Good morning, New Life Church. How's everybody doing today here in January at New Life? Come on, let me hear you. You loving Jesus? Excited to be at church, man. It's gonna be a fantastic day.
I want to welcome everybody who's worshiping with us at New Life. I love our location. It's gonna be a fantastic day. Here's what I want to encourage you right here at the very beginning of January: bring your Bibles to church in 2025.
And it's very simple. If you have a device, you can bring your hard copy Bible. That's a good thing because it gives you practice on finding the books of the Bible. But bring your device. And I want to encourage you to download the YouVersion Bible app. If you search in your app store for the Bible app or just scan the QR code that we have on the screen, you may not have it. You may not have it on your online campus. But just search for the Bible app. Download that. Click on events. Find New Life Church in whatever community you're worshiping in. And you're gonna get all of our notes. You're gonna be able to track along with me today.
So let's do that. We're kicking off a brand new teaching series. And so if you're a guest with us, man, you started at a great time here in January. I just want to say, by the way, welcome home. We believe that you're not here by mistake, that God has a purpose and a plan, and that you are here with us today. There's no better place to be, I believe, than in God's presence together as New Life Church as we enter this next season that we're in.
And so we're kicking off this new series called "30 Days to Live." And this one's gonna be powerful. So over the next few weeks, we're gonna dig into what it looks like to live a life on purpose.
And so let me ask you something, and I really want you to think about this because we can—really, this sermon series is kind of a hypothetical—but if we could kind of try, do our best to move beyond just a hypothetical and really ask ourselves this question: if I had 30 days to live, if you walked into the doctor's office and they sat you down, the doctor came in and gave you a diagnosis and let you know that you only had 30 days to live, how would that make you feel? How would that impact your life?
Over the next 30 days, how would it change the way you approach life? How would it change the way you interact with your family and your friends? Would you spend more time with them? Would you finally make the phone call or set up the appointment with the person and forgive them—the person you've been holding a grudge against, you have bitterness towards? Would you just spend less time scrolling on the phone and a little more time enjoying the loved ones, the people, your kids, your grandkids, your family members around you?
And really, I'm asking you to step into that reality for a moment. You walked into that doctor's office, they said, you only have 30 days to live. And I know it's not an easy question to think about. In fact, some of you are thinking, this is kind of a morbid question to think about. You know, if I only had 30 days to live, it's kind of morbid. But here's the reality: none of us are promised tomorrow.
So if I could just lean into the morbid for a moment, let's go to the Word of God. It says in James 4:14, "How do you know what tomorrow will be like? Your life is like the morning fog. It's here a little while, and then it's gone."
And so here's how you're—you get the diagnosis, you have 30 days to live, and at first you're devastated, and it sinks in, but something begins to shift in you over the next day or so, and you make the decision that you're not going to waste another day, another moment, that you're going to maximize all the time that you have left. You're going to call the people that maybe you haven't spoken to in a while. You're going to call your parents or your kids or your family members, the people that you love that maybe you haven't spoken to in a while.
Maybe you haven't spoken with in quite a while. Maybe you're going to take notice of the beauty that's around you a little bit more. I mean, you're going to watch a sunset, perhaps, or you're going to notice the laughter of your kids or your grandkids, and you're going to appreciate that. You might just decide not to let another moment pass without appreciating it.
And that's the way it could go. And in fact, that's oftentimes the way it can be, minus all of the symptoms that the medical diagnosis might come along with for those last 30 days. Let's just imagine a perfect scenario that you have seemingly perfect health, except that you're going to pass away. And how would you maximize that time?
And that might happen to you in that scenario. You might respond that way, is what I'm trying to say. Make the most of every opportunity. Forgive others. Appreciate things a little more. And it sounds like a pretty good ending to a sad story, but hopefully what strikes you in that scenario—that strikes me as I think about it—is that you don't really need that diagnosis in order to live that way. None of us do.
But too often, we wait, don't we? We procrastinate the important conversations. We put off the things that are most important. Too often, we get consumed with the things that don't really matter. And we wait too late sometimes for something to wake us up, to get our attention, to remind us that every single day is a gift from God. And we don't have to wait for a diagnosis.
That's what this series is all about. It's really a wake-up call. It's about living with purpose. Not someday, but starting today. How can I live intentionally on purpose within the purpose that God created for me to live?
But the truth is, most of us live like we have all the time in the world, don't we? I mean, we put off those things that really, really matter. Most, we put off the conversations that we need to have. And we assume that we will have time later. But what if later never comes? What if we've been living our lives with the wrong priorities and we've missed out on what really matters most, just thinking that we have all the time in the world?
