Father, this morning we are gathered in the name of Your Son, Jesus,

to recall all that He has done for us. Lord, to be reminded of all He’s doing in us now. Lord, certainly to look forward to all He will do. God, there’s no one like You, there’s no one like Jesus. Jesus, we pray that our hearts and our minds would encounter Christ in Your Word this morning, that Jesus would speak to us and change our hearts and minds, and we would be stirred up together as Your body to be faithful, to be believing, to be obeying, to bring You glory, to be Your people here on earth as Jesus’ disciples. So we pray You would, Lord, open our spiritual ears to hear. And to receive, Lord, we praise You and thank You for Sue Ann having such a rapid recovery. We thank You, Lord, for the grace of her life sustained, Lord, for her family’s sake, for her friend’s sake, for our sake, Lord. And we pray many years of faithfulness in her life, Lord, as well this morning. Lord, we pray for so many other families that are dealing with sickness right now, God. I just ask that You would heal them, strengthen them. Lord, we worship You by giving our tithe, our offering. Lord, whether we give physically here or we give online, Lord, we know it’s not a small thing. We want that to be, Lord, an act of obedience and worship and freely giving to You what You’ve given to us, God. So You are our hope, You are our provision, and we love You. It’s in Jesus’ name. Amen. You can be seated.

You can be seated. You can be seated.

You can be seated.

You can be seated. 2 Kings chapter 13, verses 14 to 19.

And here’s what the Word of God says. It says, Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash, king of Israel, went down to him and wept before him, crying, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. And Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows. So he took a bow and arrows. And then he said to the king of Israel, Draw the bow. And he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he shot. And he said, The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria. For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.

And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike the ground with them. And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it. But now you will strike down Syria only three times.

We talked about on Christmas Sunday, Jesus, who was the king to come, the savior to come. We looked at that Christmas passage all the way back in Isaiah. And Isaiah prophesied about Jesus. Jesus, whom the government would be on his shoulders. And he would be a wonderful counselor. And he would be the prince of peace. And he would be to his people an everlasting father. And so we talked about just how wonderful Jesus was. And so this is something of a sequel to that Christmas message. Because if Jesus is so wonderful as we say he is in Christmastime, wouldn’t that mean that we would desire to seek Jesus? And know Jesus for a whole nother year for the rest of our lives? I mean, if Jesus is more than just a fixture of your religion that you associate with, it’s more than some service you go to sometime. It’s more than a special remembrance. It’s an all of life kind of thing. It’s an all of life kind of thing. And what I want us to see this morning all the way back in 2 Kings is what it does and doesn’t look like to really seek God, really. Really and truly in all of life.

Now, Joash here is up against the wall, if you will. His army has been reduced to an incredibly feeble size compared to the Syrians. His father before him had fought and his army had been whittled down to practically nothing. It was a puny army. But the Scriptures also tell us that Joash, just like his father, was one who did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not walk in the ways of God. Joash perverted temple worship. He ordained his own priests. He made golden calves for the people to worship. So see why Joash is coming to the man of God, Elisha. He’s coming because he’s in a moment of desperation. And that is why he makes his appeal to God.

