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["The Star-Spangled Banner"] you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you 261 I believe that's Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus song number 261 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus change change in the high of his Lord and peace 194 194 since Jesus came into my heart it's a classic you guys have got to sing it out on the verse coming together change in my life Jesus Jesus came into my heart and my soul is forgotten Jesus is Jesus is Jesus Jesus came into my heart He has me Jesus came For the Montel, song number 145, song number 145, it as well, now you guys know the rules ladies, you guys sing that top line and you guys sing that bottom line, ladies don't let the men meet you and men don't let the ladies meet you, come on give it all you've got, 145 we've got this, when peace like the wind, the tension like rain, when sorrows like sea whatever my heart, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul, ladies sing it out, it is well with my soul, with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul, and I love singing that song, Miss Kimmy, I'm sorry what was that, 188, 188, the love of God on the last you said, song number 188, sing it out on that third verse, sing it out on the third, could we with thee be oh sure well, and worth the skies, the first should be, with every spot on earth or well, and every path, the sky might rain, tonight the love of God on the day you shall fly, the joy of the storm, the day you'll hold, the sweet of the sky, the light of the sky, the love of God, the most beautiful, the measure precious and strong, it shall forever be the rain of the most beautiful, the light of the sky, 397, a little as much when God is in it, song number 397, a little as much when God is in it, great song, let's sing it out on the first, give it a little more, let's sing it out right now, there's a work to be done tonight, what a great surprise to me, to the highest sky, a little as much when God is today, the flavor of the rock and the grace of God, and you've been waiting in the blood of Jesus today, and we're gonna sing one more song with Amy Madison, 281, song number 281, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior, number 28, sing it out on that first verse, 281, it's been a strong song from the last song of favorites, sing it out on that first verse, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior, if I love you right, thou on earth shall I comfort thee, through the dark, say I, Savior, Savior, if I love you right, thou on earth shall I comfort thee, through the dark, say I, Savior, Savior, Amen, and we welcome you to the most exciting service of the week, we're glad that you're with us here for the Sunday evening service, let's go ahead and take our bulletins, we'll look at some announcements real quickly, if you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand, and one of our ushers can get one for you, and of course we've got a couple of good verses here to begin the new year, brethren I count not myself, I've apprehended that this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press forth the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and that's a good verse there, if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service, 1030 AM, and we had a wonderful service this morning, we're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service, and we of course encourage you to be with us on Wednesday night, for the Wednesday evening Bible study, the Sunday evening service is the most exciting service of the week, and the Wednesday evening service is the most encouraging service of the week, and we'd love of course for you to be a part of that, we're going to be in Psalm 24 this week, so if you want to read that, and be ready to study it together ahead of time, that would be great, look at our sowing times, our main sowing time is on Saturday mornings at 10 AM, and I want to encourage you to be a part of our big sowing rally on Saturday mornings, and I've started a series of lessons that I'm going to be teaching here for several weeks, and I'd like for you to be a part of that, and we of course have additional sowing times on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 PM, and we'd love for you to be a part of all those, or whatever fits your schedule there, and then of course if you are a sower, we do want to ask you that you would add your salvations, if you've had any salvations make sure you mark those on the communication cards, so we can track those in the bulletin, if you have a map that you did not finish, clearly mark, it was done, it was not done, or if there's something wrong with the map, mark it and put it in the bin in the foyer, so we can be aware of that, and of course if you're running late, you can call or text at the number there, 916-868-9080, that way our sowing captains will make sure they have a partner for you in the map, and everything you need, and then we've got just a lot of announcements, and I apologize for all of the announcements, but there's just so much going on that we need you to be aware of, first of all we've got our teen activity, teen activities are coming back, and we're going to try to do these once a month, and we've got the first one scheduled here for Friday, January 24th, it's a laser tag teen activity, the address is there for you, we're going to meet at the location, so make sure you are aware of that, and of course it's open to all the teenagers, so if you've got the word teen at the end of your age, then you are welcome to be a part of this, so 13 years old to 19 years old, of course if you're without being married, but you can sign up on your communication card, there's cost of laser tag is covered for all the teens, not siblings, just the teenagers, but also one crazy parent that wants to play laser tag, we'll cover it for them as well, we'll have dinner of course, we'll have a lesson for the young people as well, so I want to encourage you to be a part of that, make sure you sign up on your communication card, if you've not yet done that, also this Friday, January 10th, we've got our audio video ministry training, we've got several signed up for that already, but we'd love to have as many as possible, if you are tech savvy, then this would be maybe a good ministry for you to be a part of, any young people, this would be a good ministry to be a part of, especially nowadays, everybody is live streaming and posting videos on all sorts of social media, so this is a good technology to learn, and if this is something you can help with, you can sign up on your communication card, that's this Friday, January 10th at 6 p.m., Saturday we've got our Spanish service, that's January 11th at 5 p.m., and we'll have a potluck, a Spanish team potluck afterwards, so any Spanish speakers, of course you're invited to come to the service, if you know a Spanish speaker, we'd love for you to invite them to the service, and if you want to learn Spanish, we'd love for you to be a part of the service, and then also that morning at 10 a.m., we're going to have some soul winning invitations for that afternoon service, so if you are a Spanish speaking soul winner, and you want to help us pass those out, then just identify yourself on the communication card, and we'd appreciate your help with that, we've got a wedding coming up for brother Adam Ritchie and Miss Emily Gessler on Saturday, January 18th at 2.30 p.m., and if you are planning to attend, make sure you let us know on the communication card, nine chapters a day, I'm not sure if I even talked about this this morning, but of course we're in on nine chapters a day challenge, I hope that you're taking the challenge, and I hope you're doing