We're turning to Colossians 3. This evening, Colossians chapter 3. Colossians 3. We'll read the chapter together. And so I'll begin reading here. Let's hear the word of God as it is in our hearing. Colossians chapter 3, verse number 1. We welcome you. Thank you for joining, making the effort to be here tonight. The word of God says, if ye then, being risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth. on the right hand of God, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication and cleanliness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry for which things see it the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience into which he also walked sometime when he lived in them but now ye also put off all these off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth lie not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds and to put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him where there is neither greek nor jew circumcision or uncircumcision barbarian Synthian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you're called in one body and be ye thankful that the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and whatsoever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god and the father by him amen and we'll end our reading there at the verse number 17 well tonight we come to the fifth and to the final message with regard to the bees of scripture certainly i didn't think we would be so long away from our studies in the book of psalms but it has done us no harm to consider what god expects of us as his children and these b statements have brought to our attention how god would have us to live as believers we are to be perfect matthew 5 48 we are to be ready ready for the savior's return Matthew 24, 44. We are to be merciful. Luke 6, 36. We are to be transformed. Romans 12, verse 2. We are to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15, 58. We are to be separate from the world. 2 Corinthians 6, 17. We are to be kind one to another. Ephesians 5, 32. We are to be holy. Ephesians 1 verse 4 we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds Ephesians 4 23 we are to be angry and sin not Ephesians 4 26 we are to be followers of God Ephesians 5 1 we are to be filled with the spirit Ephesians 5 verse 18 we are to be obedient to them that are your masters according to your flesh Ephesians 6 verse 5 and we are to be strong in the Lord Ephesians chapter 6 and the verse number 10 and then tonight I want to conclude this series of message messages that we've entitled a hive full of bees And that's what the Bible is, a hive full of bees. I want to consider some other be ye statements that we find in the Word of God. And we begin in Colossians 3 and the verse number 15. It says, Be ye thankful. It's a very short, it's a very simple injunction. but how often we fall short of what is required of us even by this particular directive. We are to be a thankful people. The word literally means to be grateful, but too often we find ourselves unthankful and we find ourselves ungrateful. Thankfulness is a mark of grace while unthankfulness demonstrates a lack of grace within our lives. We think of Paul's words to young Timothy that reminded him in the days leading up to the Savior's return, society would be populated by a people who would be unthankful. It is one of the marks of the last days. A spirit of unthankfulness. And being a thankful people will then certainly mark us out from the rest of society as the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ draws nearer. We are repeatedly encouraged in Scripture, and in the Word of God, and in the books of the Bible, we are encouraged constantly to be people who give thanks. Psalm 30, verse 4, sing on to the Lord, O ye saints, and give thanks. at the remembrance of his holiness Philippians 4 6 be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto god 1st Thessalonians 5 18 and everything give thanks For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Hebrews 13, 15, By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Jesus Christ himself was found giving thanks to God during his earthly ministry. When he came to bless the food, there when the feeding of the five thousand he blessed or he gave thanks when he came to institute the lord's supper we're told that he gave thanks he gave thanks when he addressed lazarus and as he addressed his father sorry in prayer regarding lazarus there in john chapter 10 and then we find him again as he addresses his father in prayer with these words he says i thank thee oh father lord of heaven and earth there was a spirit of thankfulness about the Savior and therefore we ought to reflect that and we ought to replicate that in our lives a thankful spirit be ye thankful so what can we be thankful about well if I was to catalog that for you we would be here a lot longer than I would intend you to be here this evening. However, if you were to bring everything together, and if you were to bring all together, all the things that we ought to be thankful for, they would fall into one of the following two categories. We ought to be thankful, first of all, for every temporal mercy, every temporal mercy. James 1 17 reminds us