TO BE FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH!       DO1717            12/83
--Just Be Faithful Today!
Dad's New Year's Eve Message to You!

         1. I THINK ONE OF THE BEST VERSES I COULD GIVE YOU FOR THE COMING YEAR, & FOR THAT MATTER THE REST OF YOUR LIFE & MINISTRY IS: "HE THAT IS FAITHFUL UNTO THE END, I WILL GIVE A CROWN OF LIFE!" (Rev.2:10) Now, that is not talking about Salvation. The Lord is talking about your faithfulness in service, if you're faithful from now unto death, from now till the day you die.
         2. JUST STAY FAITHFUL & KEEP ON BEING FAITHFUL EVERY DAY. You can only live one day at a time, you can only be faithful one day at a time. So don't worry about when you weren't faithful yesterday or whether you're going to be faithful tomorrow, but do your best to be faithful today. Forget the past & tomorrow will take care of itself, or the Lord will take care of it. Just be faithful today, every day, one day at a time, & you'll be faithful unto death & you'll inherit an eternal crown of life!--And I believe that's going to be some kind of an actual halo or shining crown, that you're going to shine like the stars for being faithful! PTL?
         3. IF YOU THINK ABOUT TRYING TO BE FAITHFUL THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, THAT JUST SCARES YOU, THAT WORRIES YOU. That's just too big, you'll never make it. But what about today?--Weren't you pretty faithful today? Give the Lord a little credit & thank the Lord for what a miracle it is! Look how long He's kept you already! You worried about all those days & all the events to come, & you had many worries, nearly all of which never even happened. Here you are! You're still here, you're still faithful!
         4. LOOK AT ALL THAT TIME YOU WASTED ON WONDERING ABOUT WHETHER YOU WERE GOING TO BE FAITHFUL OR NOT! All that time you worried about it was wasted, 'cause here you are!--Still serving the Lord, still faithful, still doing your job! So quit worrying about the future! Quit worrying about whether you're going to make it tomorrow or not! "Fret not thyself for the morrow, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof!" (Mt.6:34) Don't try to live the whole year in advance, just keep busy today, do what you're supposed to do today, be faithful today!
         5. THAT'S THE TROUBLE, TOO MANY PEOPLE THINK ABOUT "FAITHFUL" AS BEING SOME KIND OF A WORKS THING THAT YOU WORKED UP & THAT YOU DID. Faith comes from the Lord, by hearing the Word, reading the Word, & if you're faithful, you're full of faith! (Rom.10:17) So the best thing I could possibly ask of the Lord for you for the coming year, & me too, is that we just all be faithful! The most important thing for a servant is to be found faithful, as Paul says. (1Co.4:2)
         6. SO QUIT TRYING SO HARD! QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT! QUIT TRYING TO WORK IT UP OR EVEN PRAY IT DOWN! The church used to say, "Don't work it up, pray it down!" Well, I can't even depend on praying it down. I just have to depend on the Lord keeping me faithful, that's all, & trust Him that my faith won't fail, because my faith comes from Him. Faith is a gift of God, so praise the Lord!
         7. NOW DOESN'T THAT HELP YOU RELAX A LITTLE BIT? JUST REMEMBER, ONLY THE LORD CAN KEEP YOU FAITHFUL! You have to give Him a little cooperation, you have to listen, you have to read, you have to obey, but that's the easy part. It's His job to keep you faithful! So don't worry about it. Just be faithful.
         8. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO HAVE FAITH FOR A WHOLE DAY. You don't even have to have faith for the next hour! You don't even have to have faith for this hour!--Not even for this minute, because a minute is a period of time. Just have faith for this moment, this split second, right now, one moment at a time! That's all you have to have faith for! That's all!
         9. SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WAKING UP IN THE MORNING THINKING, "HAVE I GOT FAITH FOR TODAY?" NOT EVEN THAT! Just have faith for each little thing you do all day long. They always ask me, "How come you never know what you're going to do?" Well, how am I going to know what I'm going to do? I don't know what the Lord's going to do until He shows me or tells me or He does it!
         10. "BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH," HE SAYS, "& I WILL GIVE YOU A CROWN OF LIFE!" You're going to get a special crown, you're going to have a crown that you can be proud of! That's what's going to show what you have done for the Lord. And the Lord wants the World to see it! He wants all Creation to see the badge of your faithfulness, a crown of life!
         11. OF COURSE, YOU'RE GOING TO FALL DOWN BEFORE THE LORD & CAST YOUR CROWNS BEFORE HIM LIKE THE 24 ELDERS! (Rev.4:10) Every time you start praising the Lord you're going to forget all about that crown & it's going to tumble off right at His feet, amen?--When you bow down & give Him the glory, casting your crowns at His feet! PTL! But anyhow, He gave it to you, so you'd better pick it up again & wear it, because that's the one He gave you.
         12. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO WAIT TILL THE NEW EARTH & NEW HEAVEN EITHER, YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT AT THE WEDDING SUPPER OF THE LAMB WHEN THE REWARDS ARE GIVEN OUT! That's when you're going to get your crown. Think of that!--In spite of all that damned Devil can do! About all he can do is try to scare you. That damned Devil tries to scare you to death if he can't do anything else! But thank God he hasn't hurt one of us here yet, thank the Lord! GBAKY faithful throughout the New Year!--In Jesus' name, amen!

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