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Okay, so once again, happy new year to you all. If you look at Proverbs chapter three and verse number nine, Proverbs chapter three verse number nine, it says, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. The title for the sermon this morning, brethren, is give God your first, give God your first. If you look at verse number nine again, honor the Lord with thy substance. You know, everything that we have, brethren, everything that we've been given, everything that we produce, we ought to be giving it to the Lord first and foremost. It says, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. You know, there are some people that actually confuse the firstfruits with the tithe. And what the firstfruits was is that when, because the nation of Israel was an agricultural nation or they were a nation of farmers, you know, the very first crops of the new season that would take that and give that as a sacrifice to the house of the Lord. They'll take the firstlings of the flocks and give that to the house of the Lord. They'd want to make sure that it gets given to God first. It gets given to God first. That's what the firstfruits was. The tithe was something separate. The tithe was taking 10% of your increase and giving that to the house of the Lord. But what I want to talk about today, brethren, is that we've all been given life. We've all been given things. We've all been given opportunities. We've been given time. We've been given life. We've been given relationships. We've been given family. And the thing that we see here, that whatever God has given us, whatever our substance is, God wants us to give him the first of all things. You know, one of the exciting things that we have about this new year is that it is the first day and the first Sunday of the new year. You know, what's really great is that we can be in the house of the Lord this Sunday, the very first day of the new year, we can be in the house of the Lord. Well done if you made it to church this morning. I know many of you are tired. You probably haven't had much sleep. I don't even feel that bright this morning. You know, my eyes still feel a little sleepy. I feel a little bit lazy. Keep me in prayer. But you know, what's exciting about this morning is that we have given our first hours to the Lord. You know, when you got up, you said, look, I need to be in the house of the Lord, right? You've made it here. It hasn't been easy. But what have you done? You've given your very first hours of the new year to the Lord. And I want us to take this principle, because we have this opportunity. It's not always that it's always Sunday, the first day of the year. We have this opportunity to start well. We say, Lord, we've given you the first hours. You know, the very first day of the week, we've given it to the house of the Lord. Lord, what more can I give to you? You want me to give the first of all my substance. What have you given me, Lord? You can look around at your life and, Lord, you've given me work. All right, Lord, I'm gonna be working for you then, Lord. Lord, you've given me family then, Lord. I'm gonna take care of this family. Lord, because you've given it to me, Lord. I wanna give back to you. I wanna be sacrificial to you, Lord. I wanna give you everything that I have toward you. Lord, I wanna put you first in my life is really what I wanna cover this morning. I wanna put you first in my life. You know, the very first moments, the very first minutes that you wake up in the morning, I want you to say, Lord, I want you to have these very first minutes of my life. Help me to start 2023 differently. Help me, Lord, for 2023 to be a year where I put you first in all things. Maybe 2022 was a year where I was a little bit selfish. Maybe I put my own needs, I put myself first, Lord, in many places. Lord, maybe there were times I did put you first, but there were times that I put myself first. Lord, help me to have 2023 as a year that I put you first before all things. So make it a year where God comes first. Can you do that? You started well. You started well. You're in the house of the Lord this morning. You started well. Can you continue this? Can you make sure that God comes first in all areas of your life? And look, there's a wonderful promise there in verse number 30. And if you give God your firstfruits, it says in verse number 10, it says, so shall thy bonds be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. You know, God will make sure that you receive a blessing if you put him first. You see, many times the reason we don't put God first, we put ourselves first, is because we have our own needs. We say, Lord, I can't give you time right now, Lord. I've got my own needs. I've got my own things that I need to take care of, Lord. I'm sorry, God, but I need to put you aside. Lord, I might need to put you second or third or fourth of my life, because I've got to take care of my needs. God says, you put him first. He'll take care of your needs. You put him first. He'll make sure not only are your needs taken care of, but you'll have an abundance. Your bonds will be filled with plenty. God will bless you in life if you give him your firstfruits in your life. Now again, we can take this principle. You know, we're not farm, well, I don't know, some of you might, I don't know. Some of you do plant crops and things like that. But again, let's take the principle. I'm saying, give God the first of everything, all right? Everything that you have, your position in life. Just give God the first. Say, Lord, I'm going to serve you with my life. Lord, I want to seek your will in my life, not my own will. Lord, help me to put you first in all decisions, all areas that I serve you in my life. Can you please drop down to verse number 27, Proverbs chapter three, verse number 27. And it said, well, let's read it, verse number 27. It says, we hold not good from them to whom it is due. You know, when something is due, it says, don't withhold that which is good, all right? Let's take a bill, for example. The bill might be due on a certain day, say, well, I'm not going to withhold that. I'm going to make sure that that gets taken care of. You know, I don't want to go overdue with what is owed. You know what is due to God? The first of everything, putting him first. That's due, that's good. That's something that you ought to say, God, you know