He comes to Elisha. Elisha, hearing that this great man of God is on his deathbed. And I want you to think with me for a moment about the man Elisha, because Elisha was a great man of God. Elisha, when he was called to be a prophet, he kissed his parents farewell. He said goodbye to his former life. Elisha burned his his equipment that he would have plowed the ground with. He sacrificed and cooked up his oxen. And fed the people with it. So in other words, there’s no going back. He was committed to God fully all his days. And what’s interesting is when Elisha says to Joash, my father, my father, Israel, Israel’s horsemen and chariots. Those are the same words that Elisha says back when his master, Elisha, is being taken up in a chariot of fire. But you see, there’s got to be a heart difference. Behind those words. Because Elisha, being a great man of God, he mourns the loss of the man of God. Yes, he mourns Israel’s means for success, for victory. But in Elisha, you see someone who is firstly, chiefly dedicated to God. My father, my father, he says to Elijah. What can it mean for Joash to say those same words? Even Elisha. And Elisha, when Elisha’s taken up, Elisha tries to get Elisha to go away. You know, he says, you stay here. And he said, I will not leave you until the very last. And then Elisha says to Elisha, make one request of me. Here’s the one thing he wants. Let me just have a double portion of your spirit. So see how committed Elisha is. See how committed Elisha is. Elisha valued what Joash never did until the last moment. After squandering the many years of his reign, worshiping false idols, Joash produces tears. Yes, perhaps they’re sincere, but it’s not to the very last. It’s not to the very last. The man who radiated sincerity to God, he’s leaving now. And Joash weeps, but Matthew Poole says this, not for any true love and respect, but for the love of God. For then he would have followed his counsel in forsaking the calves and returning to the Lord. But for his own sake, for his kingdom’s inestimable loss, that’s why Joash weeps. And I never want that to be a question that you have to ask yourself in your life, or you would even want anyone to say about you who knew you well. Why does that person truly approach the Lord? What is that person, what is really their relationship with God? Is it they’re hot for a moment when something goes wrong and things get fixed and everything’s cooled back off and they kind of drift away? Oh, there’s a problem and I run to God again. The question here is, do I want God? Do you want God for God? Or is God a means to an end? Are we mixed? If you’re going to seek the Lord this year, truly, truly and fully, church, let it not be in partial devotion. Let it not be in partial devotion. I think you could ask a question that sounds irreverent. Is devotion to God a necessary evil for you? And that sounds irreverent, because who would call God evil? But in the course of day-to-day life, it comes to be evil when what we really want to do is keep God at arm’s length. I don’t want to be that committed. Oh, I don’t want problems either. Oh, I guess I’ll make, I’ll make God happy and do what He wants. In that way, friends, God is a necessary evil for so many people. We seem to run from God except for when we need to get out of something and we run to Him. And now I will say this, suffering, pain, God uses those things in mighty ways. And there are oftentimes, always, even if you’re a Christian, a good thing, because God will never use suffering in your life for no good reason. He’s always growing you through it. But what I’m saying to you is this, your suffering and trial, if you’re truly devoted to God, cannot be the only time you’re near God. Hardships remind us of the necessity of our God, but it’s not the only time we’re devoted to God. By its definition, a devotion is loyal. It’s steadfast. It’s always. It’s day-to-day. I’m not married today and not tomorrow. You are in a long-term commitment and you are truly in love with God. The thing you enjoy most and the thing to which you are steadfast. The thing you go on and being committed to. So our devotion, our prayers, our love for God in the valley cannot mean too much if we’re not walking with Him daily on the pathway of life, as difficult or easy as it may be, nor can it mean that much if we’re not sitting on the mountaintop with God. I used to say, I haven’t said in a long time, quote-unquote, wasting time with God, right? If we can’t learn how to waste time with God and forsake everything else in life, who is God to us really? We are so often, aren’t we, devoted to money. We’re devoted to comfort. We’re devoted to petty pleasures. We’re devoted to possessions. We’re devoted to people. And God is second or third or fourth or fifth.

And it’s for this reason. It’s for this reason. You and I have this terrible way

of letting our hearts reorient themselves around things of the earth, things of this life. Now, that’s almost a useless phrase, things of this life. It’s almost so useless that saying it is hurtful because we all walk out saying, well, good night. What in the world does that mean? Don’t love the things of this life. In 2 Timothy 4, verse 10, Paul talks about Demas. He said, For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me. In 1 John 2.15, John says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. Now, what is that supposed to mean? Like, I got this really awesome toaster for Christmas. My toast would cook on one side and it was uncooked on the other. But now I just get so excited about my toast because it cooks properly and I’m so excited. It’s like, oh no, the preacher said, don’t love the things of the world and I’m enjoying this toaster. That must mean I don’t love God. So there’s a much wider range when we’re talking about love, when we’re talking about affections. And when we get back to Joash, we find the definition of this wrong kind of love, this wrong kind of affection. Joash is a man whose best devotion, whose best affections don’t go to God. They go to his idols. They go to himself. They go to sin. They go to pleasure. Enjoy your toaster, but friend, your toaster, must be readily discardable if you find it getting in the way of that thing which gets all of your affections and devotions first. And that must be God. God then is not my joy and my pleasure when He’s only around when I want Him in my conveniences. That’s failing to love God. And a toaster is a silly thing, but we do it with silly things, don’t we? We do it with silly things.

