. Are getting it right and. And living well, or do you generally tend to see, look at these people, look how bad those people are?
[00:12:01] I don't want to focus on the bad patterns. I want to start focusing on the good patterns.
[00:12:10] Ah.
[00:12:12] And it turns out there are great patterns in the Bible for people who live well.
[00:12:18] My life group is studying through the book of Genesis, and we're on the life of Joseph.
[00:12:23] And Joseph is what is called a tzadik in the Old Testament. There are men and women who the Bible doesn't tell us any bad stories about, and they're rare.
[00:12:39] There's a bad story just about everybody in the Bible because nobody gets it right all the time. A king. David was a man after God's own heart. And there's some pretty sad stories from his life.
[00:12:50] Joseph was a tzedik there. We can't find in his life story where his life goes off the rails.
[00:12:59] And so we can use the life of Joseph as a model for living well.
[00:13:06] Let me tell you a story.
[00:13:09] Joseph was one of 12 boys.
[00:13:12] His dad had four wives. And the family was riddled with by a sibling rivalry.
[00:13:21] The family was absolutely torn apart apart by sibling rivalry.
[00:13:26] And to make things even more challenging, Jacob's Joseph's dad. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other brothers. And he let it be known.
[00:13:41] He went to the haberdasher and got Joseph a special coat and that Joseph wore as proof that his dad liked him best.
[00:13:57] And in this environment, Joseph dreamed some dreams about his future. And he envisioned his future as being a high achiever.
[00:14:12] How do you envision your future?
[00:14:14] Joseph saw himself as succeeding in life.
[00:14:21] One day his dad sent Joseph out to check on his brothers who were taking care of the flocks and herds. And his brothers saw him coming, but he didn't see them yet.
[00:14:33] And they started plotting against him.
[00:14:37] They actually said, here comes the dreamer.
[00:14:42] Let's get him.
[00:14:44] And when Joseph walked into the camp, they grabbed him, took his special coat that his father had given him, cut it up, poured blood on it, sold Joseph to a caravan that was on his way to Egypt, took the coat home to the dad and said, is this Joseph's coat?
[00:15:11] And they made their dad believe that Joseph had been killed by a vicious animal.
[00:15:19] But he hadn't been killed. He'd been taken to Egypt. And in Egypt, he was sold to a very wealthy man named Potiphar.
[00:15:29] And in Potiphar's slave house, you started out at the bottom.
[00:15:35] But because Joseph was the kind of guy he was, he had a good attitude, he worked hard, he was solid, and he worked his way up through the ranks of the slaves until ultimately Potiphar trusted him to manage his whole household.
[00:15:52] And Joseph was living well again.
[00:15:56] But Potiphar's wife wasn't a woman of high moral quality, and she attempted to seduce Joseph.
[00:16:09] But Joseph said to her, my master has trusted me with everything.
[00:16:20] How could I repay him?
[00:16:25] By cheating on you, cheating with you behind his back.
[00:16:31] And plus, he said, I believe in God, and I believe it would be a terrible sin against God for me to do that.
[00:16:41] Well, now her ego is hurt.
[00:16:46] Now this snotty little kid is turning her down and it hurt her ego.
[00:16:55] And so she fabricated a story and told Potiphar, this slave you brought into our house, he tried to take advantage of me.
[00:17:06] And Potiphar took Joseph and put him in Pharaoh's prison.
[00:17:12] Now he's gone to the very bottom again.
[00:17:15] He worked his way all the way to the top, and he's thrown down to the very Bottom again.
[00:17:23] Ah, but he kept a good attitude.
[00:17:27] He didn't give in to being victimized.
[00:17:30] And he started doing his best. And he worked his way up to being the head trustee in three Pharaoh's prison.
[00:17:39] And one day, Pharaoh got mad at his cup bearer and his baker, and he put them both in jail.
[00:17:46] And of course, they had to be taken care of because the jailer didn't know if the Pharaoh was ever going to ask him to come back or not. And if he came back not in good shape, well, then the jailkeeper would be in trouble.
[00:17:58] So he made them the special charge of Joseph.
[00:18:03] And Joseph took care of them and kept them out of trouble and all that.
[00:18:07] And they, they had dreams. And Joseph interpreted their dreams.
[00:18:12] Ah.
[00:18:13] Pharaoh's cup bearer was restored to his job. And Pharaoh's baker was executed.
[00:18:20] And Joseph said to the cup bearer before he left, when you get back to Pharaoh's court, remember me, I don't belong here.
