back to indexBerean Community Church New Years Eve Service
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And it's just glad to see so many of you come out for our service. 00:09:21.000 |
We're gonna start this first song by Pastor Mark's request. 00:09:26.000 |
So maybe those of you who've grown up in the church will know it. 00:09:30.000 |
Maybe some of you may not, but it kind of goes right in line with today's message. 00:11:58.000 |
Let's take a moment to pray together as we open up the service and dedicate this time to the Lord. 00:12:10.000 |
Our God, we want to join our hearts in, Lord, lifting up our song to you. 00:12:18.000 |
God, we want to make sure that we are in consideration of you, God, 00:12:23.000 |
so that all the things that have happened in this past year, we give thanks to you from our hearts. 00:12:29.000 |
But also, God, as we think about the year to come, Lord, that we want to bring our first moments 00:12:35.000 |
desiring God to offer our song and worship to you. 00:12:40.000 |
We also pray, God, that in our thoughts of all the things we hope to happen and that we wish to occur, 00:12:45.000 |
that we want to make sure that it all has to do with you, Lord. 00:12:49.000 |
God, we want to thank you again, and we lift this time of worship to you, Lord, in Christ's name. 00:16:12.000 |
One more time, not to us, but to your name be the glory. 00:17:31.000 |
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease. 00:18:01.000 |
Who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless bay. 00:18:21.000 |
Till on that cross as Jesus died. The wrath of God was satisfied. 00:18:32.000 |
For every sin on him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I lay. 00:20:13.000 |
No scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand. 00:21:16.000 |
Apologies for the slow delay in coming up to pray. 00:21:19.000 |
I'm sorry we haven't sung that song in a long time. 00:21:25.000 |
As we conclude the year and we think about the next year to 00:21:30.000 |
A time definitely goes really fast and we want to make sure 00:21:33.000 |
that we are being intentional about every season of our lives. 00:21:36.000 |
And so what a sweet time it is for us to come together. 00:21:39.000 |
Give God worship and focus our mind and hearts. 00:21:42.000 |
In order to do that, let's take our Bibles and turn to Psalm 00:21:47.000 |
We are going to be taking a look at an important Psalm. 00:21:50.000 |
This is a Psalm actually in the Jewish tradition that they read 00:21:56.000 |
Some of you may have heard the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah. 00:22:00.000 |
And that is the head of the year, the beginning of the year in 00:22:06.000 |
And this chapter, actually chapters 26, 27 and 28 are the 00:22:10.000 |
portions of scripture that are read every year. 00:22:13.000 |
And rightly so, it has so much to do with our focus and our 00:22:22.000 |
And the word of God says this, a Psalm of David. 00:22:25.000 |
The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? 00:22:30.000 |
The Lord is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread? 00:22:34.000 |
When evil doers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries 00:22:41.000 |
The host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. 00:22:45.000 |
The war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident. 00:22:50.000 |
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek, that I 00:22:54.000 |
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to 00:22:58.000 |
behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. 00:23:04.000 |
Our God, we do pray, Lord, that as time truly is short and goes 00:23:11.000 |
by so quickly, that God, as you have afforded time to us, have 00:23:16.000 |
given to us and allowed us to redeem the times, I really do 00:23:22.000 |
That, God, we would fill it with time that is in communion and 00:23:28.000 |
And God, it is time spent desiring, Lord God, to exalt you 00:23:33.000 |
And I want to, Lord, thank you so much, Lord, that God, you 00:23:39.000 |
And so I pray that every day of our lives would truly be filled 00:23:43.000 |
and would be fruitful because of our walk with him. 00:23:47.000 |
We thank you, God, for this time it's in Christ's name, amen. 00:23:51.000 |
