Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Prov. 3:1-6       Dec. 29, 2024

Message: “Verses to Live By!”

by Pastor George Gnade

Intro. 1. Today is the last Sunday in 2024. A New Year is about to begin. People often make New Year’s resolutions to get them on the right track. Sometimes it works; some-times it has no lasting meaning.

2. Instead of empty promises, I prefer to choose verses that could be described as verses to live by. These verses are promises from God. If we practice them, they change our lives. I call them “life verses.” Before I begin a new year, I find it helpful to review my life verses.

3. When I was growing up, I was encouraged to memorize verses I liked.  Now that I am much older, I can’t always say them by heart, but I know where they are. In preparation for the New Year, I felt led to share some of them with you today.

A. John 3:16 is the first one I chose because the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of my faith.

1. I believe God has shown His love to us by sending Jesus into this world to die for us. Jesus is God’s greatest gift. 

a. Because Jesus died in our place, it was the most costly gift ever given. 

b. Anyone who believes in Him, “shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

2. For me, to believe in Him is more than a statement of  fact. It is a way of life.  Paul expressed it this way. In Phil 1:21, he wrote: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

3. Without His help, I can do nothing. I don’t believe in the power of positive thinking. Trusting in myself, often fails. But in Phil. 4:13, it says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I give Him the credit whenever I am successful. 

B. Secondly, I like Prov. 3: 5-6.

1. Solomon wrote: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”

a. I already talked about trusting in the Lord with all my heart.  I don’t always succeed. But that is my goal. If I find myself drifting, I ask for grace to get back on track.

b. In sports, you should always have a goal to aim at. No one, not even the best, always does it right. Even the best stars have bad days. But the best stars always try to do their best. So it should be with each of us as we live for Jesus.

2. But it is the second sentence that is especially important to me. It says: “Do not lean on your own understanding.”

a. Many things happen that we do not understand. It is human to try to figure it all out. But most of the time, we can’t figure it out. 

b. That is exactly why we need faith. We must trust in the Lord and continue to live His way, even when nothing makes sense to us. 

3. Keep on “acknowledging Him”, and God gives us a beautiful promise. It says: “He will direct your path.”

a. Leban shared with me how Christians in India were being persecuted when W.W. II broke out and Japan conquered Manipur State. 

b. By God’s grace, the allied forces finally forced them to leave. The persecuted Christians moved into the hills where Japan had been. No one else wanted to go there. God actually used the war to actually bless His people. 

4. Only God knows the end from the beginning. That is why I like this life verse because I am always tempted to lean on my own understanding. It doesn’t work. But if I keep on keeping on, doing what in my heart I know is right, things do “work together for good” for those who love the Lord” (Rom. 8:28).

C. Thirdly, I like Ps. 37:4.

1. David says: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

a. It is so easy to grumble and complain, especially when everything seems to be going downhill. 

b. Enjoying the Lord and singing praises to Him regardless of what is happening around us is critical to a joyful life.

2. Just because we don’t like our problems does not give us the right to dump all over the Lord. In Phil 4:4, Paul writes: “Rejoice in the Lord always,” and again I say: “Rejoice!”

a. We can rejoice in the Lord in spite of our problems. 

b. Better yet, we can practice what James wrote in James 1:2. He writes: “Consider it all joy whenever you face various problems, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

c. Faith sees around the corner! Faith believes before the answer actually comes.

3. This is an area where I know this in my head, but still fail in my daily life. To get back on track, I prayerfully take time to count my blessings and name them one by one. It really does surprise me what the Lord has done.

a. Don’t forget this promise. If we regularly delight in the Lord, He will give us the desire of our hearts.

b. When I am honest with myself, many times I do not even know “the desire of my heart.” When I look back over the challenges I have faced, Jesus has really blessed me beyond what I could have ever imagined. 

D. Finally, the last life verse I want to share with you today is found in II Cor. 9:8. 

1. Paul wrote: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you may abound unto every good work.”

a. Life is full of opportunities to help others. If you help people just so you can brag about it, then you are missing the boat. But if you do it in Jesus’ name to help direct people to the Lord, God will truly bless you for it.

b. In Matt. 7:12, Jesus taught us the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Accor-ding to this verse, if I bless others, God will bless me. 

2. Jesus gave us a new commandment. He said: “As I have loved you, you should love one another” (John 13:34). What is new is to love as Jesus loved us. 

a. Jesus loved us even while we were sinners. He loved His enemies, not just His friends. So when we do loving things, even for people who have offended us, we are following Jesus’ example. 

b. Amazingly, God often uses that to warm up their hearts and prepare their hearts to accept Him. 

3. All these other verses are different ways of saying what Paul wrote in II Cor. 9:8. When we act in faith as we help others, whether we do it through our actions, our gifts, or our words, it usually gives you a good feeling inside as well as a special blessing from God as well.

In Conclusion: As you begin your new year, think of verses you know or use the ones I have used and watch how Jesus might just change your life. As you wish people a Happy New Year, God will do the same for you. Amen.