what, you want me to put you first? This is a good thing to do, Lord, that I'm not going to withhold that which is good from you, Lord. I'm going to put you first in my life. We've hold not good from them to whom is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. When it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Verse number 28, say not unto thy neighbor, go and come again, and tomorrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee. What we say here is if your neighbor has a need, and you've got it, you've got an opportunity to give to that neighbor, don't delay. Just, if you have it now, give it to him. Don't say, well, tomorrow. Come again tomorrow and I'll take care of, no, no. If you have the opportunity, give it first. Give it on the day that it is due. And you know what, we don't want to be like this toward God where God, let's substitute our neighbor to God with God there. Say not unto God, go and come again, and tomorrow I will give. No, no, give God today. You don't know if tomorrow's gonna come. You don't know if you're gonna wake up tomorrow. Say, Lord, you've given me an opportunity to preach the gospel maybe today to someone that I know, someone that I love and care for. Say, I don't feel comfortable about that, Lord, maybe tomorrow. How do you know tomorrow's gonna come? How do you know you're gonna have the opportunities? How do you know that person is gonna be there tomorrow that you love and care about? One of the saddest things that I hear, testimonies that I hear from certain people, is when they've had the opportunity to give the gospel to someone and then they've delayed. They said, no, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it next week, I'll do it next month, and then that person passes away without knowing the Lord God. Saddest thing that I've heard of, you know. I've heard that many times, you know, from different people that's driven them to have a heart to reach the lost. You know, don't wait for tomorrow. Today, can you put God first today? Oh, Lord, I'll get from, I'll read my Bible cover to cover next year. Hey, this is your chance. It's the first day of the new year. How about you do it this year if you've not done it yet? Come with me to Psalm 27. Come with me to Psalm 27, verse number four. Psalm 27, verse number four. I've got, I think, six here. I've got six points for you this morning that I want you to think about. And the very first one is very easy because you've already done it. You're already here in the house of the Lord. But point number one that I have for you, brethren, is give the first day of the week to the Lord. Give the first day of the week to the Lord. The first day of the week, of course, is Sunday. You started, well, how about next Sunday? How about next week? Can you give that to the Lord? Can you prioritize God and say, God, I want to put you first this Sunday. I want to be in the house of the Lord this Sunday. Look at Psalm 27, verse number four. Psalm 27, verse number four. It says, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. So what is this one thing that he desires of the Lord? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Wow, the Psalmist says, look, there's something I desire from the Lord, that I can be in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. We haven't got services every day of your life, unfortunately, okay? But we've got services on a Sunday. Most people aren't working a job on a Sunday, so it's a great day to give priority to the house of the Lord. But brethren, give the first day of the week to the Lord. I have no doubt, if you just give the first day of the week to God, that God's gonna help you for the rest of the week, like we saw earlier. You know, your bonds be filled. Just give the first. Say, Lord, I'm putting you first. I've got problems, I've got concerns, I've got issues, Lord, this week that I know I need to deal with, but I'm gonna set that aside, Lord, just for a moment. I'm not gonna give it attention. I'm gonna give you attention. Lord, I come to inquire of you in the house of the Lord this Sunday. Can you teach me something? Can you guide me? Can you see that I'm giving of myself sacrificially, Lord, to be in your house? And Lord, then I need you to help me through the week, because I need your help. I need your assistance, Lord. You know, I need to take care of all these issues. I have no doubt, you know, that if you put God first, that he'll take care of your needs. I mean, because he's really done it. Like, if you consider your life, and you consider the issues that you've had through life, and the times that you've put God first, you know full well, I don't even need to teach you this, you know full well that God has seen you through. And he's probably seen you through better than you thought you would go through, those troubles or those concerns or those issues that you had in mind. But I'm very thankful that we have a desire to be in the house of the Lord, not to hear this preacher, you know, not to hear of me, but to hear of his word, to give him honor, to give him praise. That's why I want to be in the house of the Lord. I want to give God praise. I want to give him worship, right? You know, I want to be amongst God's people this morning and be in fellowship and enjoy one another's company. Give the first day of the week to the Lord. I'm going to quickly read to you, you can stay there, but I'll quickly read to you from Matthew 15 verse eight. One thing that saddens me about these words of Christ here in Matthew 15 verse eight. He says, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching full doctrines the commandments of men. Interesting. You know, I'm sure it's happened. I'm sure it's happened in your life. I'm sure it's happened in my life. There are times that we've come to the house of the Lord. We've drawn light to the Lord with our mouth. We've sung him praises. We've sung the hymns. We've rejoiced in the Lord, but our hearts have been far from him. Hey, maybe this morning, you know, you're great. You're in the house of the Lord. You forced your body to be here, but maybe your heart is far from the Lord. Okay, you know what? When that happens, if that's you this morning, Jesus Christ says, but in vain, they do worship me. In vain, it's empty. It's worthless. If your heart's not here. Yeah, my body's here, pastor. Can't you see I'm sitting on this chair this morning? Can't