DO 1717 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) PTL! Now you see, that was not talking about salvation like so many of the churches teach: "Well, if you're faithful & you be good & you always do the right thing & you don't make any mistakes & you don't have any sins & you're perfect all the time & you're saved & sanctified & been in the way for 30 years‚ maybe you'll make it." That's not what that verse is talking about at all. That is not talking about Salvation.

2. THE LORD IS TALKING ABOUT YOUR FAITHFULNESS IN SERVICE, IF YOU'RE FAITHFUL FROM NOW UNTO DEATH, FROM NOW TILL THE DAY YOU DIE—& we will all die except those who are raptured, & you'll be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1Cor.15:52)—& really those of us whose bodies die here‚ we actually never die! The Lord Himself promised, "He that believeth on Me shall never die!" (Jn.11:26) So you never really die. That verse is on Washington's tomb, God bless him! I expect to see that old Jew up there. I'll bet he's ashamed of the rest of them right now.

3. BUT ANYWAY‚ 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. You can only be faithful one day at a time. Don't worry about your whole life & "I wonder if I'm going to be faithful to the day I die, I wonder if I'll be faithful to the day of my death & be sure I get a crown of life?"

4. JUST BE FAITHFUL 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? So that's my prayer for you, that you will be faithful every day, just one day at a time—don't worry about the rest of them—until the day you die!

5. 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? Even if it was a day off, you were still faithful! You faithfully slept in, you faithfully ate a late breakfast which you were told to do. So you obeyed, you were faithful. And quite a few of you had little odds & ends of jobs to finish up. And you were faithfully reading the Word, faithfully praying, faithfully loving, faithfully loving the Lord, faithfully caring for the children, faithfully cooking, faithfully guarding. There were a lot of things you were faithfully doing today on your day off!

6. THESE POOR PEOPLE WHO TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS, THEY NEVER HAVE A DAY OFF! It's impossible for mothers & real fathers who help take care of them to ever have a day off. Their job is endless. They can't just shove the kids out the door & say, "All right, now you take care of yourself, I'm going to take a few hours off!" Somebody has to take care of them all the time, day & night.

7. BUT YOU WERE FAITHFUL TODAY! Come on now, weren't you faithful today? Give the Lord a little credit! Thank the Lord! You ought to be thankful to the Lord. If you weren't faithful today you wouldn't still be here right now! PTL? I'm trying to get you to appreciate yourself a little bit & 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!

8. LOOK AT ALL THAT TIME YOU WASTED ON WONDERING ABOUT WHETHER YOU WERE GOING TO BE FAITHFUL OR NOT or whether you were going to make it or not & whether you were going to arrive or not or whether you were going to still be serving the Lord. All that time you worried about it was wasted‚ 'cause here you are! Right?—Still serving the Lord, still faithful‚ still doing your job, maybe even a bigger job‚ more important than ever, especially here! So what were you worrying about‚ anyhow? Here you are! That ought to be enough to be thankful for. You were faithful—not yet unto death‚ but this far—& here you're going to die daily anyhow. So if you could make it this far you sure ought to be able to make it the rest of the way!

9. 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 & the next year after that & "I wonder if I'm going to make it through the Tribulation & I wonder if I'm going to be ready when the Lord comes & I wonder if I'm going to get any kind of a reward at all or a crown?" Quit worrying about that! Just keep busy today, do what you're supposed to do today, be faithful today! I'm trying to get you to say "amen" when I say you are faithful today! (Family: Amen!) You'd better say "amen", because the Lord kept you faithful today & you ought to thank Him for it & give Him all the glory!

10. 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, comes by hearing the Word‚ reading the Word‚ & if you're faithful, you're full of faith! (Rom.10:17) How many of you have still got your faith today? You're full of faith! How many of you still believe on the Lord today? You're full of faith! How many of you believe you're saved? You're full of faith! How many believe you're serving the Lord? You're full of faith! My goodness, you're so full of faith I don't see how you can hold it all!

11. YOU'VE BEEN FAITHFUL TODAY, YOU'VE BEEN FULL OF FAITH TODAY! Amen? So why worry about tomorrow, whether you're going to be full of faith tomorrow or not? You may have your little trials & testings, you may get discouraged sometimes, you may get tired, you may make a mistake, but so what? Good night, you're still much more full of faith than you are anything else, right?

12. 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) Amen? I used to have Aaron here, my righthand man, & some of you may remember some of those old lectures & classes & teaching when I was just pouring out the Scriptures, & every Scripture I'd pour he'd just quick pipe up & give the reference because he knew where they all were. I kind of miss him sometimes. God bless you Aaron, thank the Lord! I know you're doing a more important job now or you'd be here. Well, maybe he is here right now! TTL! I wouldn't be surprised if for this celebration he would be here. Amen! TYJ! PTL! Hallelujah!

13. HE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE, WE ARE ENCOMPASSED ABOUT WITH A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES! (Heb.12:1) There are millions!—No, there are billions of saints watching you, & I believe even witnessing this night & this little group here together. Because as far as I'm concerned, I believe this is the most important group in the whole World!

14. 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!