So as I read that passage, you know, the psalm in its totality, 00:23:59.000 |
There are four sections within this and I'm only going to be 00:24:02.000 |
able to cover certain segments of it because of the due to time 00:24:06.000 |
But this psalm has so much to do with God's design that his 00:24:13.000 |
ultimate redemptive desire was to make sure that he's dwelling 00:24:20.000 |
And in order that he would dwell with his people, he had to 00:24:25.000 |
He had to make sure that they were taught, that they were 00:24:28.000 |
taught to come and approach him in a right way. 00:24:30.000 |
And essentially the people in their dedication and expression 00:24:34.000 |
and response to God would be to say, as you have called us, here 00:24:43.000 |
And so this passage in the scriptures has much to do with 00:24:46.000 |
the people preparing and dedicating themselves and that's 00:24:51.000 |
That's why there's a tradition of reading it each year. 00:24:54.000 |
And so for us, likewise, we're going to be taking a look so 00:24:58.000 |
that we would prepare our hearts and our minds as we think about 00:25:02.000 |
Now, the first segment of it, verses 1 through 3, let me read 00:25:06.000 |
again for us so that we can highlight and draw from it a 00:25:10.000 |
significant point about how we can prepare our hearts and our 00:25:14.000 |
It says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation. 00:25:24.000 |
"When evil doers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries 00:25:31.000 |
Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. 00:25:34.000 |
Though war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be 00:25:39.000 |
Now, we know that this kind of passage exists in so many 00:25:47.000 |
But in my mind, I look at this passage, it's not just kind of 00:25:56.000 |
There is a spiritual logic that is being practiced and it is, 00:26:00.000 |
"If the Lord truly is my light, my salvation, and my defense, 00:26:04.000 |
then I should be able to ask this question, 'What in the 00:26:10.000 |
If the Lord truly is my light that dispels all the fear that 00:26:17.000 |
If he's my light who enlightens my eyes so that I could 00:26:21.000 |
understand, so that I could see, that I'm not just walking 00:26:26.000 |
If he truly is my hope of rescue, deliverance from all the 00:26:32.000 |
If he truly is my defense, where he is my strong tower and my 00:26:37.000 |
The Hebrew word for defense there literally is strong and 00:26:45.000 |
If he's like that, then who else am I supposed to fear?" 00:26:49.000 |
And the resounding answer to that rhetorical question should 00:27:01.000 |
Now the question to you then is, "Are you able to say that in 00:27:06.000 |
That to me sounds like a kind of confidence where if I were to 00:27:09.000 |
hear it from anybody just talking to them, like, "I fear 00:27:15.000 |
It may even sound like arrogance, wouldn't it? 00:27:18.000 |
But the scripture is so clear actually that he is confident in 00:27:22.000 |
relationship to everything that is both past, present, and 00:27:28.000 |
If you look at verse 2, he says, "When evil doers came upon me." 00:27:34.000 |
He had so many people that tried to get rid of him from the face 00:27:41.000 |
We don't have time to recount all the little elements of his 00:27:44.000 |
history, but you know King Saul was threatened by David and so 00:27:49.000 |
And every time King David was praised, he was exalted or 00:27:54.000 |
King Saul was so jealous he literally, you know, threw 00:28:02.000 |
All the things of the past, he says, "And whenever these things 00:28:08.000 |
Verse 3, "Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not 00:28:13.000 |
Though a war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be 00:28:20.000 |
And so the first point is in a way to prepare for not just one 00:28:24.000 |
season but every year, we should be thinking, am I predetermined 00:28:32.000 |
Do I understand what it means where I'm not like wary of 00:28:38.000 |
sounding all arrogant and prideful by saying I feel like I 00:28:41.000 |
can go through anything because God is my light, because God is 00:28:51.000 |
I think a lot of people wrestle with the balance of how to have 00:28:58.000 |
Because truthfully speaking, when I think to myself, this 00:29:02.000 |