[00:18:30] Ah, I was stolen from my family and I was lied about by Potiphar's wife. Please remember me.
[00:18:41] But the cup bearer forgot him.
[00:18:44] How easy it is to forget.
[00:18:48] Until Pharaoh had a dream.
[00:18:51] And then the cup bearer said, I remember a young man in prison who can interpret dreams. They brought Joseph to Pharaoh.
[00:18:58] Joseph interpreted the dreams that there'd be seven years of great plenty, and then seven years of famine.
[00:19:05] And then Joseph was ready. He seized the moment. He said, here's what you ought to do in the seven years of plenty. You ought to buy all the grain you can buy and store it.
[00:19:18] And then in the seven years of famine, the land of Egypt will survive.
[00:19:24] Pharaoh said, pretty smart kid.
[00:19:27] I think I'll give you the job.
[00:19:30] And he promoted Joseph from being in jail to being the premier of Egypt. And for seven years, Joseph bought all the grain, built grainiers, saved everything he could save. And then the famine hit.
[00:19:48] And when the famine hit, Joseph's brothers in Canaan, they couldn't get anything to eat and had to come to Egypt to buy grain.
[00:19:59] And when they came to Egypt to buy grain, guess who was selling it?
[00:20:04] Joseph.
[00:20:06] And in his boyhood dream, he had dreamed that one day his brothers would bow down to him.
[00:20:12] They didn't recognize Joseph, but Joseph recognized them.
[00:20:18] And they bowed down before him and asked to buy grain.
[00:20:23] And by the grace of God, Joseph ended up bringing his family from the Canaan land to Egypt. And Joseph nurtured them through the entire famine. And God saved them from destruction through Joseph.
[00:20:40] That story is in the Bible to help us recognize the qualities of living well Let me go over some. This would be good to talk about in your life groups.
[00:20:53] Ah, if your family is giving given to fighting, don't join the fight just because you grew up in a family that fusses all the time. You have to join the fight.
[00:21:12] You can say, if that's how you guys want to treat each other, go ahead.
[00:21:17] I'm not joining church.
[00:21:22] How about envisioning a better future for yourself?
[00:21:28] What does your vision of the future look like?
[00:21:31] Are you looking forward to what's ahead or do you look forward with a sick feeling in your stomach?
[00:21:40] Church.
[00:21:41] Could I remember, Could I remind you, everything you see here today, everything that is about Christ Church, it was once just a vision of the future.
[00:21:53] None of this existed. It was just an idea about the future.
[00:22:00] And if you let God create your ideas about the future, it is unbelievable what you might accomplish with your life.
[00:22:13] Church Life is full of inequities.
[00:22:17] It's another way of saying life isn't fair. Get used to it and overcome.
[00:22:23] When I face something is unfair, I adapt and overcome.
[00:22:28] Church, you can't let life inequities give you a bad attitude and make you quit.
[00:22:37] Work hard and thrive wherever you are. Young people, there were many times in my life I did not like my job.
[00:22:46] I had many jobs that I hated.
[00:22:51] But we needed the cash. It always came in handy.
[00:22:55] And I tried to go to work and I tried to do the best I could and I tried to thrive.
[00:23:00] Thrive wherever you are.
[00:23:04] That is the way to take the step up.
[00:23:07] Don't look around at the other people around you. Don't listen to the complainers. Stay as far away from the bad attitudes as you can and just thrive wherever you are.
[00:23:22] Help people wherever you are. This is Joseph is helping people. No matter where God puts him.
[00:23:29] Be patient. Your time will come. How hard was it for Joseph to set year after year in jail?
[00:23:39] Be ready when your opportunities come.
[00:23:42] Hey, you don't know when your great opportunity will become. So be start getting yourself ready all the time.
[00:23:55] I read about 25 books on architecture before we built this building.
[00:24:01] You wanna know why I wanted to be ready?
[00:24:04] I wanted to know what made great architecture. I wanted to be able to see what an architect drew and say, this fits classic architecture or this guy's a little loose.
[00:24:22] Be part of the solution.
[00:24:24] Joseph was part of the solution. There's a famine coming. We can get ready for it and I'll help you do it.
[00:24:32] Be generous when you prevail.
[00:24:34] When Joseph prevailed, he could have said to his brothers, I told you Losers.
[00:24:39] I told you this and you mocked me, but he didn't. He was generous.
[00:24:45] And finally, Joseph is a model of unshakable faith.
[00:24:51] No matter where you put Joseph, his faith was unshaken Church.