that every good gift And every perfect gift is from above, and cometh thine from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." God has been good to us when it comes to the temporal necessities of life. And for that, we ought to be thankful. Tonight, we could be thankful for our food, thankful for our clothing, Thankful for reason. Thankful for family. Thankful for friends. Thankful for our homes. Thankful for work. Thankful for the deliverances from danger that we've experienced in life. Thankful for your health. I want you to go with me. I want you to go with me to where I was today. I want you to go with me to three beds. The first bed is the bed of our dear friend, our brother, Mr. Paul Allen. There he is lying there, four years, lying in the same bed with his same devoted wife caring for him, not knowing who she is, not knowing who I am. You leave that home and it makes you very thankful. And then travel down the motorway, make your way into the Royal Victoria Hospital, and stand in an ICU unit looking at a young man surrounded by his wife and his sister. And you come away from ICU a very thankful man. And then take that journey just, I don't know how long it is, maybe half a mile from ICU, and it is a long journey, down through the main auditorium or the main entrance hall, the main entrance, and make your way up to the children's hospital, make your way into the cancer ward, stand beside your 15-year-old nephew, and you come away a very thankful man. Health and strength. Did you thank God for it today? We have a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be thankful for. Thank Him for life. Thankful for His preserving hand on your life. Thank Him for the blessings of logic and reason. Thank Him for civil and religious privileges that are not afforded to every nation in the world. Thank Him for the relative peace that we enjoy in our nation compared to the war-torn nations of Ukraine and Syria and Yemen and now Israel. Be ye thankful. Be ye thankful. And then be thankful for every spiritual blessing. You can thank God for the gospel of Jesus Christ that you came to hear. And not only that, then you came to believe. Be thankful for the means of grace. Be thankful for a Bible, the Scriptures, a faithful translation of God's Word. Thank Him for a Bible-preaching church. Thank Him for Christian companionship. Thank Him for Christian books and any other spiritual blessings that are yours in Christ Jesus. Believer, thank Him for your conversion. What were you more than others that He would choose you to salvation through sanctification, of the Spirit through belief of the truth. Thank Him for enlightening you and quickening you when you sat in the region of death. The Son of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings. Thank Him for pardoning you and justifying you. Thank Him for His adopting love. I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Thank Him for sanctification. Thank Him for growth and grace. Thank Him for supporting grace. Begin every day with thanksgiving and end every day thanking him for his mercy and for his goodness throughout the day. Let's be a thankful people. Let's do what we are exhorted to do in Psalm 106 verse 1, Psalm 107 verse 1, Psalm 118 verse 1, Psalm 118 verse 29, Psalm 136 verse 1. Each verse says these words, Be thankful. Be thankful for the small things of life. If anything, I was taught today to be thankful. Be thankful that I could eat. Be thankful that I could walk. Be thankful that I could go out into the fresh air. and just get a breath of fresh air. Be thankful. Maybe you've come into this house grumbling, complaining about something that you really don't need to be grumbling and complaining about. May you go home thankful. Be thankful. That's the exhortation. That's the counsel. That's the directive. That's the command. Be thankful. May God help me to be such. Turn to James chapter 1 now and the verse 22. We'll come to a second one here. James, after the book of Hebrews, James chapter 1 and the verse 22. James 1 verse 22, it says, but be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Now, we studied this whenever we came to the book of James. We came to consider this divine directive, a directive that reminds us that we're not only to listen to the word of God, but then we are to live it out in our lives. We're not only to hear it, but we are to heed it, and then we are to imbibe it in our lives and see it outworked in our lives. What we hear preached, God expects, God expects, God expects us to see it outworked within our lives. So let's take the last four Sabbath day mornings. Let's consider what we preached on those occasions and then let's assess, have we only been a hearer of the word or have we been a doer of the word? We thought about contentment. being content. We are exhorted to be content with such things as we have. Godliness with contentment is great gain. So how have we fared since that message was preached? With regard to Christian contentment, are you finding yourself to be more content with what you have in Christ Jesus? As you have come to dwell upon what Christ has done for you, has worked for you, are you finding yourself less concerned about secondary things of life, the temporal things of life, the possessions of life? Have you come to understand that you have more in Jesus Christ than multitudes in this world? Have you shunned all attempts by the devil to make you a discontented Christian? Did you hear the word? But have you been a doer of the word? And then we thought about godliness. God's people are to be a godly people. How have we been getting on with living a godly life? You'll have your days of failure as a child of God. There's no doubt about that. But is the general trend in your life towards an increasing godliness? Is there something of godliness about your living since the message was preached? Or did you simply hear the word, well there, that's it done. I was out on Sunday morning, heard the word, very good, but really making no impact on how I live my life. And then we thought about glorifying God. Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. So how have we been getting on with that directive? Are we glorifying God in our homes and in our families, in our work life, in our school, in our spare time, in our free time? Is the glory of God at the forefront of our minds when it comes to what we say and what we do? Has it impacted how you're living? What about honoring God? We thought about that the last time I had the opportunity to speak. Honoring God should regulate how we live and how our lives are regulated and governed. We come to honor the Lord when we respect Him and worship and exalt and trust Him and serve Him. Are we doing this? Have we taken to heart the counsel that was given? Have we come to ask ourselves the question? Maybe some decision, maybe some matter came, some issue arose in the family, in your own personal life. I wonder, did you stop and ask yourself the question, is the course of action I'm going to take, is it going to honor the Lord? Is it going to glorify the Lord? You see, brethren and sisters, we are to be doers of the word. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. You see, there is the very real danger that we can even enjoy hearing God's word, but we neglect in the doing of it. Emphasis is often placed by the preacher. Now, you need to be at church, you need to be at God's house to hear the word of God. And that emphasis is right. Maybe the better emphasis should be, you not only need to be here to hear the Word of God, but you actually need to do what the Word of God says. You need to obey the Word. that you hear preached whenever you are here. You see, the person who desires to see advancement in their Christian lives, the one who longs for spiritual maturity, and that's what the book of James is all about, will be a person who will not only see to it that they hear the Word of God, but that they heed it and they live it out in their lives. There is no benefit to one's life if all that you do is attend the house of God, hear the word of God, preach and expound it, but you do absolutely nothing about it. Vance Havner, he said on one occasion, we need an outbreak of holy heartburn when hearers shall be doers, when congregations shall go out from meetings to do things for God. Be a doer of God's word and whatever he says, do it. Whatever he says, do it as he shows you in his word. Be ye doers of the word. And so go out tonight in the will of God and be thankful. Don't be going home complaining. Go home thankful. And then these other issues. So we'll go to a third one. James, let's go to chapter 5 and the verse 8. James 5 and the verse 8. Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. We live in a society where everything has to be done yesterday. Waiting is not something that we like to do. It's a bit like that car parking down in the Royal. I didn't want to stay there, so I ended up on the Grosvenor Road and decided to walk about a mile rather than sitting waiting to try and get a car parking space. We don't like waiting. Haste and impatient marks our behavior and it does so whenever it comes to our dealings with the Lord and how we respond to God's delays in our lives. We are impatient And yet James commands us here to be patient and he uses an illustration at the end of the verse number five of the farmer who himself will display great patience when it comes to the harvest. Behold, the husband man waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, verse seven. and have long patience for it until he received the early and the latter. Re-informers know what it is to wait, and as Christians we are to exhibit the same kind of patience when it comes to every part of our Christian lives. We are to be patient when we work and whenever we toil for God. Whether that's in Sunday school or in the youth work, maybe in the children's work, maybe in the open air, maybe in the pulpit ministry and there seems to be no fruit forthcoming from our labors. In such times we are to be patient. When we suffer wrongfully and time elapses with no vindication of our names, we are to be patient. When we long to be more Christ-like in our lives, and the work of sanctification seems to be going very, very slowly, we are to be patient. When we look for direction from God in our lives, and none is given to us by God, we are to be patient. When we pray for the salvation of our loved ones, and there seems to be no softening of their hearts, but rather a hardening of their hearts with regard to spiritual matters, we are to exhibit patience. patient and so the next time you find yourself being impatient in your christian life you remember james's illustration of the farmer and how he sows the seed in the hope of a future harvest but he has to patiently wait for it it doesn't spring up immediately he must be patient Between the time of sowing, between the time of reaping, patience must be exercised by him. And patience must be exercised by us as we await the unfolding and the perfecting of all things within our lives. You might be in a hurry. But God's not. God's not. Patience. Patience, brother. Patience, sister. is the order of the day when it comes to God's working in our lives. Patience. The fourth, the fifth, and the sixth B's tonight are all found in one verse. So turn to 1 Peter chapter 3 and the verse number 8. 1 Peter chapter 3 and the verse 8. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another love us brethren be pitiful be courteous three for the price of one in one verse you get three in one verse three b's in one verse be ye all of one mind that's the first one be you all of one mind peter's words here argue for unity within the family of god now why we may never agree on the finer points of theology points that are, let me say, non-consequential when it comes to the fundamentals of the faith. On the major and the important parts of Christian doctrine and practice, there is to be unity. Unity has always been prized by the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ began by praying that we would be one in his high priestly prayer in John 17. Jesus Christ instructed his disciples in John 13 that it would be by their loving unity that all men would know that they were his disciples. We see the commendation of the early church in Acts chapter 2, that they were of one accord in one place and they had all things common. In Romans 12 verse 16, the Apostle Paul, he calls for love and unity among the brethren. And we hear that call again given out in Romans 15 verse 5. We hear it again in Ephesians chapter 2, that we would be like-minded. At the same love, one for another, we hear the call again from Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10, that there would be no schisms, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Be ye all of one mind. That's the scripture. And so we need to ask ourselves the question, are we doing all that we can to maintain and then to advance the unity within the body of Jesus Christ? Are we cultivating harmony among the saints, or are we creating conflict? Is there some issue between you and another believer in the assembly, and you having the same mind about that particular matter? Well, you would need to get it sorted. Let nothing quench the Spirit of God. Be ye all of one mind. The mind that he speaks of is the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. The mind of Christ. Be ye all of one mind. And then it says, be ye pitiful. The word used here is the only time it's ever used in the New Testament. There's two times. The second time it's used is in Ephesians 4, verse 32. And there it's translated, tender-hearted. Be tender-hearted. That's the one who shows pity, the tender-hearted one. The hard-hearted person knows nothing of pity. It's the tender-hearted one, the soft-hearted one. The one who is the heart of Christ will show pity. We have experienced the Father's pity. And having experienced the Father's pity, we are then to be pitiful. We are to show pity to those who are in need. I wonder, are you as a believer known to exhibit pity? Are you tenderhearted? That old heart is a callous, harsh, uncaring, unsympathetic to those who are in need. It ought not to be so, brethren and sisters. We are to be pitiful. And then the third one in the verse is to be courteous. The word courtesy or the words courtesy and courteousness, they're derived from the term court. That's obvious. They were used in the past to describe the refinement of manners which prevailed in the palaces of princes and kings. Courtesy. You know, courtesy is a virtue that is sadly missing in our society. However, just because we don't find courtesy in the world at large today does not mean that it is to be missing within the Church of Jesus Christ. Brethren and sisters, we are to be courteous. one to another. When someone speaks to you, don't grunt at them in some kind of response. Be courteous. Respond courteously. Respond to them by name. Don't grunt at them. Respond in a way that you would want to be responded to. Put yourself on the end of your response and ask, would you want to be responded to in such a way? And men, young and old, be courteous to the ladies of this congregation. Show courtesy. Children, show courtesy to your parents. Young person, be courteous to the seniors who worship among us. Be courteous to your teachers at school. I heard something this week and I thought, that is not a good testimony with regard to school children in a particular school coming out of a particular church. They were not exhibiting courtesy. Be courteous to those whom God has placed in positions of