All right, well if you look at 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18,
the Bible reads,
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
You might say, Pastor Kevin, what is the will of God in my life?
What is it?
It says, in everything give thanks.
The title for the sermon this evening is Thankful for 2020.
Okay, thankful for 2020, are you thankful for 2020?
You know, can you look at 2020 and say, wow, Lord, this was a great year for me.
You know, I give you thanks for all the blessings, all the answered prayer, all these opportunities
that you've given me in 2020, or are you a little bit like me, you know, we may be through
this year, been a little bit frustrated, not so thankful, you know, not appreciate necessarily
what God has given.
But I think, you know, when we look at the big picture, at the end of the day, we look
at the big picture, I think we can definitely say that we can be thankful for 2020.
Look, it's a year that God has given us, you know, COVID restrictions, all this news and
the rumors of vaccinations, all these kinds of things that might drive you a little bit
crazy, you know, that's not a surprise to God.
God knew that 2020 was going to be like this.
God knew that coming into 2020, you know, we'll go we'll face in the bushfires, right?
God knew that we're going to face the different challenges that we face in 2020.
God knew all about it, okay?
And we are His people and He's given us the ability to get through the year, okay?
And not only has He given us the ability to just get through the year, but He's given
us the opportunity to be thankful for the year that He's given us.
So the will of God, brethren, it says there of God in Christ concerning you, the will
of God is in everything, give thanks, in everything, give thanks.
That means for the good, you give thanks.
That means for the bad, you give thanks.
For the things that frustrate you, brethren, guess what?
You still have to stop and give God thanks.
And so what we want to do today is just think about how we can be thankful for this year
that God has given us.
We've only got a few hours left.
I don't know what your plans are after church, how you're going to celebrate, you're going
to be up till midnight.
But let me give you some things that I want you to meditate over, at least over the next
few hours as we go into 2021.
But if you can now please turn to Luke 17, and in order to preach about being thankful,
we first have to look at this story.
Luke 17, a very famous story of Jesus Christ and deals with this topic of thankfulness.
But let's go to Luke 17 and verse number 11.
Luke 17 and verse number 11.
Luke 17 verse 11 reads, And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through
the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
And as he entered into a certain village, there met him 10 men that were lepers, which
stood afar off, okay.
So the Lord's passing through Samaria, okay, which is a Gentile place, right?
The Samaritans were those of the northern kingdom that got mixed with the other people
of that area.
And then he's passing through to Galilee, he's heading toward the Jews.
But he goes by this village and there were these 10 lepers that came and saw Jesus Christ
verse number 13, and they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy
on us.
And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests.
And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed.
I want you to notice this story.
Look, there are many times that Jesus Christ will heal someone on the spot, right?
You know, we've seen many stories where Jesus is just on the spot, he heals somebody, he
just says the words and they're healed.
I mean, Jesus could do this for the lepers.
But he asked him to do one thing, he goes, No, you know what, go show yourself to the
priests.
Go, go ahead, just because that was the power of the Lord of Moses.
You know, if you were if you had leprosy, if you had some type of illness, you were
to show yourself to the priests, the priests were to make an assessment, whether you were
to be quarantined, or whether you're healthy, or things along these lines.
And so Jesus doesn't heal them.
He just, look, go show yourselves to the priests, right?
And so they had to have faith.
I mean, wouldn't you think, well, Jesus, I mean, Jesus, we've seen you, the reason
we're coming to you, we've heard that you're a healer, you're not going to heal us, you're
just sending us to the priests.
Hey, but they had the faith, they had the faith to believe Jesus, it says, and it came
to pass that as they went, verse number 14, they were cleansed.
So they were departing from Jesus, they're on their way to see the priests.
And because of their faith, and trusting what Jesus Christ said, God sees fit to heal them
on the way to see the priests, right?
So they cleansed, look at verse number 15.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified
God and fell down on his face, sorry, on his face at his feet, giving him thanks.
And he was a Samaritan.
So Brevin, what do we notice here?
This guy's got COVID.
This guy's got leprosy.
This guy's sick, right?
And look, I don't know.
I mean, I don't think anyone in church that I know have got COVID.
No one here, no one up at New Life Baptist Church.
I mean, we had a little scare there, brother, but your result came back as negative, right?
But here's the thing.
Let's say you did get COVID.
Let's say you had to go to hospital, and you had pneumonia, and you're struggling with
this.
All right, guess what?
When you feel better, what are you meant to do?
You go to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord, for giving this opportunity to suffer and to see your hand of healing
us.
And be thankful that you've seen me through this time.
And notice the person that came to thank him was a Samaritan, okay?
The Bible notes that this was a Samaritan because the other nine lepers, they were Jews.
They were God's people.
And look at verse number 17.
And Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed?
But where are the nine?
There are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger.
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith have made thee whole.
Now listen, the faith of the other nine also made them whole.
They were also cleansed, right?
They believed Jesus, they went on the way to see the priests, okay?
So yes, Jesus identifies that this Samaritan had faith, but so did the nine.
But notice the nine did not come to give God thanks.
They had the faith, they had the answered prayer, they saw the miracle of God there,
but only one came back to give him thanks.
Now Brethren, I think this shows us the reality of the Christian life.
You know, I'm sure we have given God thanks many times for what he's done for us.
But I would say probably nine out of ten times when God has done something for you, we've
not given him thanks.
I think if that's the ratio that we see here, I think that's probably going to be the case.
Either you've forgotten to give God thanks or, you know, I mean, I think most often than
not, we've just forgotten to give God thanks, okay?
And all, hey, there might be ten of us, and all ten of us got our prayers answered, only
one of us was willing to go and say, Lord, give us thanks, and the others, we just, well,
I guess that's just, you know, that's, I mean, when you're sick, you normally get better,
don't you?
I mean, do we have to give God thanks if we get better?
I mean, even the non-believing world that don't pray to God get over a flu or get over
some sickness, right?
So sometimes I guess we see answered prayer, and I think this can be a reality, we see
answered prayer, but we conclude, well, this is just, you know, this would have happened
anyway, whether I went to prayer or not, or it's just a coincidence that this happened,
even though I asked for it, it's a coincidence, and we forget to give God thanks.
And so, you know, brethren, we don't want to be like the nine, okay?
We want to be like that one Samaritan.
We want to be that one that has seen God's hand in 2020, and we say, God, thank you for
this crazy year that we've been able to live through, you know, thank you for whatever
prayers may have been answered, and you need to, you know, we've only got a few hours left
in 2020.
If you haven't done this already, you know, I warn you, when you go home, think about
how God has answered your prayers in 2020.
Think about how God has blessed you, think about all the great gifts, the great things
that you've been able to enjoy in 2020, rather than all the negative things.
Think about it, and when you think about them, guess what, just stop for a moment and just
give God thanks.
Just say, God, I want to be like the Samaritan.
I want you to be pleased to know that I've given God the glory for the great 2020 that
I've been able to live.
Now, what else did we learn from this story?
As I said, the one that came to give God thanks is noted to be the Samaritan.
And as I said, that's to differentiate that the others were not Samaritans, they were
Jews, okay?
And what we notice here is that sometimes the stranger is more likely, for some reason,
this is the way it is, more likely to see the good of a bad situation and even be willing
to give God thanks for it.
And I'll just give you one example.
I think it was just yesterday.
I was going to the shops for some reason, and I came across one of my ex-work colleagues.
Now, this woman, she's not saved, she's not a believer, she's in sales, so she's driven
by money.
I know that, she's just an ex-work colleague, and I saw her, said hello, she thought I was
in Queensland and was wondering why I'm in Sydney, and I explained the situation a little
bit.
And we're getting talking about COVID and some struggles during the COVID, but you know
what she said to me?
And look, she's a non-believer, okay?
She's on her way to hell.
She doesn't have eternal security, she doesn't have Jesus as her Saviour, she doesn't have
the God of the Bible as her God, okay?
She's a Roman Catholic, she's lost, okay?
I mean, the only thing she can look forward to is whatever blessings might be on this
world, okay?
She has no idea about eternal matters, okay?
But she stopped and said, you know what, even though it's been a challenging year in 2020,
I'm thankful because I've been able to spend more time with my family.
I'm thankful because, you know, things slow down a little bit, and we're so busy in Sydney,
you know, we're always rush, rush, rush, go here, go do that, go there.
It's been nice having just a slow down, she said.
It's been nice just to be able to spend time with my kids and my grandkids.
And she said, you know, compared to other places in this world, we've done okay in Australia.
And she said, you know, being able to stop and not be so busy has allowed me to stop
and just be thankful for the little things that I have that I otherwise would take for granted.
Hey, that's coming from the mouth of a stranger.
And I'm just thinking, wow, you're talking like a believer.
You're talking like somebody that is thankful to God, even during a crazy year.
And then I got to thinking and thinking, wow, can I say that all the families in my church,
you know, can be as equally thankful as this one non-believer?
In fact, I think if I'm honest, there might be some believers that would not have that
same approach and hold a grudge or be frustrated for this crazy year that we've gone through.
And so we see that, listen, and even an unbeliever can just pause and say, well, you know what,
I've learned to just appreciate my family, the things, the great blessings that I have
in my life as a non-believer can say those words.
So if a non-believer, if a Samaritan can say those words, Brethren, so much more should
we give God glory.
So much more should we give God thanks for this crazy year that we've gone through.
We don't want to be unthankful.
I'll just read to you in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1.
It says, this know also that in the last days perilous times come.
And Brethren, we're getting closer and closer to those last days.
It says for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boastless, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unthankful.
Listen, the perilous times to come, these last days to come, you know, is noted as these
people that are lovers of their own selves.
There's all these proudly proud boasters, but it says unthankful, unthankful for what
God has given them, unthankful for the opportunities that they have.
Brethren, let's not be like this wicked world.
The wicked world is known for their unthankfulness, okay?
Let us not be that way.
Let's make sure that we can pause and say, God, I'm thankful for 2020.
Thankful for 2020.
You know, we are commanded to be thankful.
Can you please turn, I might get you to turn to, yeah, go to Colossians chapter 3.
Go to Colossians chapter 3.
We're commanded to be thankful, Brethren.
It's not an option.
It's not like God says, well, be thankful when you want to be thankful.
No, we're commanded to be thankful.
It means we, you know, even when you don't feel thankful, just say, God, you know what,
I've got to give you thanks, even though I don't feel it right now, Lord.
And sometimes just giving God thanks, just pause Him, we'll give you a happy heart.
We'll give you a content heart.
You know, just saying those words to the Lord will, you know, force yourself, guide yourself
to be thankful for even difficult situations.
Ephesians 5 20 says, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a commandments, okay?
