How to live for tomorrow

Live for today

What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

is it a cup of coffee?

turning on the news?

getting the kids up?

hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock and going back to bed again?

Can I tell you what some research found out about starting the morning.

If you make your bed in the morning after you get up, even better if it is the first thing in the morning; you are a happier person.

Weird right, that those who make their bed are happy people, I don’t make my bed but I still consider myself happy. But listen to these other positive boosts:

- 71% of people who make their bed describe themselves as happy

- People who make the bed say that it prepares them mentally for the things they don’t want to do that day.

- research says that making the bed is a gateway to better habits

-Lastly the researchers defined this study as “the state of your bed is the state of your head”

Some of you are now wishing you made your bed this morning, but the really topic here is that someone that you do can have a powerful outcome later.

We are talking about tomorrow, the hypothetical time period that is to come in the future. To look forward and make that time better then our current state, to get the best outcome in the future.

Making your beds is a example of a current thing that you can do to provide value to the future. However there are things that you can do to make a better tomorrow starting today. Or as the question for the last part of our series today is; How to live for tomorrow?

Altought I don’t make my bed every morning, I still see the value in trying to create a better tomorrow, today.

However we look at tomorrow we know that there are things todo today to make it better, however every finance guru, influencer on the internet and podcast host will tell you something that you need to do today.

I will give you things to do today that you can do to prepare for tomorrow but all of these points on how to live for tomorrow are a lot like that making the bed research; they will not make you rich and famous in life but rather will help in your faith, your relationships and your overall state of being.

So lets jump into it what am I talking about; I want to invite you to turn to Psalm 100.

This Psalm is a upper, in the book of Psalms there are plenty of lament Psalms but there is also Psalms that look like this; completely happy and glad.

There is a reasoning for this that we won’t jump into today, but this specific Psalm is to show that there is Joy around sorrow.

I know that we are all sitting here at a different place this week, but I want to encourage you if you feel down then lean into this Psalm, it will show you how tomorrow will be better.

Psalm 100:1–3 NIV

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

This is a triumphant beginning, “Shout to the Lord” and this revelation of praise is shuffled through the instructions of the Psalm; read with me

Shout for Joy

Worship the Lord

Come before him

Know

These are all invitations that David the author of this particular Psalm is giving his readers. He is starting each verse, because a Psalm is like a song back in their day, David starts each verse with a invitation to praise and follows it up with instructions

Shout for Joy - to the Lord

Worship the Lord - with Gladness

Come before him - With Joyful songs

Know - that the Lord is God

For David he is wanting to instruct us how to be praiseful beings, to do these things, that joyful shout is not aimless but pointed.

Our praise is directed at God

This theme is going to come up again so hold to it.

But we must know that our praises must be directed and not pointless. Being happy or joyful is just a emotion, being happy or joyful to the Lord is worship. Our worship needs to be directed. What I mean by that is that we need to direct it to the Lord, we never need a guide to worship the Lord, nor do we need to be gathered here to worship the Lord, this all helps and does a multitude of other things.

However you can worship God by how you bring your prayers to him, how you conduct yourselfs and how you live your life. Are you a being that will Worship the Lord with Gladness?

David gives the instruction, here is why;

The first step in living for tomorrow is to play the mental game today.

To live for tomorrow I need to praise God today

If you want to live into tomorrow you must understand today and win the battle; that is why Jesus in the Sermon on the mount talks about the Birds of the sky and the Lilies in the field, that God takes care of them that they do not worry about what they will eat tomorrow.

Jesus even says this;

Matthew 6:34 (NIV)

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

That is why being Joyful is so important, today is all we can live in;

There is a riddle; “What is always coming but never arrives?” Tomorrow.

We cannot stress about tomorrow to much because today is what we are living in, and so as David leads us through Psalm 100, be joyful creatures.

Praise is not a forward thinking practice; praise is a practice that is rooted in the here and now.

God come here, meet me now.

We never ask God to come later we always ask for God’s pressence to come into this space now. That is how we praise and worship him, bring songs and words of praise to Jesus in the here and now.

Give thanks for Yesterday

Now lets move on to the next verse, verse 4;

Psalm 100:4 (NIV)

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

With any thanksgiving weekend sermon I have to touch on that topic; If we are to live for tomorrow we must look back and say thanks for yesterday;

To live for tomorrow I need to say thanks for yesterday

What does that look like well David invites us enter his gates with thanksgiving however if you are like me and still are here on earth you have not entered his gates yet.

the 2 pieces of this are yes lets look forward to doing this when it arrive but for today, because remember what I said don’t get focused on tomorrow you need to live today first, we need to understand the principle behind the verse.

What are God’s gates today; I want to give you two ideas and lets follow those through.

The first is that God’s gates are prayer, that when we get a moment to talk to him in prayer we get to metaphorically step through his gates for a moment and be with Him.

Give thanks in Prayer

When we come with our prayers and talk to God about all the ways we have seen his goodness, then we will start to live out that life, where we are dependant on more of his goodness.

When we look back and see the way it was, that God was faithful and was present in whatever yesterday might look like for us then we can start moving forward in praise and see that tomorrow is no different.