scripture, King David is saying, "In spite of all this, I will 00:29:07.000 |
I don't know if I'm -- am I allowed to say that? 00:29:10.000 |
And truthfully speaking, when I think, "Oh, Mark, you need to 00:29:13.000 |
be confident," you know, when you're afraid to speak in public 00:29:16.000 |
or when you're afraid to do X, Y, and Z, it's very difficult for 00:29:20.000 |
me to not get this weird thought in my head on this like wrong 00:29:25.000 |
side where it's like, "That's right, you're the man. 00:29:32.000 |
But Christian confidence is nothing like that. 00:29:36.000 |
King David did not put down into words, "And I am the man. 00:29:46.000 |
Christian confidence, biblical confidence is not arrogance. 00:29:49.000 |
It's not being full of self, and it's not having a kind of gusto. 00:29:55.000 |
Christian confidence also is not this naive, what I see in 00:30:03.000 |
A kind of chance confidence in circumstances that are going to 00:30:06.000 |
just work in the strange, strange mystical world of 00:30:10.000 |
spirituality, and whabam, you're going to be okay. 00:30:17.000 |
What King David is talking about here is this deep, deep trust. 00:30:23.000 |
The word when he says, "And I shall be confident," in spite 00:30:26.000 |
of all these things, "I will be confident," is the word batakh, 00:30:30.000 |
and it is translated 35 times as the word trust. 00:30:36.000 |
For us, we know that it's not about a man who's just bold, 00:30:40.000 |
who says what's on his mind, he fears nobody, and he just does 00:30:45.000 |
It's not a guy who has strong muscles, and he happens to be 00:30:47.000 |
just this weathered man who's been through life. 00:30:52.000 |
Because biblically speaking, a child can have biblical 00:30:57.000 |
My God is so big, he's so strong and so mighty, there's nothing 00:31:07.000 |
And I have to get myself to realize my ideas of confidence 00:31:11.000 |
perhaps has been very much influenced by the world's idea 00:31:15.000 |
of machismo kind of thing, but actually, when you are able to 00:31:19.000 |
place such a confidence on the God who gives you security, and 00:31:25.000 |
therefore you're able to say, "In God, I am so confident," 00:31:30.000 |
whether it was people of the past who are trying to devour 00:31:32.000 |
me, whether it's people now, whether--and then I'm going to 00:31:48.000 |
He says that there were enemies who were around him. 00:31:51.000 |
If you take a look at verse 10, he says, "My father and my 00:31:55.000 |
If you take a look at verse 11, he says, "Teach me your ways 00:32:00.000 |
Take a look at verse 12, "There are adversaries and false 00:32:05.000 |
And I could just go down, but what I'm trying to tell you is 00:32:07.000 |
there were all sorts of difficulties, trials, and 00:32:15.000 |
But the confidence is--does it really matter what it is? 00:32:22.000 |
Does it really matter what's going to be in the next year? 00:32:25.000 |
Because when you are predetermined, when you have 00:32:30.000 |
prepared your heart and your mind to say that, "I'm going to 00:32:34.000 |
be absolutely confident in my God," then it actually doesn't 00:32:38.000 |
even matter because you've already answered the question, 00:32:41.000 |
"Who in the world am I going to fear when I have this God?" 00:32:45.000 |
And so for us, when we think about preparing, we've got to 00:32:50.000 |
be able to say, "Look, King David, I've been through 00:32:53.000 |
things, yes, but it's actually not my experience that makes me 00:32:58.000 |
From my experience, I just have greater confidence. 00:33:04.000 |
I know he's going to be true now, and in the future, I shall 00:33:11.000 |
And likewise, secondly, not only then do we put our 00:33:14.000 |
confidence in the Lord, we put our focus in the Lord. 00:33:17.000 |
Let's take a look at the next section of this passage. 00:33:20.000 |
Starting from verse 4, we have a longer segment here where he 00:33:25.000 |
says, "One thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek, 00:33:29.000 |
that I may dwell in the house of my Lord all the days of my 00:33:32.000 |
life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his 00:33:37.000 |
For in the day of trouble, he will conceal me in his 00:33:41.000 |
In the secret place of his tent, he will hide me, and he will 00:33:46.000 |