Giving thanks always for all things.
Brethren, that's everything.
You don't get an opportunity for something to not be thankful about.
You know what?
You lose your job.
You know what you're meant to do?
Thank you, Lord.
Say, can you do that?
I got sick.
I'm struggling.
Thank you, Lord.
You know, I'm in a financial difficulty now.
I'm struggling.
Thank you, Lord.
Can you do that about everything?
I think that's hard.
It can be hard, right?
But what did it say?
Giving thanks always for all things, okay?
So it's 100% of the time, brethren, we need to learn how to be thankful.
Listen, we lose a loved one, maybe they pass away.
Thank you, Lord, for the time that I've been able to enjoy with that loved one.
Thank you, Lord, for that person being in my life and being a blessing to me.
We just need to learn how to turn a negative situation into positive.
We need to learn, well, Lord, what is it that you want me to learn?
What is it that I can be thankful for even when I have some hardship?
And this can be difficult because our flesh does not want to be thankful.
But we need to learn and understand this is God's commandment to us.
You're in Colossians chapter three, verse 17.
It says, and whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him.
So whatsoever ye do in word or deed.
Brethren, you know what, when you get to when you're working a job and you're like, man,
I don't like my workplace.
This is getting boring.
What are you meant to do?
Whatsoever ye do, right, whatever deed you do, giving thanks to God.
Just give God thanks.
You want to be happy at work when you're frustrated at work and it's boring for you and you think,
oh, man, I'm stuck in a dead end job.
You know what's going to help you?
Just give God thanks.
Lord, thank you that I've got a job.
Because you know what, there are some, and I don't think anyone that I know in this church
or in your life has a church, I don't think anyone's lost their jobs that I know of during
this COVID thing.
But you know what, there are tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Australians
that have lost their jobs and they're on JobKeeper or JobSeeker or whatever, you know, government
benefits.
All right.
Well, guess what?
I don't think, and maybe correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone's lost their
jobs.
Okay.
So however boring your job is, be thankful you still got a job.
These people, when they're off the JobSeeker, they're going to have to reapply.
And guess what, there's going to be thousands of people applying for the same jobs.
It's going to be hard for them to get a job.
I'm trying to say, you know, when they're able to get back out there and they lose their
benefits.
Be thankful that you've been overhauled on your job.
God's teaching us to be thankful.
We are commanded to be thankful.
Philippians 4, 6 says, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
Okay.
So should we pray to God?
Should we ask His help and tell Him our needs?
Yeah, absolutely we should do that, but we do it with thanksgiving.
God, thank you that I can even come to you and pray and bring these things before you.
Lord, thank you that you've answered my prayers in the past.
And I know you can answer my prayers today.
You know, we need to learn how to be thankful.
Now when I think about 2020 and I think about my family and the situation, I've also been
able to spend more time with the family.
You know, I mean, I don't work a normal nine to five, you know, Monday to Friday job, but
when the border closed and all my flights were cancelled around March this year, my
initial reaction was frustration.
Honestly, I was frustrated because I'm like, Lord, blessed help Baptist Church down in
Sydney.
Where do I need to be?
Lord, I passed that church down there as well.
Why can't I go down to Sydney?
So I was frustrated.
All right.
But then, just like that, you know, well, actually, this is one night a week that I've
been away from my wife, maybe every week or every fortnight have a time that was working
at the time.
Well, now, Lord, I gotta be thankful that I don't have to leave my wife because the
night that I'm away, she can't sleep very well, right?
The night that I'm away, she's a little bit more alert during the night and every little
noise bothers her, okay, because her husband's not home.
That means there's one night, Lord, an extra night a week that my wife can get a full night's
of sleep and I don't have to be so tired traveling back and forth.
You know, that's not what I want, Lord, but I've got to learn how to find what is positive
in this situation, okay?
And so I had to learn how to be thankful and spend more time with my family.
Maybe you've been able to spend more time with your family.
You know, as many of you have had the opportunity to work from home and, you know, for some
of you that I've been able to talk to about that, your wives are happy that you're at
home.
You know, that you're not driving in the potential, you know, car accidents or what might be along
the, you know, that journey.
Spend more time with your family.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6, 6, and these words which I command thee this day shall
be in thine hearts and thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children and shall talk
of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou
lies down and when thou risest up.
The reason I read that passage is because God is commanding the parents, okay, the fathers
to teach their children all the time during the day when the children wake up and they
go to bed, when you're around the house.
Guess what?
A lot of you have had more time to be at home, you know, to be a godly influence to your
children, to be a godly leader to your family.
Praise God for that.
People have been able to spend more time with the family.
You know, I don't want to name names, I don't want to go through anything personal here,
but some people have said, you know, just one situation, someone has said to me I've
been able to get closer to my children and I've been so busy at work and this and that
and I feel like I've been distanced from my children, but being home, being stuck at home,
working from home has allowed me to reconnect with my children.
Well, praise God for that, 2020.
It sounds like God answered a prayer for, you know, in your situation.
Some of you have been able to save money from not having to travel, right?
The fuel, catching public transport, you know, like I said, working from home.
So for some of you, finances, you know, you've been able to pay off your debts or pay off
your mortgage, make advance payments and things like that, that you've saved otherwise from
fuel costs.
And one thing that I've noticed as well, I don't know if you've all noticed this, but
I have, there's been an improvement in general hygiene.