it, and if you are already behind, you know, let not your heart be troubled, alright, so you can stick with it, stay at it, if you're not behind, stick with it, I'm going to tell you right now, this coming week is a hard week, alright, today, if you're reading it straight through, you've got Luke chapter one, and then Luke's got those big chapters there, but as soon as you get out of the gospels, it'll get easier, and it'll progressively get easier, and for those of you that, you know, I don't know where you're at, but you're not paying attention, and you're like, oh man, nine chapters a day, today is January 5th, alright, so here's the deal, you've got, today's the 5th, you've got two grace period days, so that means you are only three days behind, and today's one of those days, alright, so I just encourage you to start, alright, and you're going to find, when you get towards the end of the New Testament, those chapters are going to start getting real short, and you're going to be able to read more than nine, 10, 11, 12, whatever, 35 chapters that you need to do to catch up, but don't quit, alright, stay with it, and I think you'll be glad you didn't, so make sure you stick with that. Choir, they started today, it's on a great homeschool group, they've got PE classes starting this Thursday, so make sure you make a note of that, Ladies Weight Loss Accountability Group, they meet on Wednesdays at 6.15 p.m., and they meet in my wife's office, and we invite, of course, you to that, if you'd like to be part of that cleaning crew, you can see all of your names there, if you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of January, this week we have Yaseli de Diosa's birthday on January 6th, and brother Alex Rosales' birthday on January 7th, brother Keith Rosenberg has a birthday January 9th, Yvette Rosenberg has a birthday January 10th, and Miss Anna Mendoza has a birthday January 10th as well. Praise report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at, and then just one other announcement, if you can help us, if there's any men or teen boys, I realize that many of you work on Fridays, but this Friday at 8 a.m. January 10th, if we can get a group of guys that are available to help us with getting leaves, brother Jose's bringing his big trailers, he's bringing all the equipment that we need, but there's a lot of, this is a four acre property, there's just leaves everywhere, and we wanna get that all cleaned up, and we appreciate your help with that, if you're able to help with that, please let me know, or let Deacon Oliver know, and that way we can count on you for that. I think that's it for all of the announcements, so let's go ahead and we're gonna take the chorus of the week, and we're gonna sing A Child of the King, we're gonna sing it off of this evening, you're gonna sing it well, right, so make sure you sing it out. Make sure you sing it out. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes I'm a child of the king And for your love I will lead my way And I will pledge And for the love of God Praise God, praise God I'm a child of the king Good, sing it out one more second, just a little bit, sing it out one more second, with purpose and passion. Now I'm a child Where I'll never be alone I only belong I think he is home And I praise God, praise God And I'm home in his arms And from me I'll sing With the angels Good, sing it out. Oh yes, oh yes I'm a child of the king And for your love I will lead my way And I will pledge And for your love Praise God, praise God I'm a child of the king Amen, good singing, just a quick reminder that we of course have Mother Babe rooms and Daddy rooms available for your convenience, and if you have a child who is being distracted during the service or needs some privacy, we encourage you to view those rooms as needed. Also, I just want to remind you to please make sure you turn your cell phones off and place them on silent during the service so that they're not distracted so that they don't go off in the middle of preaching. We'll have the guys come and help us with the offering at this time, and let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you, and we thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight. We thank you for this great crowd and this great spirit. Lord, we pray that you would be with us, meet with us. We pray that you speak to us through your word, be with the preaching, the fellowship. Lord, we pray that you bless the offering and give them the giver. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. Please open up to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Ecclesiastes 3, if you need a Bible, please raise your hand and I'll ask you to read your Bible. Ecclesiastes chapter number 3, just keep your hand up unless you will come by. Ecclesiastes 3, with the entire chapter as our custom, Ecclesiastes 3 being in verse number 1. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he labored? I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made everything beautiful in his time. Also he hath set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. I know that whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that man should fear before him. That which hath been is now and now which is to be hath already been. And God requireth that which is past. And moreover I saw unto the son the place of judgment that wickedness was there. And the place of righteousness that iniquity was there. I said in mine heart God shall judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men that God might manifest them and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts. Even one thing befalleth them. As the one dieth so dieth the other. Yea they have all one breath so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast for all his vanity. All go into one place, all are of the dust and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth down to the earth. Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works. For that is his portion. For we shall bring him to see what shall be after him. Let's pray. Let's pray. Heavenly Father thank you for this evening. God I thank you for your word and for what is here as you give us all a tender heart to the message tonight. And I ask that you be there passively. Strengthen him and fill him with your spirit. We love you and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright. Well you're there in Ecclesiastes chapter number 3. I'd like you to just real quickly if you wouldn't mind turn back one book into the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter number 16. You're in Ecclesiastes if you turn backwards into the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter number 16. I'd like you to look down at verse number 11. Proverbs chapter number 16 and verse number 11. Proverbs 16 and 11 says this. Adjust weight and balance are the Lord's. All the weights of the bag are his work. And tonight I'm preaching on the subject of balance. And I'm preaching on the subject of having a balanced life. The title of the sermon is striking the right balance in the Christian life. I want to begin here in Proverbs 16 and 11 because it shows us that balance is actually a godly attribute. It's something that God speaks about in a positive way. Of course here in Proverbs 16 and 11 we're talking about a literal physical balance. The idea is that you would have some sort of a scale that would check the balance of something. Make sure that it's weighed properly. And the Bible says here adjust weight and balance, I want you to notice, are the Lord's. Adjust weight and balance are the Lord's. We see that this is an attribute of godliness. For things to be in balance, to be measured properly is something that the Bible tells us are the Lord's. Let me contrast that with a