Remember what Jesus said in Luke 14, 26. Jesus said, If anyone comes to Me and he does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Now those are about as strong a word as you could say and that came straight from the mouth of God. Jesus said, If you don’t hate your mother and father, you can’t follow Me. Now does Jesus mean you must go in that house and attack your parents and call them horrible things and just spend your life hating the way that we think of hate? No, that’s not what Jesus means. What Jesus means is this. If you’re going to be My disciple, you must be so devoted to My cause above everything else it would be as if you hated everything else because your love for Me was so much greater in comparison. That’s Christian discipleship.

Joash wept. But what did he weep for? What did he weep for? We’re told of no repentance on Joash’s part. We’re not told of some spiritual remedy. We’re told only he seems to be sad to lose the means by which his life can be comfortable and well. Friends, walking in the way everlasting, it’s a thing done daily. It’s a thing done daily. And if we’re not committed to daily pursuing God, daily finding His way, daily seeking Him, daily sacrificing, daily believing, daily obeying, friends, we’re not seeking God with a full heart. With a full heart. What do you think about what the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 57.1? He says, The righteous man perishes and no one lays it to heart. What do you think about that? Isaiah in his time, he’s mourning because he’s living in a time and a culture where there aren’t people where there aren’t people who are pursuing God. There aren’t people who are teaching the right way of God, who are pointing people to obey and love God. And he’s saying no one even cares. It would be one thing if you lived in a society and people mourned because wow, there’s a great lack of godliness in our time. But he’s saying how much worse is it, friends, when we ourselves don’t pursue God, nor are we bothered when there aren’t godly people around us. So devotion to God means understanding God. And it means uneasiness when we’re not in constant fellowship with him, with his people, and his influences. To say it opposite, can you stand, can you stand to be apart from God, apart from his people, apart from his influences for very long? That’s a good question. It’s a tough one. Can you stand to live life unconscious of God, his people, and his influences? You shouldn’t be able to.

And if you do, I believe it’s what you call partial or far worse, hollow devotion. Hollow devotion.

You’ve met the person who’s committed to their spouse, but then you’ve met the person who is devoted to their spouse. And it’s two different things, isn’t it? Two different things. I’m committed, I pay the bills. Right? Devotion, I’m consciously seeking how to love you and serve you and sacrifice because I love you and your life more than my life. That’s devotion. So, all the way back here in 2 Kings, all the way back here in 2 Kings, we’re faced with the question about our Christian discipleship today. Do we really love God for God? Do we want him? Are we devoted to him and nothing less? You know? Jesus is not. A genie in a bottle. Boy, he’s convenient when I need him. By the way, I’m preaching a sermon to myself today. You’re all welcome to listen in.

You remember 9-11? I was in 7th grade when 9-11 happened. Admittedly, I didn’t even know what the World Trade Centers were in the 7th grade, so I didn’t know why it was a big deal at first. But in the coming days, after that happened, you may remember it was not. Someone had strung real big up on buildings close to there. God bless America. I was like, well, that’s great because what happens in trial and great suffering, we have a way of turning to God. But what’s America like in day-to-day life? You see the difference?

Friends, it’s a new year and God gives new years. He gives winter, spring, fall, summer. He gives birthdays. He gives new years. He gives seasons to us as like physical little reminders of spiritual realities. Hey, was 2021 not great for you in obedience and faithfulness to God? Guess what? God is so merciful. He says it’s 2022. Start again. God does not deal with us according to our sins. His mercies are new every morning. It’s a new morning today. It’s like the new year today. It’s amazing, right? It’s the new year. Would you in 2022 give God the new year? The devotion? Give Christ the devotion He deserves? Who will get your heart? You? Your job? Your toys? Your pleasure? Your comfort? A person? Would you seek Him daily? Would you seek Him weekly? I don’t play this card much because I want to really use it when I use it. Come to church on Sundays. We increasingly live in an age where the sacredness and the sacred gathering of the saints on the Lord’s day is pretty common and discardable when necessary. Friends, it cannot be so. The Hebrew writer says, do not neglect to meet together as it is the habit of some. When going to the lake or going to meet with Christ and His people is like on the same table, like something’s greatly, like it’s wrong. Like we’re not fully devoted. I’m not saying going to the lake’s wrong, but if we’re constantly wondering, like how can I get out of meeting with God? How can I get out of being filled with the Holy Spirit today? Something’s wrong. We should deeply desire to be with God and His people on the Lord’s day. You should deeply desire to seek Christ daily. And it’s hard. It’s so hard. And I will say that for myself. And I know we all go, like we’re in different phases. Like you got a newborn and the newborn, whatever. And you’re not sure why you’re not sleeping good or work’s really stressful and you’re having a hard time. Like yes, like life is hard and difficult. No one’s saying it’s not. But those things to which you’re devoted, you find a way to be devoted to those things even in the midst of how difficult it is. Like that’s part of devotion is you find a way to do it even if it’s hard. How’s a war one? Well, it’s too hard. We can’t win the war. It’s hard, so we’re going to still find a way to win the war. Would you like the psalmist day and night to seek God? The psalmist says, I give God my best thoughts in the day and the night. So, the psalmist is saying, I don’t go too much time really without thinking about God. He is my meditation day and night. Like in between conversations, the psalmist is like thinking about God, you know, in the background. Like boss comes in, need you to do this. I’m back to thinking about Jesus. I’m back to asking for his strength. I’m back to preaching the good news of Jesus to myself. It’s a constant meditation.