[00:24:57] We do not walk by sight, we walk by faith. We have to have an unshakable faith in God, no matter what the circumstances are around us.
[00:25:11] Ah, grandparents.
[00:25:15] Would you like a model of being a better grandparent?
[00:25:19] We're having a seminar this Saturday and there's a table on Main street that you can check it out and people will model for you qualities of being a good grandparent.
[00:25:34] I think it's worth looking into.
[00:25:42] Aspire to the future of those living well through righteousness.
[00:25:49] There is a future for the man of peace.
[00:25:54] Listen to this.
[00:25:56] David says there is a future for the man of peace.
[00:26:04] Wickedness destroys peace, but Christ gives peace.
[00:26:10] I'm going to give you a couple scriptures for this, but I just want you to think of your own life.
[00:26:16] The times in my life that I have been. I've had the least amount of peace have been times after I've done things that I regret.
[00:26:26] Anybody?
[00:26:28] The. The times I've had the least amount of peace are times after I've done something I regret doing.
[00:26:36] There's something about wickedness that destroys peace.
[00:26:41] The prophet Isaiah said, there is no peace, says the Lord for the wicked.
[00:26:47] That's just as. That's as plain as it can get.
[00:26:51] If you choose to live a wicked life, you choose to live a life without peace.
[00:26:58] Listen what else Isaiah said.
[00:27:01] The way of peace. They do not know there is no justice in their paths.
[00:27:10] They have made their roads crooked.
[00:27:14] No one who treads on them knows peace.
[00:27:17] You know what happens when you're wicked? You not only rob yourself of peace, you rob the people around you of peace.
[00:27:27] If you look at your future and say, I would like to live next year with a richer sense of inner peace.
[00:27:36] I would like to bring a deeper peace to my family.
[00:27:42] I would like to be a source of peace in a troubled world.
[00:27:48] Well, one of the things you have to do is you have to stop being wicked church because there is no peace for the wicked.
[00:27:56] Ah, but listen to this. This is what Jesus said.
[00:28:01] Peace I leave with you.
[00:28:03] My peace I give to you.
[00:28:06] Not as the world gives do I give to you.
[00:28:09] Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. This is what Jesus is saying this year. He'd like to give you more peace than you've ever had.
[00:28:20] Did you hear that?
[00:28:21] It would be his great delight to meet you day by day this year and share his peace with you.
[00:28:31] A peace that keeps your heart from being troubled and a peace that makes fear pass away.
[00:28:41] Shall we remind ourselves what peace means?
[00:28:46] What am I talking about when I say peace?
[00:28:48] I'm talking about tranquility and quiet.
[00:28:52] Isn't it a beautiful thing when you have inner tranquility?
[00:28:58] Church?
[00:29:00] And isn't it unpleasant when there is a tornado blowing in your stomach and you have no tranquility at all?
[00:29:12] Have you been there?
[00:29:14] Church?
[00:29:16] Ah, listen what Christ says. That tornado blowing in your stomach, that's the result of wickedness.
[00:29:23] That tranquility in your stomach, that's the presence of Christ.
[00:29:30] Can you hear this? I want to live a better life. I have to have greater tranquility. Tranquility comes from Christ.
[00:29:38] Second of all, a peace means freedom from being disturbed.
[00:29:46] Have you ever let yourself absorb the emotional disturbance of the world around you?
[00:29:58] You get around somebody who's really upset and somehow or another it starts rubbing off on you, and the next thing you know, you're upset.
[00:30:07] Or maybe it's anger. You get around somebody who's really anger, and the next thing you know you're gritting your teeth.
[00:30:13] Okay?
[00:30:15] Peace is a quality of soul that doesn't allow us to be infected by the disturbing things around us.
[00:30:28] A3.
[00:30:30] Peace is freedom from disquieting thoughts and emotions.
[00:30:34] Here we are. We've talked about this many times.
[00:30:37] That disquieting thought pattern that you go over and over and over again on church.
[00:30:48] Peace is an interruption of that disquieting thought pattern.
[00:30:58] Ah, Peace is harmonious relationships.
[00:31:02] It's getting along well with the people that are close to you in life.
[00:31:08] All right, who doesn't want that?
[00:31:11] I want next year to have more tranquility.
[00:31:15] I want. I want freedom from being disturbed externally. I want freedom from disquieting thoughts and emotions. I want to live harmonious with the people in my life.
[00:31:26] And it turns out that Christ wants the very same thing for us and he's willing to share it with us.
