In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of placing our trust in the Lord rather than in the government for protection. The sermon also focuses on biblical prophecies and the events that are predicted to take place in the future. The preacher encourages the audience to join them for a communion service to end the old year and begin the new year in communion with the Lord. The sermon then transitions to a study of 1 Kings 4-6, specifically focusing on God's resolution to Solomon and His promise to dwell among the children of Israel if they walk in His statutes and commandments. The sermon concludes with a reading of Psalm 19, highlighting the declaration of God's glory by the heavens and the knowledge revealed through day and night.

Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Psalm 19. I'll read the first, the odd-numbered verses. Pastor Brian will lead the congregation in the even-numbered verses, and let's stand as we read the Word of God. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth showeth forth its handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from one end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. And the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb. And more over by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me, and then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the rules that you have given to us. And as we read the law of the Lord, we have to confess it is perfect. The judgments of the Lord are true, righteous altogether. The commandments of the Lord are just. And Lord, we realize that in keeping of them there is great reward. And so may we, Lord, meditate in your law, both day and night, that we might be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity that we have this day of gathering together on the last day of the year that we can worship on Sunday. And to just again close out the year with a testimony of your faithfulness. You have brought us thus far. Lord, and as we enter into the uncertainties of a new year where the world is in such chaos and turmoil, we thank you, Lord, that we can enter this new year with great confidence, knowing your faithfulness in the past is only a testimony of your faithfulness in the future. And so, Lord, we walk by faith, putting our confidence in you that you, Lord, will keep with your servants those promises that you have made to those that would walk uprightly in the fear of the Lord. Bless now, we pray, Lord, the study of the word. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Tomorrow night we're looking forward to a special evening I know of no better way to end the year than in fellowship with the Lord, with God's people. And so we'll be gathered here at nine o'clock tomorrow evening. Special evening of service and waiting upon God. And we are living, as we're all aware, in perilous times. War has been declared against the United States by extremists. They are promising that in the next few weeks, they will send their second assault against us and that the world towers will be nothing compared with what's coming next. Probably empty threats, but we don't know. Designed, no doubt, to create fear in our hearts as to what might be next as they launch their second wave of attacks against us. Is our trust in our government? Or is our trust in the Lord to protect and to shield us from the attacks of the enemy? We'll be looking at what the Bible has to say about these days in which we're living. The things that are coming to pass upon the earth. In our message tomorrow night, sort of a biblical preview of what's in store for the future. And as it would appear, we'll actually be taking place in this coming year. Certainly the whole scene is set as far as the events of these last days. And so we'll be looking at biblical prophecies and giving insights into what lies in store in the future for the church and for the people of God and what lies in store for the world. So we encourage you to be with us tomorrow evening and we'll close out the old year and begin the new year in communion with the Lord as we will have a communion service to end the old year and to begin the new. This evening we'll be studying 1 Kings chapters 4 through 6 as we continue our journey through the Bible. This morning we'd like to draw your attention to chapter 6 beginning with verse 11. God is making a resolution to Solomon. A resolution is a formal statement of a purpose or intent. God is making a formal statement of his purposes and intents. The word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, concerning the house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then will I perform my word with you which I spoke unto David your father, and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel. And so Solomon built the house and finished it. But God's promise was that I will dwell among the children of Israel. It seems like it has always been God's desire to dwell among his people. In the beginning when God first created Adam and Eve, quite obvious the purpose was for a meaningful relationship. That God might dwell with them, that God might commune with them. And we read that God came into the garden at the cool of the day. Obviously for the intention of communing with Adam and Eve. Just that wonderful time of sharing. But we read that Adam hid himself from God. And God called out and he said, Adam where are you? And he confessed that he had hid himself because he was ashamed of his nakedness. God said, who told you you were naked? Did you eat of the tree which I told you not to eat? God wants fellowship, but sin always breaks fellowship. Isaiah said, the hand of the Lord is not short that he cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear. But your sins have separated you from God. And so God who desires to dwell with his people is hindered from dwelling with them often because of the sin that is in the heart of his people. Back in Leviticus, God said, I will walk among you. I will be your God. You shall be my people. That was God's desire for Israel. I want to walk among you. I'll be your God. You will be my people. And God said, I want you to keep your camp clean. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of the camp. As God spoke to Israel about the enemies that they would be facing, he said, don't be afraid of them. For the Lord your God is among you. And he is a mighty God and awesome. God is among you. He's a mighty God. He's an awesome God. And again, the prophet spoke of the day when God would come and would dwell among his people. Isaiah said that unto us a child shall be born. Unto us a son will be given. And the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. He's coming to dwell among the people. And as again, Isaiah said, a virgin will conceive and bring forth a son and call his name Emmanuel, which by interpretation means God with us. You see, God desires to dwell with his people, to dwell in the midst of his people. There are verses in the scripture that always just inspire awe in my heart when I read them. They're found in John chapter one. As John said, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. And the same was in the beginning with God and all things were made by him. And without him was not anything made that was made. And then down in verse fourteen, John said, and the Word was made flesh and he dwelt among us. Or more literally, he pitched his tent among us. Because God desires to dwell amongst his people. Jesus said, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them. He loves to be with his people. And so God is promising to Solomon that he will dwell with his people Israel. But there is even something even greater in the New Testament. And that is, Jesus said to his disciples, I will pray unto the Father. He will give you another comforter, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knows it. But you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. Not only does God want to dwell with his people, but now through the Spirit God wants to dwell in his people. Paul said, don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you? God dwelling not only in the midst, but dwelling in his people. The second promise that God made to Solomon was that he would not forsake his people Israel. God had met King Asa, the prophet had met King Asa, as he was returning from victory over the Ethiopians. And he said to the king, the Lord is with you while you will be with him. And if you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. The Lord is with you, if you'll just be with him. Seek him, you'll find him. But forsake him, he'll forsake you. The Lord made a promise to Jacob. He said, behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go. I will bring you again into this land, for I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you. Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau, stopped at Bethel, grabbed a rock for a pillow, and there the Lord spoke to him, promising that he would be with him wherever he went, would not forsake him. Moses encouraged the people in Deuteronomy 33, saying, the eternal God is your refuge. Underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy before you. And he encouraged Joshua as he sort of turned the reins of government over to him. He said, have not I commanded you to be strong and of good courage? Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. He's not going to forsake you, he's with you wherever you go. When the king of Assyria had set siege against the city of Jerusalem. Assyria, that mighty power of the world at that time that had destroyed and had brought into captivity the other nations. And now the Lord is saying to the people through Hezekiah the king, as Jerusalem is besieged by this great army of the Assyrians. And Hezekiah gathered the people, and he said, be strong and courageous. Be not afraid nor dismayed of the king of Assyria, nor for all of the multitude that is with him. For there are more with us than are with him. With him is the arm of flesh, but with us is Yahweh, our God, to help us and to fight our battles. The confidence, the Lord with us, not forsaking us. We can face the strongest enemy with confidence, because greater is he that is with us than he that is in the world. Or as Paul asked, if God be for us, who can be against us? With all of the uncertainties that are in the world today, can we actually enter into the year 2002 with real confidence and assurance? If we take the Lord with us, we can. He has promised that He would not forsake us. He has promised that He would be with us, and no matter what may come, in 2002 there's one thing that we can be certain of, and that is the presence and the power of the Lord watching over us and keeping us. These are the promises that the Lord had made to his people. The Lord is with you wherever you go. He's promised to keep you. He is your refuge, and underneath are his everlasting arms. He is greater than any force or power that might be against you. God said, fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. Yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. This is what God has resolved to be and to do for you in the year ahead. But we must note that when God made these resolves to Solomon, they were conditional. The Lord said to Solomon, if you walk in my statutes, if you execute my judgments, if you keep my commandments. In the New Testament, Jesus sort of condensed all of the statutes, the laws, the commandments, the testimonies into just two. When questioned one day as to which was the greatest commandment, Jesus said that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. He said, on these two are all the law and the prophets. In other words, in summating what God wants you to do, the laws of God, the judgments, the statutes, they all involve your loving God supremely. Preeminently. And loving one another. That's all that God has commanded. He is a God of love. And he has commanded us to love him and to love each other. And in this, you have fulfilled the law, the commandments of God. Paul said basically the same thing in Romans 13. He said, oh no man anything but to love one another. For he that loves has fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. For Paul said, love works no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Do you want God's presence with you? Do you want God's help and God's strength? Then we must love one another as God has loved us. But this love is a special kind of love. Let me read to you a biblical definition of this love that the scripture is talking about here. It surely is not the Greek eros, which is a physical love. And it is even deeper than the phileo, a brotherly love. But it is a love as defined, is long-suffering, and it is kind. It does not envy it. It does not vaunt itself. It