It’s how you improve your faithfulness, count out the times where he never fails you. you’ll start to run out of fingers to count on.

The next one;

Give thanks in Praise

Let your voice resound with songs of thanksgiving

let the joys flow from your every word and action:

let everyone know the praise to God for the things he has done.

This is a image into Revelation that in Rev 4, there is this gathering around the throne of God and there is praise, but of what? Mostly thanks giving, the deliverance, the coming out of trials and the rescue. Worth is the lamb who Was Slain.

It’s all about giving thanks:

Listen to this story about a Man and his house:

He called his real estate agent and said, “I want to run an ad in the paper to sell my home. Get rid of it as quickly as you can. I’m tired of this old place.”

The agent said, “Tell me something about your home so I can run a good ad.”

The man told him how many rooms it had. It had carpet. There were expensive shrubs in the yard. He told about some fruit trees in the back yard and many other advantages. He described the house in detail.

When he finished, the agent said, “I’ll read it back to you and you tell me how it sounds.”

He read the ad—about this beautiful three-bedroom home with two baths, a good stand of grass, fruit trees in the backyard, new roof, central air-conditioning, a remodelled carport for two cars. He kept on reading until the owner stopped him.

“Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Stop. That house is not for sale. All my life I’ve been wanting a place like that, but I didn’t realize I had one until now!

We never know what we have until we give thanks for it, until we recount the good things that have happened or the moments where we have been placed.

The same is for our faithfulness, we never know how good God is until we start naming his blessings and recounting his faithfulness.

I want to encourage you if your doing your family thanks giving meal, go around the table and recount even just one of God’s blessings or proofs of his faithfulness, and then listen to everyone around the table tell stories about them as well. You will be filled with more faith then turkey!

Know he is the Same Tomorrow

Now what do we say about tomorrow?

Well I just said live for today, give thanks for tomorrow, but there is something that you can do to be proactive in making sure you are living for tomorrow;

That is knowledge; listen to verse 5

Psalm 100:5 (NIV)

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

This verse speaks towards the knowledge of something that is to come and that David’s instruction for the reader through this joyful Psalm is that we need to be ready in the knowledge that the Lord will do it again.

Take Hebrews 11 for example, it’s the Hall of Faith chapter where the author goes through the history of Israel and recounts for all the times where the people were faithful and where God was faithful back to them.

it’s in tandem that the thankfulness of what happened yesterday will lead us in the knowledge of what will happen tomorrow.

If we know God’s history and even in our personal life how God has been faithful, why do we question his faithfulness moving forward?

We must know that God is a consistant God in his faithfulness to us!

Because

To live for tomorrow I need to know God is faithful

That’s all that matters, this is not a sermon on get rich quick, get famous easy, make life easier. This is more about your innermost being, you will find content within knowing God is good all the time.

Can I tell you where I want to call you to live in these coming days?

I want to jump over to Philippians and show you what it looks like to put this into practice;

Paul the writer of Philippians talks about how he found the secret of being content;

Philippians 4:11–13 (NIV)

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Paul’s philosophy is that he knows all that the Lord has done for him that he is no longer worried about the ups or downs of this life because if we look back to the Birds and the Lilies; God provides for his people just like he has done in the past and will continue to do in the future!

The secret to tomorrow is being content

There is nothing more important that I can tell you. Because you will define the importance of tomorrow, if you are content today and have trained your mind to be content in any situation I will tell you that you will master whatever tomorrow will bring you.

If we know all these things, to give thanks, to be present in today and to look forward to God’s faithfulness tomorrow we can sit in this being of content.

It’s not being ignorant of what tomorrow will be or being in a state of mind that tomorrow does not matter. Tomorrow does have importance but how we enter into what ever future endeavours are what is going to define those endevours

Think about it like this:

It’s not being ignorant of what tomorrow will be or being in a state of mind that tomorrow does not matter. Tomorrow does have importance but how we enter into what ever future endeavours are what is going to define those endeavours

I want to bring out my ending question as I did through this whole series, I always wanted to end here on thanks giving as this is the practice you need to add and start doing ever day.

How do I live for tomorrow? The answer instead of another question:

I am content in Christ today.

the last to blanks are for you to fill in, and you’ll have a chance to spend a moment in that, to pray for it and praise it.

That’s what this was always about, if you have been with us through this series you see the title is the season of change, I cannot tell you how to hop the hurdles. I can tell you how to prepare your heart mind and soul.

it all boils down to this: be content in Jesus

How do we do that, give thanks.

Recognize what he has done in everything:

What did Jesus do this morning as you woke up?

What did Jesus do yesterday, what was his most noticeable action in the day

What did Jesus do for you this week, where was his faithfulness.

I tell you Parkview; Jesus is faithful to you, he will never abandon you. However part of faithfulness is giving thanks and praise for his faithfulness.

Name it, Where was Jesus in that conversation, in that difficult task, in that nice walk outdoors. Name his glories and you will see that all you need is him.

Here is what I want you to do this thanksgiving season. Go around the table and give thanks for one of God’s glories. Start there, this is the best season to learn contentness and the spiritual practice of thanksgiving.