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, 00:33:50.000 |
and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. 00:33:55.000 |
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord." 00:34:02.000 |
I want you to just kind of stare at this verse and all that it's 00:34:07.000 |
I want us to think about this idea that in order to prepare 00:34:11.000 |
your mind for whatever is to come in the next year, there has 00:34:17.000 |
Anytime you're preparing for a game, an endeavor of a project, 00:34:21.000 |
teamwork, whatever it may be, we have to make sure that we are 00:34:27.000 |
Well, what King David says here is, "There is something that I've 00:34:36.000 |
And what he says is, "I have asked in the past," it was a past 00:34:40.000 |
perfect, "but I also continually seek," it's an imperfect. 00:34:44.000 |
And then later on, if you look at your Bibles, in verse 8, he 00:34:48.000 |
says, "When you said, 'Seek my face,' my heart said to you, 00:35:02.000 |
Therefore, my response to you is, "I will seek your face." 00:35:10.000 |
For us, when we think about, like, resolve, when you think 00:35:19.000 |
What you're doing is actually you're focusing and honing your 00:35:22.000 |
intention so that all the different distractions that are 00:35:25.000 |
coming your way don't take the place of that thing that is 00:35:31.000 |
There is a need for us to have a more singular focus in our 00:35:36.000 |
And the things that King David says is, "I want to make sure 00:35:39.000 |
that I dwell in your house all the days of my life. 00:35:43.000 |
If there is something that I've repeatedly asked you, if 00:35:46.000 |
something that I'm going to ask you now is going to be that I 00:35:49.000 |
may behold your beauty, and it's so that I can meditate in your 00:35:57.000 |
If you notice up here in this passage, I started highlighting 00:36:01.000 |
a couple things, and one of the things is in orange, it's so 00:36:04.000 |
kind of like jumps out at you, which is he's repeatedly talking 00:36:08.000 |
about God's presence in his temple, in his secret place, in 00:36:15.000 |
What he's preoccupied by is the presence of God. 00:36:22.000 |
One of the things I think that has been a trend in modern day 00:36:26.000 |
-- have you guys used the term like "veg out"? 00:36:29.000 |
You know, you have a long day of work and you just want to veg 00:36:36.000 |
You know what's really interesting is people nowadays 00:36:45.000 |
They want to have like Facebook and YouTube give them just 20 00:36:49.000 |
seconds, just, you know, fun laughs, little pranks and stuff 00:36:53.000 |
And people just want to kind of let their mind coast and drift. 00:36:57.000 |
And the funny thing about it is that actually can just fill you. 00:37:02.000 |
So you're not even just kind of like tasting some of these 00:37:07.000 |
Some people can lose themselves within it and be actually 00:37:16.000 |
For us, if we're trying to be intentional, we have to make 00:37:23.000 |
We are pre-determined to focus on the Lord, to seek the goal of 00:37:28.000 |
being in his presence, to seek the good of meditating on his 00:37:35.000 |
We want to be so engrossed in it that if we're actually losing 00:37:38.000 |
sight of something, if we're actually trying to forget about 00:37:41.000 |
other things, if we're trying to actually put our minds away 00:37:44.000 |
from the stress and away from the hardships and et cetera, et 00:37:47.000 |
cetera, you want to be so engrossed in God that everything 00:37:54.000 |
You know, as I think about this, there have been times, and you 00:37:58.000 |
guys have probably experienced, where you're so engrossed in a 00:38:01.000 |
movie, you're so engrossed in a game, that whatever anybody else 00:38:09.000 |
And those are some times when we love playing pranks on each 00:38:13.000 |
There are some times actually when we're sitting in the cafe 00:38:16.000 |
or whatever, I just like to kind of joke around and I lean over 00:38:19.000 |
and you guys know I really, really like sweets. 00:38:22.000 |
I'll try to steal someone's sweets if they have it. 00:38:24.000 |
If they have a donut, I'll be like, "Look over there," and I 00:38:27.000 |
Or if they have a cookie, I'll say, "Hey, look over there," 00:38:29.000 |