false balance. If you go to Proverbs chapter 11, you're there in Proverbs 16. Just flip back real quickly to Proverbs chapter 11 and look at verse number 1. Proverbs chapter number 11 and verse number 1. The Bible says this, Proverbs 11 and 1, a false balance is abomination to the Lord. But adjust weight is his delight. So I want you to notice how the Bible contrasts these thoughts. In Proverbs 16 and 11 we read adjust weight and balance are the Lord's. In Proverbs 11 and 1 we read a false balance is abomination to the Lord. And again, we're talking here about a physical balance, a scale, money being weighed or something being weighed against something else. And God says that it's good when weights are balanced. And we're talking about physical balances here and I understand that. But I want you to notice this is something that God likes. God says that adjust weight and balance are the Lord's. A false balance is abomination to the Lord. But adjust weight is his delight. Now do me a favor, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in Proverbs. We're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. But I'd like you to go back to Ecclesiastes chapter number 3 where we read this evening Ecclesiastes chapter number 3. You're there in Proverbs if you flip back to Ecclesiastes. Of course we read Ecclesiastes chapter 3 together and this is a very well-known portion of scripture. It's a portion of scripture that's often read for different occasions. And what I want you to notice here is this, that tonight I'm preaching about balance. And of course we saw there in Proverbs that balance is a good thing. God likes balance. He says that adjust weight and balance are the Lord's. A false balance is abomination to the Lord. And of course that's a physical scale, a physical balance. We're not talking about physical balance tonight but what we're talking about is balance within your life. And balance within the Christian life. I want you to notice that Ecclesiastes chapter 3 highlights this idea of having balance in life. Because what's being described here in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in the first several verses is different things that happen to us during life and through life. Different experiences that we'll have. And I want you to notice that there's a balance to it. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1 the Bible says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Notice verse 2, a time to be born and notice the balance, a time to die. Notice how these things are connected, they're opposites and they balance each other out. God says in life there's going to be a time to be born and a time to die. That's obvious, I think we would all understand that. But notice he says this, a time to plant. So there are times when we want to put seed in the ground and plant. But also the Bible says and a time to pluck up that which is planted. So notice in life there sometimes is a balance. Sometimes we're planting and sometimes we're plucking up something that has been planted. Look at verse 3, a time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. And I want you to notice that here we're looking at different experiences of life. And God is telling us that all life is not all about planting. Sometimes you plant and sometimes you pluck up that which is planted. Sometimes you break down and sometimes you build up. Notice verse 4, a time to weep and a time to laugh. Life is not always all about laughter and myrrh. It's also not always about weeping and mourning. There's a time to weep and there's a balance to that or there should be a balance to that. A time to laugh. Notice a time to mourn and a time to dance. Verse 5, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. And again the idea is this, that these actions are balancing each other out. And in life we want to have a balance to our life. There should be a balanced rhythm of life. Sometimes we cast away stones, sometimes we're gathering stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. The idea there, the word embrace means to hug or hold someone. There's a time to hug, to hold and there's a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. The word cast away means to throw or to throw away. And God is telling us here, look sometimes you're getting, sometimes you're losing. Sometimes you're keeping, sometimes you're casting away. Look at verse 7, a time to rend means to rip or to tear and a time to sow. Sometimes we need to be rending things. Sometimes we need to be sowing things. A time to keep silence. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. You know you don't always have to say what's on your mind? And you don't always have to keep silence. There's this balance to life. Sometimes we need to keep silence and sometimes we need to speak up. Verse 8, a time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace. And I think what this passage highlights for us is that in life there is going to be a balance to life. You're going to be born and you're going to die. Sometimes you'll plant and sometimes you'll pluck up that which was planted. Sometimes we kill and hopefully not individually here, but sometimes we go to war. We have to defend. Sometimes somebody breaks into your house and is trying to hurt your wife or your children. There might be a time to kill, but it's not always a time to kill. Sometimes it's a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up. There must be this balance in life. And what we need to do is do our best to strike a balance in our lives. You kept your place there in Proverbs and I'd like you to keep your place there, but go with me if you would to the New Testament book of 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter number 3. If you start at the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation, you go backwards. You've got Jude, 3rd, 2nd and 1st John, and then 2nd Peter. Revelation, Jude, 3rd, 2nd and 1st John, and 2nd Peter. I'm sure many of you are wondering what does this wheel have to do with anything. I asked the guys to set this up for me here because I wanted to use it as an illustration. This is a wagon wheel and we actually use this as decoration. My wife got this somewhere, found this somewhere, and we use this as decoration when we had a youth rally. We had a western themed youth rally. But I wanted to use this wheel as an illustration because this wheel in some ways, just to give you a visual illustration, represents the balance that we want to try to strike in life. The only way that a wheel works is if it's balanced. If you take a wheel like this and you allow it to represent your life, and you take the different spokes here of this wheel, the wheel represents your life and the spokes of this wheel, which put the wheel together. Of course there's an old wheel. I don't know how old this thing is. It's got to be many, many years old. If you allow the spokes of the wheel to represent your life, you get this visual illustration. On last Sunday, it was the first Sunday of the year, and I was preaching on the subject of change. I was talking about different ways. There are different ways that you can maybe put your life into different categories of your life. There's lots of ways to do that, but one thing that I talked about was that you can consider your life in different areas. You can consider your faith, and you can consider your family. You can consider your finances, and you can consider your fitness. Of course within those, you can be talking about career, money management, diet, exercise. Within your family, you can be talking about your spouse, your children. If you're not married, you can be talking about your siblings or your parents. You can add different things to that. You can talk about your future. You can