Now, the older that we get, the more natural it is for us to recognize that I don't have all the time in the world. Just ask any parents of teenagers or college students or parents at all. As you grow in parenting, what tends to come to mind? Man, time seems to be flying by. I can't believe they're already in high school. They're already driving a car. They're already in college. They're already married. Wow, time is short.
So as we step into this series, we set it up today and step into it for the next few weeks, I want to challenge you just to open your heart. Lean into the metaphor. Let's not wait. Literally, let's not wait for a doctor's diagnosis to start living with purpose. Let's choose right here and right now at the beginning of 2025 to make every moment count.
How many are with me at all of our locations? I want to make every moment count. Can I hear you? Come on. That's what we want to do. That's what we want to be.
And so I want to start today as we kick off this series by focusing on one of the most powerful things that we can enact into our life, that we can cultivate into our life to live a life with purpose, and that is gratitude. How many know we have a lot to be thankful for? Amen?
In fact, turn to your neighbor at all of our locations and just tell them, "I am thankful for you." I'm thankful. Gratitude. Gratitude is one of those things that we know that we should do, that we should have more of, that it should be more present in our life.
But most of us don't realize how transformative gratitude literally can be. And it's not just about saying thank you, but it's about changing the way that you see your life and your circumstances. It's a change of perspective that we're experiencing.
So here's the thing. If you had 30 days to live, I bet you'd start noticing the things that you have unfortunately been taking for granted. Maybe the beauty of a sunset, the sound of your kids, your family members, the relationships that you have.
I remember about 15 years ago, I ended up in the hospital. I had a herniated disc in my neck, and I was in so much pain. And let me just say, by the way, it seems to me that most men, when we are sick—I mean, when I'm sick, it's like my wife feels like she needs to call hospice, right? I have a cold. Something happens, right? But I was hurting. I was in the hospital. I was in so much pain.
And they gave me some pain medication that at the time, it was beautiful, let me just say. And it didn't really make the pain go away. If you've had nerve pain, you know what that's like. But I had this intense pain with this parallel of euphoria. And I'm not advocating for pain medication, but at that time, it was a beautiful thing.
And it put me in this mode of—my wife will tell you the story. I wish she had video of it that I could play for you today. But man, I was just super sappy and thankful. I was like, "Lynette, you're the most amazing wife in the whole world. So thankful for you."
And it was—you would think that I had not 30 days to live, that I had two days to live. And I was just making sure our kids know that serving Jesus is the most important thing. You know, I was talking about like it was the end of my life. But I was gushing in that moment with Thanksgiving and being thankful for my wife and my family and the goodness of God and how amazing that God was and is.
You see, gratitude has this power to shift our focus from what's missing to what's already there and the goodness of God. Gratitude helps us to fully live in the moment and take advantage of God's blessings. And really, gratitude is a reflection of the character and the heart of God. It's transformative.
So let's look from God's Word how God designed us to live so that we don't have to wait for some kind of diagnosis, but trick our minds for a moment into recognizing, again, as James said, this life is short. There's not a lot of time. How should I be living my life?
And so let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 5. This is 1 Thessalonians chapter number 5. This is one of those passages that's so simple but packs a punch. It's not going to be on the screen, so you're going to need to get your Bibles out or trust that I'm reading it right, all right?
Here we go, 1 Thessalonians 5. We're going to go to verse 16 and read through 18. He says this. This is the Apostle Paul. He wrote a lot of the New Testament through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He's speaking to Christians, and he says this. It's a commandment: Always—say always. Come on, at all of our locations, say always.
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you who belong to Christ. If you're wondering what is God's will for my life, how has God called me to live my life? What is my purpose? It's this: Always be joyful. Stay connected to God conversationally and relationally in prayer. Be grateful in every single circumstance.
Now, some have called these the impossible commandments. They go, "Are you serious that you've called me to always be joyful? To never—I mean, God, if you would have just said, 'Try to be joyful as often as you can,' right? You know, pray a lot. And try, do your best to be thankful." We would say, "Okay, okay, I'll try to do that." But to always, to never stop praying, that in every circumstance, I'm going to be thankful.
Did you catch that it wasn't a suggestion? It wasn't optional. It was a requirement. It was a commandment. He, in fact, said that this is God's will for you to choose this, to do this. In other words, this is central to how God has called us to live our lives.
And if we could jump into the topic of the series, the 30 days to live, and put ourselves in that mindset, it would probably be a little easier for most of us—not all of us, most of us—to go, "Yeah, I'm going to choose joy. I'm going to stay connected to God. I'm going to pray a little more if I had 30 days to live. And I'm going to be grateful. I'm going to recognize the things that I can be grateful for."
But here's the big idea for today: the perception that we have, that we have plenty of time, makes it far too easy for us to take for granted the goodness of God. It makes it far too easy for us to overlook the people in our lives.
And so if we could just take a moment to recognize our mortality and the brevity of our life, it will shock us in a good way into recognizing that gratitude is the way that God has called me to live, that that's the way God designed us to live this life. And in fact, it's a commandment. If we can engage in that, if we can nurture that in our lives, we will find greater—if we can be joyful always, we will find greater joy. How about that? That's so profound.
We will find greater peace. Our testimony will be more powerful. There will be greater fulfillment. We will find greater contentment. It's God's ways.
And so let's look at these three things: be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances with the overarching theme today of gratitude. And let's talk about how all of those things interconnect.
Let's first look at joy. I know many people think of joy as something that you have or you don't have, or that you have in varying degrees. It's like your gas tank, right? Sometimes it's on full, sometimes it's pretty low, and sometimes you're stuck on the side of the road.
Anybody been stuck on the side of the road? Their gas tank empty? And we think of joy in that way, that it's something I have or don't have or I have to varying degrees. But the Bible just showed us that it's not necessarily—it’s not that way at all—that ultimately joy is a choice that we need to make.
And so you might agree, "Yeah, joy is a choice," yet still insist that I'm going to choose to be joyful when the time warrants it, right? So if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl again, I'm going to choose to be joyful. How many are with me? Amen. I see Broncos in the room.
If I get the job or the raise, right? If I get the new car that I've wanted, if the deal goes through, right? If in the right time, in the right circumstances, then I will choose joy. But we don't see it that way in Scripture that we should rejoice or be—express joy always. Always.
By the way, God doesn't command us something—here's some good news—God doesn't command us to do something that's impossible for us to do. He doesn't command us to do something that he will not also enable us and give us the ability to do. So if he says to be joyful always, that must mean—that must mean that there is the possibility that God's going to empower me. He's going to give me what I need. He's going to make up the difference. There's a way that I can align my life so that that is possible.
And so if I choose to be joyful, I'm going to choose to be possible. And that's the kind of life I want to live. You see, I think if you only had 30 days to live that you just might not waste them waiting for the perfect circumstances, the perfect time to express joy.
Maybe you would choose to find joy right in the middle of your diagnosis. A 30 days to live diagnosis can create joy. A 30 days to live diagnosis can create a prognosis of joy in your life and gratitude in your life and connection with God in your life.
So how on earth do we do that? Like even if we intellectually agree, "Okay, God said it must be possible." But how do I do that? How can I be joyful always and pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances—specifically joy?
Let's go to another letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to another church in Philippi. So the book of Philippians, if you have your Bibles, open it up, YouVersion, just click, just follow along. Philippians 4:4, he says this. It's going to sound familiar.
"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I will say it again: rejoice." Okay, I get it. This is one of Paul's themes he's trying to get across. But how on earth do we do it? How on earth do I express joy, experience joy, be joyful, rejoice always?
Let's go to verse 6. He says, "Don't worry about anything." But how? He says instead, "Aha, okay, here we go. Maybe he's going to give us something. Pray about everything. Don't worry about anything."
Let's back up. "Always be full of the joy of the Lord." He's going to repeat it. "I say it again: rejoice." And then he says, "Okay, don't worry about anything." Because you see, worry can rob us of joy. "Don't worry about anything. Don't worry about anything." It's going to rob us of our joy.
So now he's given us some practical steps of how do we do this. "Don't worry about anything." Again, a command. Instead, here's the command: "Pray about anything. Pray about everything."
And then he says, "Tell God what you need." And then what does he say to do? "Thank him for what he's already done."
So worry is going to rob us of my joy. It's going to rob us of my gratitude. But if I instead, I pray about everything. In fact, if I make the first thing prayer, then the next result would be that I have the power to be joyful always and to give thanks to God in every circumstance. If I connect with God about all of my troubles, you see, joy isn't about just living this life oblivious, you know, lying to yourself, ignoring life's challenges.
In fact, Scripture is replete with this idea that we are to come to God in prayer with all of those challenges. But if we do this instead, we pray, we connect with God. What's the result? We can be joyful always.