[00:31:36] And then because David is doing the best he can to keep contrasting the life of the righteous and the wicked, we get another contrast.
[00:31:46] There is a future for those who do right, but transgressors, verse 38 shall be altogether destroyed and the future of the wicked shall be cut off.
[00:32:01] Not only do wicked suffer from lack of peace, they have no future.
[00:32:08] There is no future for wickedness.
[00:32:12] Jesus foresaw this, and this is what he said. I'm quoting Jesus here.
[00:32:20] When the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him.
[00:32:27] He will sit on his glorious throne.
[00:32:30] Before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
[00:32:42] And he will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
[00:32:47] Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. You have a future that Christ has been working on ever since he created the universe.
[00:33:09] For I was hungry and you gave me food.
[00:33:12] I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.
[00:33:15] I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.
[00:33:26] Then the righteous will answer.
[00:33:31] Then the righteous will answer him saying, lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?
[00:33:40] You gave to the Christmas offering.
[00:33:42] When did we see you thirsty and give you a drink?
[00:33:46] When did we see you a stranger and welcome you are naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?
[00:33:56] The king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
[00:34:09] There is a future for those who live well and do right.
[00:34:14] Christ takes it personally.
[00:34:17] Then he will say to those on the left, depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
[00:34:29] For I was hungry and you couldn't be bothered and gave me no food.
[00:34:35] I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.
[00:34:40] I was a stranger and because of your prejudice you wouldn't welcome me in.
[00:34:46] I was naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.
[00:34:54] Then they will also answer saying, lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger, or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?
[00:35:06] Then he will answer them saying, truly I say to you as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
[00:35:17] All right, now here, I want you to hear this. Everyone prick up your ears.
[00:35:23] These shall go away to everlasting punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
[00:35:31] There is no future for wickedness, church, there's no future.
[00:35:39] There is a future for those who live well by righteousness.
[00:35:45] There is a beautiful future for those who live well.
[00:35:50] The apostle John saw the future and wrote this.
[00:35:56] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no More.
[00:36:08] And I saw the Holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[00:36:18] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. And he will dwell with them.
[00:36:30] And they will be his people and God himself will be their God.
[00:36:36] There is a future for those who have faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:36:42] That future is a new heaven and a new earth. That future is God will be our undisputed God. And he and we will be proud to be his people.
[00:36:56] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more.
[00:37:03] Neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
[00:37:11] He who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new.
[00:37:20] And he said, write this down, for these are words. For these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
[00:37:34] To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. Here it is, Church.
[00:37:43] And the one who conquers will have this heritage. I will be his God and he will be my son.
[00:37:50] Do you hear this Church?
[00:37:53] There is a future in God for those who live well by faith in Christ.
[00:38:02] There is no future for the wicked.
[00:38:06] One more time.
[00:38:08] When you start to look at your life right now, when you start to think about the life you're living, when you start to think about the things you want to do and accomplish, when you start thinking about the meaning of your life, I want you to remember that Christ said there is a future that he has been creating since he created the world to begin with.
[00:38:30] And that future is a new heaven and a new earth. And it is for the people who live well by faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:38:40] For those who choose to live a wicked life, there is no future at all.
[00:38:51] David is asking us to rethink how we live a quality life.
[00:39:01] And he's asking us to say if you're real, if you're ever going to live well, if you're ever going to live righteously, it's going to be a byproduct of your unshakable faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:39:14] It's going to be a belief that Christ has a reward for everyone who does well.
[00:39:21] It's going to be a faith that Christ meant it when he said as much as you do it to one of the least of my brothers you've done it unto to me.
[00:39:30] It is an unshakable faith that says God is altogether trustworthy and I'm going to live a better life by a deeper, richer, more meaningful faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:39:45] Our dear Heavenly Father, you have spoken to us clearly through King David, and we hear your truth.
[00:39:56] And I pray that your spirit would do what only he can do.
[00:40:01] And he would begin to recreate something inside of us.
[00:40:07] And we would be recreated in the image of Jesus Christ.
[00:40:12] And we would aspire to live well.
[00:40:17] We would strive to be righteous.
[00:40:21] We would seize every opportunity to do good.
[00:40:25] We would believe that there is a future and there is a hope.
[00:40:30] And we would cling to Christ without reservation.
[00:40:34] And then, Father, I pray that the qualities of Christ that enrich us inwardly would flow through us and touch the people around us.
[00:40:46] In Christ's name, Amen.