talk about your freedom, whatever it might be. But if you consider the fact that each one of these spokes represents a different section of your life, your faith, your family, your finances, your fitness, what you and I need to understand is that in order for the wheel of our lives to roll smoothly, these different spokes need to be in balance. If you ask the question, would this wheel, if we actually added it, if we actually installed it onto a wagon, would it roll, the answer to the question is obviously no. Part of that is because this thing is like 100 years old. But the other part is because these stokes are not in balance. You can tell that some of them have been broken off, and they're too short. They don't actually grab on to the wheel. And therefore this thing is not going to run. And if we want this wheel to work, what we need to do is we need to take those parts of this that are not adequate, that are not fulfilling, and they're not long enough, they're not allowing the wheel to be balanced, and we need to start replacing it and making sure that it gets balanced. The only way to have a life that rolls smoothly is if we have a life that is well balanced. Sometimes the problem is that the stokes of our lives are too short. Sometimes, though, the problem is that the stokes of our life are too long. And that's not going to work either. If I ask somebody to work on this and fix this, and they remove this but install this, that's not going to work. This wheel cannot run. If this was installed on here, this wheel would not be able to move smoothly because this stoke is too long. Sometimes in our lives, the different areas of our life maybe are shorter than they need to be, and we need to work at getting those in balance. But sometimes there's areas of our life that are a little too long, and we need to work at cutting those off and putting them in balance because the only way that the wheel of our life will roll properly is if we're in balance. I mean, let's just be practical. You homeschool moms, God bless you. For some of you homeschool moms, this is the stoke of your homeschool time. But this is your social media time, and that's a problem. For some of you men, this is the stoke of the time you spend with your wife, and this is the time you're spending at work, and that's a problem. And I'm not telling you you shouldn't go to work. What I'm telling you is we've got to get this in the right balance. I am telling you you should quit social media, but you're not going to. So what I'm saying is if you're going to not quit social media, at least let's try to get it in balance. If you and I are going to live lives that are rolling smoothly, we must learn to develop balance. Let me give you three thoughts tonight with regards to balance, and if you'd like to jot these down, then maybe you can do that. I would like to move as quickly as I can, but I think this is a topic that we should consider and that we should understand. Let me give you three thoughts. Number one, here's some principles for a life of balance, biblical principles for a life of balance. Number one, you and I need to know this, that God is a God of balance. God is a God of balance. We already read Ecclesiastes chapter 3. We could just move on from that point with that as a proof text, but I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to show you some examples where you see this emphasized throughout Scripture. God is often emphasizing this idea of balance. Are you there in 2 Peter chapter 3? I want you to look down at verse number 18. This is a very famous verse. We read it a lot. We quote it a lot. I want you to notice what it says, 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. The Bible says this, But grow, but grow, now you know the verse, so you know how it ends or you're looking at it. It says, but grow in grace. The verse says, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Here's the funny thing about the verse, and it's not funny. I mean, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with what I'm about to say. Normally, when you and I go to 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18, and when we reference this verse, we use it as a proof text that we ought to be growing in our knowledge of the Lord. And that's what it says. And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. What we often skip is this, that before it says to grow in knowledge, it says to grow in grace. Now here's the thing about that. If you wrote the Bible, and if I wrote the Bible, we probably would not have wrote, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. What you would have wrote and what I would have wrote would have simply been this, but grow in knowledge. Because that's usually, when we go to that verse as a proof text for anything, we're usually not trying to tell people, hey, you need to be growing in grace. We're usually telling people, you need to read your Bible, you need to go to church, you need to learn the Bible, you need to grow in grace. We kind of ignore that, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. So we've got to ask the question, why would God add this phrase in grace? Grow in grace. Not only does He say, but grow in grace, He says that before He says and in the knowledge. Oftentimes when God gives us lists in the Bible, we ought to pay attention to the divine order given. He doesn't say, but grow in knowledge, and by the way, also grace. He says, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. And if you ask the question, why is it that God says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge? The answer to the question is this, because God is a God of balance. You say, well what do you mean? What does grace have to do with knowledge? Well the Bible says this, you don't have to turn here, but in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 1, the Bible says this, knowledge puffeth up. And you know that the truth of the matter is this, that the more you and I learn, the more proud and arrogant we can become with that knowledge, knowledge puffeth up. The more you learn, the more information you gather, it can make you become proud and arrogant, it can make you, like we talked about this morning, develop this holier than thou mentality, well I know more than you do, and I know all these different doctrines, and I know these things. So God, in His wisdom, being a God of balance, says, I want you to grow in knowledge, but we've got to balance that out, because knowledge puffeth up. Along with growing in knowledge, let's grow in grace. He said grow in grace, what's grace? Unmerited favor. What's grace? You getting something you don't deserve. It's similar to mercy, mercy is you not getting what you do deserve, grace is you getting something you don't deserve, and God is telling us here that we've been saved by grace, that we are accepted by grace, and we should grow in grace. Why? Because we need to be patient and loving and kind with others. You say, they don't deserve it. Well, neither did you. And He says, grow in grace and let that balance, that should balance the knowledge. Because if all you get is knowledge, don't get me wrong, knowledge is good, but if all you get is knowledge, knowledge can puff you up. So the God of balance gives us this beautiful verse. He says, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. That's the balance of God. You see this all throughout Scripture. Let me give you another example. Go to John chapter 1. Real quickly, towards the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John chapter number 1. John chapter 1. And look at verse number 17. John chapter 1 and verse 17. Notice what the Bible says about our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1.17 says this, for the law was given by Moses, to Christ here, for the law was given by Moses, but, notice these words, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Notice the Bible says, but grace and truth. And you know, when you study the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I hope you are, I hope you're reading nine chapters a day right now, and you're reading through the gospels, and you're getting a real thorough view, a view of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what you find in Christ? Is this perfect balance between grace and truth. Grace and truth. When we become imbalanced, and we focus too much on grace, and not enough on truth, what do we get? We get the fund-centered church. We get the church that doesn't preach doctrine, doesn't preach the Bible, doesn't give any truth, because they're all focused on grace. They want people to feel welcomed and accepted. And listen to me, there's nothing wrong with helping people feel welcomed and accepted. I hope that you are providing a welcoming atmosphere for guests when they come. I hope when guests come in here, no matter how they look, no matter how they're dressed, no matter how many tattoos they got on their face, I hope you're smiling at them, and encouraging them, and loving them, and meeting them, and greeting them. We want them to feel welcome, but listen, we're not going to make people feel welcome at the expense of truth. You say, well, they'd feel more welcome if you stopped preaching so much truth, and if we kind of watered down the truth. No, no, see, Jesus wasn't all about grace. He was grace, but he was the perfect balance between grace and truth. What do you get when you focus only on truth? Well, then you get the Westboro Baptist, right? I'm not saying that they're right on truth either. What I'm saying is when you get people that are all focused on, here's what the Bible says, let me tell you what the Bible says, and I don't care what you think about it, and I don't care how you feel about it, and look, I understand there's a place for that, but when we focus on truth, and say we don't care about grace, we don't care about people, we don't care about people, you know what happens is we end up becoming very prideful, angry. I mean, today we live in a society where preachers get up, and they preach angry, and mean, and mad, even cussed from the pulpit, and people think it's the Holy Spirit. Everybody thinks it's the Holy Spirit except the Holy Spirit. What I'm saying to you is this, that Jesus, Jesus was this perfect mixture of grace and truth, grace and truth. In fact, the Bible tells us, speaking the truth in love. Why? Because God is a God of balance. God is a God of balance. So he says grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. The Bible tells us about Jesus, that he was grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul tells us speaking the truth in love. It's a balance. It's a balance. Let me give you another example. Go to Psalm 85. If you kept your place in Proverbs, if you go backwards from Proverbs, you've got the book of Psalms. Psalm 85, and look at verse number 10. Psalm 85 and verse number 10. Again, look, I just want you to see, I'm just showing you a few examples. This is all throughout the Bible. Once you start looking, once you realize it, you'll see it. That God is often telling us to live a life of balance. Notice Psalm 85 and verse 10. Just notice these words. Mercy and truth. Mercy and truth. This is pretty similar to what it says about Jesus. Grace and truth. Remember, grace is just the opposite of mercy. Grace is getting something you don't deserve. Mercy is not getting something you do deserve. And here the Bible tells us, mercy and truth are met together. You say, why? Here's why. Because God is a God of balance. Aren't you thankful for that? Aren't you thankful that God has a balanced approach to you? And God has a balanced approach to me? Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. And look, I'm just telling you this. When it comes to having balance in our lives, you and I need to understand. And where we need to begin is with this realization that God is a God of balance. Now we see clearly that God is a God of balance. You're there in Psalm 85. Go back to Proverbs, if you would. Proverbs chapter 25. You kept your place in Proverbs, but it's just the next book over. Proverbs 25. Here's principle number two. We're talking about how to achieve balance in our life. In order to achieve balance, we need to understand some things. Number one, God is a God of balance. That's why the Bible tells us that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That's why the Bible tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge. That's why the Bible tells us mercy and truth are met together. That's why the Bible tells us speaking the truth in love. God is a God of balance. Here's principle of life balance number two. We tend towards extremes. God is a God of balance. But you and me, human beings, we tend to lean towards extremes. We tend to be the opposite of God. He's balanced. We tend to be imbalanced. And the Bible highlights this for us as well. We could spend a long time on this. I'm not going to, but let me just give you some examples where the Bible highlights this for us. You say, well, what do you mean? How do we tend towards extremes? Well, let me give you some examples. You're there in Proverbs 25. Here's one example, food. Isn't it true that we tend towards extremes with food? Proverbs 25, look at verse 16. Notice what the Bible says. Has thou found honey? Has thou found honey? Eat so much, Proverbs 25 and 16, as is sufficient for thee. Now look, according to this verse so far, is God against you and I eating honey? No. He didn't say don't eat honey. He said if you found honey, eat it. But he says eat so much as is sufficient for thee. The word sufficient means what is enough, what is adequate. He says eat so much as is sufficient for thee. You say, well, why would God have to tell us that if we have found honey, we need to just eat it? Go ahead. There's nothing wrong with it. Eat it. But don't be this about it. Be balanced about it. Eat what is sufficient. Why would God have to tell us that? Here's why God has to tell us that. Because we tend to live on extremes. You buy a big old bucket of ice cream and you come home and you say, well, I'm going to eat this slowly over a period of a week. And you get home and within 15 minutes the whole thing is gone. And God says, has thou found Baskin-Robbins? Eat so much as is sufficient for thee. You say why? Here's why. Lest thou be filled therewith and vomited. The Bible says and vomited. And the idea is this, that there is a such thing as too much of a good thing. And God says, look, nothing wrong with honey. God says I made honey. I like honey. But don't be extreme about it. Eat so much as is sufficient for thee. Why? Because you can eat so much that you'll actually vomit. He says, lest thou be filled therewith and vomited. So we see an example of this in food. We tend towards extremes. We tend towards imbalance in our life. God is a God of balance. God wants us to live a balanced life. He wants us to have a life. He says, look, faith, family, fitness, all these things, all these things are good. Within the proper balance to keep the wheel of life rolling properly. The problem is that you and I, we tend towards extremes. One example, example of food. Let me give you another example. Example of friends. Example of friends. Are you there in Proverbs 25? Look at verse 17. Some of you are like, you're going to show this again? Oh yeah, I'm going to show this again. This is going to become the life verse of our church. Proverbs 25, 17. Notice what the Bible says. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house. Why would God have to tell you that? Because we tend to live on extremes. Because we decide we like somebody and we just got to spend all the possible time with them every second of the day. You know what God says? God says, withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house. You say, why? Lest he be wary of thee and so hate thee. You say, well, I don't know about this. You know, there's a famous quote out there that says this, familiarity breeds contempt. And that idiom, familiarity breeds contempt, means that if you spend too much time with someone, you can get so comfortable with them that they lose respect for you, you lose respect for them. You can start becoming aware of someone's faults and become scornful towards them. You can get so comfortable that you start saying things that you normally wouldn't say. You start sinning in their presence. Look, when you are sinning in the presence of another individual, you spend too much time with that individual. I don't care who that is. I don't care if it's your spouse. The Bible says, withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be wary of thee. And look, God's not against friends. God's not against friendship. One of the core values of our church is fellowship. Fellowship is a good thing. But just because it's a good thing doesn't mean it has to be this. Because this can derail the will of life. This can cause the will to come off its hinges. And friendships are good. And honey is good. And all of it is good in its proper balance. So what we need is balance. God is a God of balance. We tend towards extremes. Example, food. Example, friends. Let me give you another example. Go to Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs chapter 30. Here's another example, finances. Finances. Human beings tend towards extremes. Here's what the Bible says, Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 8. Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 8. The Bible says, remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither. Now notice what God says. Here's what God says. This is a prayer in Proverbs. A prayer for finances. And here's what God says. God says, give me neither poverty nor riches. Why would the prayer be, don't give me poverty nor riches? Here's why. Because God wants us to live a life of balance. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient. The word convenient means appropriate or fitting for me. You say, why? Here's why, verse 9. Lest I be full and deny thee. See, the thing with these extremes is that they can make us prideful. And we start thinking, look at all the wealth that I've accumulated. Lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. See, you don't want either one of these. This isn't saying there's something wrong with money. God says, give me neither poverty nor riches. Why? Because riches might draw your heart away from God. But being poor might cause you to be bitter towards God. Lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. So we're not saying, money bad, everyone be poor. We're not saying that. What we're saying is that we have to have a balanced approach to life. And the problem is not money, the problem is the love of money. And look, I've taught this in the past and I've explained this in the past. Go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Let me just teach it again because you might have this idea and you might think, well, in the Bible there's people that had lots of money and God was blessing them. Nothing wrong with that. Look, honestly, I hope that God blesses you with money. I hope that God blesses all of you with money. If you're a tither, I hope that God blesses you with finances. So the thing is this, you say, well, what's the problem? Is the money the problem? The money is not the problem. The money is this. When your life becomes all about money, the wheel doesn't turn right. We've got to work. We've got to budget. We've got to pay down our debts and I think there's nothing wrong with investing. I think all those things are good. Look, as long as your work life looks like this and your marriage time looks like this and your church time looks like this and your time with friends looks like this and your time with God looks like this, then I hope he makes you rich. But when your pursue is this, what Paul told Timothy is this, that they that love money are going to drown in perdition because it's not going to end up well. And what we need to know is this, that God is a God of balance. And what we need to know is this, that we tend towards extremes. We tend towards wanting to be on one extreme or the other. We tend on not going far enough or we tend on going too far. And what we need to do as Christians, especially as we're beginning a new year, is to try to get our lives in balance. God wants you to have a life of balance. Now let me just say this for those of you that are parents. I think it's good for us to teach parents and help parents. You know, often times there's improper balances within parenting and we need to be careful about this. You know, one thing that I've noticed with parents who have young children, one improper balance, there's these extremes. We like to be on extremes. Sometimes you have parents who think their kids don't do anything wrong. Their kids never do anything wrong, they're always innocent, they're always just pure, they've done nothing wrong, everyone else is wrong, not their kid. Well, that's an improper balance. The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But you know, my wife and I have learned that there's also parents out there who are on the opposite extreme and their kids are always wrong. Like, their kids are always bad. I mean, literally you go to a parent and you're like, hey, I need to tell you something about my kid. Before they've even heard it, they're like, it was my kid, he did it, I know it. Well, look, that's not good either. I mean, you say, well, what's the proper balance? The proper balance is this, sometimes kids do wrong, sometimes they don't. And we need to do the best we can to figure out when they've done wrong, you need to do the best you can to catch them in lies. If you don't want to raise a psychological liar, we need to catch them when they're wrong, but we don't need to assume they're always wrong. Look, parents should be for their kids. You see the best in them, you love them, but not love them so much that you're lying to yourself about them. But not be so disciplined that you're causing them bitterness towards you. We just need to have a proper balance. You say, what about your kids, are they good or bad? Those are the types of questions people like to ask, and I think to myself, they're both, just like your kids, and just like you, good and bad. It's just life is a balance, and people tend to go on extremes. Here's an extreme that parents sometimes do with young ladies. Christian parents will have an extreme with young ladies, and they'll have this extreme where they'll send them, you know, they turn 16 years old, they'll send them off to work. They're 18 years old, and they'll send them off to some college to go live in some dormitory somewhere, and it's just like, whatever, you know, they're legally an adult now, and whatever. And we understand they are legally an adult. But look, that's an extreme that no Christian parent should participate in. Should you be sending your teenage daughter to go live in some dormitory somewhere where people are going to be drinking and doing drugs and fornicating? That's an extreme you don't want. But you know, in conservative Christian churches, then people, they see that, which is bad, and they're like, that's bad. So then they do this, and they go all the way on this side, and then you've got Christian churches teaching, don't even let your