Transcript
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Hey, good morning. Wake up. It's time to get going today. This is your wake up call. I just kind of sometimes want to vary what I say, how I start this morning with you. And, you know, it does have the feel for me of waking up together and just kind of getting the day going. Putting the log on the fire, putting the coffee on. I've been cooking breakfast for you today and I think you're going to like it. So it is January 17th, Saturday in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walton. This is your wake up call. Now, even before we get started today, I just want to. I've had so many things on my mind and trying to think about Lent and getting ready for our walk to the cross this year, I feel like I've neglected our first word, last word, God's word play and assignment. And I'm going to put in the PS today and hopefully a lot of the next days to come, the invitation for you to share your new word for the new year. And so look in the PS today, there's going to be that little link there. It'll take you every bit of two minutes to get this done. If you got your word yet, I want you to be praying about that word. I've got mine. It's James 3, verse 17. I'm slowly starting to learn it. Basically, it's the wisdom, but the wisdom that comes from heaven is, is first of all pure and peace, loving, sincere, full of mercy and good fruit. I don't know a lot of different things it says about it. Like I said, I'm just getting started. We got all year, but that's the word. And I want you to ask God to highlight a word from scripture for your year and I want you to share it. So watch for that in the ps. It's time for consecration. Let's get our bearings. You can obviously see that's what I'm trying to do. So wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. We're here, we're consecrated. We're ready to step through the door into the great cathedral of transformation where we're seeking revelation. And then we're going to respond to that with our whole lives. We're reading Proverbs 17 today and our entry is entitled why We Settle for Gold Plated instead of Solid Gold. Our focus text is Proverbs, chapter 17, verse 3. Hear now the word of the Lord. The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold. But the Lord tests the heart. The Word of the Lord. Now consider this. How good do you want to be? Let me ask it another way. How much corruption are you willing to tolerate within yourself? Do you want solid unadulterated gold or will you settle for gold plating? I know this is tough for Saturday. It's a fair question. If you want to settle for less than the best, it's okay. You just need to be honest about it. The worst case scenario is self deception. Because self deceived people deceive others. Right? It's being gold plated and acting like you're solid gold. Right? There's another word for that hypocrisy. Self deception, though by its very nature is hidden from the one who is deceived. It's kind of like cancer. A lot of the time you don't know it when you've got it. And often by the time you find out, it's too late. Today's text offers good news for all of us. There's a treatment plan that will not only eradicate the self deception we may not be aware of, but over time it will make us into the kind of people we most want to become. The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold. But the Lord tests the heart. The treatment plan is called refining. Like gold and silver are heated up in a crucible so the impurities can rise to the top and be removed. God refines human beings, restoring in them the image of the original glory, of the goodness of God. The truth of today's text runs like a thread throughout the Bible. Take a look at this Excerpt from Psalm 139. You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Wow. Bottom line, God knows. I've grown to deeply appreciate what the Anglicans call the collect for purity from their Book of Common Prayer. I would definitely include a prayer like this in the treatment plan. Here it is. Almighty God, to you. All hearts are open, all desires known and from you no secrets are hid. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. We want this. You see, the meaning of life is not being polypure. It's learning to love like God loves, with creative power. The process is refinement. Those last few verses of Psalm 139 begin. They end like this. Search me God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. That's verses 23 and 24. You see this press for refining the crucible for silver and the furnace for gold. But the Lord tests the heart. So here's the kind of chemotherapy I'm prescribing and taking. I commend it to you. Learn that collect for purity. Just start saying it every morning until you have it rememberized.