and then--what's best is if they're already like preoccupied 00:38:32.000 |
doing something during a meeting and I just kind of slowly like 00:38:38.000 |
Now, the fun moments about playing pranks like that is when 00:38:47.000 |
If they're so engrossed in the meeting and they don't notice. 00:38:51.000 |
If they're so engrossed in whatever they're doing, they're 00:38:56.000 |
What's the fun in stealing from somebody who doesn't care 00:39:01.000 |
What I think is our enemy, the world, they get a kick out of 00:39:06.000 |
giving you--getting a rise out of you when they can distract 00:39:12.000 |
They get a kick out of when they can bring out, like, whatever 00:39:14.000 |
it is that you're doing, whatever it is that you're, you 00:39:18.000 |
If they can get you so distracted and get a rise out of 00:39:23.000 |
And then another part of that is, how sad because all Satan has 00:39:28.000 |
to do is play a little game, play a little prank, get you 00:39:36.000 |
What I'm trying to focus in on and hone in on here is to say, 00:39:40.000 |
in order to prepare our minds, we have to make sure that we 00:39:44.000 |
are already preparing a kind of goal-centered focus that there's 00:39:51.000 |
going to be one singular thing that I'm pursuing, and it has to 00:39:58.000 |
And so I want to challenge you and ask you the questions. 00:40:01.000 |
Have you been following modern trends of trying to distract 00:40:05.000 |
Have you been trying to do so many different things, or have 00:40:10.000 |
you been preoccupying yourself with the things of God that 00:40:15.000 |
Finally, let's move towards another section of the passage, 00:40:19.000 |
and the point I want to make to you is that not only are you 00:40:23.000 |
going to be predetermined and preoccupied with the things of 00:40:30.000 |
I think when I think about my tendencies, I do have a lot of 00:40:37.000 |
Last Sunday sermon when Pastor Nate preached about fears, it 00:40:41.000 |
There are a lot of worries and fears, and because I'm regularly 00:40:45.000 |
worried about making wrong decisions, I always wait to make 00:40:51.000 |
I'll see after I take a good look at all my options," and then 00:40:55.000 |
hopefully after waiting and considering and thinking and 00:40:59.000 |
beating that thing to death, I'll pick the best ones. 00:41:03.000 |
But Scripture, I believe, actually calls us to make 00:41:10.000 |
Predetermined decisions in our minds, "I'm going to always do 00:41:18.000 |
I don't have to reinvent and re-go through every process, 00:41:22.000 |
every single moment with every single decision. 00:41:26.000 |
Because there are certain things, whatever may come, I've 00:41:28.000 |
already decided how this is going to play out because I've 00:41:32.000 |
already decided that I'm going to do things the Lord's way. 00:41:37.000 |
Take a look at this next passage from verse 11 through 13, and 00:41:41.000 |
what he says is, "Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in 00:41:48.000 |
If you're asking God, "Show me what you desire. 00:41:55.000 |
Tell me how you do things," that must mean your heart has 00:41:59.000 |
already decided, "And I'm going to do it," right? 00:42:03.000 |
If you say, "Lead me and show me exactly where to go," but you 00:42:07.000 |
respond with, "Maybe I'll think about taking it one day," that's 00:42:17.000 |
You know, what makes me think about it is, it makes me think 00:42:20.000 |
about those moments, let's say you're going to buy a car. 00:42:24.000 |
You have to go into that dealership predetermined. 00:42:30.000 |
I don't need no extended warranty on something that's going to 00:42:34.000 |
I don't need this extra thing deal that you're going to, you 00:42:37.000 |
know, sell to me about sealants and protective this and coats 00:42:48.000 |
There are already things you have to go predetermined going 00:42:50.000 |
into that dealership, otherwise you're going to get played. 00:42:55.000 |
What I'm trying to say here is within this passage, not only 00:42:59.000 |
are we supposed to be, again, predetermined but preoccupied, 00:43:03.000 |
but we're going to be pre-decided to do things God's 00:43:10.000 |
He continues and goes on to say, "Because of my foes, do not 00:43:13.000 |
deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false 00:43:17.000 |