authority within the church. Within the church, show courtesy. Show courtesy to the minister. Show courtesy to the elders. Show courtesy to the committee men, those in leadership. Show courtesy one to another. Show courtesy to those whom God has placed in the state As officers of the state, we are to pray for them, show courtesy to those whom God has placed over you in your workplace and in the school setting. When someone makes contact with you, either by way of a phone call or a text message, be courteous and reply. It's simple courtesy. But it's missing. And God's people are to be courteous. They are to be courteous. That's what the Bible says. I believe a bit of courtesy will go a long way to defuse many a tense situation that arises between brethren and sisters within the church of Jesus Christ. And I'll give you an example of it in the Bible. I think of Abram and Lot. And I tell you, that event, whenever the herdsmen were fighting among each other, it was like a powder cake. It was about to explode. And what does Abraham do? In courtesy, he gives Lot the opportunity to choose the place that he, Lot, would choose to settle down in. Now, Abraham didn't need to do that. He was the elder, but he was courteous to Lot. You choose, Lot. You choose and I'll go the other way, but we be brethren. And that courtesy and that wisdom diffused that situation. A little bit of courtesy among us would help us an awful amount. And so be courteous. One final B very quickly, 1 Peter chapter 4 and the verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch on to prayer. The word sober here means to be of a sound mind, trench. The Bible commentator speaks of the word as habitual self-government with its constant rain on the passions and desires to be sober. You know, the spirit of the age is towards the other extreme of sobriety. But for the Christian, the Christian is to be sober, clear-minded, temperate, self-controlled, self-constrained in light of the fact that the Savior is soon to return to this mind. We are to be clear-minded, clear-minded. as the coming of Christ draws ever near. We are to be clear-minded, sober in how we are to live, in what way we are to live, and what we are to be doing as Christians as the coming of Jesus Christ draws ever near. And what are we to be doing? We are not to be fighting among ourselves. We are to see Christ's kingdom advanced. Be sober. clear-minded, where the world is intoxicated with its pleasures and drunken with its sins, the child of God is to be crystal clear. Be ye therefore sober in light of the Savior's return, in light of the fact that all things, the end of all things is at hand, And I don't need to tell you all that's happening in the world. And I'm sure people will have their thoughts about when the world is going to end. And they'll jump onto the bandwagon of all that is happening. But the end of all things is at hand, brethren and sisters. We need to be clear-minded about that. We need to ask ourselves, how are we to be found when Christ returns? We are to be sober. Yes, it can mean about alcohol, but it's more than that. We are to be sober, yes, with regard to that, but we are to be of a sound mind. Whenever we see things falling around us and we see society collapsing around us, we are to be of a mind that knows that God is in control and all things are being ordered by Him. And all things are falling out after the counsel of his own will. Time's gone. There are many other Bs in this hive of Bs that I haven't looked at. We are to be obedient. We are to be comforted. We are to be discreet. We are to be gentle. We are to be diligent. We are to be faithful. We are to be zealous. But it's time to draw this series of messages to a close. But as I do so, let me encourage you, as you read through the scriptures yourself, which I know that you do, you take notice. You take notice of the other bees that you find in this great hive of bees. But not only take notice of them, obey them, because that's what God would have you to do. He would have you to obey them. If he says be ye this or do this, well then God expects you and I to do it. May the Spirit of God May he jog our memories to all that we have considered over these five messages. And may he help us to do all of the things that he requires us to do. May God help you and I to do that for Christ's sake. Amen and amen. Let's stand for a word of prayer. Change your position if you want to and if you can. You can sit on if you can't. Well, let's just pray. Father in heaven, we come before thee. And what a list, what a list. God of things that are required of us and Lord we'll never be able to plea on the judgment day that we didn't know how to live the Christian life never you've shown us Lord you've shown us what you expect of us and Lord I pray for helping this because there's many a thing Lord that I I do not come up to the standard that, Lord, you require. And therefore, I pray for grace and for the help of your spirit. Fill us with your spirit, Lord, that we may live such lives that will glorify and honor thee. And therefore, answer prayer and be with us, Lord, as we consider all of these prayer requests. Bless, Lord, we ask of thee. We offer prayer in and through Jesus, precious.