In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of living a life without murmuring and disputings. He encourages the audience to be blameless and harmless, shining as lights in a crooked and perverse generation. The preacher shares a personal experience of a flashlight that didn't work due to a disconnection, highlighting the need to be connected to God's supply. He emphasizes the power of praise and gratitude, urging the audience to start the year by praising the Lord. The preacher also emphasizes the importance of delighting in the Lord and pointing others to the unsearchable riches of Christ.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto the Name Most High, to show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night. And so it's good at the beginning of the new year to show forth His lovingkindness. And that's what our song said, every need His hand supplying. What a supply for this coming year. The only trouble is that most people don't have an appetite for that supply of God. The Bible says, My God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God talks about a great house and He says there are all kinds of vessels. There are vessels unto honor and there are vessels unto dishonor. There are jewel cases that house the jewels of the king. Vessels unto honor. And then there are garbage cans that pick up all the garbage, all the ill-smelling stuff. The Lord talks about vessels of glory. And that's what God is looking for in this meeting and among all the saints in all the world because He swore by Himself when Israel failed to receive His unspeakable supply. They didn't want God to come to them and be their supply. They didn't want His glory. They didn't want His righteousness. They didn't want His holiness. They wanted a golden cap. They wanted something to dance around. That's the way lots of people are today. Unless you give them something to dance around by, they don't think they're having a good time. Unless you give them a coffee clutch, they don't have a revival. All the forks, the knives are coming. Spoons are on the way. You see these pictures that are sent forth into all the world. My, what a revival we have. Sure, eight course dinner and then a little bit extra. But all for the glory of the Lord. That is, that are spoken of in the New Testament. The blood of the everlasting covenant brings these riches down from heaven because God taught us to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. And when His will is done on earth, it will be done in you and you will be transformed. The word came to me this morning, if any man be in Christ. He's a good ball player. He's a good eater. He's a new creation in Christ Jesus. What are these new creations like created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them? Those are the supplies that God holds out to his people because he has sworn by himself that the whole earth shall be filled with that glory of God. The unsearchable riches of Christ. These spiritual blessings where with God has blessed his people. These new creations, they're going to be like Jesus Christ. Glory to God. They're going to walk upon this earth in the same power and holiness in which Jesus Christ lived. And by power, I mean the power by which he was able to condemn sin in the flesh and always to say, not my will, but thy will be done. That requires real power. That requires an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Oh, this is a wonderful thing. At the beginning of the year to take a look into the treasury of Jehovah. And to see the ample supply. Oh, my God shall supply every need of yours. Not tomorrow, not next month, but now today. The supply is there according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus beloved. We know Jesus very badly if we don't realize that he is all and in all to us. He is made of God unto us. This grand and wonderful supply. This all sufficiency is in Jesus Christ. And that's why the apostle Paul says, I count everything but refuse. Put it into these vessels of wrath. I won't have anything to do with it anymore. Here is the supply of my God. My God, I can do all things. Think of it. Would you like to be the apostle Paul? Well, listen, that same blessing is for you. That same supply is here for you. It's offered to you in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the apostle Paul says, God showed me this mercy that I might be able to tell it to others. That I might be able to make others hungry for it and tell them of the unsearchable riches. Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. No wonder he enjoyed his job. No wonder he was so successful and so fruitful because he had something to offer to the people. Not out of his own treasury, but he pointed them to the treasury of Jehovah, thank God. And so it is good to give thanks unto the Lord. It's a good thing, a good thing to get up in the morning with a song of thanksgiving instead of grumbling. Some people get up with murmuring and grumbling. Ah, what does God say? Do all things without murmurings and disputings that you may be blameless and harmless. Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as light in the world. I had to do some work down the basement today and I took a flashlight somebody presented me with and I pressed the button and pressed the button. There was no light there. Here's light. There was no light. There was absolutely no light. There was a disconnection there. I had to get that battery connected first. And if your train gets stuck, it's either the ignition or the gas line, one or the other. Ah, beloved, the supply is there. Rivers of living water. Oh, come on, let's quit murmuring. Let us begin the beginning of this year by praising the Lord. Whosoever offereth praise glorified me. And we do that by forgetting the things that are behind, counting everything but refuse. But the Lord Jesus Christ, that's all I've got to do. Praise the Lord. The only thing in this life that is required of me is to delight myself also in the Lord. Isn't that a delightful job to occupy my soul, my mentality, my whole time with admiring the Lord Jesus Christ. When I came to this country, I had a friend who had a bicycle. I borrowed it. I wanted to do something, so I got on this old wheel. But it was one of these old-fashioned things, you know, that you had to really pump for a block and then get off and catch your breath and then get on again. But it was a wheel. It was a bicycle. I couldn't afford to buy one, a new bicycle. So I was glad to have this old wheel. And one day my friend died suddenly in a railroad accident. And it took his widow a long, long time to get over the shock. But when she was over, I went to her and asked her, would she sell me this bicycle? It was an old altus muebel we even enjoyed some. And she said, you want to buy this bicycle? You know what that cost? She said, ninety-five dollars. That took the wind out of my sails and the starch out of my collar. Ninety-five dollars. Well, I didn't have ninety-five cents, so I quit trying to buy that bicycle. But, you know, after a few weeks she relented. And she said, well, I'm going to make you a present of this bicycle in honor of my departed husband. So now I had a bicycle of my own. But it was a job to pump that thing, believe me. And somewhere along the way, I received a brand new wheel with coaster brakes. And there was a lamp both