(12/31) Welcome to all of you on this last day of the year. We are standing on the threshold of a new year and I believe the Lord has given me a word to propel you into the new year.

This past week almost every publication, media outlet, website, even my Microsoft Edge homepage invites us to consider their "Year in Review" with everything from clips on the nightly news to the most played songs on Spotify. And so, we recognize the value of taking a moment to pause and reflect on where we have been, to remember all that we have experienced, to learn from it and move forward.

Time and time again we see God commanding his people to look back on all that he has done, and to make a memorial, so as not to forget. We find Jacob seeing the heavens open and angels descending and ascending. He called that place the house of God because he literally thought he had found the portal that opened up the heavens. The Bible says,

"Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar…" (Genesis 28:18-19).

Joshua made a pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, "at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day" (Joshua 4:9).

"Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped us" (1 Samuel 7:12).

And so, I’m so glad that you are here, because we are Looking Back, Looking Forward, remembering the baptisms, graduations, weddings, and other celebrations. As we look back, remembering, we are teaching our children about the faithfulness of God. This is a witness to how God has worked for years and years, creating lasting memories, and it’s a reminder, "Thus far has the Lord helped us."

This is so important, I hope you get this deep in your spirit, because as the Scripture says,

"The grass withers and the flower fall, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8).

In other words, the Word of God will be told forever, true forever, and forever powerful. And so, if you are wondering if God has a word for you today, I want you to know that I have never had a sermon that the Lord began speaking to me in so many different ways. In other words, there must be something you are needing from him, something you have been going through, that he made sure that he got through to me so that I can get it to you.

If you have your Bible turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter thirty-one. Deuteronomy chapter thirty-one, verse twenty-four and following says,

"After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord: "Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you" (Deuteronomy 31:24-26).

Can you feel the power of that? Moses said, "this word will remain as a witness against you." In other words, there is power in the word of God, because Jesus said,

"The one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (John 12:48).

And so, it’s the word of our God that stands forever. Jesus said, "Whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." And so, who am I to tell him, "No"?

Moses told all the people to assemble because he wanted to take it up another level. He said he was going to speak to them and call heaven and earth to testify against them. When they had all gathered, he said,

"Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants" (Deuteronomy 32:1-2).

"I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he" (Deuteronomy 32:3-4).

In other words, he is God, and he will always be God. Everything else in the story changes, but God remains the same, because he is absolute, he is stable, he is the rock, he is the foundation, the cornerstone, the all sufficient one. He is our mighty God, complete within himself. And you would think that Israel would have exalted such a great God and countered it a privilege to know him and serve him, but they didn’t. Moses says this about the people of God,

"They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. Is this the way you repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?" (Deuteronomy 32:5-6).

And yes, he is, he is the Lord your God. Before the mountains were born, before he brought forth the earth, from everlasting to everlasting he is God. And so, Moses says,

"Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you" (Deuteronomy 32:7).

In Deuteronomy, forty-three times the Lord commands his people to reflect upon, teach, remember, and know what he has done. In other words, God wants us to consider the things he has done and what he has taught us, building an altar as a symbol and reminder of what God had commanded or done.

Moses said, "Ask your father and he will tell you; your elders and they will explain to you." Because God has spoken in the past to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways (Hebrews 1:1). And so, we sing about him, we praise him, we worship him who,

"Sits enthroned above the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22).

He tells us, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isaiah 66:1).

And so, everything comes to order when he sits down, everything listens, leaning closer when he speaks, because he is God. He is complete, not lacking anything, he is like a circle, having neither beginning nor end, without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life because he is the mighty God (Hebrews 7:3).

He is God, he is absolute, and court is in order when he sits down. Daniel saw it and said,

"Thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat" (Daniel 7:9).

And so, God is not some whimsical idea, he is not whatever you want him to be, God is not church, God is not a denomination, God is not religion, God is not a place or a direction. In fact, it doesn’t matter what direction you face, no matter which way you go, he is God. He said,

"I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God" (Isaiah 45:5).

And so, he is God when you leave, he is God when you get back, and he will be God while you are gone.

This message today is called, "Looking Back, Looking Forward," and that is important because we don’t always have it all figured out. Someone may ask me, "Where are you going?" And I don’t have all the answers, but I’m going forward, I’m moving into it. I have to move on, walking with what I’ve got, because as pastor God has called me to lead this church into 2024.

We are called to walk by faith and not by sight, like the Lord said to Gideon,

"Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" (Judges 6:14).

Or he said to Moses, use the tools you have, use what you have in your hand. He said,

"Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground" (Exodus 14:15-16).

In the same way David use what he had, the Bible says,

"Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand" (1 Samuel 17:49-50).

And even Jesus used what he had, the twelve were a motley crew, maybe one of the twelve was dependable, but certainly it was one of the twelve,

"Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him" (Mark 3:16-19).

And so, when I read this passage from Deuteronomy last week, I recognized that there are many other factors involved and the story is incomplete. That’s why the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 3,

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20).