is not puffed up. It is not haughty or selfish. It doesn't demand having its own way. It isn't provoked and does not think evil. It does not rejoice in iniquity, but it does rejoice in truth. It bears all things. It believes all things. It hopes all things. And it endures all things. It never fails. If we'll walk in love for God and for one another, then we can have that assurance of God's presence and help in the coming year. In 1st Kings chapter 11, we read a sad postscript to our text. In our text, God is saying to Solomon, if you will walk in my statutes, execute my judgments, keep my commandments to walk in them, then I will perform my word and I will dwell among the children of Israel and I will not forsake you. I will not forsake the people Israel. But in chapter 11, verse 4, we read, then it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcommon, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he went not fully after the Lord as did his father David. And then did Solomon build a high place for Shemash, the abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all of his strange wives, which he burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord, the God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. And he had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore, the Lord said to Solomon, For as much as this is done by you, you have not kept my covenant, my statutes, which I have commanded thee. I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Solomon did not keep his part. God's resolves were conditional upon Solomon keeping his part. We see God wanted to bestow blessings upon Solomon, even as God is wanting to bestow his blessings upon you this day. God wants to do so much for you, but often he can't, because you're in a place where he cannot bless you. You've allowed bitterness to poison the waters. You've become jealous or envious of others. Hatred has filled your heart. God wants to dwell with his people, but he cannot and will not dwell in an atmosphere of bitterness and hatred and strife. As Jesus was addressing the church of Ephesus and speaking of all of the wonderful positive things that were going on in that church, he said, But I have this against you. You have left your first love. Now I want you to remember from whence you have fallen. I want you to repent and do your first works over, or else I am removing my presence from you. As we go into the year 2002, I think that it is good to make resolutions. I think that it is even better to keep those resolutions that we have made. And I think that we need to resolve that we're going to walk in God's love. That we're going to put God first in our lives. We're going to love him supremely. We're going to make God first. Our relationship with him, the preeminent issue. And that through his power, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will allow God's love to flow forth from us unto others. We will walk in love. If you will make that resolution, and if you will keep that resolution, I can guarantee that God will keep his resolution. And that God will be with you. He'll not forsake you. And that he will bless you with all of the promises that he has made unto our fathers. That they will be yours. And that the year 2002 will be the greatest, most exciting and wonderful year of your life. Guaranteed. If you put God first, and your love for him preeminent, God will make his resolve. But it's always conditioned upon our putting him above everything else. Let's pray. Father, we eagerly enter into a new year. Always, Lord, it's exciting to think that we have a new start. Past is past. And we take our hats off to the past. But Lord, we take our coats off to the future. We want to serve you in this coming year. Lord, we want to love you more than we've ever loved you before. We want to make you first in our lives, in our thoughts, the center of our activities. May they be, Lord, focused around you. And as we walk, Lord, in full and complete fellowship with you, may we also, Lord, walk in love towards one another. And that, Lord, you might find here an environment in which you are very comfortable. And that you can walk, Lord, among your people as the atmosphere of love prevails. Lord, we realize that we don't have much time to get the message out to a lost and dying world. Help us, Lord, that we might be faithful in doing so in the time that remains. And let them know that God is not a God of hatred. He is not a God who destroys, inspired by hatred. That he is a God of love. And may that love, Lord, be manifested through our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Shall we stand? A resolution. A resolution is a formal statement of purpose or intent. I would encourage you to make a resolution. A formal statement, purpose, and intent. To walk in God's love. Loving God above and beyond everything else. And with his help, loving one another, even as he loved us. Some of you have allowed bitterness, allowed hatred, envy, jealousy, to sort of master your life. And as you look at things, you have to admit they've choked out God's blessings. God can't dwell and will not dwell in that environment. He dwells in the environment of love. And perhaps you've been missing his fellowship, his presence in your life. Time to make a resolve. Time to start over again. Time to begin anew. And I would encourage you, the pastors are down here at the front. Come on down. The Bible says, confess your faults one to another. Pray one for another. And just come down and confess the bitterness, the strife and all that's in your heart towards that person. Get rid of it. It's choking out God's blessings. It's keeping you from all that God is wanting to do for you. Don't allow it to remain. Get rid of it and let God's love begin to rule in your heart and life. And so as soon as we're dismissed, I would encourage you, don't take the bitterness home with you. Don't take that hatred home with you. Leave it here. Confess it and then ask God's help. Because God wants you to walk in love. And if we ask anything according to his will, we know that he hears us. And if he hears us, then we know we have received the things that we have asked of him. We know that it's God's will that we walk in love. Ask God to help you. And you're asking according to his will. He will hear you and he'll put his love in your heart. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.