And lastly on this point, I want to say to you, it’s no small grace. It’s no small grace when God has put godly influences in your life. If you go to church here, here, that means you think by some grace God has put me and Chase and Chris in your lives to help you stay faithful on the straight and narrow. So, we are not special graces. The office of pastor elder is a special grace. You should, again, long to listen and follow those people that God has put in your life. You should long to meet with those brothers and sisters throughout the week who are leaning in and willing to sharpen you and you sharpen them. These are great graces that I think we take for granted. Sometimes because we think we’re so important, right? And secondly, I don’t think we spend enough time thinking about the world, like the global church. Do you know what it’s like to live in a third world country like where you just heard about Jesus and no one else does? Like, I’m the spiritual authority and I know John 3.16. Like, that’s a lot of people’s actual reality. They don’t have like this like ample supply of godly biblical resources both through people and books to like feed on and yet I think so often in the church we have all that in the West and we starve ourselves.

What’s your devotion? Really? Really?

Faithfulness and seeking the Lord it can’t happen if we’re to be partial in our devotion nor can it happen if we’re to be partial and small in our obedience.

Partial or small in our obedience. Look back in 2 Kings 13

it says in verse 17 that he opened the window eastward and he shot it and Elisha said, shoot and he shot and he said, the Lord’s arrow of victory the arrow of victory over Syria. So now, Joash Joash was a man of war. Joash was not unfamiliar with how to shoot a bow. He was not unfamiliar with how to like handle a sword or a shield yet we find this very old sick prophet put his hands on Joash’s hands when he shoots. So he’s not doing that because he doesn’t know how to do it. He’s doing it as a sign of a blessing. This whole thing symbolizes because he’s even shooting eastward which would have been the direction of Syria. It’s this act symbolizing God will bless you as your arrow goes out to defeat Syria. And even as unfaithful as Israel and Joash was God is still willing to give him the full blessing of victory. It says until until Elisha says until you make an end of them. An end of them. That’s God’s intentions towards his people. His perfect great provision.

But this encounter it turns sour and a little strange when you just read it for the first time. Joash makes Elisha angry. He makes Elisha angry. He tells him to strike the ground with the arrow but he does not do it as the prophet would have him do it nor could we say as God would have him do it. Did God tell Joash to have Elisha do this so as to reveal Joash’s heart? Or in doing this did Joash reveal his own unfaithfulness to God by only striking it three times? Well I think there’s shades of both. And either way what we find is Joash is keen by divine insight this man Joash Elisha is aware this man Joash he cannot apprehend the thing given. He cannot do it. In fact he will not do it. He’s angry with Joash but Elisha’s angry for the people of God. Because remember what God had just said I will give you all that you need. Yet Joash ties his hands behind his back. He won’t do the thing God told him to do to receive it. Joash is unfamiliar with God’s ways. He’s distrusting of God’s ways. And because of that he won’t be used by God in a great way. God desired to use Joash to make an end of Syria. But Joash was lukewarm in his faith so his obedience was really small. He says you’re just going to push back Syria three times now. And that’s all the more that you’ll do. Charles Simeon a really old preacher he says this on this passage we instead of raising our expectations in proportion to the ability of the giver are ever limiting his power and grace. And on every occasion we ask can he do this thing? Will he do this thing for me? This is a fault even among mature eminent saints. It was for this that Jesus reproved the sisters of Lazarus. He had told them that their brothers should rise again. And he went to the grave to raise him. They thought that the circumstance of his having been in the grave for days was insurmountable. It was an obstacle that couldn’t be passed. But Jesus replied said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe thou should see the glory of God. So friends if our faith is so weak if we’re so undevoted we cannot imagine to obey God and do great things for him. What’s deep in your heart for 2022? What’s deep in your heart? Well I’d like to pay the mortgage down. I’d like a nice raise. You know I’d like to potty train this kid.