Because even though you have not heard about everything that happened, there are missing parts of the story, God is able to do immeasurably more. That is the testimony of the word of God, Looking Back, Looking Forward, because that is the Bible that we read. All of its sixty-six books, 1189 chapters, 31,102 verses, and with different translations averaging 785,000 words in length. And so, that is my daily bread, that is what I read from, that is what I preach from, and this is important to me because this story is incomplete, not having taken into account or considering all the factors involved. But when I keep on reading, I discovered that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

In fact, the Bible is so much better when you actually read it as a story instead of cherry-picking verses that you like. It is so much better than just getting a shot of espresso to get you through the day. It’s like a roller coaster and even though God had invested so much in the Israelites they mess up left and right. They act just like the nations around them, they intermarry, they worship other gods, and we just don’t know the whole story.

Moses was talking to the people of God and it’s kind of sad because he knows he’s not going to make it into the promised land, he knows they’re not going to remain faithful to their God, but he encourages them anyway. You know, the truth is that you may be able to see some things, you may know some things, but you can really only see glimpses, you don’t know the whole story. And when you don’t know the whole story, whether we realize it or not, we discover that our minds filter life through a narrative lens.

Like in Genesis chapter 3, the wicked deceitful serpent named Satan came slithering up to Adam and Eve in the garden and said,

"Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Genesis 3:1).

And the truth is, as a matter of fact, he didn’t. He said,

"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden" (Genesis 2:16).

But when you get Satan’s spin on the story, you’ve got to be wary. That’s why you’ve got to listen to what people tell you these days, because there’s always some parts of the story that have been left out. And so, we can’t trust the summary, we can’t trust the condensed version, because there’s always more to the story. As Paul Harvey used to say, and that is the rest of the story.

I believe God’s goal for us is not only to seek him, but to have an encounter with him. Looking back, looking forward, and meeting with him, because when we meet with him our lives are changed. You may remember how Abraham had an encounter with the Lord and his relationship with the Lord grew deeper and deeper until one day God said,

"He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah" (Genesis 22:1-2).

This was the first time that God reveals himself as Jehovah Jireh, not the first time the Lord provided, but the first time God revealed himself to Abraham as his provider. Now, Abraham did not have a financial problem, he was very wealthy, and Abraham was asked by God to bring a sacrifice. He said to him,

"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love... Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about" (Genesis 22:2).

"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son" (Genesis 22:9-10).

"But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son" (Genesis 22:11-12).

And so, God stopped him in the act of giving his son as a sacrifice, and God provided a substitute, a gift to Abraham. The Bible says in verse thirteen,

"Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son" (Genesis 22:13).

When we read that story, it is clear that other factors are involved, the story is incomplete, but it leaves us to ask questions of ourselves like why would God asked for a sacrifice, provide a sacrifice, and then expect it back? But the truth of the matter is that our faith is a participatory faith, we are supposed to engage with God, responding to him as the Bible says,

"To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

And so, a response is required, a receiving of the gift, a welcoming of the substitute, the Lamb of God. You see, faith without action is dead, and sometimes God will test you to see if really believe. In fact, the apostle Paul tells us this is our spiritual act of worship.

"In view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1).

My hope is that over this next year to challenge you, to stretch you, and grow you in the area of sacrificial giving. Because most of us know God as somebody who gives us bread, meaning that he meets our needs, but some of you will discover that God is someone who gives seed and not just bread. The Bible says,

"He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness" (2 Corinthians 9:10).

In other words, he will give you the ingredients for your miracle.

Now, some of you may not be feeling it, you may not feel led to sacrificial giving, because there will be many occasions where God will not prompt you but you have to decide on your own. It’s like, God doesn’t have to prompt me to put on deodorant. I don’t have to feel prompt us to put on deodorant, but I decide in my heart to put on deodorant and the people around me are thankful for that. And so, there are things in your life that you need to decide to do just because it is the right thing to do.

In our text, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, but in second Chronicles, chapter seven, Solomon wasn’t prompted to give a sacrifice. But when he saw the glory of the Lord fill the temple, he decided to offer a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats (2 Chronicles 7:5).

In the gospel, Jesus prompted a rich young ruler to give everything he had, but Mary was never prompted to give. In fact, it was just out of the blue, in a random act of kindness, as Jesus was having dinner the Bible tells us,

"Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair" (John 12:2-3).

And so, Martha was serving, Lazarus was reclining, and Mary decided in her heart to give sacrificially and she poured out an entire bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet.

I believe there are many of you here today who are mature enough that you can decide in your own heart to give without having God prompt you about it. And so, if you trust him with your salvation, trusting him with your eternity, shouldn’t you trust him with your life as well. Jesus said,

"Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it" (Luke 9:24).

And so, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. God is still in charge, he’s got your back, and all hope is not lost. The devil didn’t win this fight, it’s still going to come to pass. Jesus is the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. The victory is his, the battle belongs to the Lord, and whatever you lost, you were supposed to lose. Whatever you gave up, you were supposed to give up. It happened the way it was supposed to happen because, the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you (1 Peter 1:25).

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott