Thank you, Chrissy, for following me. It's not easy to follow musically. The kids are dismissed to follow when you sing in a different language, but music is a wonderful tool. Praise the Lord. All right. If you turn your Bible to the book of Psalm chapter 37 and verse 1. Psalm 37 verse 1. This is a couple of messages of encouragement for the New Year I have for you today and tonight. Lord willing. Excuse me as well. Psalm 37. Let's see what the Lord says right here. It says in verse 1, Fred, not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Verse 3, trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon day. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospered in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for all these ingredients that you put here for your children to follow. Lord, if only we do those things, we'll be joyful people. Help us, Lord, as we face this new year that is ahead of us, 365 days. We already have a few of them that already passed by. But help us, Lord, this year to bow the knee to you and to recognize you for who you are, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Lord, may this be the year that you are coming and we are ready to go home, Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. Well, this morning I have this message for you, walking in peace in the new year. Walking in peace in the new year. Listen, a lot of people don't have peace in their hearts, they have turmoil, pure turmoil. That's what they have. They don't know what a peace is. They never made peace with God. They don't have peace with God. And their lives is turmoil constantly. One problem after another. And is, unfortunately, I want to say, many homes are battlefields of screaming and yelling and name-calling and threats being made to each other. A home should be a place of safety and peace. But in many homes in America, it's not. So the New Year's always comes with as a challenging times for the minds of many people. Some are bored with the lives that they have, so they want to change. Some have their life upside down and they wanted something fresh, something new in their life, something exciting. Some want a new career. They don't like the job that they're working. They want a new job. They want a new direction. Some people want to lose weight. Some want to have better relationships, better friends. Some just want to have a better car or a better toy. And it goes on and on and on with people's desire. So there are many, many who say, out with the old and go with the new. some people uh do the new year's resolution but statistically speaking new year's resolution most of them don't last but the first week they're gonna do something and they're on fire for it until the next day they go yeah well what's the use but in any case i believe that january is a good time to start fresh especially in our Christian walk. Actually, every day is a new good day to start fresh. So, what about if we're going to start fresh for the Lord, what about being more dedicated to the Lord today? What about reading your Bible cover to cover this new year? So, Pastor, I've never done that. Well, it's always new. It's always a start. What about spending more time with the Lord on your knees this year? What about being more and more faithful to the local church? What about being more dedicated in serving the Lord in your local church? What about being more kind and loving to people? What about telling more people that Jesus loves them? Now we look at our text here and there are some simple instructions offered here for us to follow. You can follow, you cannot follow, you know. You are the product of your choices. We all are a product of our choices. But let me tell you, it is a choice to follow Jesus. It is a choice to follow after the world. You say, Pastor, do Christians can follow after the world? Go like this. Yes, they do. The Bible called them carnal minded people. They want the best of God, but they want the best of the world. You have to try to walk on top of a fence. You either go one way or the other, you're not going to stay too long on top of that fence. I remember years ago, we were kids, all were kids. I probably was 11, 12 years old, talking about fence. And in my hometown, we had a stream. It was not a stream. It was a sewage stream. It was not a good thing, but there was a bridge over that thing. Not very high, maybe 10 feet high. If you walked by there, it smelled. It smelled. I know you left the town very small. You have no idea what I'm talking about. But anyway, you come from the same town I'm coming from. But anyway, so my school friend of mine, it was across the bridge. It was this three-inch pipe that was the rail on that bridge and he said let's walk across this thing you know and and he go a couple he went three or four times back and forth a guy was a pro and he was like you know like like like mocking us us to do that mocking us and you know you're a kid you know me i'm a very you know uh uh don't tease me because i'm going to do it but that day i'm keep looking at that mother like uh i i i stay here and and he goes let me show you go to the last time you go one more time the last time you went he didn't go to the side of the street he went to the side of the mud Boxung went down. You know when you watch a movie and the guy comes out of there like all dark and muddy. He came out of there, he was completely muddy. He fell on the Whatever that thing was. And he cut his head. He had a big cut in his head. And it's like, you know what? It's because you cannot walk for a long time on the middle of a fence. You're either going to fall this way or that way. So for us Christians, same way. You can, this new year, you can say, I'm going to follow the Lord or I'm going to follow the world. is that choice but if you want to follow the Lord here's some ingredients the Lord gave us right here in this psalm that we can follow and you know why in the end of the day or in the end of the year you're going to be more joyful oh so let me give you something if you want to keep if you like to follow the outline there it goes number one okay as we look at this new year walking in peace in this year keep your walk on the So keep your walk under control as you walk on this world this year Remember who you're serving, remember who is your God, remember what you're doing each day, and keep it under control. That means when your left foot want to go this way, bring them this way. And it's that I'm going this way, not this way. You follow that? Bring them back twist that thing. Otherwise if this goes this way you follow and you going that way Keep your walk on the control if you want to be at peace in your life some places You don't want to go some issues. You don't want to be there. So you keep your walk on the control Now you use your imagination, okay one thing we ought to keep in mind that you can control where your feet are taking you and Don't say the devil made me do it because that doesn't fly. Don't say I didn't know, that doesn't fly either. Because your feet goes where your mind tells you to go. Okay? Those feet of yours go wherever your mind tells it to go. Keep your walk under control. Use the mind that God gives you and keep it under control. If you saturate your mind with the things of God, your feet will walk towards the things of God and the things that are godly. If your mind is saturated with the things of the world, then your feet will walk the places that is not pleasant to the Lord. Now the emphasis of this verse is for the believer to live and walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord not to the world. The verse does not call us to trust and walk ignoring everything around us. Actually the verse is calling us to trust in the Lord doing good as we walk the pathway of life. Look what it says in the verse. Go back to the verse. Look trust in the Lord and what it says next and do good. You see, not just trusting the Lord, but as you're trusting in the Lord and walking the pathway of life, God says, as you walk, do good. You say, Pastor, one second right here. You mean all these evil people, all these mean people, all these people that talk bad about me, saying all these things about me, I'm going to continue to do good? Yes, because the only person you can control is you. You cannot control what others do. You follow that? They can do evil around you, doesn't mean you're part of it. You can control your walk, you can do that with the mind that God gives you, because if He told the feet, you're going this way, not that way, your feet will follow your mind. But as you do, we do good. We turn evil with good. You say, Pastor, that's not hard, that's not easy to do. Yes, I'm glad you said that. Okay. So if the news comes to you, somebody's gossiping about you. Or somebody's trashing you. Somebody said something nasty about you. What is your first reaction? I'm going to give you a piece of my mind. I'm going to talk to you and I'm going to straight you up. You know what? That's evil for evil. That's not good. But if we're going to control our walk, the Bible says we ought to do good as we walk. Let me give you an example. How much evil was done to Jesus? a lot of evil Jesus didn't turn evil for evil he turned evil with good and when he was on top of that cross being crucified he said father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing even dying even being crucified innocently we know what Jesus was doing there we know what he was doing but even then he gave us that example as we walk in the pathway of life. We walking doing good. Okay? That's the emphasis of this verse. Unfortunately, there are Christians whose minds are not at peace because their minds are governed by the world system. Folks, even though we have made peace with God at the moment of salvation, we can never experience the full peace of God in our hearts if we don't surrender our will and walk with Him, not away from Him. And let me tell you this, it's not God that walks away from us, it's we that walk away from Him. Letter A, the right way to walk. Trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord. And I already said that. Definitely, if you're going, you are going to do a lot of walking this New Year. And imagine if you have one of those automatic watches that actually gives you all the walking. Unfortunately, the watches that we have only give you a 24-hour segment, how much you walk, right? So, oh, yeah, I walked 10 miles today. Oh, that's good. You make you feel good. But imagine if your watch could keep track of all, or you can keep track of all the walking you did 365 days of the year. That's a lot of walking, right? The question is, where am I walking to or towards to? See, the right way to walk, and definitely you have to make many choices as you walk. But here the Lord commands us not only to walk, but as you walk, as you keep walking, do good. Commands are meant to be obeyed, especially when they come directly from the Lord. By commanding His children to do things, the Lord is not being harmful, unkind, or cold towards us. He's saying that because He loves us. All right. my mom when I was single many years ago okay when I was single and living in the house every time I walk out especially in the afternoon after I came home from work took a shower go out before I walk out of the house this is every single day I think every Portuguese mama says that it was a sermon at the door Don't go there. Don't do that. If I dream that you're doing this, when you get home, your father will find out. You guys know. It was an every single day thing. Why did she say that? And you as a teenager go, oh, again, oh my word. Mom, I already heard this sermon five weeks ago. You know what? She didn't care what I said. She keeps at it every single time. And many times she would wait for me to get home. Daddy was waiting, that was a problem. You see, why did she do that? Because she loved me. She didn't want me to get hurt. She didn't want me to go places that I would hurt myself. And she was concerned that I would hurt myself. Every mother that loves their children do that or even more. Okay? God is the same way when God tells these things in his word is not because he wants you not not to be joyful Not to to lose happiness and God wants us to enjoy life to the fullness He says those things because he loves us So the right way to walk, trusting the Lord. Number one day I know that trusting the Lord, trust the Lord and do good. Listen folks, most of us here are Christians and most of us here read, study and memorize the Bible and have devotions. We listen to the preaching of God's Word at least most of us three times a week. Most of us here are very informed about the Word of God. But the greatest question about all this, with all this information, we have about God his character his integrity and the promise that he has for all of us is this is the greatest question with all the stuff that I know about God do I trust him you've been somewhere doing something and in the end a little voice don't do it don't do it and the bible comes to your mind who's bringing that to your mind the Lord, the Holy Spirit. And when, you know, when I was singing, I remember doing something and I could hear my mom's voice, if I dream about what you're doing, I remember that. And I was like, Oh, and I like it. I mean, she put that in my mind for so long that I could hear it. I still can hear it. That's amazing. But see, we trust in God. After everything I know about God, do I trust Him? So the word trust is an action word on which involves action or even a verb, an action verb, which involves action in our part. Trusting is a profound word. Trust is a powerful word. Trust means trust. In other words, our way of life, our behavior, our speech, our actions as Christians is a demonstration of how much I trust my God. You may be thinking, Pastor, I really didn't trust the Lord that much this last year. All right, as mercy as I knew every morning. Trust Him now. Trust Him now. If that's you, then that's good. Trust Him now. There are times when God's way is difficult to figure out. During those times when you cannot trace God, learn to trust Him anywhere. Remember, the just shall live by faith, Romans 1 17. The life of faith is the life, the only life that pleases the Lord, Hebrews 11 6. So God wants us to trust Him. But I don't know what God wants to take me, continue to trust Him. A lot of times we make decisions that don't match with the Bible at all. Don't blame God when the consequences come along. See, we trust the Lord and we do good as we go along. We see number two is doing good. There's a word right there already on the screen. So doing good, trust the Lord and do good. and is a very important keyword right here. God says, as you trust me, as you walk in the pathway of life, do good, do good. Listen, it doesn't look good for a Christian to be walking doing evil. It doesn't look good for a Christian to be caught talking trash about other people or gossiping about other people. That's not the goodness of God. but pastor you don't understand this person disappointed me this person said this about it doesn't matter what they say and what matters is how we respond that's what matters because what comes out of people's mouths what comes out of people's hands you cannot control what we can control is what we do how we respond to adversity and listen adversity will come this year you will find yourself in the valleys I hope not. I hope you're on the mountaintop the whole year, praising the Lord. But difficulties come. Sometimes they knock on your door. You're sitting on the couch watching whatever it is, or in the kitchen minding your own business, and life is good. You're singing the songs of Zion. You open the door. Hey, I'm troubled. I'm here. I'm walking in. And we say, welcome. Come dine with me. It happens. You know what? But how do I face those adversities? In letter B we see the result of your walk. Look at verse 37, verse 3. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Get this, the comfort of trusting the Lord. And the result of doing good causes our enemies to be at peace with us. Regardless, think about it. Think about it. You turn evil for good. Don't you think that touches the heart of people? you say oh no no no you know listen you turn evil for good you got people saying all these things and you turn evil for good they scratch their head i said this on this face and they didn't even react when the people do an evil to jesus anything it touched people's heart the way jesus was responding every time if we really trust the Lord we believe these words vengeance is mine I will repay it say it the Lord we give the person to the Lord so Lord he's yours or she's yours whatever that is I'm gonna keep my walk trusting you and doing good and Lord and you know what folks God takes care of them Don't you like to have that type of walk? Just following the Lord, trusting Him. Don't you want to have God's peace in your heart, reigning in your heart as you go through the year? When you do this, God will take care of us. God will give us the comforts of life that we want. Number two. another thing for the year we see right here is condition your heart first ones control your walk secondly condition your heart look what it says delight thyself also in the lord and he shall give you the desires of thine heart i put here ice cream i don't know why i put ice cream here i'm not kidding you my says ice cream okay i like ice cream so the word means to take take the light and the things of the Lord to be joyful to be excited about the things of God when life goes bad we tend to focus on the problem that that arise around us now on God we we submerge ourselves in that so when this happened we become defeated and depressed and fall into sadness however at all time uh all times of life We are challenged to let the Lord be the focus of our attention. Listen folks. Let me put it this way All right. We're not little kids here. Okay Problems will come regardless How are we going to face it? We have to face it. We have problems in our life Do we have to face it regardless but I can face the problem with a negative attitude Or I can face the problem trusting my Lord Regardless, we have to face the problem regardless of how it is. All right. Let me be simple. So you got, you got home and you got an electric bill for $900. He said, ouch, that hurts. Yeah, of course it does. Especially when you don't have the money to pay it. I mean, you can curse the company. You can call them all kinds of names. You can call them up and, and, and try to fight with them saying they're wrong about the bill and all that. Or you can trust the Lord. and ask him to provide so you can pay it. See these are two different attitudes. Because more than likely, sometimes they make mistakes, but more than likely we did spend the electricity and we just don't want to admit it. Especially this time of the year when people are using all kinds of Christmas lights and stuff. That takes a lot of electricity. All right, on the second point, condition. So control your walk, condition your heart. Let it be the comfort of the heart. Luke says, and He shall give you the desires of thy heart. When we are lost in Him, then our will and our desires will be to be lost in Him. When this happens, He will lift us up out of sadness and fill us with His glorious joy. By the way, I think that that later portion of this verse is a promise we can claim. When the Lord is our delight, when we will only want the things which brings Him glory and which pleases Him. When we arrive at that place, God will open the windows of heaven and give us the desires of our heart. When our mind, when our hearts are totally delighting in the things of God, God will give us that desire. He opens the windows of heaven and He gives us that desires of our heart. He wants your devotion to Him. He wants your full heart for Him. Get this, the more we walk with the Lord and the more we surrender our will to Him, the more blessings we will reap from Him. By the way, isn't that great to walk in sweet fellowship with the Lord? Isn't that great to sense His presence as we walk in His path? Isn't that great to show the world by our lives that He is wonderful, merciful, forgiving Savior? Folks, there are many things in this world which will satisfy us for a time, like a good meal, a special trip, a vacation somewhere, going to another country to visit. All these things are good things to do. But the greatest thing to have is the comfort of God's love and peace in our hearts. So whatever we walk, taking God with us. So how we should do this in this new year as we walk with the Lord with peace. Number one, keep your heart, keep your walk under control. Number two, condition your heart's will. And number three, commit yourself to walk with the Lord. Listen, look what it says, verse five, commit thy way unto the Lord, trust in him and he shall bring it to pass. What God wants to do is to commit ourselves to him. Listen, commitment goes a long way. You cannot do anything without commitment. I mean, commitment, you are devoted. You're going to do it regardless. You are committed for a cause. You follow that? That's commitment. Listen, if you're not committed, then everything falls apart. I remember when I used to play sports, I remember one time we were losing by four to zip playing soccer. Four goals is a lot to overcome. And my coach called us aside and said, listen, where is your commitment? You playing in this team? If you don't want to play, tell me. I'll sit you on the bench. I'll put the other ones in. You need to be committed. Are you committed? Yes, coach. Yes, coach. We are committed. Then go play. Go play the game like I teach you. You know what? That day we beat the other team five to four. Something just came up. We are committed here. Let's play until the ref says the game is over Did it happen every time? No, but that day it did God says to you and me. I want you commitment to me We control our walk We commit our way to the Lord regardless listen Disappoint some disappointments. Well, he's gonna come. Yes Happens all the time People are going to disappoint you. Things are going to disappoint you. Life is going to disappoint you. Problems are going to arise, yes. But stay committed to the Lord. Stay committed. In order to have a commitment walk with the Lord, you must make a commitment to stay committed on your decision. Commit yourself and stay committed. Commit for 365 days, a commitment for the whole entire year. Lord, I'm making a commitment to walk with you this entire year. Get this. Our relationship with the Lord is as big as our commitment to him. Some Christians just don't start the day with God. They don't end the day with God. They know why? Because they're not committed. I remember my kids used to go to piano lessons many years ago. the teacher had right in front of their door, right? You walk outside the house, a big plaque that says, who are you going to serve today? Very good statement. Because you can go out that door serving yourself, going out the door serving the world or serving others, or you can go out the door and say, Lord, I'm gonna serve you today. Was a good statement. I remember mentioning that to her. She says, well, we all need that. My family and every kid and every mom and dad that comes here, they need to understand who they are serving. We need to be reminded of that. She was not a preacher, far from that, but what a great statement that she had. So commitment starts with you. I cannot commit you to walk with the Lord. You cannot commit that to me. It is a commitment that you make before the Lord. And the Bible says right here, commit thy ways. I mean your whole life, commit everything you do unto the Lord. Commitment here in this verse had the idea of giving the responsibility of what we have to someone else. This word means to roll onto. The idea here is that we are rolled the burdens of life onto the Lord. We are committing our way unto the Lord and trusting Him to take care of us. This was the resolve of Job when he called upon his sufferer. This way in Job chapter 1 verse 20 it says, there that the Lord give it the Lord give and the Lord take it away blessed be the name of the Lord you're talking about a man that was committed to God regardless what he was going through was he suffering yes he was he was suffering pain yes he was he lost his kids he was very sick he lost everything his wealth and everything and he was committed to God we want to experience peace with God this year we need to commit our ways to the Lord Letter A, the comfort of our commitment. Look what it says, trust in him, verse five, and he shall bring it to pass. The great things about this verse is the comforting words that comes right after the beginning of the verse to help us to obey. The whole emphasis is that when we are walking in faith, placing our burdens on the Lord, he will take care of us. That takes faith to believe that. Lord, if I do that, you really going to help me? He will. listen we humans are something we live so by sight that is an unbelievable thing we look at what we have and things and then that's how we feel comfortable and feel secure it is amazing and we say I trust God okay if God will take everything from you in two seconds we still trust him or you complain God, I don't understand. I go to church. I have to give my tithes and offerings. I serve you. I shave. I'll take a shower. I'll go clean. I do this all for you, Lord. And you took everything from me? You don't love me. Let's go back to Job. Ouch. Imagine you, you put yourself in the feet of Job and you're going through that. Oh, but passing the end, God bless him immensely. Still, Joe, remember his kids that he lost. The Bible doesn't mention that, but listen, he was not made out of steel. He had emotions, he had a heart. He knew he lost his, yeah, God bless him, but he lost his children. Commitment means regardless what God gives and God takes. Lord, I'm still committed to you. Okay, so what should we do or be in this New Year resolution as we try to walk in peace with God? Number one, keep your walk under control, condition your heart's will, commit yourself to walk with the Lord. Number four, consecrate your weight for your sake. Look at verse seven, rest in the Lord and wait. patiently for him. This verse I need to read this verse because I have to ask the Lord to give me patience every single day. People say pastor you are very patient. Depends on the day and on the moment. All right. The one thing I struggle is with patience. You know you're like listen when you run a business like I did for many years is like this. I want to hear and now I don't want no excuses. But I'm telling you, that's how it is. That's how it works. But when it comes to everyday life, you need to learn to put that aside and be patient. Ask the Lord to help you with patience. For a time, I struggled immensely. I think the Lord has done a great job on me. But patience. the Bible says and wait patiently on him fret not thyself because of him you prosper in his way because of the men you bring it wicked devices this will be many times this there will be many times this year on which you have to be patient something that many of us don't have you know many times even in the workplace people have told me be patient Be patient. Thank you for reminding me of that. See and we need to be reminded to be patient and wait on the Lord because sometimes the Lord makes us wait so he can teach us something else in the process. Be willing to wait if necessary. Be willing to listen to the voice of the Lord if necessary. Be willing to learn in a moment the Lord is making you wait. We are told in this verse to rest. The word rest means to be silent. We are told not to fret, not to be afraid. The word means to blaze or to get hot here. It carries the idea of getting ourselves worked up in a rage over the condition of the world over us. Many people get enraged because of the politics, because of this, because of that. Why? All right. Do you ever get enraged standing in a red light? And you start talking with the light, why are you taking so long to turn green? What's the problem with this? I want to leave this and I'm sitting, I have a thousand things to do. Look at me, I'm sitting here. It looks like I've been here for three hours. Did you ever bend a red light saying that? I mean, all of us bend, especially you in a hurry and you go like, oh my, you know, sometimes it feels like that, isn't it? Feels like the Lord just, let me put the red light there for you because you just need to stop. And you go get, oh, finally, put the foot on the gas to the next red light. And then another half hour right there. It seems like that. I tell you, you know what? There's a reason for that. Can you imagine like you're talking to the red light, like the red light's going to talk back to you. There's a sensor there. That's why it turns red and green. And sometimes they prolong those things based on the traffic patterns. But we don't think that way. It's us first, right? It's all about me. I don't care. I don't care about these people. Listen, by the way, there are people that are in the other sides of the road and stop at a red light or go on. They're going somewhere just like you are. But I don't want nothing to do with that. It's me. Be patient. Be patient. I'm talking to myself. Be patient. Our duty during the difficult days that will come ahead is to be patient and silent while the Lord works out his purpose in our lives. This is not easy, but this kind of attitude was modeled by the Lord Jesus himself. When he was abused, when he was mocked, when he was crucified, he did not respond, but endure his affliction and yielded in silence. Look what it says in Isaiah 53, 7. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before the shearers, his domes, so he opened not his mouth. Sometimes we just need to wait patiently on the Lord and quietly wait on him. Why am I going to talk to the red light when the red light doesn't talk back to me? Why am I going to curse the red light when the red light doesn't? But people do it. I've seen people in rage with their fists up inside the car pointing at the light. You've probably seen the same thing too. And you're on the other side going, ugh. Sometimes we laugh, but let me tell you this. We laugh because we've been there too. And other people watched us. because we're very impatient. So how you walk in peace in this new year? Number five, my last point, conquer your anger. Look what it says in verse eight, cease from anger and forsake wrath. Now my question is, look what it says in the rest, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. What it says, anger and wrath. Okay, you don't get enraged in two seconds. You get angry, frustrated, then it turns to wrath. And when it turns to wrath, it begins to say things that you don't even mean. That's what happens to people. You're such in a rage that you see all kinds of stuff. You don't care who you're going to hurt, but you spit it right out because in the end is I'm going to make myself feel good. And regardless how you get it, this is the way you're going to be. You know why? Because in a stage of rage, it starts with anger. And God says, cease from anger. You want to have peace with God? Get rid of anger. Get rid of anger. But pastor, it's easy for you to say that. It's not easy. I'm a human being just like you are. Some people doesn't take much. It goes like this. It's like a bomb. Boom! They have anger under their skin. I mean, sometimes it seems like they walk angry all the time. You see something, it's like walking on eggshells with some people, you know, because this is what you say, they explode immediately. Some people, there's like a pressure cooker. It's cooking, it's cooking, it's cooking. And if you open the pressure cooker, when it's cooking, what's gonna happen? Thank you, I'm glad you answered the question. Boom! You know, because there's a lot of pressure there and some people watch out when they explode. But God says, don't be quick to anger, don't be a pressure cooker. Cease from anger. When you're gonna experience the peace of God this year, why be angry? We live today and die tomorrow. Should we enjoy the days that God gave us? Again, it comes to this. you can get these points that I'm giving you and look at the Bible and say, I'm going to, I'm going to Lord, I want to do this. Or you can say, I don't care. But in the end of the day goes like this. You cannot undo what you did yesterday is done. You just have memories of it. You cannot live tomorrow because you're not there yet. What you can control is today, how you live today. You can make that commitment to the Lord today. and you cannot control what other people do around you regardless if you get angry if you get upset