teenage daughters get a license. And it's like, what? You know, they should just be home and do nothing. You know, once they're done with homeschooling, just sit in a room all day doing nothing. Hey, why not just live a balanced life? How about this? Let your teenage daughter go get a license. Let her learn a skill. Let her take some college classes, whatever. But don't have her go live in some dormitory somewhere. Do you understand you can just live a life of balance? You can just be balanced. What I'm often telling people, I'm often telling people, look, my job is to try to make you normal. And what I've learned is that people, they're like, this good, this bad. And they want to go all the way over here, and they want to go all the way over there. Here's another imbalance that people often have with young men. They get this idea. Well, these young men, they have to learn a skill, and they have to learn a trade, and they have to go work, and they have to support a wife. And they do. They have to do all those things. I agree with you. So then we get this idea that, you know, you've got some parents, and they've got, in the world you've got some parents, and they've got this 24-year-old son living in a basement somewhere playing video games all day. That's a bad extreme. And then conservative Christian parents are like, we're not going to do that. So then they've got their 14-year-old working 40 hours a week. Well, that's not balance. Look, I'm just telling you this. God is a God of balance. And we tend towards extremes. We want extreme. Look, yes, boys that are older, they have a license. Give them some freedom, especially if they're doing right, and nobody's perfect, but if they're not doing anything sinful, give them some freedom. But don't give them so much freedom that they're just coming and going like some grown man not accountable to anybody, don't have to answer to anybody. That's not appropriate. What I'm telling you is this. We need to be people of balance. And oftentimes the right answer, the right answer is somewhere in the middle. Now, you want to know why we don't do that? Why do we tend towards extremes? Why? Here's why. Because it's easier. Instead of sitting there and having to think through, okay, I don't want my daughter to go work at some fast food place and be around a bunch of worldly people. I don't want my 16-year-old daughter doing that, but I want her to work and make some money, so how are we going to do this? Well, maybe we can start some sort of home business and go get a license and do something, provide some sort of thing. That requires work. That's why we tend towards extremes because extremes are easy. It's easier to just eat the whole bucket of ice cream, and it tastes better too. What I'm saying to you is that if we're going to have a life of balance, we need to understand that God is a God of balance, and there's wisdom in balance. We tend towards extremes. So here's principle number three. Are you there in Ecclesiastes chapter three? We're going to look at it again. Principle number three, we must strive to strike a balance. I highlighted for you in these verses that there was this balancing act going on. Born, die, plant, pluck up that which was planted. Kill, heal, break down, build up. Weep, laugh, mourn, dance. Cast away stones, gather stones together. Embrace, refrain from embracing. Get loose, keep, cast away. Rend, sow, keep silence, speak. Love, hate, war, peace. There's a balance. But I want you to notice that in between those words, there's this phrase. It comes up over and over in these eight verses. Notice it. It says, a time to. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which was planted. There's a time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. Notice it. A time to, a time to, a time to, a time to, a time to. There's a time. And what God is telling us is this. Not only are there different balances. There's different opposing things that are happening at the same time. But God says that He has given you enough time to do all the things you need to do. You understand that? You say, well, I don't have time. No, God gave you the time. God gave you as much time as He's given anybody time. 24 hours in a day, 70 years to live, 80 years to live. Whatever, 100 years to live. He's given you time. The question is are you managing your time well? This is why God says redeeming the time. He didn't say you don't have time. He said you have time but you're not spending it well. You're not spending it correctly. You need to redeem it. Please understand this and you might want to jot this down. God does not give you responsibilities that conflict. You understand what I just said to you? God does not give you responsibilities that conflict with each other. If God has given you children, He expects you to raise those children. If God has given you a spouse, He expects you to do your duties with that spouse. If you're a husband, you are to love and lead and learn and be loyal. If you're a wife, you're to submit and to reverence. If you're a man, He expects you to work. If you're a Christian, He expects you to walk with Him. He expects you to be a soul winner. He expects you to be faithful to the church. God does not give you responsibilities that conflict with each other. What happens is that we sometimes start doing things that God never told us to do. Or maybe start doing things that are good and God's not against what we're just doing too much of it. And we end up with some areas in our life that look like this. While we've got other areas in our life that look like this. And what we need to learn is to bring our life into balance. Balance. Here's some clarifying questions for you. Some questions you ought to ask yourself. What do I need to do? And what I mean by that is this. What are my God-given responsibilities? What has God given me that He expects me to do that one day when I stand before God at the judgment seat of Christ, He's going to expect that I had accomplished this, that I had done this, that I had spent time. What are your God-given responsibilities? You ever taken the time to think about that? To jot those things down? Man, God expects you to provide for your family. He also expects you to spend time with your wife and He expects you to spend time with your kids. He expects you to read your Bible. All of us can write down what are our God-given responsibilities. It's a clarifying question. Then you ought to ask this question. What do you want to do that God didn't necessarily say you have to do? Then you ought to ask this question. How much time should I be spending on those things? What I'm saying to you is that if you're going to live a life of balance, you're going to have to figure out because sometimes if you're going to get your life in balance, this is not just going to happen on its own because why? Because we tend to go on extremes. This is what we want to do naturally. This is what we want to do naturally. This is not what we want to do naturally. What we need to figure out is maybe God wants me to do this and I need to make sure it's balanced. Maybe there's some things that God doesn't even want me doing or there are things that maybe they're not bad. They're just not something I need to be doing right now. I've said this to you in the past many times, but there are many things that we could do here at our church in ministry. There's lots of opportunities and lots of things that we could do, lots of things I want to do. But sometimes I just have to tell myself, you know, the answer to that for right now is no. And sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes the answer is not now. No for now. Maybe later. We just got to figure out what are we supposed to do? And you need to say, how do I get my life in balance? You need to ask yourself, what am I supposed to be doing that I'm lacking in? I'm not doing enough of. I need to extend those things. I need to bring those things into proper balance. We must increase the things that we're not doing enough of. Maybe that's Bible reading. Maybe that's prayer. Maybe that's soul winning. Maybe that's church attendance. Look, for some people, and here's the thing, for some people this could be a different application. For some people they work too much. Some people they're just not working enough. You understand what I'm saying to you? You got to just figure out, where am I not balanced in life? When I'm coming short, I need to increase that. I need to bring it into balance. But how about this? We must decrease the things we're doing too much of. And again, this is going to be different for different people. Maybe it's social media. Maybe it's sleeping in. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe for some people it might be working. For some people it might be hanging out with friends. For some people it could be, what you got to figure out is, what am I doing too much of? And let me bring that down. Maybe I got to get rid of it altogether. Maybe I don't need to get rid of it. I just got to bring it into balance. What are things that I'm not doing enough of? And let me extend those. Let me get those into proper balance. What I'm telling you is this, when you and I get our lives in balance, this will of life will start turning. It will roll the way it's supposed to roll. And it will begin to do what we need it to do. And if it's a God-given responsibility, God promises to give you the time to do it. Because God will never give you responsibilities that conflict with each other. So we must have balance. Now this is going to require work. Maybe you're going to have to go home and do some homework. And figure out, yeah, the way that I've got my life situated, the way that I've got my life scheduled right now, the way that things are working in my life, I've got to cut some of these things down. I've got to extend some of these things. What I'm telling you is this, that God has given you the time to do whatever it is that He's called you to do. So let me end by saying this. Let's live a balanced life. Do you know why you're so frustrated all the time? Always on edge? Always just, you know, a hair trigger? It's probably because you're living a life that's not balanced. And as Christians, we need to strive to strike the right balance. Let's live a life that's balanced. Where we do everything we're supposed to do. Where we do some things that we don't need to do, but we want to do. But we do all of it in the right amount. Because you know what God says? God says, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And at the end of the day, what we need to remember is that this, we're going to talk about this on Wednesday night. I want to encourage you to be here for Psalm 24. What we're going to learn from Psalm 24 is this, that this whole thing belongs to God. My life and your life are His. So let's balance these different areas and make sure we're doing what we're supposed to do. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1, the Bible says this, To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord we do love you. And Lord I pray you to help us. I pray you to help us in this year. I pray you to help me as an individual. I pray that you'd help our church as an organization. To learn to strike the right balance. You have not given us priorities that conflict with each other. And there are some things that are not sinful, but maybe they're just not in the proper balance. Lord I pray you to help us to get those in the right balance. Lord help us to realize that to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose. And help us Lord to go home and maybe do some homework. Ask ourselves, how much time am I spending in the word of God? How much time am I spending in soul winning? How's my church attendance? How's my prayer time? How's my time with my family? How's my time with my work? How am I doing with finances? And while we're coming short, help us to extend that. While we're doing too much, help us to shorten that and help us Lord to live a life of balance. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright we're going to have Brother Andrew come up and lead us in a final song. Just some reminders if you don't mind. Just because there's a lot in the bulletin we want to remind you of. First of all, teen activity. Young people, if you haven't yet, please make sure you sign up so we know you're coming. So we can get that number into the laser tag place. Also this Friday, audio video ministry. If you'd like to learn about that, if that's something you're interested in, then you can sign up and let us know. And you can sign up on your communication card even after the service. You can give it to me or Deacon Oliver or Brother Shaw. Also this Saturday, Spanish service, so don't forget about that. If you're a soul winner who speaks Spanish and you want to help us hand out some Spanish invitations, please let us know. Let one of us know so we can get you on that list. And then of course if you don't mind, would you mind looking around your area? Because there might be a mess and maybe your kids did all of it. Maybe your kids did none of it. They probably did some of it. And if you can help us clean that up, we would appreciate it. It helps the cleaners in the morning. And of course if there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know. And of course we want you to know, my wife and I, we love you, we pray for you, and we're here for you. Anything we can do for you, please let us know. We'll have Brother Andrew come up and lead us in a final song. Light up all the rules we come to Think of these great sacrifice and how great I know my heart expects the best of me How many are the lost who've ever been free How many are the children of the brave I wonder have I had my best for Jesus If He has done so much for me The hours and the nights have so many The hours and the nights have so many Because of all my life I've known for Jesus How many are the children of the brave How many are the lost who've ever been free How many are the children of the brave I wonder have I had my best for Jesus If He has done so much for me You guys have been singing really wonderfully this evening. Let's keep it going on the third. Let's think about it. Let's consider the third. Let's slow it down just a little bit. Sing it out with some passion, okay? I wonder have I cared enough for others Or have I left them by a will I might have helped others in the same room The same approaches that I've had myself How many are the lost who've ever been free How many are the children of the brave I wonder have I had my best for Jesus If He has done so much for me No longer will I stay within a valley A cloud of dramatic heights above The world is coming up for what I've suffered Jesus, how many of my saviors have just failed How many are the lost who've ever been free How many are the children of the brave I wonder have I had my best for Jesus If He has done so much for me You guys have sung wonderfully this evening. We're going to go ahead and close the service with the word of prayer. As always, if you have any questions about salvation or baptism, the pastor will be at the door in the back and he'll be able to answer those questions for you. Or the director of the summit who is trained to do so. We'll go ahead and close with the word of prayer. I'll have brother Scott close for us if you don't mind. Thank you. If you have any questions about salvation or baptism, the pastor will be at the door in the back and he'll be able to answer those questions for you. Thank you. Thank you.