Verse 7 says, "And the peace of God, if we do this, that transcends all understanding, what is it going to do? It's going to guard your hearts and your minds." Where is joy eradicated? It's right up here. It's in what we dwell on and what we think on. Where is gratitude squashed? It's because we're oblivious. We take it for granted. It's all up here.
But if we connect with God in prayer, we are able to experience joy. And then what happens? The peace of God comes in. It guards our heart and our mind. You see, joy is simply actively focusing on the goodness of God more than the bad in our lives.
And that focus happens right up here. Verse 8 of Philippians 4, he says this: "Fix your thoughts." Everybody say, "Fix your thoughts." Come on, we need to do this. We need to fix our thoughts.
"Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about the things that are excellent and praiseworthy." How many, as I'm reading that, say, "Man, if I could fix my thoughts on that, the natural consequence would be that joy would be easier to choose. That gratitude would be a clearer choice to make."
So always, always be joyful. Stay connected to God in prayer. If you had 30 days to live, would you want to stay as close to God as you could? I mean, I would, right?
There's some of you that might not even be in a relationship where Jesus is the Lord of your life, but you know enough about him. He's been drawing you to himself that if you got that prognosis, you would probably make some changes that would have to do with your relationship with God.
You see, prayer is how we stay connected to God. He's the one who gives us hope. It's how we stay connected, the one who's going to give us peace and gives us that joy that we need.
And so gratitude and prayer, they're deeply connected. In prayer, by the way, we don't just ask God for help. We do ask God for help, for sure. We do cast our cares on the Lord. We bring our complaints to him. But we don't just do that in prayer. We also thank him for his faithfulness. We thank him for his goodness. And when we do that, it reminds ourselves of his promises.
And so here's a challenge for you. Some of you need to get out your phone, write this down, take notes, because I have two challenges I'm going to leave you with today.
For the next 30 days, this is going to be easy, just the next 30 days. For the next 30 days, make connecting with God a daily habit. What if you started each morning by praying, "God, thank you for today. Show me how to live today to fulfill the purpose for which you created me. Show me how to honor you today."
Imagine the difference it could make in your life if you stayed connected to God and you just started a practice, a discipline. You accepted the challenge that every day I'm going to begin my day connecting with God in prayer. Radically increase your joy. Radically increase your gratitude.
So always be joyful. Stay connected to God in prayer. And then finally, be grateful in all circumstances. You see, gratitude is a game changer. Gratitude has an incredible power. In fact, science has shown us that gratitude, if we practice gratitude, express gratitude, it rewires our brain toward positivity.
That in fact, it changes the way that we think and what we dwell upon. We become a more positive person. We express more positive words that come from our thoughts. That gratitude does that. It changes us. It changes us in our brain chemistry.
Science shows us that it's a practical way to relieve stress and anxiety is the discipline and the practice of being grateful. Studies continually show us that when we focus on the good in our lives and we express gratitude, we feel more peace, we feel more joy, and we feel more connection with other people. Gratitude is powerful.
Now, the crazy thing is, the crazy thing, though, is that you can be somebody who knows the goodness of God, that knows that God is good, and be ungrateful. Because gratitude is a choice.
In Romans chapter 1, it says this, in verse 21 and 22, speaking of this group of people, it says, "Yes, they knew God, but watch this, but they wouldn't worship him as God and they wouldn't give thanks to him. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like, and as a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools."
See, the dangerous hallmark of an ungrateful life is that it goes hand in hand with the life that refuses to surrender and worship God, and it leads to darkness. Have you ever met someone who is not a believer like that? That's just ungrateful, negative?
But see, when you choose, you flip it around and you choose gratitude, it changes your entire perspective. And so if you could do this exercise—and I'm not going to have you do it, but just imagine that you were to create a list of all your frustrations and all of the things that you're thankful for in your life.
There's some of you that would find it very easy to create that list of frustrations. That might roll right off the pen or right off the keyboard really quick, all of the frustrations in your life, the things that are hard. And some of you would find that gratitude list more difficult, even though you would acknowledge, of course, there's things that I'm grateful for in my life, but that list might be a little shorter or harder to come by.
But if I could hold those two lists up to you and ask you this question, I want to ask it to you now: Which life do you want to live? Because life is going to have its challenges. Life is going to have its problems. But which life? I want to live the life that acknowledges and recognizes the goodness of God, the blessings of God, the greatness of God.
You see, gratitude helps us appreciate the time that we have instead of constantly wishing for more. It appreciates the blessings of God. It appreciates the blessings we have instead of constantly hoping that I could have more.
So if you had 30 days to live, how would you treat the people around you? You see, gratitude, it shifts our focus in relationships, doesn't it? It helps us focus on what's right instead of what's wrong in relationships.
Over the years of being a pastor, there's been a lot of marriage counseling that I have had. I've had a lot of marriage counseling that I've done. Not so much in recent years, but a lot of marriage. And one of the things that I've discovered—not only from my own experience, but even talking to other pastors for the pastor counseling side, I'm not a professional counselor, but that side of it—is that a lot of time in marriage conflicts, when I'm doing not pre-marital marriage conflict type of counseling, is that most of those problems are not so much a marriage problem as they are a gratitude problem.
And so sometimes one of the things that I do when I have experienced that is ask them, give them an assignment, is to write a list. Sometimes lists can be dangerous, but this is a good list. It's just homework to write a list. And it's got to be at least, you know, at least a couple pages long.
But write a list of all of the things that you love about your spouse, the things that you are thankful for about your spouse. And sometimes that's a hard assignment to ask for because like, "If I could do that, we wouldn't be here, right, talking to you." Like, "No, you can do this."
And most of the time, when they come back and they share that list with that other person, it unlocks something in that marriage conflict. Because a lot of times—not all of the times, there's serious, deeper things that can happen—but a lot of the times, from my experience, it's a gratitude issue in that relationship.
So here's my challenge for you, challenge number two. Once a week, next 30 days, once a week, write a note or say thank you to someone you love. I would lean heavier on the note. But that you would express thank you in the why and how someone's impacted your life. Send them a text, send them a note, make a call, let them know what they mean to you.
See, another thing about gratitude is that when we are thankful and when we thank God, we're reminded of his faithfulness in hard times. That's one of the superpowers of what we're getting ready to do at all of our locations—in-person locations—is we're getting ready to connect with God in worship.
And one of the superpowers of singing songs of worship to God is there's just something about expressing our thanksgiving to God in singing songs of worship that connects our mind, it connects our emotions, and most importantly, it connects our spirit, the eternal part of us, towards gratitude, towards the glory of God, the goodness of God.
And as we close today, I want to read a psalm to you. This is a song written by David in the Old Testament, who faced all kinds of hardships in his life, all kinds of oppression. I mean, he was chased down by a king that hated him.
And he says this in Psalm 103, verses 1 through 5: "Praise the Lord, my soul. All my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not his benefits." And then he begins to express his list of gratitude about the Lord. He says, "The Lord who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles."
I don't know about you, but that's how I want to live my life—with gratitude towards the Lord and because of the Lord for his goodness and his grace. How about you? You want to live that kind of life?
And so here's the challenge that I'm leaving with you today. The two challenges. Let me remind you: start each morning with connecting with God in prayer. "God, thank you for today. Thank you for my family. Thank you that I have breath to breathe. Now, God, enable me to live my life on purpose today."
And then once a week, at least for the next 30 days, write a note, make a phone call, send a message to someone you love, and let them know how grateful you are for them.
If you only had 30 days to live, how would you spend them? In fact, at all of our locations, we're going to spend 30 days to live. Would you stand with me and just bow your heads and close your eyes as we get ready to close in prayer?
Just focus in on, if you had 30 days to live, how would you spend them? Let's spend them focused on the things that matter most. Loving God with all our heart. Loving others. Living our life with intentionality and gratitude.
In a way, I would love for you to live your life with intentionality and gratitude. Live your life like time is running out. Let's make 2025 a year that we don't just count the days, but we make every day count.
God, thank you for your goodness and your grace. Right now, at all of our locations, would you just focus in on the goodness of God, the grace, the blessings that he has given you? God, we're so thankful.
We're thankful that we have breath to breathe. We're so thankful that we have breath to breathe. We're so thankful that we have breath to breathe today, that we have an opportunity to worship you, to connect with our friends and our church family. God, we're thankful for you.
God, we want to be people who live on purpose with intention, that we do not waste our moments and our opportunities, that we don't take things for granted, God, but we are very much aware that this life is short, that we will make the most of every opportunity, and we would live our lives with gratitude, that we would be thankful, that we would see things even this next week, this next month a little more clearly.
We'd be made more aware of the things around us, the people around us, that we would not put off to tomorrow what we can do today, and that is be grateful. In Jesus' name, amen.
on Jan 12, 2025