you hear me singing praises to God? That's all I can say. I don't know your insides. I don't know your hearts. You don't know my hearts. The only one that knows our hearts is of course the Lord God. But is your heart here? Do you love the Lord? Do you wanna be in the house of the Lord? Or is it a nuisance to be here? You say, I just worship God. It's my own way. It's all in vain. It's empty. It's pointless. You know? Yes, give the first day of the week to the Lord, but bring your heart with you. Yeah, bring your body, great. Bring your mouth so you can sing praises, great. Bring your heart here this morning to the house of the Lord and say, Lord, I love you. I just wanna praise you. I wanna hear of your word, Lord. And even if I get offended by the preaching, Lord, as long as it's true, Lord, my heart is open to receive your truth. One thing else that we learned in verse number nine, in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Brethren, I don't wanna get behind this pool but teaching my commandments. You know, I've said it so many times. I would hate it if this whole church was Sepulvedaites. You just do, but the pastor does it this way. Don't you know? Didn't you hear that sermon? Pastor said he does it like that. We should do it like, no. Does the Bible say to do it like that? And God gives us so many ways of doing things, so much liberty he gives us. The worst thing you can do is just go, well, let's just do it like this family at church because they seemingly have it together or something like that. Listen, I don't wanna teach commandments of men. I don't come, my goal, I hope you can see that I really try to withhold from giving you my personal opinions. I mean, there are times that I do, okay? I mean, there are times we might be looking at a challenging passage and I'm saying, look, this is what I believe. This is what I think it is. Some people might have different opinions on that. This is what I think, all right? Or this is how I apply this passage in my life. Hey, but you might be able to apply that passage in your life a different way. We don't come to church. I don't wanna be here. Just listen to the commandments of men. But I guarantee you there are things that you believe, even today, there are things that you do in your life today not because you heard it or you read it in God's word, but in your mind and in my mind, it's programmed. We think it must be what God wants, but we do it because it's a commandment of men. We heard an influential preacher say certain things. You know, we've grown up in church believing a certain thing, but where is it in your Bible? Is it in your Bible? Did you hear it? Did you learn it from the Bible? Or was it just a commandment of men that you applied in your life? And if there's something wrong with commandments of men in of themselves, if there's something good, if it's something compatible with God's word, but I wanna make sure that we come to the house of the Lord to hear of God, to hear from his word, all right? Again, to put God first, give God your first. You know, my opinions, make that secondary, but when it comes to God's word, what he clearly tells us, put that first in your life. Give the first day of the week to the Lord. Come with me to 1 Timothy chapter three, 1 Timothy chapter three, verse number four. 1 Timothy chapter three and verse number four. Now I know this is about qualifications of a pastor, all right, but we learn an interesting principle here in 1 Timothy chapter three, verse number four. 1 Timothy chapter three, verse number four says, again, qualifications for a pastor, when you're trying to find a man who can lead a church, this is what you're looking for in verse number four. One that ruleth well his own house, that's his own family, having his children in subjection with all gravity. But look at verse number five. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? If a man can't look after his family, if a man does not have his family in order, okay, if they're not in subjection, right, if the man is not the head of the house, then how can that man take care of the church of God? Again, I know this is about pastors, but I want to apply this to each one of us, because we're talking about what we're putting first in our life, and I know this is controversial, okay, but I don't believe it's controversial, okay. One thing that we learn here, before a man can take care of a church, he must be able to take care of his family first. A man's first ministry is his own family. Look, I know we love church, I love church, and I get excited when people want to serve in the house of the Lord, whether it's just song leading or reading the scriptures or even preaching or just helping with a morning tea or taking care of the cleaning, or whatever responsibilities we have, you know, the treasurer, the counting of the offering, you know, all these responsibilities, all this service, the soul winning, all right, the outreach that we do as a church, all these things are good service that we do in the house of the Lord, but your first ministry is your family. Have you got your family in order? Are you giving them first to the Lord, or are they secondary? And the reason I say this is because I've sat on the preaching commandments of men that say, put God first, amen, I agree, that's the whole point of this sermon, then church, then your family, no. Your family, then church. Your family comes first. Get your house in order, okay? If this is a requirement for a pastor to have his house in order first, this is the same for everybody, anybody, to make sure they've got their house in order. Say, Lord, I'm at church, but my family does not serve you. Lord, I'm at church, but my family doesn't love you. Lord, I sing praises to you at church, but I don't sing praises with you and my family. You've got it wrong. You've got to get your family to love the Lord. Appreciate the family that God has given you. Husbands, love your wives. Okay, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's your priority, your wife. Love her, guide her, direct her, teach her. Show her that you're the leader, show her that you'd be sacrificial. Show her that you'd lay down your life for her and your family. And wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as unto the Lord. Put him, you know, say, oh, but you don't know my husband, pastor. It's not about your husband. Put God first, and God