white and red. And it was chromium plated. And it ran like a jet airliner to speak evangelistically. And was I proud of that wheel. My goodness, I'd ride through the streets and look disdainfully at the kids that never had a wheel. I'd ride like this, you know. I wanted them to see my new bicycle and to admire it. But not only that, I wanted to get acquainted with it. So I got some monkey wrenches and took it apart. And then I had enough parts to build two bicycles. I didn't know how to put the thing together again. That was the trouble. But I was delighting myself in my new wheel. And that's a little illustration. And I forgot all about my old wheel. That was on the junk pile after that. I had no more. I didn't want to smell of it. I'd want to look at it anymore. And that's what happened to me when Jesus Christ came to me and revealed himself to me and the power of his resurrection. And I didn't have to pump the old bicycle anymore. Oh, my Lord supplied all the life and all the power. He has made unto me righteousness. I didn't have to try to be good anymore. I couldn't help it. Glory to God. How do you live? How do you live if any man be in Christ? He's a new creation. There is a fountain within. And Jesus Christ himself is that fountain. He says, The water that I give him will be within him a fountain. You don't have to pump anymore. You don't have to work anymore. Your job is now to get acquainted with this fountain and to watch it flow and to give it a chance to flow more abundantly. But we have a job. We do have a job. Thank God. Get that old wheel and put it on the junk pile. You'll never get rid of that vessel of wrath. It doesn't belong to you anymore. That's the doctrine of which Paul says you have obeyed from the heart. That form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. And that's what's the matter with people. We don't begin at the beginning. You've got to begin at the bottom. I told you when I got a new sweater for my Christmas present. I put it on. I sported it for breakfast. And lo and behold, I said, Now what idiot made this sweater of mine? There was one button too many on top and one missing at the bottom. Until grace set me straight. She said, Uncle, we learned in school that you've got to button it from the bottom. Then he come out all right. And when you start at the bottom with your Christian life, you come out all right. The first word is repent. Come out from among them and be ye separate. And you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine. Ye reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin. There's no joke about it. The devil will come along and he'll try to imitate the old man. I know what your old man's like. Your old man and my old man are twins. I know what he's like. But beloved, he is crucified with Christ and I, by faith I appropriate that power of his death. He condemned sin in the flesh. Sin shall not have dominion over you. It's impossible if you really obey from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you, that ye are crucified with Christ and you reckon yourselves dead indeed. Dead indeed. I was telling some folks about Louis. They said, who is Louis? Louis is Louis. Meet me in St. Louis, Louis. Louis was a gangster, the leader of a gang in Detroit. And when a missionary by the name of Weatherby came from New Guinea, he brought the little guinea with him, a little native, a little darkie. He had been a headhunter and a headhunter par excellence. And he brought him along because this little guinea followed Mr. Weatherby wherever he went. And he was a good servant and he liked him. And when he came home, he was supposed to be a retired missionary. He didn't like to be retired, so he took up the fight with the gangs in Detroit. And they took up a fight with him. They tried to kill him several times. And one day, the leader of the gang, whose name was Louis, he was only known as Louis, he stole into the backyard while Mr. Weatherby was sitting at his desk, and he took one shot at him through the window. And Mr. Weatherby fell down, what was supposed to be dead, but he wasn't dead. He was taken to the hospital. And of course, the police was looking for these gangsters. They knew who was the leader of the gang. They couldn't find Louis. He was gone. He had disappeared entirely. They just couldn't locate him for some reason or other. And they questioned the other gangsters, but they knew nothing about it. And after some months, Mr. Weatherby recovered his health, came home, and all his friends brought him presents, flowers and whatnot. And this little guinea came also with a present. He brought him, wrapped in a brown paper, something that the guineas treasure very much, a head shrunken and pickled. And Mr. Weatherby didn't care for that head at all, but he took it graciously, and then he presented it to the Museum of Natural History in Detroit, and they advertised it. They said, you've got the real thing now. They put it in an exhibition in a special room, and here was this head. Genuine, they had had imitations before, but this was the real thing. And people came to gaze at this head. And one day, two fellas came in, striped pants and jaws, you know, like an anvil. They were gangsters. They stood and they looked at this head, and they became pale as sheets, and their legs began to wobble. Say, that's Louis. That's Louis. And they wobbled out of that room, you know, they could hardly walk, from fright. Next day, about six of them came. Same thing happened. But one of them finally made bold to go to the office and ask, where did you get that head from? They knew it was Louis. Well, the man in the office said, we got it from a missionary who used to work among the headhunters. And I bet he's got more heads like that in his office. Well, they never bothered him again. What had happened, that little guinea was up in the trees when Louis took a shot. And of course, he couldn't fight him, but he watched his features, and then he followed him like a cat. And the rest you know. And if Jesus Christ has a chance, you love him, you'll be pickled and shrunk too. Well, it's an illustration that you may not forget for the rest of your year, this year. I want you to know that the only doctrine is to be really reckon yourself dead in day. Oh, if you give Jesus Christ a chance, he will not only take care that sin shall not have dominion over you, and your own life will bother you no more. You will be tempted, yes, but there will be that new life, alive unto God through Jesus Christ my Lord. And oh beloved, that results in prayer without ceasing. This new creature has to breathe, and we breathe a different atmosphere. Our conversation is in heaven. Thank God for men's also. We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change even this vile body. And your vile body, this earth-born body will receive resurrection power as long as you're on this earth. And then when he calls you, he'll fill you with his own life. And this vile body shall be transformed into the likeness of his glorified body. Oh, let us take to heart this text. It is a good thing. In the morning to laud yourself with the exceeding great and precious promises which are yea and amen in Jesus Christ toward you. That means they're addressed to you personally. And there's not only plenty, but exceeding abundance above all that we can ask or think. What a year will it be!