None of those things are like wrong things. They’re not wrong things but Jesus said Jesus said hey if you have faith you know what you could do you could move a mountain. Jesus said if you believe you would see the glory of God. You would split seas open. You could call down the full breadth and power of heaven that nothing on earth could withstand. Jesus said ask and you will receive. But do we ask it all? Do we ask fervently? Do we ask until human strength is gone? Do we ask depriving ourselves of food and water if must be? Do we ask in such a way to really believe that God is both capable and willing to do what we ask of him because he’s told us to do it and we believe he will do it? Joash should have stabbed that dirt till the floor was gone. He should have stabbed that dirt until the arrows broke. But he just he just he just he just he just he just he just three times and no more.

I want to say to you if you’re full of Christ’s spirit if we’re full of Christ’s spirit we’ll ask like relentless children. Children children know deeply what they want and they know who has it and you know the thing about children is they don’t care to make a fool of themselves getting it either. They’ll get on the floor and kick and scream if they must until they get the thing that they want from you and they win. And in public they don’t care. And this is Joash’s problem. I’m a Matthew Henry makes it I’m this great king I’m going to sit down in the dirt and stab the dirt. I don’t think so. Let me just let me appease him real quick. Coming to God often feels silly. The things he asks us to do for him feel very silly. The things that God asks of him often times it feels very ineffective. God how could this be the thing you want me to do that seems so stupid? Think about Gideon. I have 300 people against an army of thousands. Like God do you not know what you’re doing? And he does all along. That’s faith. That’s faith. And Jesus says in Luke 18 you remember the story of the woman she needs justice the wicked judge won’t get it and she begs the wicked judge give me justice and he gives it because he’s tired of her. And Jesus says do you not think that God do you not think that God as your father already knows what you need and he’s willing to give it as soon as you ask? Friends ask and you will receive. Ask and you will receive. We’re not talking about personal wealth. We’re not talking about your personal gain. We’re not talking about being healthy and wealthy. We’re talking about pulling God down out of the heavens so that we could see his kingdom come in our lives in our church in the world around us because that’s what he wants. And that’s the kind of stuff he responds to and delights responding when his children ask for it. When we ask for it. So it does ask the question though are you willing to be uncomfortable? Are you willing to look silly? Are you willing to look highly ineffective? Because that’s how two plus two is five sometimes in the way that God works. It just is the way God works sometimes. Believing stretches you. Believing makes you uncomfortable. It rips you. It rips you out of your happy carefree place. It doesn’t satisfy the deepest longings of your flesh but it will satisfy the deepest longings of your spirit when you step out in faith in that hard place and everything about you and your wants and your desires are stripped away and nothing is left but Christ. In that place you’ll find God. In that place you’ll see the glory of God. Remember in Mark when Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth he can’t do any miracles because like he can’t do nothing that’s Jesus and he grew up making wooden stuff with his daddy like that’s Jesus and there ain’t no way that Jesus can do anything great and it says this about him it says that Jesus marveled at their unbelief. He marveled at their unbelief that he couldn’t do anything. If Jesus is going to marvel about anything in my life I want it to be because I believed so much and I want to obey so much and I sacrificed so much and I loved so much and I gave up so much and I forsook my human wisdom and strength so much. I mean what do you want Jesus to marvel at about your life?

Elisha has to die knowing that that great king wasn’t so great. Yes he was the king of Israel but he was like so many kings before him who did evil in the sight of the Lord who didn’t believe.

Do you want to see revival in your time? Do you have some hope and desire that God could radically change the culture in which you live? It won’t come by half-hearted thoughtless prayers. Do you really desire to see the lost family members in your life come to saving faith? It won’t happen by sparse prayers. You will not know God in great greater measure through sloppy studying of His word. We will not be a vibrant local church if we’re not really leaning into one another loving one another sacrificing for one another caring for one another. Do you desire to be used greatly of God? Which is just another way of saying do you greatly desire to see God move in your life? And isn’t that a difference between human greatness and the greatness of God? Human greatness is look what I have accomplished and the greatness of God is look what God has accomplished in me and through me that God gets all the glory. He alone gets it. Man, if Joe Ash had gone through to the basement he could have said not look at this hole he would have said look what God did in promising this victory. God always gets the glory and that should be our greatest desire, friends is to beat that ground until our hands break if necessary so that God comes in power. You know, and it’s amazing to think this it’s amazing to think this none of us none of us who believe in Jesus are limited are limited by our weaknesses.