15. 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, full of faith, filled with faith which comes from Him, it's a gift of God! And all you have to do if you don't have enough faith is just hear the Word, read the Word, that's the source of faith‚ & He'll give you all the faith you need. Just keep trusting the Lord & don't worry about it.

16. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE FAITH FOR TOMORROW! You say‚ "Well, as late as it is & as tired as I am‚ I'd better start getting faith for tomorrow!" Ha! You don't have to have faith for next week or next month, certainly not for next year or the Tribulation, you don't have to have it, not now. Power for the hour! You'll get it when the time comes. The only faith you need is just for today.

17. HERE YOU ARE, IT'S THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR, ALMOST THE END OF THE DAY & ALMOST THE END OF THE YEAR & YOU'RE STILL HERE. HOW MANY OF YOU STILL HAVE FAITH? You're here‚ faithful‚ you made it through another year! So what were you worrying about, huh? Quit worrying about whether you'll make it through next year or not‚ you don't have to make it through next year. Just make it through the next 15 minutes of this year.

18. ONLY 14 MORE MINUTES & YOU HAVE MADE IT THROUGH THIS DAY, ANOTHER DAY OF FAITHFULNESS, & THEN YOU CAN GO TO SLEEP & NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW! Rest in the Lord, trust in Him & do good! PTL? And verily thou shalt be fed & thy days shall be long in the land. (Ps.37:3) So don't worry about it. Just be faithful, you don't even have to have faith for a whole day. Just have faith for this moment, right now, one moment at a time!

19. SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WAKING UP IN THE MORNING THINKING‚ "HAVE I GOT FAITH FOR TODAY?" NOT EVEN THAT! Just get up & go to the toilet & wash & brush your teeth & just have faith for each little thing you do all day long. That's all you have to have faith for. I mean, if a grain of mustard-seed faith can move a whole mountain, that shouldn't even take a microscopic microbe of faith to keep doing what little things you've got to do all day long!

20. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE FAITH FOR THE 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. If I just tell you that you only have to believe for this minute, some people would be worrying about what they were going to do for the next 59 minutes! You just have to have faith for this one second! Are you here? "Are you dere, Charlie?" Do you think you've got faith for this moment, this instant, this second? Well, you're here, you're still alive, you still love the Lord, you're still saved‚ you're still serving Him right this moment, this split second, that's all you have to have faith for! That's all!

21. QUIT WORRYING ABOUT THE FUTURE, QUIT WORRYING ABOUT TOMORROW, QUIT WORRYING ABOUT EVEN THE NEXT HOUR! "How am I going to do the dishes tonight?" or "How am I going to do that job of taking care of that baby again another day tomorrow?" Quit worrying about it! God will give you grace when the hour comes!—Not just power for the hour, He gives you power for the second or the split second, the instant! That's all you need. The only faith you need is what you have got right now! How many of you have got faith now? Well okay, don't worry then! That's all you need, just the faith for now. PTL? So what are you worrying about?

22. 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! We weren't going to have a midnight service. I said, "No, no, they had a late night last night, I can't keep them up another night, I'd rather see them get to bed a couple of hours early. We're going to knock off at 10 o'clock!" When I plan like that, see how wrong I can be? This is the first night I really tried to plan! I planned to knock off at ten o'clock, & my goodness, your beautiful reports weren't even done until 11! And my little report I was going to spend five minutes reading you, it took ten minutes, then I wasn't going to preach any sermons tonight at all! But I had to give you my little prayer for the coming year & my wish for you & my verse & that's it. PTL?

23. "BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH," HE SAYS, "& I WILL GIVE YOU A CROWN OF LIFE!" You're going to get a special crown, a lively crown‚ a lit-up crown, a shining crown, a glowing crown! I believe in halos! The Catholics weren't all that wrong. Lots of people have had halos & seen halos, not just the saints.—All the saints‚ you, you saints! You're going to have a crown that you can be proud of!

24. 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. You wouldn't throw away a thing like that, would you? A bride doesn't throw away her ring if she still loves her husband, & that's sort of the ring He's going to give you, ring around the rosies! 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 the people to see it, He wants all creation to see the badge of your faithfulness‚ a Crown of Life!

25. JUST THINK, 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!

26. THANK GOD FOR PEACE! Pity those poor people in Beirut. We even have some Radio disciples in Beirut, think of that! You'd better pray for them. A lot of those Arabs are Christians, you know, & it was mostly the Christian Arabs who stayed in Israel when the rest of them left. That's why we found so many Christian Arabs there. Well, at least they're fairly safe & they're not fighting wars like Arafat & his mob & they're not getting killed. They have a little persecution, the Jews are a little rough on'm, but the Arabs inside Israel are the safest ones in the World! They're not involved in all these other wars—Lebanese wars, Syrian wars, American wars & all the rest.

27. THE LORD SENT THEIR PEACE EVEN IF THE DEVIL DID BRING IT! Even if they haven't got what they used to have, at least they're there & fairly secure & safe & most of them are Christians inside of Israel today. The Jews kind of mistreat them even though they brag in the newspaper about them having full Israeli citizenship & all Israeli rights. That's a lot of baloney! They don't. They're second-class citizens.—Just as they said that out of 300-&–some teachers at the University, only six are Arabs!

28. WHEN WE WERE THERE, OUT OF ALL THE THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS AT THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY IN HAIFA, THERE WAS ONLY ONE ARAB! We met him & talked to him & he's the one that told us about it. But at least he could go to University instead of having to run around after Arafat carrying a gun & getting run out of every country—not only out of Palestine, but out of Israel & out of Lebanon & out of Jordan & probably out of Syria & the rest of them, Tunisia & whatnot! Pretty soon there's not going to be any place for them to go but up, & a lot of them have already gone up.

29. SO BE THANKFUL THAT WHATEVER TROUBLES YOU MAY HAVE, YOU DON'T HAVE WAR. I remember my Mother was riding on a three-day & three-night train trip, maybe four, all the way from Miami to Los Angeles by way of Chicago during the war, when everything was so crowded they were sleeping in the aisles & sleeping in the luggage racks overhead! She was having to sit there with one of my sister's children on her lap almost the whole trip, one after the other, because there was no room for special seats for kids.

30. BY & BY SHE WAS BEGINNING TO WONDER IF SHE WAS GOING TO MAKE IT & SHE COMPLAINED TO THE COLOURED PORTER ONE NIGHT THAT SHE JUST COULDN'T SLEEP, everything was so noisy & she was so uncomfortable. She said, "Can't you find me a berth yet in the pullman car?" Everything was booked. He said, "Ma'am, I tells you what you do! You jes' close your eyes & you think about those boys out yonder in those shellholes & foxholes & all that war going on overhead & wondering what minute one of those shells are going to hit them & unable to sleep at all & halfway knee-deep in the mud & the water & the blood! You jes' close your eyes & think about what they're going through & lie back & rest & you'll sleep like a baby!" And believe it or not, she took his advice & did that & went right sound asleep! She was so thankful she had a seat to sit in & a place to lay her head! Well, I never dreamed we were going to make it to the midnight hour, but we've only got two minutes to go, so let's pray! PTL!

31. YOU KNOW, THERE'S AN OLD TRADITION, RUMOUR, LEGEND OR BELIEF THAT WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING AT MIDNIGHT WHEN YOU START THE NEW YEAR‚ THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE DOING ALL YEAR! The woman you're with at midnight is the woman you're going to be with all year, or the one you want to be with all year. Well, what would you like to be doing all year?—Serving the Lord, full of faith, in the fellowship of His children & praising & thanking the Lord for the past year & praising & thanking Him for the coming year! Amen? Because I think we've got at least another year to go. After all, why would the Lord have given Maria all these ideas of all these pubs if she wasn't going to print them? That's what she's counting on!

32. IT'S MIDNIGHT, THE NEW YEAR IS DAWNING‚ SO LET'S PRAY! PTL! You sure don't want to be sitting here while I'm still talking or I'll be talking all year! Let's pray quick! Hallelujah! Let's sing it! (Sings the Lord's Prayer loudly over all the noise outside!) "And may the Words of my mouth & the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength & my Redeemer!" (Ps.19:14.) And God damn the Devil & all his crowd out there in Jesus' name! Amen! (All pray: "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep!") PTL!

33. (SINGS:) "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR NEW YEAR‚ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" You never heard it sung like that before?—Neither did I! That was a new idea! I think it was a good idea, don't you? (Sings again:) "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear New Year! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you, only one will not do! We hope we'll have another‚ O Lord, how many have You?" PTL!

34. GBY ALL! GOOD NIGHT! IT'S TIME TO QUIT & TIME TO GO & GET TO BED WITH YOUR BED MATE, LOVER, ROOM MATE OR WHATEVER HE OR SHE IS, & THANK THE LORD FOR SOMEBODY! Maybe some of you can thank the Lord for nobody, for one night's rest! At least I know the guards are getting at least one night's good sleep! PTL! Hallelujah! Well‚ don't think that you have to be with the same woman all year just because you're sleeping with her tonight!

35. GOD BLESS YOU ALL! ILY! THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE & YOUR FORTITUDE & YOUR ENDURANCE‚ & THANK THE LORD FOR ALL THESE WONDERFUL REPORTS, AMEN? Wasn't it a great night? ILY! Start the New Year off right with a good night's sleep! Again‚ you know, you get tomorrow off, sleep in in the morning. I used to say you could sleep as long as you want in the morning as long as you get your work done! Hallelujah! Well, this is one time we can yell loud, we should take advantage of the opportunity! Don't stand around watching me‚ that won't get you to bed. You've been watching us long enough.

36. OH I FORGOT TO TELL YOU, THAT'S ANOTHER THING! A NEW RESOLUTION! THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE PATS & THE PETS!—A pat for the boys, a pet for the girls! GBY all! I love you! Get to bed unless you just want a pat & a pet! Well, maybe we can add a few squeezes! Pats, pets & squeezes, praise the Lord! If you're going to be with the woman you squeezed on New Year's Eve, I'm going to sure be with a lot of women! Thank you for a wonderful evening! Thank the Lord! GBAKY faithful throughout the New Year!—In Jesus' name, amen!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family