says submit yourself to your husbands. That's what God says. If you're gonna put God first, then do what God said. To submit to your associate husband, let him be the leader. Let him take charge. Let him be sacrificial. You know, let him be productive. Let him give as much as he can to take care of his family. Point number two is don't forget your first ministry. Yeah, come to church. This is a ministry here. We already covered that, right? But your first ministry is your family. Does your family love the Lord? Does your family spend time thinking of the Lord, praying to the Lord, reading his word? Brevin, don't forget your first ministry. And I tell you now, as a pastor, my family is my first ministry. It has to be. It has to be. Too many pastors I've seen in my life fail in the family, fail with their children, fail in their relationships. Too many, because they put the ministry, they put the church first, and they forgot their first ministry. The one that actually qualifies them to be the one that can rule in the house of the Lord. But the same goes for each one of us. Don't forget your first ministry, okay? When God created Adam and Eve, there was no church. It was wife, wife, okay? She comes first, family comes first. Eve, Adam comes first. Don't forget your first ministry. You're there in 1 Timothy. Come with me to chapter four. 1 Timothy chapter four, verse number 13. 1 Timothy chapter four, verse number 13. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Give attendance. Give your attention to these things, all right? Till I come, Paul speaking there to Timothy. Next point that I have for you, Brevin, is give attendance to reading. What's the first thing your heart's desire is to read? You know, look, I'm not against novels. I'm not against magazines. I'm not against stories or fiction, and you know, as long as they're decent, you know? I'm not against these things. I'm not even against even TV shows, necessarily. But it's very hard to find anything these days. Very hard. But anyway, look, I'm, look, but look, what do you need to give your attention to first? Give attendance to reading, reading what? Of course, the scriptures, to doctrine, to learning God's word. Let me encourage you, the very first moments of your morning, just to open up God's word, even if it's just a chapter. Just open God's word and take it in. Okay, you've just woken up. Your body's had a good rest, all right? You're kind of fresh. Say, I need a coffee. No, no, you don't need a coffee. Okay, it's just gonna make you more sleepy in the day, if it's the first thing that you have. First thing you need is the word of God. You need to feed your soul, all right? You need to hear from God's word. And if you ever wonder, God does not speak to me, God's not directing me, then you need to open God's word. You need to open the Bible and say, God, speak to me through your word. That's how he speaks to us. Give attendance to reading. Give attendance to reading is point number three. You know, Jesus Christ says in Matthew 4.4, but he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Brethren, this is an every word Bible. 66 books, Genesis to Revelation. Don't just read Revelation. Don't just read the New Testament. Read it all. Read Leviticus. Say, pastor, I got excited to read the Bible cover to cover, and I got stuck in Leviticus. I just couldn't pick it up anymore. How many testimonies like that? I've had that experience. I'll tell you now. What did Jesus Christ says? But by every word. Yes, even the book of Leviticus is feeding you something, teaching you something, pointing you to Christ, giving you direction in life. Just like we're looking at this passage, right, about the first fruits, how the Israelites would give their first. We don't operate in that economy, but we can take the principle, can't we, and apply it to the rest of our lives. Then God, you want the first. I'll give you first, Lord. You come first in my life. Give attendance to reading. This is a chance. Did you read the Bible cover to cover last year? I want to ask for a show of hands, okay? But how about now? January 1st. Hey, we've only got one service this morning. One service. I know you're tired, but can you open God's word? Can you start during Genesis if you haven't started? Or can you pick up where you left off and say, you know what? I'm gonna get through this book at the end of this year. I'm gonna read the Bible cover to cover. I want to consume every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God because I can't live on bread alone. Yes, bread is great. Bread nourishes the outward, but the word of God nourishes the inward, the inward man. And brethren, if we need to live by that inward man, we're to walk in that spirit. Then we need to strengthen that spirit within us, right? If we just strengthen the outward, you know what? You're gonna live in the outward. But if you strengthen the inward, you're gonna be able to walk within the inward, that inward man, the spirit. Walk in the spirit as we're commanded. To put off the old man, to put on the new man. But you need to nourish it. You need to give it strength. It receives its strength, its food, its nourishments, its nutrients from the word of God. We've got one service today. This is your chance to pick up God's word and say, Lord, I'm gonna get through the Bible cover to cover this year. Say, pastor, I find it a bit hard to start in Genesis. All right, start in Matthew then. Start with the New Testament, then go to the Old Testament. But just get through the Bible cover to cover. Start this new year. Say, God, I'm gonna put you first. Before I pick up my phone and check Facebook. Before I pick up my phone and check YouTube. Before I pick up the novel, Lord, I'm gonna make sure I pick up your word first. Can you challenge yourself this year to do that? That when you find yourself living tomorrow, the next day, next week, next month, and you find yourself putting on the TV, can you just for a moment just say, did I pick up God's word this morning? And if you say no, you didn't. Then say, look, I remember being challenged that I need to put God first. Sorry, Lord, I didn't put you first, but I'm gonna pick up my Bible now. I'm gonna get back onto it. I'm gonna get back on the program. Lord, please feed me, please nourish me. And sometimes when you do that, when you pick up God's word first, you're gonna be like, now I don't even wanna put on that TV because I know how much filthiness there is on that. How ungodly it is. How much, really, I don't know. Is that really putting God first? Give attendance to reading. Let me challenge you with that, brethren. Put God first. That's how he speaks to you. If you don't pick up this book, if you don't pick it up, if you don't open the pages and start reading, you're basically ignoring God. Like, God wants to speak to you. God wants to direct you. God wants to give you his wisdom. Ah, Lord, I'd rather turn on the TV. Ah, Lord, I'd rather pick up this novel. Ah, tomorrow, Lord, tomorrow. No, no, today. With all your substance. What is due, brethren, what is due today is that you pick up his word and you read it. Don't say tomorrow. I'll catch up in the, I won't read it today, I'll catch up tomorrow. No, no, you don't know if tomorrow's gonna come. How about you do the extra chapter today as well instead of putting off tomorrow. Put God first. Put him first even in your reading, the entertainment, the things that you fill your life with. Put God first, please. Mark chapter 12, come with me to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12 and verse number 28. And of course, we've got to read this passage. But Mark chapter 12, verse number 28. And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, let's ask Jesus, which is the first commandment of all? What is the first commandment? What is the first commandment of all? What is the first commandment of all? What is the first commandment of all? What is the first commandment? If we're gonna put God first, what do we have to do first? What is the primary commandment? What is the most important commandment? Verse number 29. And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shall love thy God with all thy heart. Again, is your heart here this morning? All right? We draw an eye to the Lord with our lips and with our mouth, but he said that sometimes our hearts are far from him. What is the primary thing, brethren? Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. Give God your first. Put God first in your life. God, what is the first thing you want me to do with my life? He says, Love me. Love me. Do you love the Lord? God comes first. Love the Lord first. You should love, you know, I already spoke about the importance of family, but you ought to love God above your family. You ought to love, and look, that might sound a bit weird, but if you love God first, it's gonna be best for your family, right? If you love him first and you seek his desires first, then it's naturally gonna flow into your family. It's naturally gonna flow into church. It's naturally gonna flow into your workplace. It's gonna flow everywhere if you put God first, if you love him first. What do you love? I'm sure there are things we all love, we appreciate, certain desires that we have. What's your strongest desire? What's your strongest love? It ought to be toward God. Love him with your heart, with your soul, with your mind, the things that you think about. Are you putting God first? Do you think God wants you to be thinking about those things with your mind? With your strength? That's your body. What can I do with my body, Lord? Say, pastor, I've got sicknesses. Pastor, I can't walk well. I can't do much in my body. Whatever you've got. Okay, you might be limited in strength, but can you give God all that strength that you've got? Isn't that just like salvation? People say, I don't know. I don't know if I can, I don't think I've got great faith. I don't know if I can truly just put that faith. Is it sufficient for the, you know what, Christ says, if your faith is as small as a mustard seed, right? As long as you put it all on the Lord, if you put it all on Christ, yes, Lord, I struggle, Lord, but I'm gonna put all my faith on you and you alone, even though it's not much faith that I have, but I'm gonna put it all on Christ. Please save me. That's what we do, don't we? When the disciples struggled to believe, I'd say to the Lord, Lord, help my unbelief. I actually know that was one man that had a sick child, but the disciples prayed, increase our faith. Remember that, increase our faith. Yeah, your body can be struggling. I know, of course I know. My body's not 100%. It's not like what it was 10 years ago, for sure. Okay, and your body's breaking down. Your strength is being limited as the years go by, but even though it's limited, can you give it all to the Lord? Whatever you do with your hands, whatever you do with your body, give it to the Lord. Say, Lord, I'm gonna serve you with my body that you've given me, but remember your first love is point number four. Remember your first love. Love God first and foremost, and when you love him the way that you ought to, it transforms your life. It transforms your day-to-day living. I mean, salvation, trusting Christ for salvation, right? Yeah, that transforms your destination, but what truly transforms your day-to-day life is how much you love the Lord. Jesus Christ says, if you love me, keep my commandments. God knows that automatically if you just love him, you will automatically just be doing the commandments. Okay, when you find yourself breaking the commandments of God, it shows you the lack of love that you have toward God. Sin is the transgression of the law, and we all sin, and every time we sin, it's because we put our selfish desires first rather than God's desires in our lives. I'm gonna quickly read to you. This is a short point that I have for you. Ecclesiastes 12, verse one. I'll just read it to you quickly, which says, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. So this is for the young people, okay? It's for teenagers, young adults. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. You know there are days come in where you're gonna find no pleasure, but when you're young, you can find a lot more pleasure in life. You don't have the responsibilities. You don't have the pressures of life. You're not necessarily trying to figure out how you're gonna make ends meet when you're young, when you're a child. The Lord says in Ecclesiastes 12, one. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. Point number five, especially for the young people, is give God your first years, all right? Your first years are important. Give it to the Lord. Use your years to learn of God's word. Use your early years to praise Him, to worship Him, to get in the habit to be in the house of the Lord, to get in the habit of opening the Bible, to understand what God requires in your life. You know what, if you give God those early years in your life, He'll, you know, by His word, you'll know what is right and wrong. You'll be able to avoid the mistakes, the hurts that many adults in this room have gone through if they just knew what God's word said, if they knew what direction in life to take. I know all parents who don't want their kids to make the same mistakes that they've made. I know they don't want their kids to have the same hurts, unnecessary hurts that they've had to go through. Then what you need to do to overcome that and to be even greater Christians than your parents, to do greater works for God than your parents, to be rewarded even more greater than what God's gonna reward your parents in heaven. Let's put God first in these early years of your life. Learn about the Lord. Learn to love Him, learn the Bible. Learn what information it contains. It's so, so amazing. The wisdom of God, this wisdom that comes from this word is greater wisdom that you'll receive in any other form of education. Give God your early years. Give God your first years in your life. The days will come when you'll find no pleasure. I'm sure there are many adults right now knowing that there are days coming to, ah, man, gotta deal with that issue, gotta deal with that problem, okay? But you got time now. You don't have the response. You don't have the pressures in life. Trust me. Like, I know, you know, because we're all teenagers, right? Teenagers, you know, it's like, oh, it's always this and always that, always problems, always issues. You don't understand. No, you don't understand. It's the teenagers that don't understand because those days are coming when they're difficult. Your life is easy now, it really is. You know, appreciate the years that God has given you. You know, be a child, learn to grow. Enjoy developments, but give those first years to the Lord to direct your paths. You know what? And you won't make as many mistakes as your parents did. You'll come out much better on the other side if you just give God your priority. So point number five, brethren, is give your first years of your life to God as well, the first years of your life. Come with me to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 and verse number one. Now, point number six that I have here, I realize that it's quite similar to point number four, but a little different. Point number four was remember your first love. We were to love Him with our heart, with our soul, with our mind and all our strength. But in Romans chapter 12, verse number one, Romans chapter 12, verse number one, it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Very famous passage of the Bible. You know what's very reasonable? Is that you present your body as a living sacrifice to God. This is very reasonable in the eyes of the Lord that you do this. All right, now we saw earlier that the Israelites of old would give their first fruits, the very first crops, the very first firstlings of their flocks as a sacrifice to the house of the Lord, a sacrifice unto God. Well, God's asking you for a sacrifice, your whole body, a living sacrifice, your whole life to the Lord. And look at verse number two. It's the most challenging part. And be not conformed to this world. You know how you give your body to the Lord? It's not be like this world. I mean, what is your life like? I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, you know, we spend time in fellowship, we come to the house of the Lord, we sing praises. I know you love the Lord. I don't know if you love Him with all your heart and all your soul and all your might, but I know you love the Lord. But how much do you love the world though? That side I don't really know. That side I'm not that interested in, like personally. But the Lord's interested to know how much are you conformed to this world? And again, not everything in this world is wicked. There are plenty of things that are enjoyable in this world. And I'm not trying to zap all the fun out of your life. I want 2023 to be a great year of fun, okay? But good, clean, godly fun is what you really need to be aiming for, okay? Not things that corrupt this flesh. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. See, when we put God first, we're looking for God's will. Say, Lord, what is your will in my life? Lord, I don't want my will, right? Jesus Christ said the same words, right? Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. Say, Lord, all right, can you transform my mind? Because my mind is full of corruption. My mind is seeking the world. My mind is just seeking to be just like this world. What the world pursues, Lord, but I know you want me to present my body and live in sacrifice. I need to give my body to you first. I need to give my mind to you first, Lord. I cannot be like this world. And that's a really good framework to review your life, because we don't always know our hearts, obviously. We're not somewhat our hearts, but it's desperately wicked who can know it, as we know in the Bible. But you can assess your life. How much is my life like the wicked world? And how much is my life like a holy, acceptable, pleasing sacrifice unto the Lord? What is the measure there in your life? Is it 50-50? Is it 80% to the Lord, 20% to the world? You know, God wants it all. God wants 100% of your life, 100% of your mind, 100% of your body. Can you turn with me to James chapter three? Turn with me to James chapter three, verse number 17. James chapter three, verse number 17. And again, some people have this weird idea, and I don't blame a lot of Christians, because they grow up in church listening to the commandments of men, and then they find their life has no fun, because they're trying to live this life where just anything that seems outside of church, then that might be wicked or something like that. That's a crazy way to live. There's a lot of enjoyment in this world, okay? And like I said, as long as it's good, clean fun, and there's no way to live in this world, as long as it's good, clean fun, go for it, all right? God's given you a life. God's given you a sense of humor. God's given you the desire to enjoy life, to have fun. Enjoy life. I'm not against enjoying life. I want you to enjoy church, all right? I want this to be a place of enjoyment. We're gonna ask you to turn, sorry, James chapter three? Yeah, James chapter three, verse, before we read that, before we read that, I'm gonna read to you from 2 Timothy chapter 222. It says, flee also youthful lusts, but, so this is what we need to put first, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Pure, purity. You know what God wants in our lives? Purity. Not to be corrupted by this world, all right? Not to find enjoyment in corruption, but to seek that which is pure, keeping yourselves pure. Your mind, yes, your body, yes, a pure heart. Purity. Now, the reason I want you to turn to James chapter three is because what we just read there, there are other things that we see, like peace. I want peace, I know you want peace in life. Like generally, we wanna get through life and not be at conflicts and constant persecution and constant problems. We'd much rather live a peaceful life, okay? But there is something that comes before peace. In James chapter three, verse number 17, James chapter three, verse number 17, it says, but the wisdom that is from above, this is really important, is first pure. First pure. If we wanna put God first, that which we seek to do must first be pure, without corruption, without wickedness. First pure, then peaceable. See, peace comes secondary, then peaceable. See, I'm not seeking to have peace at all costs. Because if we're seeking to have peace at all costs, you're gonna have to corrupt yourself. Because this is a corrupted world. It's a wicked world, right? If I just wanna be best friends with everybody in this world, then I've gotta corrupt myself. No, before we find peace, we need purity. Look, as you're seeking God's will in your life, as you're seeking what to put first, first pure. Say, Lord, I want your wisdom, as we saw there. When it comes to the wisdom of God that he gives to us, it's first pure. You wanna give God your first, is it pure? Lord, I wanted to be in the house of the Lord this morning. Is it pure? Good, then come to the house of the Lord. That's how you make judgments. That's how you put God first. You assess this situation, this opportunity that I have, Lord. Is it pure? And God says, yes, then all right, I'm gonna seek that first. Then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. We're talking about the wisdom of God, wisdom that comes from above that we get given by God. First pure, okay? And so, if we're gonna give our whole body and mind to God, you need to assess, is this television program pure? Is this book pure? It's so hard, it's so hard to find things that are pure these days. It's so hard. Is this piece of clothing pure? All right? Is my love to my wife pure? Is my love to my children pure? You know, when I come to church singing praises, is my heart pure? That comes first. Give God your first. Give God your best. Put God first. But you need to ask yourself that question, is it pure first? Then the rest of it comes along. You're there in James. Can you read to James chapter four? James chapter four, please. James chapter four, verse number 13. James chapter four, verse number 13. So, brethren, I'm not trying to zap your fun. I want you to have fun in 2023. But before you have fun, can you please assess that fun and say, God, is this pure fun? And then if God says yes, then go for it. Enjoy your life. But you say, Lord, this is corrupted. Lord, you don't want me to corrupt my mind, which corrupts my flesh, which then cannot be a holy sacrifice unto you, Lord. Then you say, no, Lord, I'm not gonna do that. As much as I wanna do that, as much as my desires are to do that, Lord, I'm gonna put you first in 2023. Can you do it? It's not easy. Because we all have selfish desires, it's not easy. But can you try harder this year than you've had in previous years? James chapter four, verse number 13. James chapter four, verse number 13. Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Now, there's nothing wrong with going to a city and getting gain. Nothing wrong, starting a business, going somewhere and making a profit, okay? But there's something that you need, before you make, what this is teaching us is before you make a major decision in life, you know what, I'm gonna move cities. Before you make major decisions in life, what do you have to do? Before you decide, tomorrow we're gonna do that, today we'll do this, tomorrow we'll do that, verse number 14. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? Is it even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanish off away? So before you make major decisions in life, remind yourself that your life is a vapour. You don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. You don't even know if you're gonna be here tomorrow. That's the point here that we're in about. Verse number 15. This is the important part. For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. You see, before you make decisions in life, major decisions specifically, you wanna ask yourself the question, Lord, is this your will? Are you willing, Lord? Do you want me to do this, Lord? Do you want me to go to such and such city? You know, I had to ask myself that question, Lord, I'm there in Sydney doing well, going to church, serving the Lord. Lord, do you want me, is it your will to go to the Sunshine Coast? To start a church? Is that your will, Lord? I had to ask that question. Major decisions in life. And if it is the Lord's will, then you go and do it. This is putting God first, not your own will. Put God's will first. Your will might be go to such and such city, but God might say, no, that is not my will in your life. So how do I know if it's God's will? You need to know this Bible. You need to read it cover to cover. You need to know whether God allows it or whether he doesn't. He doesn't. Many times, as I said, God might give you many options in life. There's liberty in Christ. But how do you know that option is God's will? How do you know that option is pure unless you've digested God's word in your life? Say, Lord, I think I want to do this. Let me see if it's your will, Lord. You know what, Lord, I don't see anything that you're against that. Is it pure or will it corrupt my mind? No, Lord, it's pure. Lord, it's compatible with your word. It's not corruption. Lord, then I'm gonna take that option. Yes, Lord, I'm gonna go to such and such city and buy and sell and whatever it is that you might need to do, okay? But the point is you're looking for God's will first. Verse number 16. So instead of seeking God's will, it says, but now ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. You know, people that, basically the same, people that are boasting of having gone, started business, made a profit, such and such city, if it was contrary to God's will, all right, they're boasting of themselves and such rejoicing is evil because they're seeking their own selfish will rather than God's will first. And then we get verse number 17. Therefore, you know, some other people take verse number 17 and apply it like an individual verse. No, therefore, in light of what we just read, therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Therefore, if you don't put God's will first and you put your will first, okay, it is sin. All right, what is good? Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good. To do good is to seek God's will. Say, Lord, is this your will in my life? Then I'll do it, Lord, if I find it's your will. Lord, if it's compatible with your word, if I'm not sinning against you, Lord, if it's pure, yes, Lord, I'm going to take that path because I'm seeking your will first in my life. I wanted to explain to you, I'm gonna have to fall because some people just have this misunderstanding. It's like, if the Lord wills, if the Lord wills, oh, the Lord wills, read it. You don't have to guess. If the Lord wills, look, just read it. If it's fine with the Bible, if it's fine with God's word, if it's first pure, then go ahead and do it. Go ahead and have that fun. If it's pure and it's God's will for you, go ahead and do it. Okay, but point number seven, Brevin, I had seven points, is set God's will first. I mean, Jesus Christ was that perfect example for us, wasn't he, when he laid down his life. He said, not my will, but the Father's will be done. And the Lord Jesus Christ was obedient to his Father. Even though Christ had his own will, it was not a contrary will. He made sure his will lined up with the Father's will. But we have to do the same. And again, God's not asking us, yes, Christ was our sacrifice, and yes, we read that we're to give our bodies a sacrifice, but God is not asking us to literally die on the cross for the sins of all mankind. I mean, if you had to die for your own sins, you'd be burning in hell for all eternity. You could not do such a thing anyway, okay? God just says, look, you know what is reasonable? Put me first. That's reasonable. What is reasonable? Seek that which is pure. What is reasonable? Put my will first in your life. We have the opportunity. All right, you said, I messed up yesterday. All right, you messed up in 2022. Don't mess up in 2023. This is your chance. Can you put today, make today God you already have. You've made it to God's house, well done. Okay, well done. You started well. Can you keep it going? And look, there are gonna be times that you fail, but then you don't quit. You go, well, wait for 2024. No, you just pick yourself back up again and continue where you left off. Okay, don't wait for 2024 to get things right again. But you have an opportunity now, this first day of the year, to get things right with the Lord. All right, one more passage. I'll just read it to you. Proverbs 24, 27. This is the conclusion. Proverbs 24, 27. It says, prepare thy work without to make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house. Now this is obvious, right? Before you go and build a house, a structure, make it fit for yourself first. Make sure you got the plans, you know what you wanna build, all right? But before you do that, prepare thy work without. Prepare, before you start building, prepare first, okay? Make sure you got the finances to build a house. Make sure you got the builders. Make sure you got the plans. Make sure you got the vision all laid out, okay? Then you go and do the work. Of course, we're taking the principle out of this, brethren, because the Bible also says that this is the house of the Lord. You know, if you want 2023 to be a house that God comes first, so we need to make sure we prepare ourselves. Before you come into God's house in the morning, prepare your hearts. Say, Lord, I wanna bring my heart with you this morning. What else is a house in the Bible? Your family, right? Your family's your house. You gotta do some preparation. You know, you've gotta put God first. Say, Lord, please utilize me to serve my family the way you want me to serve my family. Prepare yourself. You don't read the Bible cover to cover. Prepare yourself, all right? Get home this afternoon, download some Bible, easy. Ask me if you need one. A Bible reading plan that can get you through the year. Prepare yourself, all right? Prepare yourself. Get yourself ready. Open God's word. Know what he wants from you. And say, yes, Lord, I wanna build my house. Lord, I wanna put you first. I wanna make this change in my life. I want 2023 to be a year where I put you first because I've been too selfish in 2022. But you need to prepare yourself. It's not just gonna happen is what I'm trying to say. It's why people do New Year's resolutions. You still have an opportunity. New Year's resolutions, good, all right. All right, let's say I didn't do one past. All right, do one today then. Do one tomorrow. Just get it right. No, don't do it tomorrow. Don't put it off, actually. That's what I've been saying, right? Don't put it off. Say, Lord, I'm gonna put you first in my life. Please make it happen. Please change my mind. Please clean my mind. Please clean my heart. I need to love you first and foremost. To love you with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my strength, and with all my soul. Can you please help me do that, Lord? All right, brethren, requires preparation. Give God your first. It's not easy. It's not an easy sermon this morning. It's an expected sermon for the first sermon of the year, but it's not an easy one. I can show you that because it's something that's gonna affect you for every day of your life. But don't forget, you know, that God, you know, offered his son. He's given you everlasting life. Christ was truly that sacrifice. You know, Christ put the work of redemption first and foremost in his life, you know, to save a sinner like you, to give you everlasting life. How about you do what is reasonable to the Lord? Put him first in all areas of your life. Okay, let's pray.