you cannot control what other people do the only thing you can control is you you want to walk with in peace with God you got to commit those ways to the Lord and say Lord this is what I want in my life learn to subdue your anger letter a learn to subdue your anger is not The Bible says be quick, be slow to speak and slow to anger. So subdue your anger. Learn if you are a person that is quick to anger, if you are a pressure cooker, let me tell you this, learn to subdue your anger. There are four basic rules of communication shared in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 that I want to share with you this morning as we're about to close that helps you to overcome anger. in this new year, okay? Let me give it to you. I don't know if you have any outline, but I'm giving it to you. Be honest when you speak. You want to subdue angry? Be honest what you speak. Ephesians 4, verse 15 and verse 25. Be honest when you speak to people. Regardless what people say, be a person of integrity and honesty. Keep that with you. Number two, use self-control. Use, control your words, control your attitude, control it. If you do that, you will cease forming. Use self-control, Ephesians 4, verse 26 and 27. Use self-control. Number three, this is a big one. Attack the problem, not the person. Ephesians 4, 29 and 31. Attack the problem, not the person. A lot of times, you know, there's a situation, let's deal with the situation, not the person. because when you attack the person, you lose friendships, you lose relationships, you hurt people, and they want nothing to do with you after. So don't attack the problem, I'm sorry, attack the problem, not the person. Number four. act don't react look what it says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 31 that obedience and wrath and anger and claim and even speak evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and look what it says in verse 32 and be ye kind that self-control with one another tenderhearted that self-control forgiving one another that self-control even as God for Christ's sake had forgiven you How we forgive? The way Christ forgave us. How we get rid of it? The way Jesus did. And you know what? When you do that, you're going to experience peace in your heart. Control anger. Listen, we live in a very angry world today. People are angry at everything. You know, like the first of the year, what happened, if you watch the news, the things that go on and it was still going on, people are angry about everything. It's always somebody else's problem. They don't see that they have a problem. It's always somebody else's problem. But I tell you what, if we follow this, I guarantee you, you will experience peace in your heart regardless of what goes around you. It can be an eruption of a volcano around you and you're still walking with peace. Yea, true, I walk to the valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil, for thou art with me. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord, for these little things that you give us in this psalm. What a way to walk in our world today, Lord. We're still going to have to make that decision. Which way are we going to walk? Are we going to walk trusting you or are we going to walk trusting ourselves? Are we going to walk trusting you? Are we going to walk to please others? Are we going to walk trusting you? Or are we going to walk trusting the world? Help us, Lord. I pray for my brothers and sisters here this morning. Lord, I pray for each one of them. Lord, control their walk. Walk with them. May they surrender to you everything, Lord, and walk in a controlled walk and commit thy ways unto you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. If you could stand, please. singing song of invitation this morning and I want to remind you we do have our service tonight at 6 p.m. just as I am God will use you just as you are Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Listen, I want you to leave without being encouraged, okay? Here's one thing I want you to know. God loves you. And God doesn't want you to suffer. He doesn't want you to go through all these things. God loves you unconditionally regardless of what you have done in the past. But God wants you to love Him unconditionally too and live for Him. Here's the way it goes. We're going to walk this new year. we're gonna walk and I hopefully by the end of the year we will be here still I hope nobody departs yet to heaven all right love serving the Lord with you but regardless of the days ahead we're all gonna make a choice on which way we're gonna walk we're either gonna walk with the Lord trusting him or we're gonna trust ourselves and ignore totally what he says I cannot make that choice for you. You have to make that choice for yourself. I make that choice for myself. I would say to you and encourage you, let's pattern ourselves after the Lord. Let's walk in a way that pleases Him this year. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the Bible. Thank you, Lord, for God's Word. Thank you, Lord, we can read it, we can memorize it, we can apply it to our lives. And Lord, remind us often this year that you love us unconditionally. Remind us, Lord, when we are in despair and discouraged, that we are loved by you. Remind us, Lord, when life doesn't make sense to us, that you love us. Remind us, Lord, because we are easy to forget. Go with us, Lord, bring us back again. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You are dismissed.