None of us are limited by our weaknesses. We’re limited by our asking. You look at the Bible from Old and New Testament you see a bunch of people who are terribly flawed but you find people who are just as flawed who are willing to ask and that’s when God does great things. You’re limited in your obedience you’re limited in faith you’re limited in what you’re doing for God because you won’t ask for it. Ask for it.

Jonathan Edwards has said a man never in any instance wills anything contrary to his desires or desires anything contrary to his will. So down deep in the Bible down deep in your guts you know who do you love who do you want who do you want to give your life to who do you want to give give it all to Jesus

partially Jesus but you know there are these other who do you want to give your heart and life to

I pray that our I pray that our prayer and our desire would be for radical obedience and sacrifice in 2022 I believe you know and God’s caught me in it I’ve told Jessica that I’m not going to do that I am preaching a sermon to myself things like you know like the building you know like our building space and I found myself thinking the last few months like we’re never going to go to a building we’re a smaller church like that’s just the way it is and this pastor corrected me and he said you know he said I was a pastor of a small church and God moved radically he said you need to stop thinking like that don’t do that and I was I was convicted I was convicted God has a great plan for Providence Fellowship if Providence Fellowship would believe and ask for it and believe that she will receive it God will send families God will send workers God will send resources God will send everything we need because He’s promised to take care of His people in Christ Jesus will we believe and obey

friends if we’re going to seek the Lord let us seek Him to find Him all of Him not some of Him not all of Him sometimes but just all of Him all the time fully devoted full obedience

we pray Tuesday mornings at 7am you should come we do discipleship training Wednesday nights at 6.30 you should come men if you’re not doing family worship with your families every day yesterday was the last day start today start reading a book of the Bible and read a verse and talk about what it means and sing a song out loud together with just voices and pray build that rhythm into your family get in the Word get in the Word make a point to share the Gospel this year make a point to look for those in your life who need Jesus make a point to invite people who need a church home your family, your friends, your work wherever bring people in to the local church the kingdom to the local church what does Paul say in Corinthians? he says your labor in the Lord is what? does anybody know it? not in vain that means if I set myself in faith to do the work of the kingdom it may not happen exactly as I want to see it happen it may feel silly sometimes but you would better believe if we set ourselves in faith in the Spirit according to God’s Word to do it He’s going to work through it He’s going to work through it, friends let us find God let us be full of Him let’s do this let’s look to Jesus and see how Jesus was fully devoted Jesus, because He was fully devoted was fully obedient and because Jesus was fully devoted and fully obedient and fulfilled the will of God and satisfied the law’s demands for your sins and my sins because Jesus did raise up from the dead because He was fully obedient and devoted you and I are full of the Spirit of Christ and even when we fail and we don’t do right there’s repentance and we can look back to Jesus who’s saying keep going, keep going it’s not about you it’s about me and I’m working in and through you so get about the work of the kingdom in 2022 that’s what you and I can do together and we must do together if we’re going to follow Jesus together I want to end with Jeremiah 29.13

the Bible says people of Judah they don’t want to be in captivity they’re in captivity because they wouldn’t obey God in the first place they were incredibly partial in their obedience and here’s what the prophet says he says, hey, yeah, you’re not where you want to be you’re in a tough spot but if you would seek me you will find me

assuming you seek me with your whole heart seek me with your whole heart let’s pray

Father, our best devotions our works Lord, they they don’t please you they don’t save us

Lord, they don’t save us Lord, they’re only fruits of what you have done in us and through us because of your son Jesus so Lord, let every work we do

let every prayer let every thought every action let it be a flow from who we are and what we’ve been called to in the Lord Jesus Christ

God, strip away this world strip away a unhealthy love for us strip away distractions until only Christ remains Lord, let that be just a banner over us for 2022 Lord, let only Christ remain and nothing else Lord, that’s what we deeply need oh Lord, that’s what we deeply need and we’re asking for it so Lord, would you just come in power and we trust in accordance with your word and your promises you will and we love you and we bless you in the name of Jesus Amen