witnesses have risen against me and such as breathe out 00:43:23.000 |
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see 00:43:28.000 |
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 00:43:40.000 |
We know that there are going to be things that come our way this 00:43:46.000 |
I don't know, you know, like if you have certain resolutions 00:43:50.000 |
set, you have high hopes of the things that you want to 00:43:54.000 |
I'm pretty sure that the next year is going to be a mixed bag. 00:43:58.000 |
You're going to have things that are incredibly successful, 00:44:02.000 |
fruitful, and good, and then you'll have things that are 00:44:06.000 |
But nevertheless, we're going to have a barrage of both good 00:44:10.000 |
and bad, distractions, fruitful things, and it's going to be 00:44:16.000 |
And within that, I'm challenging you, our strength is going to be 00:44:21.000 |
coming from a predetermined, pre-decided heart where the will 00:44:28.000 |
I'm going to make sure that rather than in the moment 00:44:30.000 |
feeling like I need things fixed, done, and manageable now, 00:44:37.000 |
I'm going to pre-decide the way of God is better, better than 00:44:41.000 |
conventional wisdom, better than my own wisdom, better than 00:44:45.000 |
And requesting that God teach me is going to come from a pure 00:44:50.000 |
hearted request because I have already decided that's exactly 00:44:56.000 |
You see, the reason why I'm talking about this is because I 00:45:00.000 |
do feel like as I hear Christian lingo and sometimes people talk 00:45:05.000 |
about different, I guess, you know, thoughts they have of 00:45:09.000 |
preparing for the future, et cetera, I have seen a lot of 00:45:12.000 |
Christians actually say that as the New Year's come around, that 00:45:16.000 |
they're not going to make New Year's resolutions, that they're 00:45:26.000 |
If you're going to say, "Oh, I resolve to do X, Y, and Z," then 00:45:34.000 |
But actually, the problem is not that we make resolutions and 00:45:38.000 |
that we need to not set ourselves up for failure or that we're 00:45:42.000 |
being legalist by doing that, et cetera, et cetera. 00:45:49.000 |
What we need actually is to make sure that we're preoccupied, 00:45:53.000 |
predetermined, and pre-decided that this is what we're going to 00:45:56.000 |
do, that we're going to fix our sights on God and that our 00:46:00.000 |
strength is going to come from our trust in him. 00:46:13.000 |
Heavenly Father, we take a moment to collectively bow our heads 00:46:19.000 |
and God, render to you the desire of our heart. 00:46:25.000 |
Lord, the longing of our heart truly is that we would experience 00:46:29.000 |
the goodness of being close to you every single day. 00:46:33.000 |
I pray, Father God, that it would be our great ambition to 00:46:37.000 |
walk with you in such a way that we feel the intimacy of having a 00:46:45.000 |
And I pray, Father God, that we would regularly experience also 00:46:48.000 |
the wonder of knowing you and beholding your greatness. 00:46:52.000 |
Lord, you know very well that we are a people who will become 00:47:00.000 |
You know, Father God, and we know ourselves that we are a 00:47:05.000 |
But it is our prayer that truly you would help us to stay on the 00:47:10.000 |
God, that we would be walking according to your way. 00:47:14.000 |
And Lord, I ask God that though we may have moments of failure, 00:47:18.000 |
Lord, that our confidence would not come because we had a track 00:47:24.000 |
Our confidence would come because you are so mighty. 00:47:29.000 |
Lord, I pray that our trust would truly be based on you, 00:47:34.000 |
And God, that our hope would be set upon you, Lord. 00:47:37.000 |
And so I ask God that regardless of how this past year has been, 00:47:42.000 |
Lord, we would look past in this last year with great thankfulness 00:47:48.000 |
And God, we eagerly also look forward to all the things that 00:47:53.000 |
God, we thank you it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. 00:47:57.000 |
Okay, at this time as we do think about closing the year, 00:48:04.000 |
They have prepared a slide show and video presentation for us. 00:48:07.000 |
Reviewing some of the things and the ways that God has worked in 00:48:11.000 |
So we are going to put up the video for you, please enjoy. 00:48:14.000 |
And afterwards I will come back up and lead us in a time of brief 00:51:16.000 |
♪ Sing for I know that I'll sing with the angels ♪ 00:56:02.000 |
All right, thank you again to the media team for prepping that slideshow. 00:56:07.000 |
A lot of things that's happened in our church community. 00:56:13.000 |
Our hope and goal is that when midnight hits, 00:56:17.000 |
we could all count down together in unison from 10. 00:56:21.000 |
So, what we're going to do between here and then is we're going to come together. 00:56:26.000 |
If you've come with your family, please go ahead and pray with your family. 00:56:30.000 |
Otherwise, please join together with about three to four people 00:56:34.000 |
and just take time, one, to thank the Lord for everything that's happened. 00:56:37.000 |
But two, you can share a little bit about how you personally could focus in a greater way on God. 00:56:43.000 |
Just share a request, how you're going to focus more on the Lord, 00:56:49.000 |
After about 10 minutes, I'll call us together. 00:56:52.000 |
We'll count down, say "woo," and then do the hugs, high fives, 00:56:56.000 |
and then we'll end the evening that way, okay? 00:56:58.000 |
So, please at this time, please look around to each other, 00:57:00.000 |
joining together in groups of three or four to pray. 01:07:41.000 |
Alright, I know some of you guys may be still praying, but we have about 30 seconds, so if we can do a quick wrap, and we'll maybe have more time afterwards. 01:07:54.000 |
I'm going to start us off at 11, and then if you can join me starting from 10 to count it down, and afterwards we'll get up, do the high fives, okay? 01:08:03.000 |
Whoops, just missed it. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 01:08:18.000 |
If you want to, you guys can get up and high five, say happy new year to each other a little bit, give some hugs, wish each other the very best. 01:10:40.000 |
Okay. So I know that countdown happened so fast. 01:10:44.000 |
I got up thinking I'd have a couple seconds to get us prepped and ready. 01:10:49.000 |
As you continue to say, you know, Happy New Year to each other. 01:10:55.000 |
We're going to gather our hearts to sing a final closing song together. 01:10:59.000 |
So after some more hugs and high fives, please do make your way over to your seat. 01:11:05.000 |
And then, after the service is over, you can continue to, if you got cut off in your prayer, pray for each other. 01:11:14.000 |
Or you can continue to just fellowship and greet each other, okay? 01:11:18.000 |
So we'll give you just another about 10 seconds or so to greet each other. 01:11:23.000 |
And then we'll join our hearts together for a concluding song. 01:11:36.000 |
Alright, everybody. Let's all rise from our seats. 01:11:40.000 |
And we'll conclude the service with the final song. 01:15:39.000 |
Sing it out one more time, how great is our God 01:16:11.000 |
Heavenly Father, we again want to just thank you over and over again. 01:16:17.000 |
God, to an undeserving people, you have been truly so good and great. 01:16:22.000 |
Father, we can recount so many times you have been faithful, so many times you have lavished your love. 01:16:29.000 |
And we pray that we will repeat again, Lord, that you have been so good and we thank you, Lord. 01:16:33.000 |
Father, we pray that just like tonight, that the next year 2022 will be filled with regular times of worshipping you and praising you and exalting you. 01:16:43.000 |
And I pray, Father God, that we will be so overjoyed to be meditating on your goodness, to be lifting up to you our song and rendering to you our heart. 01:16:52.000 |
And I pray, Father God, that we would truly be a people that delights to spend every moment with you, Lord. 01:16:58.000 |
I ask, Father God, that you would guard us and protect us. 01:17:00.000 |
We know there are so many distractions and things that pull us away. 01:17:07.000 |
That God, day in and day out, Lord, we are constantly searching for you. 01:17:11.000 |
That God, we would be seeking you with all of our hearts. 01:17:20.000 |
All right. Well, again, we want to wish you guys a happy new year. 01:17:26.000 |
Stay safe on your drive home. Have a good evening, everyone.