Because everyone's crazy, everyone's like wearing a mask and, you know, you know, making
sure they're washing their hands.
You know, I mean, I went to, you know, a public toilet yesterday and the men are standing
away from each other, you know, they're making sure they're cleaning up after they use the
toilets, they're washing their hands.
I mean, wow, look at that, everyone's, you know, everyone's taking care of, you know,
of hygiene.
And look, I know, I know the restrictions, I know it's overboding, it's frustrating.
I'm not saying, everything they're saying is wonderful and amazing.
But you know what, if you read, especially the book of Leviticus, you'll notice just
how important hygiene was to God, okay?
And so it's like we're kind of learning hygiene once again, all right?
And one thing I've noticed this year in 2020, this has been the healthiest year for my family.
I can't remember the last time my kids got sick.
I mean, before 2020, I'm pretty sure every year, my children have got gastro.
And you know, gastro is not wonderful.
Hey, try having 11 kids with gastro, okay?
And you know, either they get it all at once and it's like, man, it's like World War Three
or something, right?
Or they have it one at a time, which is sometimes worse, because you're going like one week,
okay, now this one's got it, now this week, this one's got it, this week, this, you can
go like a whole month, you know, where you're, you know, you're just dealing with problems,
you know, and because it just gets passed.
I don't remember the last time my kids ever had gastro.
I can't remember, okay, because they could just go and play at a park, or they play at
a place where there's a whole bunch of other kids and germs get transmitted, you know,
kids aren't careful with their hygiene, you know, and you know what, even, you know, I've
mentioned this to a lot of you guys, I suffer with allergies, okay?
And Sydney, you know, before I left to Queensland, I would constantly sneeze in and cough in.
In fact, I watched my video where I got ordained before getting sent out, and I was coughing
in the video, okay, and I got up to give a short message and I was kind of like, I could
see my nose was running, I had a sore throat, it wasn't because I was sick, it was just
allergies.
You know, Sydney always gives me allergies.
I would fly down here for the midweek service, I'd literally get off out of the airport,
I'd walk into Sydney airport, I'd start sneezing immediately, okay?
So I've always struggled with allergies in Sydney.
When I got up to Queensland, for some reason, it's just better.
Maybe the air's cleaner, maybe the plants and the, you know, the shrubs, the seeds and
the pollen, it's different to Sydney, so maybe they didn't irritate me as much.
But you know what, I've been here now for, what is it, almost three months back to Sydney,
you know, with you guys, and I've had a few allergy, you know, attacks, but very little,
very little.
It's like, for whatever reason, brethren, somehow, things are healthier, somehow, somehow
the air's cleaner, somehow people are cleaner, you know, it's just a situation, and when
my allergies are better, I don't get asthma issues.
I've been healthier, the healthiest I've been for a long time.
I know my children have been the healthiest they've been for a long time.
I don't know if you guys can relate to that, but I can definitely notice that, okay?
Now if you can please go to Leviticus 15, let's just have a look at this.
Leviticus 15, verse number 2, if you're saying, Pastor Kevin, you're crazy, why should we
be thankful about that?
Well, it is a biblical principle, like I told you, right?
Leviticus chapter 15, verse number 2, Leviticus 15, verse number 2, I'll just give you a minute
to turn there.
Leviticus 15 and verse number 2, because while we can be very frustrated at all these extra
health measures, and I won't argue with you that it is overboard, I won't argue with you,
but I can realize that God was very careful when there was some type of illness to prevent
the spread.
Leviticus 15, verse number 2, speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when
any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue, he is unclean.
Now when the Bible says issue here, it's referring to a sickness, okay?
There's something wrong, there's something in his flesh, okay?
There's something not quite right, could be something like leprosy, could be some other
sickness that his body has presented, right?
Look at verse number 3, and this shall be his uncleanness in his issue, whether his
flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
Every bed whereon he lie that have the issue is unclean, and everything whereon he sitteth
shall be unclean.
Look at verse number 5, and whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe
himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
And he that sitteth on anything whereon he satteth that hath the issue shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and
bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean, then he shall wash his clothes,
and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
And look, we're going to stop there, but we can go on and on and on, okay?
And this is not the only chapter that deals with this topic.
You know, for God, hygiene was so important.
You know, someone's sick, just wash yourself.
If you've been in that area, you touched him, you know, you sat where he sat, right?
If you touched the linen on his bed, you've got to wash yourself.
You've got to wash your clothes and bathe yourself, right?
And so God was very careful.
He did not want his people to suffer unnecessarily from sicknesses that were passed on, okay?
He wanted to put a stop to talk.
Listen, you know, even though I don't necessarily agree with all the measures, but it's wonderful
to see that people are just trying to be a little bit more healthier.
And it has definitely, I've noticed in my life, in 2020 anyway, I can be thankful for
this in 2020, that, you know, I've been healthier than I've ever been, and my family's been
healthier than they've ever been.
I can't even remember the last time we got sick, okay, it might have been like a just
a 24 hour stomach ache or something, who knows?
I mean, it was something so minor that I can't even remember what it was, right?
So I think from a personal point of view, we have reasons to be thankful in 2020.
What else can we be thankful for 2020?
Well, when we look, think about Blessed Hope Baptist Church, can you please turn to Psalm
40 for me, go to Psalm 40.
What else can we be thankful for 2020, especially when we think about Blessed Hope Baptist Church?
Well, number one, I believe we can be thankful that we've got a new fixed location here at
250 Fairfield Street, Fairfield East.
I wasn't expecting that, right?
I mean, we were meeting next door.
And then we had to move, we went to find a scout hall.
And you know, I've told many of you guys, my personal preference would have been we
stayed at that scout hall.
You know what, God knows better than us.
And you know, COVID came around, they shut the doors.
And then when churches were allowed to meet, they still had the door shut.
So we had to find, well, we want to meet for church.
And this opportunity presented itself.
Now if you came into this building, before my parents did a lot of work cleaning up,
you know how rough this was, right?
The paint was falling off, it was dusty, the floors were dirty, right?
But it was four walls.
And we could still come here and praise God and worship God.
Hey, we had a place to meet.
You know what, there are many other churches and friends that I have that were meeting
in community centres or public schools for their churches.
And we were able to come here on a dirty floor and praise God and they still had no place
to meet.
Hey, God saw us through, God's given us a place.
All right.
And guess what?
It's not dirty anymore.
Psalm 40, verse number one, Psalm 40 and verse number one, it says, I waited patiently for
the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
a rock and established my goings.
Now I know this verse and I know you know this verse is about spiritual matters, okay?
That God has established Him on His word.
But you know what, God has given us a fixed location so we can be established as a church.
It's not nice every week going, well, we might meet over here, we're going to meet over there,
we're going to meet here, are we going to meet this week?
That's not really great, right?
It's a bit, you know, it's a bit unsettling.
It's a bit hard to praise God and worship God when you're not sure whether we are going
to or what.
Well, God has put our feet upon a rock, okay?
Hey, we've got a great place here.
And I just looked up, one of my concerns about this place was, like, even when we were next
door, it was like, well, can we really meet for a church here?
You know, could the council, you know, put a stop to us meeting here?
Well, we've looked at the legislation and no problems.
There's no restrictions in order for us to have a church here.
So as far as I'm concerned, until we grow this place out, you know, until this place
is packed out, we're going to keep meeting here.
This is where the Lord wants us, all right?
Hey, when we started this church, I didn't know where we were going to meet.
I was kind of thinking Blacktown, maybe Canberra, I had no idea where we were going to meet,
right?
Whatever was going to be made available.
Now, brethren, you know, they didn't know I had plans.
They said, well, we've got this place next door.
And guess what?
My parents live five minutes away.
And if I'm going to be traveling, right, I'm going to be staying with my parents, hey,
what a great answer to prayer.
Five minutes away, you know, from the church building that we're going to meet, that wasn't
my plan.
You know, some of you might think, man, that Pastor Kevin's so intelligent, you know, how
is it that he managed to find a place, you know, five minutes from his parents?
That wasn't my plan.
That was God's plan, okay?
And then we couldn't meet there.
We tried somewhere else.
And God brought us back exactly right here next door.
Okay, so I'm concerned that, you know, like we said in the Psalms, he established my goings.
This is where God established us.
I truly believe, blessed up at the church, where God wants us to be is in the city of
Fairfield.
Okay, and this is where he's going to establish our goings.
This is where we go out and preach the gospel to the local community.
And not only here, of course, we can go to other places.
But I'm, without a shadow of a doubt, brethren, knowing that this is where God wants us.
Fairfield City is the area, okay?
It's not because my parents live five minutes away.
It's not because I live 25 minutes away in Bonnerig, okay, which is not too far.
It's because this is where the Lord wants us, okay?
He has established us.
He's given us a fixed location.
And guess what?
We can meet here on Sunday mornings.
The Scout Hall is okay, but we couldn't meet there Sunday mornings.
We can meet here now.
We've got the flexibility.
We can meet whenever we want, how often we want.
Okay?
He's given us a fixed location.
And so I can be thankful for that.
I feel secure.
Hey, next time we print up some new gospel tracts, we can put this address down.
On the tracts.
Because we could be confident that we're going to be here for at least another year or more
until we run out of room, okay?
And maybe when we run out of room, who knows?
Maybe we knock down these walls, okay, and expand in the same area.
Who knows?
Who knows, okay?
The Lord knows.
He knows.
He definitely knows that, okay?
So we can be thankful.
Guess what we can also be thankful for in this church?
The renovations, okay?
And as I said, we met here.
It was a little bit dusty and dirty and a little bit rough.
But it's been cleaned up, right?
The walls have been painted.
The ceiling's been painted.
It's been fixed up.
It's been carpeted.
All right?
What else?
New chairs?
Can we be thankful for that?
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, that wasn't cheap.
It wasn't cheap.
All right?
We spent over $10,000.
We've got everything.
Okay?
New lighting.
I forgot the lighting.
Okay?
We've got new lighting.
We've got lighting outside.
Okay?
I mean, and hey, what else?
We've got some nice, you know, design back here.
You know, we've got the church on the window, right, outside.
So now we've got a bit of advertisement, people walking past, oh, there's a church here.
Praise God.
All right?
Praise God.
Be thankful for 2020.
You say, how did we afford all this?
Because we couldn't afford it before.
Well, guess what?
Because I couldn't fly down every week.
We weren't spending like $300 at least every week on plane tickets and transport.
Guess what?
That money built up and we've been able to have now a brilliant place to meet.
I'm thankful for here.
I'm thankful for it, 2020.
But guess what?
If I was flying down every week, we wouldn't have been able to afford this.
Okay?
So let's give God thanks.
God knows better than we do.
Right?
Romans 8 28.
I know this is a cliche verse.
I just read it.
Romans 8 28.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who
are called according to his purpose.
God has done us good.
He's given us a wonderful place to meet.
Okay?
God has done us good.
This tells me that it must prove that we love God.
If we love God, and listen, as I said, I was a bit frustrated, I can't fly down, Lord,
what's going on?
Well, the Lord's saying, well, because you're going to save up for the renovations, don't
you know?
I didn't know that, but God knew that.
God knows.
So I can be thankful for 2020 because God is looking after us.
Okay?
He's helping us.
He's helping his church.
It couldn't be any clearer to me that God is helping our church.
What else?
Well, you know, when we first started to meet in this church, we were only meeting once
a week, remember, for the midweek services.
We've gone, then we went to two services sometime last year.
And now we're at three services.
Why are we at three services?
Because the stupid restrictions, okay, which didn't allow us to gather in the numbers that
we want forced us to have a third service.
We were forced to do this, brethren, because of 2020, because of restrictions.
And again, we can get frustrated.
I can find frustrations.
I can vent and get frustrated.
Or I can stop and say, well, God, three services.
All right, you know what?
That means we can have extra preaching.
That means we can have opportunity for other men to get behind the pulpit and preach.
Hebrews 10 25 says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some
is but exhorting one another.
And then it says this, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
You know what?
We're doing more church than we've ever done.
We're doing more preaching than we've ever done.
We're doing more singing than we've ever done.
Because of COVID.
I don't know.
We get frustrated, but we just thank God.
Which one do you want to do?
Let's just thank God.
Thank God, all right, that we can even so much the more meet together for church.
Now that has an effect.
Because if people are used to come in once a week or twice a week, you know, people aren't
going to be used to coming to three services a week and we're going to have less people
in the services.
But give it time.
Give it time.
Eventually people are going to get used to the idea, you know what, I want to be there
at every service, you know, as long as the restrictions, you know, allow us.
But listen, brethren, we just got to find the reasons to thank God, okay?
What else?
Well, because as I said, because, you know, I wasn't able to travel down every week and
every fortnight or whatever it was that I was coming down.
It pushed other men to share the load in preaching.
Right, we had brother David preaching more sermons, brother Anthony, brother Luke preaching
more sermons, right?
And brother Matthew has now recently stepped up to preach the sermons.
Listen, this is a good thing.
For other men to study God's Word and for God to use that man, for that man to realize,
Lord, you want to use me to preach your Word, I better be a clean vessel.
I better be listening to the Spirit of God here.
I better be careful and preach what the Word of God says, Lord.
Help me to be a messenger for your Word.
This is a great thing, brethren.
Can you please turn to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11.
You know, I never wanted Blessed Hope Baptist Church or New Life Baptist Church on the Sunshine
Coast to be a one-man show.
I never wanted to be, it's just about pastor Kevin.
Now look, I am the pastor, right?
I do have the rule in the house of God.
I should be the one that's doing the most of the preaching in the house of God, okay?
But that doesn't mean we can't allow other men, you know, to be used by God.
I mean, who knows what God's plan might be in the future?
You know, for these men to get the experience of preaching, who knows?
Maybe one day we'll start another church and we need one of these men who have had the
experience of preaching to step in and help out, maybe become the pastor or just be a
support to the local church here.
We don't know, okay?
We see that God has allowed other men to share the Lord in preaching.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 says,
And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and
teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ.
Listen, God's given us teachers.
Praise God.
What for?
Of this body for your edification, brethren, okay?
Well God's found a way to force it even more then, okay?
And not only that, hey, you guys know while I'm here, the men up at New Life Baptist Church,
they've had to take on extra preaching responsibilities.
No I think God's got a great plan.
I don't know what that plan is right now, okay?
I didn't know God had a plan for us here at 250 Fairfield Street, but God knows.
He's already figured it out.
And we just have to be faithful to God and say, God, thank you.
Thank you.
Lord, I don't know what 2021 holds, Lord, but I'm going to be thankful for 2020.
I can see your hand.
I can see your blessings.
I can see your plan.
Even though it wasn't my plan, I see it, Lord, I'm going to be thankful, right?
It's pushed other men to share the load in preaching.
And if you can please turn to Philippians chapter 2 now.
Turn to Philippians chapter 2, verse number 19.
Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 19.
What else has been a blessing?
You know, what else can we be thankful for, you know, for God, for our church in 2020?
Well, it's allowed me to come down here, brethren, and look, I don't think I'm the greatest man
in the world.
I don't think I'm the greatest pastor or anything like this, okay, brethren?
But it's allowed me to come down here and be a full-time pastor for Blessed Baptist
Church for 12 months, full time.
That wasn't my plan.
Listen, I had 2020 planned out already.
We had planned for the soul-winning mega marathon, we're going to send brother Tim to Melbourne
and brother Ramsden to...
Where are we going to send you, brother?
Where in New Zealand?
Christchurch?
Auckland.
No, it wasn't Auckland.
It was somewhere else.
Was it Wellington?
Oh, Wellington.
Oh, Christchurch.
Wellington.
Anyway, we had plans.
I was looking forward to that, okay?
And if we had to send someone else to another city where they could, you know, put together
a marathon, I'd do it.
We were going to do that, all right?
We had plans up there.
I don't know if I shared it with all you guys, to do a documentary, to do two documentaries,
to put a video together.
I was looking forward.
I had all these...
The year was planned out, brethren.
The year was planned out, okay?
And then in November, I was meant to go to Chile with brother Juan, with some members
of Faithful Word Baptist Church and Pastor Anderson, to go on a Chile missions trip,
all right?
That was all planned out and the refunds are coming, it's on its way, but that was all
planned out.
I had plans.
Okay?
I had plans.
Guess what?
God says, they're not my plans.
And even though I was frustrated that I couldn't come down here for several months, well, guess
what?
Now I'm here.
Now I'm here full time for at least 12 months.
I mean, isn't that something to be thankful for?
I'm thankful to be in your presence for 12 months.
I'm thankful to see you guys every week, all right?
See you on Sunday.
I've got so many of you guys.
I'm thankful for that.
You should be thankful that God has sent your pastor down here for 12 months.
All right?
That wasn't the plan.
You're in Philippians 2 19.
It says, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also
may be of good comfort when I know your state, for I have no man like minded who will naturally
care for your state.
And brethren, New Life Baptist Church has allowed me to come down here.
And they've sent me to come down here and be your pastor for 12 months and help this
church, okay?
For God to use us in this challenging time.
The Bible says the person that you need to send is someone that will naturally care for
your state, okay?
And brethren, obviously, as your pastor, I naturally care for your state.
If I had Timotheus, in fact, I brought Timotheus with me, Timothy.
That's something else we're going to be thankful for, Brother Timothy coming back here, all
right?
With us.
I did send Timotheus.
Well, not really.
He was on his own.
He had his own will.
But brethren, you know what?
I just see it as a blessing.
I just see it as something we can be thankful for.
Do I miss New Life Baptist Church?
Absolutely.
Okay?
Am I a little bit, you know, a little bit worried?
You know, being away, especially with the border restrictions?
Of course.
Okay?
But should I focus on that?
Or should I focus that God has opened the doors here to serve you guys for 12 months?
I'm going to focus on the positives.
I'm going to focus on what God, we can give God thanks.
We can glorify God for.
Instead of being the nine complaining and whining, all right, not being thankful to
God, I want to be like the one that stopped and gave glory to God, all right, instead
of focusing on the negatives.
What else have we been able to do?
Can you please turn to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1?
Well, something else that we've added to this church, because of the restrictions,
because we're limited in how many people we can have together, hey, we've got the live
stream.
You know, our services now are being live streamed, okay?
Instead of watching a sermon after the fact, you can watch it, you can, you know, join
in in the service, even though that's not, you know, here's the thing, number one, just
find a good church.
I mean, if someone's watching the live stream right now, my advice is find the best church
in your area.
You know, I'm thankful you're listening to the service, but you really need to find the
best church that you can serve God in.
God wants you to be gathered together in a local body, but the live stream has allowed
me to meet brethren that are from places in Australia that don't live in, people that
don't live in big cities, where they don't have a church in the local area, all right,
maybe in country towns, we had brother Martin come here from a country town in Victoria
and got baptized.
All right?
He's found us online.
If he didn't have our stuff online, he would not have found us.
There are other people that have been blessed by the preaching of this church and the church
at New Life Baptist Church, okay?
And why?
Why do we do the live stream?
Because we're restricted, you know, we had our arm bent, you know, bent backwards and
we can't, you know, we're limited in restrictions, so let's do the live stream.
Let's find an opportunity for other people in our church to benefit so they don't miss
out on the preaching, but guess what, it opens the doors for other people as well, okay?
And we need to understand that, you know, as a church, yes, our focus is on this local
body, but God wants us to reach out to new people as well, okay?
You're in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 7, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse
number 7.
It says, so that ye, talking about the Thessalonian church, so that ye were and samples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia, wow.
So this church was an example, here was a good, godly example to believers in these
other areas.
Verse number 8, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and
Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad so that we need not
to speak anything.
Paul is saying, look, I don't even need to talk about you guys.
Everyone's heard about your faithfulness, you know, everyone's heard about the word
of God through you and for your preaching of your church and, you know, you're sending
people here and you're sending people there.
Well, guess what?
We have modern technology, internet, YouTube, live stream, this allows blessing up of this
church to be used to preach God's word to people in a wider area.
Hey, this is a biblical concept.
We can be in sample to other believers in other places, yes, in Australia, but even
across this entire world, you know, God can use this church.
And guess what?
Before COVID, before 2020, we did not have the live stream.
We've got it now.
New Life Baptist Church got it this year as well, okay, for the same reasons.
Hey, that's a blessing.
That's something we can be thankful for.
Okay, you might not be thankful for it, but guess what?
Those that listen online, they're thankful for it.
Those that don't have a good church to attend, you know, they don't have preaching of God's
word they can listen to, they're thankful for that.
Can you please go to 1 Timothy chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse number 5, 1 Timothy
chapter 1 and verse number 5, what else can we be thankful for in this church?
Well, as you guys know, you know, we've been having on Fridays, not every Friday, but many
Fridays we've been having our men's Bible study and preaching class together.
Hey, we can be thankful for that.
Amen.
We had some good feedback from you guys saying that it's been a blessing, that it's helped
you with your Bible study and with your preaching.
Hey, that's, be thankful to God about that then, right?
First Timothy chapter 1, verse number 5, remember, Paul is writing to a pastor, Timothy, right?
Timothy's a pastor in Thessalonians, sorry, Thessalonica, and he says to Timothy in First
Timothy chapter 1, verse 5, Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart
and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned.
This is something that I've been saying in the classes, you know, we want to make sure
that when we preach God's Word, we do it out of a good conscience.
You know, whatever decisions I make, whether it, whether, you know, you agree or disagree,
I just want you to understand that the decision I make as a pastor, I do it to have a clean
conscience, a pure conscience before God, okay?
That's what a pastor is supposed to do, but then it keeps going in verse number 6.
It says, From which some, having swerved, having turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring
to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
And so the Bible's saying here, there are some that don't have that clear conscience
before God, right?
They don't, they want to be leaders, right, they want to be teachers of the law, but they
swerved and turned aside unto vain jangling.
So when they get behind the pulpit and preach, this is what you hear, like, what's that?
What are you saying?
Yeah, okay, that sounds, it sounds like you're saying a lot of big words and, you know, you're
doing a lot of speaking, but I just, I'm not.
Vain jangling, brethren.
You know what?
I don't want any preachers that bless it up at this church to be a vain jangle, all right?
So we have this class, all right, to make sure, hey, let's have a clear conscience.
Let's make sure that when we preach, we're careful.
We preach God's word and God's word alone, okay?
We be careful with our opinions, be careful with your personal beliefs of what that passage
says.
Look, if you don't even know, listen, don't be like these guys, where they desire to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
Let's make sure we don't affirm something and say something that we don't know, okay?
And listen, if there's something you don't know, just leave it, don't preach it.
Preach what you know, preach what you know.
And so it's so important that we have a Bible study and preaching class so we understand,
hey, this is how we study the Bible, hey, we want to teach something, especially if
it's something controversial, we need to make sure we have the two or three clear witnesses
of God's word, right?
We have it as black and white scriptures, all right?
We're here to expound God's word, not to expound our fleshly wisdom, which can have problems,
which can have errors, okay?
We're here to study and preach God's word.
I want, you know, the preaching to get better and better and better.
And I can say, honestly, the preacher in new life at this church has gotten better and
better and better.
You know, the feedback I get from the brethren there, man, oh man, brother so and so, you
know, he's gotten so much better, brother and so, this brother's gotten so much better.
That's what I want to hear at this church as well, you know, that we've gotten better,
okay, that we've gotten better.
And so we can be thankful that God has allowed us to meet together on other days besides
church service to study the Bible, consider doctrine and learn how to preach.
And look, these are just some examples that I thought about top of my head, okay?
I'm sure if we stopped, we can think of other things that we can be thankful for in 2020,
whether it's personal in your own life, I know, as I said before, God has taught me
a lot of patience.
I thought I was patient until 2020, then I realized I'm not as patient as I thought
I was, okay?
The Lord has taught me a lot of patience, and there are a lot of things that we can
be thankful for, you know?
I'm sure there are other things probably in our church that we can be thankful for, okay?
But let's make sure, brethren, that we don't end this year frustrated.
Did we get frustrated this year?
I did.
I know you did, okay?
But let's not end this year frustrated.
Let's end this year with a thankful heart.
Can you please turn to Psalm 119?
Psalm 119.
And let's just end on this verse.
Psalm 119.
Because many of you, I'm sure, maybe all of you will stay up till midnight.
I don't know how my little kids will do.
They'll probably have a little nap and then wake up before midnight, right?
So we can...
Happy New Year, right?
But what are you going to do at midnight, brethren?
What are you going to do when the clock ticks over to 2021?
Hopefully it does tick over to 2021.
Have you seen the memes on Facebook?
It still might be 2020.
It might go from December 31st to December 32nd.
It's like, oh, man, we're still in 2020.
It's going to tick over.
It's going to be 2021, okay?
But what are we going to do at midnight, you know?
Are we going to switch on the TV and see the fireworks?
Nothing wrong with that, you know?
Are we going to...
Well, I already bought some ice cream.
The kids know.
Bought some cake and ice cream.
So we know that when the year turns over, we're going to have a little bit of sugar
and feast.
Hopefully I can get the kids to bed before then, okay?
There's nothing wrong with that, you know?
Some people, you know, will hug each other and say, Happy New Year, you know?
And that's sometimes what happens, right?
You get around the family or your friends and you just work in one another to the new
year.
Well, I'm not saying that any of those things are wrong, okay?
If you want to do that, do it.
But look at Psalm 119 in verse number 62.
Let's end on this one.
It says, At midnight, at midnight, I will watch the fireworks.
No.
At midnight, I'm going to have the ice cream and the cake.
No.
At midnight, I'm going to welcome my friends to the new year.
At midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.
Brethren, what are you going to do when 2021 ticks over?
You know what I want you to do?
I want you to rise up and give God thanks.
God, thank you for 2020.
And thank you for 2021.
Lord, I want 2021 to be a better year for me than 2020 was.
Lord, I want 2021 to be a year where I'm closer with you, where I've read the Bible more than
I've read it before, that I've shared the gospel more in 2021 than I have in the past.
Lord, I want to be thankful.
I want to learn how to be thankful because in 2020, I was frustrated.
Maybe 2021 is going to be even worse, Lord, as a year.
But you know what?
Even if it's a worse year, I want to be more thankful in 2021 than I was in 2020.
Can we do that at midnight, brethren, when the clock ticks over?
Let that be a challenge for you, brethren.
That's what we're going to conclude on.
At midnight, I will rise to give thanks.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord.