🎵Music🎵
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
At this time, we'll open with a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for another evening to gather together,
to sing praises out in your name.
Lord, I pray that we would just all have a heart of fellowship in us this evening,
that we would rejoice in the family that you've given us spiritually,
Lord, and that we would grow close ties and connections with the family,
with the church that you have built here in Oklahoma City.
Lord, I also just pray that the service would be done decently in an order,
that you would open our ears to the message that you've laid on Brother Dillon's heart this evening.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
All right, Mr. Gary.
147, leaning on the everlasting arms.
Great hymn, 147.
147.
We'll sing there on the first.
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms.
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms.
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms.
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Amen.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
We're going to go through our announcements at this time.
If you don't have a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and an usher will bring you one.
We do have our Bible memory passage of the week listed there, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 4.
Just still barely getting started in this chapter, so plenty of time to work on it.
On the inside is our service times listed Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m.
Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m. and our Wednesday evening Bible study every Wednesday at 7 o'clock p.m.
Our sowing times are listed there and our nursing home schedule as well.
Also, our year-to-date salvations and baptisms.
And as always, please, if you go to a sowing time, report your salvations to the sowing leader.
So, for example, today, if you went sowing, if you had a salvation, please just text me or email the church and I'll make sure to get those numbers reported.
On the right, we do have our list of prayer for expecting ladies, Miss Whitney Reed.
Please be praying for her during her pregnancy.
And today is September 1st, so I believe that Brother Alvarez is now Pastor Alvarez.
So, that is great news. How exciting that he came from this church and is now a pastor.
So, we're very excited for him and for Pure Words Baptist Church.
Make sure you pray for him, keep him in your thoughts and prayers, send him a message of congratulations.
And to his wife as well, it's a huge accomplishment for him and we're very happy for their family.
Today also is our fellowship event, our fifth Sunday fellowship. Very excited for that.
At the end of the service, I'm going to ask some men if they could help me clear this middle section.
I think we should be good to set up tables just in this middle section.
If it gets too crowded, we can move aside as well, but if some of the men will just help us with that after our last song.
The theme tonight is family favorites.
And I went out soul winning with Alex. We tried to find some dogs, but we couldn't find any.
So, it's okay. Maybe next time for him.
September 7th, this Saturday is our first soul winning rally. Very excited for this.
At 915, we'll start eating. We're going to get breakfast catered, coffee.
So, it's not just the Keurig coffee. We're going to get some good coffee catered.
Really excited for that. It's going to be a good time of fellowship.
At 10 o'clock, we'll start with having a song.
And then brother Eric is going to preach a soul winning challenge for us.
And then we'll pair up and go soul winning somewhere locally here in the community.
So, looking forward to this upcoming soul winning rally and every Saturday after that.
October 4th through the 6th is the Heritage of the Lord Conference hosted by Steadfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill.
And again, that is a conference catered towards the youth.
So, if you have kids, teenagers, this would be a great one to take them to for sure.
And it's only three and a half hours away. So, it's close. It's a blessing that we're so close to them.
So, I'd encourage you to go to that.
October 6th will be our next 5th Sunday fellowship. I'll let you know what the theme is for that when I come up with one.
And November 6th through the 10th is the Faithful Word Baptist Church Missions Conference in Tempe, Arizona.
If you're interested in that conference, I highly recommend you make it out.
I went to the one in 2020. It was a great time. And it was in January.
So, the weather was tolerable. Hopefully, the weather is tolerable there in November.
I'm glad this is not like in July or anything like that.
So, love for you guys to go out for that as well.
And at this time, we'll go ahead and go to our next song.
Alright. Yes.
105?
Hymn number 105.
All That Thrills My Soul.
105. We'll sing there starting on the first.
Who can cheer the heart like Jesus
By His presence all divine
True and tender, pure and precious
Oh, how blessed to call Him mine
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see
Love of Christ so freely given
Grace of God beyond degree
Mercy higher than the heavens
Deeper than the deepest sea
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see
What a wonderful redemption
Never can a mortal know
How my sin the red like crimson
Can be whiter than the snow
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see
Every need is hand supplying
Every good in Him I see
On His strength divine relying
He is all and all to me
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see
By the crystal flowing river
With the ransomed I will sing
And forever and forever
Praise and glorify the King
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He is more than life to me
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see
Amen
As the offering plates are being passed
Excuse me, turn if you would to Philippians chapter number three
Philippians chapter number three
Good evening
Philippians chapter number three
Philippians chapter number three the Bible reads
Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord
To write the same things to you to me indeed
Is not grievous but for you it is safe
Beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision
For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit
And rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh
If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
He might trust in the flesh I more
Circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel
Of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews
As touching the law of Pharisee
Concerning zeal persecuting the church
Touching the righteousness which is in the law
Blameless but what things were gain to me
Those I counted loss for Christ
Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss
For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things
And do count them but done that I may win Christ
And be found in him not having mine own righteousness
Which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ
The righteousness which is of God by faith
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection
And the fellowship of his sufferings being made comfortable unto his death
I'm sorry conformable unto his death
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead
Not as though I had already attained
Either were already perfect but I follow after
If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus
Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but
This one thing I do
Forgetting those things which are behind
And reaching forth unto those things which are before
I press toward the mark of the high prize
I'm sorry I press toward the mark of the prize
Of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus
Let us therefore as many be as perfect
As be perfect be thus minded
And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded
God shall reveal even this unto us
Nevertheless whereto we have already attained
Let us walk by the same rule
Let us mine the same thing
Brethren be followers together of me
And mark them which walk
So as ye have us for an ensemble
For many walk of whom I have told you often
And now tell you even weeping
That they are the enemies of the cross of Christ
Whose end is destruction
Whose God is their belly
And whose glory is in their shame
Who mind earthly things
For our conversation is in heaven
From whence also we look for the Savior
The Lord Jesus Christ
Who shall change our vile bodies
That it may be fashioned like unto the glorious body
According to the working whereby
He is able even to subdue all things unto himself
Heavenly Father, Lord we just thank you so much for this day
We just pray that you'd be with brother Dylan
Just help him preach
And I just pray that you'd be with his congregation
And just help us to focus on your provision for us
And we love you and we thank you
In Jesus' precious name we pray, Amen
Amen
Alright well we're in Philippians chapter number 3
And keep your place there cause we're gonna come back
A little bit in a few minutes
But let's start reading in Philippians chapter number 3 verse 13
The Bible says
Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended
But this one thing I do
Forgetting those things which are behind
And reaching forth unto those things which are before
I press toward the mark
For the prize of the high calling of God
In Christ Jesus
And when I read this verse from the apostle Paul
The human author of this chapter
You know I think of goal setting
Because here he's saying that he's pressing towards the mark
He has a goal that he's trying to reach in his life
There's a prize that he wants to obtain
And this is a pretty popular passage that people go to
To talk about goals and stuff like that
And that's what we're gonna talk about tonight
The title of my sermon tonight is
How to accomplish your goals
Now I hope you have goals
If you don't have goals that's a completely different sermon
I'm assuming you have some goals
That's what this sermon is assuming
And tonight we're gonna learn from the scripture
How to effectively accomplish your goals
Now like I said keep your place there
But go to Luke chapter number 10
Luke chapter number 10
I'm gonna try to give you an alliterated sermon tonight
Alright so if you like to take notes
You know this will make you happy I guess
This is one of those sermons
Luke chapter number 10
So number one if you want to accomplish your goals
According to the scripture the first thing you must do is prioritize
You must prioritize
Look at Luke chapter number 10 verse 38
It says now it came to pass as they went
That he entered into a certain village
And a certain woman named Martha received him into her house
And she had a sister called Mary
Which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word
But Martha was cumbered about much serving
And came to him and said
Lord does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone
Bitter therefore that she help me
And Jesus answered and said unto her
Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things
But notice this next phrase
But one thing is needful
And Mary hath chosen that good part
Which shall not be taken away from her
So notice in this story what do you have?
You have two sisters that have invited the Lord Jesus Christ into their home
And you have Mary who's sitting at Jesus' feet
Basically just listening to him speak
And just cleaning wisdom from the Lord Jesus Christ
And what is Martha doing?
Well she's going around and she's cleaning, she's serving
She's cumbered about with a lot of care
And the interesting thing about this story
Is that what Martha is doing is good
I mean can we all agree that serving is a good thing to do
It's a good thing to work hard
It's a good thing to clean your house
And to be not lazy, not a busybody
What she's doing is really good
And but the truth is
Is that what Mary was doing was best
And often times it's not necessarily bad things
That keeps us from the best things
Often times it's good things
That keep us from the best things
And so when you want to accomplish something in your life
You want to accomplish a goal
You must prioritize
Notice because Jesus said that one thing was needful
What does that denote?
That denotes the idea of prioritization
That hey, yeah what Martha was doing was good
In and of itself it's great to be working hard in your house and cleaning
But that was not the priority that she should have had
Now go to Philippians
Go back to Philippians chapter number 3
But you know I think that we can relate a lot with Martha here
Because if your life is anything like my life
Martha's actions here kind of resonate with me
That just being full of care
And cumbered about with a lot of things
You know a lot of us have a lot of responsibilities
And things to take care of
I've got four little girls
I've got a wife
I've got a job
You know there's a lot that I'm doing in life
And so I can relate to her situation
And really doesn't that just kind of describe the American way of life today
The American way of life today is being full of care
And cumbered about with a lot of things to do
And you know how I know this is especially an American thing
Is because when I go to other countries
What is noticeably different about other countries
Is how quiet it is
It's weird
When I went to Germany this year
It was so strange going outside
There's no construction
There's no sirens
There's no honking
There's no people out working in the streets
And that is not what America is like
You know in America it doesn't matter what time of day or night
You go outside in the city
And people are going to and fro
They're working night shifts
They're doing construction in the middle of the night
There's always police and fire and EMS going down the road
There's just a lot of sound
Why? Because we're just a really busy nation
We constantly have stuff to do
And when I went to Mexico it was the same thing
You go outside and it's the middle of the day
And it's just quiet
People aren't doing a whole lot
And in a way it's kind of good that America is like that
Because it kind of points to the fact that there's still a lot of hard working people here
There's a lot of people here that are putting a lot of energy into their life
And wanting to build things and create things and work hard
And that's great
But here's the thing
In order to do that
And in order to accomplish your goals
And in order to accomplish the most important goals in your life
What you must do is you must prioritize
You must prioritize
Look at how the Apostle Paul did this
Philippians 3 verse 7
But what things were gain to me
Those I counted loss for Christ
Yea, doubtless and I count all things but loss
For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things
And do count them but dung
That I may win Christ
So notice in Paul's life
His greatest priority
Was serving the Lord Jesus Christ
And when he lost everything
He says, hey all of that
I don't care about any of that stuff
Because the Apostle Paul, you gotta remember
He was a Pharisee of the Pharisee
He was brought up from a child to be trained as a Pharisee
And so I'm sure he had a lot of prestige
And respect in his circle of friends
And circle of family
And you know what, he lost all of that
To go from being Saul to Paul
Why? Because it wasn't his priority to be liked
Or to have influence or to have power
His priority was Jesus Christ
That was his one thing in his life
Look at verse 9
And be found in him not having mine own righteousness
Which is of the law
But that which is through the faith of Christ
The righteousness which is of God
By faith that I may know him
And the power of his resurrection
And the fellowship of his sufferings
Being made conformable unto his death
It's saying hey, more than anything
You know what the priority is for me
That I may know him
And you know a lot of people
Are not living their lives like this today
This is a special person
You know people like to say this kind of stuff
And you know this is one of those verses
That sounds really great on a postmark card
Or whatever
But not very many people live their lives
Where their true priority is to know Christ
But that was Paul's priority
Verse 11
If by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead
Not as though I had already attained
Either were already perfect
But I follow after
If that I may apprehend
That for which also I am apprehended
Of Christ Jesus
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended
But this, notice this phrase
If you like underlining in your Bible
Underline this
One thing I do
Forgetting those things which are behind
And reaching forth unto those things
Which are before
I press toward the mark
For the prize of the high calling of God
In Christ Jesus
Notice, in the apostle Paul's mind
There was one thing
That was the priority in his life
There wasn't a bunch of priorities
That was competing for his heart
No, he prioritized in his life
And he says, hey, there's
One thing that's important to him
What is it? Knowing Christ
What is it? Serving Christ
Pressing towards the mark for the high calling
Of God in Christ Jesus
And you know
For Martha, Martha was
Working, she was doing a lot of service
She was doing something good
But what did Jesus say was the one thing
That was needful, notice that same phrase
One thing was needful for her
And that was to actually listen to Jesus Christ
To spend time with him
And the truth is that every single person
You and I
We all have priorities in our life
And we all need to figure out what our
One thing is in life
Because for a lot of people
The one thing in life
Their biggest priority in life
Is alcohol
You know there's some people where they go to work
And they just can't wait to get off work
To go to happy hour
To go get drunk
They can't wait to go home
And just crack open a beer
Why? Because that is their one thing in life
That's what they care about more than anything else
For a lot of other people
Their one thing in life
What they care about as the most important priority
Is money
You know this describes most Americans today
Most Americans today
What they care about
Is how they can make as much money
As humanly possible
They don't care what the job is
They don't care what they have to sacrifice to do that
They don't care about family time at home
Or their children being raised by the public school
Or whether they're being raised at home with their mom
They just care about money
What do we have today?
Only fans
What is this?
Women literally whoring themselves out on the internet
Because they have one thing
That's important to them
Making money
And they're willing to become a literal whore
Just to make money
One thing that matters in their life
For a lot of people
Their one thing that they care about
Is just enjoyment
And pleasure
And when they live their life
They're not really worried about getting a good career
Or serving God
All they care about is to have as much free time as possible
So that they can just enjoy this world
Enjoy living it up
And enjoy having free time
And leisure
Their one thing
Is college football
There's people like that, huh?
I bet you there's a lot of people like that in Oklahoma
And especially even farther down south
Isn't Oklahoma now in the SEC?
Oh yeah, so that's like
Big time everyone worships football
If you're in the SEC
And there's a lot of people where it's just like
All they care about is watching the NFL game on Sunday
And all they care about on Saturday
Is watching college football
And all they care about Monday through Friday
Is watching baseball games
You know one time I went soul winning
During the Super Bowl
And I was living in Washington State at the time
And the Seattle Seahawks were in the Super Bowl
And that was the worst day of soul winning
I've ever had in my entire life
Why? Because everyone's one thing
Was the Seattle Seahawks
And that's all they cared about
And I'm just telling you
If you want to accomplish something in your life
If you have a goal
If you want to serve God
You need to figure out priorities
You need to prioritize
What is the one thing in your life that's most important
And you know I would hope
That every single person in this room
We could all have the same one thing
And it's the same one thing that the Apostle Paul had
And that is to serve Jesus Christ
You know for me that is my one thing
That is my biggest goal in life
That is why I'm here in life
Is to serve God
And you know if you're saved
That is the one thing that your life is here to do
Go to Matthew chapter number 22
Most people haven't made this a priority in their life
Most people would say
Oh yeah I have a goal, I have a goal to serve God
I want to serve God
But they haven't made God a priority in their life
Look at Matthew 22 verse 37
Jesus said unto him
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
With all thy heart
And with all thy soul
And with all thy mind
Notice Jesus didn't teach that he wants God to be some sort of afterthought for us
That once we've taken care of our affairs
Once we've had fun
Once we've done the things that we want to do
Then we can go ahead and love God
No he wants us to love God with all of our mind
With all of our heart
With all of our strength
You know what that makes me think of? Priorities
That makes me think of someone that prioritizes God
Go to Colossians chapter number 3
Colossians 3
While you turn to Colossians 3 I'll read for you Ecclesiastes 12 13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter
Fear God and keep his commandments
For this is the whole duty of man
You know what the one thing men should prioritize according to the Bible
Is fearing God and keeping his commandments
It's that simple
And you know it's a lot more simple than it is easy
It's not necessarily easy to do that
But it is simple
Fear God and keep his commandments
That is the one thing in our life that we should be prioritizing
Look at Colossians 3 verse 1
If ye then be risen with Christ
Seek those things which are above
Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God
Set your affection on things above
Not on things on the earth
For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God
When Christ, notice this next phrase
Who is our life
Shall appear
Then shall ye also appear with him in glory
The Bible says that if you're saved
If you've been risen with Christ
Christ is your life
Christ is your purpose in life
Christ should be the greatest priority in your life
Well, how do you know
How can you gauge yourself in your life and say
Am I making Christ a priority
Is serving God my great one thing in my life
Well, you could examine your actions
When you wake up in the morning
What is your priority
Is your priority to grab your phone
And log on to Facebook
And log on to TikTok
And log on to Instagram
And just scroll a bunch of random garbage
Is your priority to start stuffing your face with food
Is your priority just to, you know, do nothing
Well, if your priority is Christ
You know what you would do when you wake up in the morning
Is that you would do something spiritual
You'd say a prayer to the Lord
Or you'd read your Bible
Or you'd sing a hymn
Or something spiritual to acknowledge Jesus Christ
Why? Because he is our life
You know, if you're someone that prioritizes Christ
You say, Christ is my great one thing
Jesus is my greatest priority in life
You know, that type of person would be in church
Every single time the doors are open
Not just, well, you know, it's Sunday morning
Do I feel like going to church today
Or do I feel like going fishing
Do I feel like going to church today
Or am I going to get an early workout at the gym today
No, a person who has Christ as their one thing in their life
When there's a church service
They already know they're going
They don't have to think or wonder or guess
Am I going to go to church today
It's just a part of who they are
Why? Because Christ is their one great thing
And, you know, you could gauge yourself
And you could lie to yourself
You could pretend like Christ is your great one thing
But if you're not prioritizing church
If you do not make it a habit of going to church
Every time you possibly can
Then Christ is not your one great thing
If you're not reading the Bible every single day
Christ is not your one great thing
No, you are your one great thing
Your will, your desire, your goals for your life
Is your one great thing
And look, I hope we have other goals too
But your one great thing
Your one great goal in life
Should be serving God
And your actions should reflect that
Go to Colossians, you're in Colossians chapter 3
And you know, like I said
There's several other areas of life we should prioritize
There's several other areas of life
That we should have goals in
We talked about the most important one
Which is serving God
You know, of course, I hope also you have goals for your family
I hope you have goals for your finances
For your physical health
For all sorts of other things
But, you know, what's another area in our life
That we should prioritize
Well, it's family
That is an important prioritization in our life
And look at verse 18
Of the same chapter, it says
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands
As it is fit in the Lord
You know, if you're a wife
And you have this thought that
Hey, I want to be a great wife
I want to prioritize my husband
What does that actually look like
Of a woman that actually prioritizes her husband
Well, look right there, the Bible says
Submit yourselves unto your own husbands
That would be an example practically speaking
Of, hey, do you actually prioritize your husband, ladies
Well, do you submit to him
Do you obey him
When he tells you to do something
Do you just agree and do it with a good attitude
Or do you want to put up a fight
Do you want to, you know, bristle and buckle at what he's saying
And resist him and back talk and argue
You know, that's not a wife that's prioritizing her husband
That's a wife that's being contentious and nagging
No, a wife that would prioritize her husband
Would obey her husband
Look at verse 19
Husbands, love your wives
And be not bitter against them
You know, I hope the men in this room that are married
Have a goal to be a great husband
And to be a very godly husband
And to prioritize their wives
But if you say, you know, I'm a man
I want to prioritize my wife
What does that look like
It looks like what the Bible says there
Loving her
And elsewhere in Ephesians chapter 5
The Bible commands us to love our wives
As Christ loved the church and gave himself for it
So what does it look like for a husband that's prioritizing his wife
It means that he's selflessly leading her
Yes, he's in charge
Yes, he's making all the decisions
But he's making all the decisions
For the betterment and benefit of his wife
And you know, this is what every leader should do
This is what bosses should do in the workplace
They should be completely empowered
They should be completely in charge
But they should make all the decisions
For the betterment of their company
For their employees
For their clients
For other people
Pastors today
You know, they should be 100% in charge
They should be having authority in the church
But every decision that they make
Should be for the betterment of the church
Why?
Because that's what prioritizing someone else actually looks like
It means you're leading for their benefit
Yes, you're in charge
But you're doing it for their benefit
Go to 1 Timothy 5
You know, I hope you have some goals for work
Why is that?
Well, look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 5 verse 8
But
If any provide not for his own
And especially for those of his own house
He hath denied the faith
And is worse than an infidel
Look, this should be a priority in man's life
It should be a big priority in your life
To be able to provide money for your family
To be able to put food on the table
To put a roof over their head
Why?
Because if you don't, according to the Bible
You're worse than someone that's not even saved
Why?
Because even regular, unsaved people provide for their families
They know that that's a priority
And it's a complete shame and disgrace
For a man that is saved
To not provide for his family
You know, that's a joke
And so that should be a priority in your life
You want
You have goals with work
What are you going to have to do?
You're going to have to prioritize it
Ladies, you have work too
Look at the same chapter, verse 13
It says
Speaking of women here
With all they learn
To be idle
Wandering about from house to house
And not only idle
But tattlers also in busybodies
Speaking things which they ought not
So this is the bad example
This is not what you want to be like as a lady
Verse 14
We understand the will of God here
I will therefore
That the younger women marry
Bear children
Guide the house
Give none occasion
To the adversary to speak reproachfully
For some are already turned aside after Satan
So notice this should be a priority
For ladies
To work hard
To keep the house
To love their husbands
To love their children
But
We understand that this is not the greatest priority of life
Why?
Well, because in Luke chapter 10
We saw Mary and Martha
Martha was doing this
She was working hard at home
But what she was missing out was the greater priority of serving God
And so you got to realize that when you have goals in life
There's things you want to accomplish
You must sit down and prioritize
What the main goals are
And your actions should reflect that
You know something else that I think is important to prioritize
Is just simply rest
Let me read for you
Exodus 34 21
It says six days
Thou shalt work
But on the seventh day
Thou shalt rest
In earring time
And in harvest
Thou shalt rest
And you know of course in the New Testament
The Sabbath is not something that we have to observe
That's been fulfilled in Christ
It was a picture of salvation by faith blown in Jesus Christ
But this still may be a good principle that you want to adhere to in your life
That you may want to just work six days really hard
And have one day to rest if you can
You know you say
I'm super stressed
I've got all these things
I'm full of care like Martha
I'm covered about with all this work
Well for you
Most people don't have this problem
But for you
You may need to prioritize rest in your life
So number one
If you want to accomplish your goals
You need to prioritize
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number three
But number two
If you want to accomplish your goals
You must plan
So first you prioritize
You say okay
Here's my priorities in life
Number one
Serving God
Number two
My family
Number three
Work
Number four
Rest
Behind all those things
You sit down and you say
This is my priorities in life
But it's not enough just to make your priorities
You must actually plan
And I think the Bible gives us this principle here in Ecclesiastes chapter number three
Look at verse one it says
To everything there is a season and a time
To every purpose under the heaven
The Bible is saying
Hey everything has its proper season
And its proper time
And if that's the case
When you have your priorities
You need to plan those things out
And the Bible is going to give us a bunch of examples here
Look at verse two
A time to be born
And a time to die
Now you can't really plan those things out
But you know people do try to plan births
People do try to say
Hey here's your due date
They're trying to plan it out a little bit
And maybe if you're in Canada
I guess you could kill yourself legally there
So I guess you can plan your time to die in Canada
What a wicked place
A time to plant and a time to pluck up
That which is planted
A time to kill
And a time to heal
A time to break down
And a time to build up
A time to weep
And a time to laugh
A time to mourn
And a time to dance
A time to cast away stones
And a time to gather stones together
A time to embrace
And a time to refrain from embracing
A time to get
And a time to lose
A time to keep
And a time to cast away
A time to rend
And a time to sow
A time to keep silence
And a time to speak
A time to love
time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. I mean the
Bible is just going on and on and on here about how there's a time for
everything, a time, a time, a time. The Bible is being so repetitive here and here's the
thing, the Bible is denoting the idea of planning and of scheduling and my advice
for you, if you have a busy life, you have a lot of goals you want to accomplish, my
advice to you is to schedule everything and I mean just about every single thing.
You know when you have a major life change it's always a good time to
reevaluate your priorities and to reevaluate your plan and so recently I
just moved here and so we've got a new house, we've got new neighbors, I got a
new job, new boss, new co-workers, new church, new grocery stores, new schedules,
new everything, everything's new right. So this last week I've been thinking a
lot about this because I've had to sit down and say hey I've got a limited
amount of time, what are my priorities? I had to decide what those are and then
when I decide what those priorities are I had to plan, meaning I had to schedule
how am I going to give my time to those priorities. So this has been my schedule
for the last week and I'll just kind of explain to you how I schedule my day and
maybe this could help you if you're the type of person that doesn't like to plan.
I don't understand your brain so I cannot help you at all but if you do
like to plan you know this is how how I roll here. So I wake up at 5 30, I get to
work at about 6 to 6 15, I like to get there a little early that way I could
get a little bit of Bible reading in before I go to work. Why? Because that's
my priority. I want to get there early so I don't have to stress about being
late and I just read the Bible in the parking lot until it's time to clock in.
I start work at 6 30 a.m. and we have lunch at about 11 o'clock and at 11
o'clock I try to get more Bible reading in hopefully finish my Bible reading in
for the day. So I've got my priorities, I've got my plan, I've got serving God,
I've got my Bible reading in. You know when I drive to work I like to get my
prayer in at that time and then at lunch break I get more Bible reading in. I get
home at about 3 30 p.m. so at 3 30 I see my family for a little bit, make a cup of
coffee, change into my workout clothes and I get a quick workout in. I try to do
it like 30 minutes 45 minutes max because if I spend a bunch more time
than that then I'm gonna be messing up with my priorities. Okay so I get off the
gym at about 4 30 from about 4 30 p.m. until dinner is ready I'll try to do
some church work some administrative work or write sermons or whatever. At
that time we have dinner after dinner I like to have some family time because
that's a priority for me. So we'll all hang out we'll all go outside with the
kids and play basketball or we'll play a game we'll have family Bible time. You
know these this is a priority in my life so this is something that I've scheduled
that hey after dinner is family time. We put the kids to bed right at 8 o'clock
p.m. from about 8 to 9 ish I do some more church work put about another hour
in and then after that I try to give just my spouse another hour of the day
and then it's to bed. So literally from the time I wake up to the time I go to
bed every single hour is planned and that's because I want to make sure that
I'm giving my time to the priorities that I have in my life. Why? Because I
have a goal and that goal is to serve God with my life and that goal is to be
a good husband and that goal is to be a good dad that goal is to be a good
worker and that goal is to have good physical health and so I've made those
priorities then I've allocated that time to those areas by making a plan. So you
know I I can't stress it enough I really am a huge believer in plans and schedules
and if you feel burnt out and you feel like your life is not balanced and you
feel like you're not able to accomplish your goals you need to sit down and look
at every single hour of your day and see where that time is going because you
might find that an hour of your day is going to just scrolling on social media
doing absolutely nothing and you wonder why you can't accomplish your goals well
it's because you're not planning and when you fail to plan you plan to fail
as the saying goes right go to Proverbs chapter 24 Proverbs chapter 24. Now of
course you also have to be at peace with the fact that life happens so you make
the priorities you make the plans but sometimes you got to realize that those
plans will be broken you know emergencies will happen things will come
up and I hate that that's the case because I just want to control
everything and I just want to plan every second but you just have to be okay with
the fact that you're gonna make your plans and sometimes that's gonna be
broken sometimes you need to be flexible but here's the thing if you consistently
make a plan you're gonna find that a lot of times you actually can schedule
everything that you tried to do Proverbs 24 look at verse 27 prepare thy work
without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine
house and again I think this proverb is also pointing to this idea of planning
that you know if you're gonna build a house you don't want to just lay the
foundation without a plan and then you just show up to the foundation with all
this different assortment of wood and you don't know how long it is and you
haven't laid everything out to know okay this is gonna be the office this is
gonna be the living room this is gonna be the kitchen you just start
haphazardly putting up wood of random assortments that's gonna be a failure
that's good you're not gonna make a house you're not gonna accomplish your
goal and if you have any goal in life if you don't have a plan you will not just
accidentally succeed no person that is successful think of any business any
person of influence or leadership that you respect any pastor any good dad
anyone that's good with their finances you know any good husband that did not
happen by accident you don't just randomly by accident be successful in
this life no what it takes is prioritizing okay I have this goal what
are the action steps that are priorities for me to accomplish this then you
actually need to plan that out and actually prepare thy work without go to
Proverbs chapter number six Proverbs chapter number six so look if serving
God is a priority in your life you need to plan time to give to God if
family is a priority in your life you need to sit down and plan time to spend
time with your family because if you don't time will just get away from you
there's always more work to be done there's always more things to do and if
you don't actually make the plan it's just not gonna happen
Proverbs chapter 6 verse 6 go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be
wise which having no guide overseer or ruler provided her meat in the summer
and gathereth her food in the harvest so the Bible's personifying this animal
here the ant and the ant is kind of personified as a leader why because this
ant is doing things without any overseer guide or ruler there's no boss telling
the ant what to do yet the ant realizes hey I have a goal it's called surviving
and so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna prioritize that survival and plan in the
summer of gathering my food so that I could survive in the winter so that I
could survive in the harvest you know that is a picture here of the principle
that we're talking about and of course this animal this beast this creature
just instinctively knows that because God made this animal to be a picture of
that go to Luke chapter number 14 Luke chapter number 14 Luke chapter number
14 verse 27 and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple for which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and
counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it so I think that
when it comes to making a schedule it helps you to count the cost and helps
you to realize hey if I have a goal to do something what I spend my time doing
is an opportunity cost meaning that if I invest my time into one area it's gonna
be benefiting and blessing that area but it's at an expense of something else and
so that's why you know God needs to be our number one priority Jesus even said
that if any man hate not his father or mother or brother or sister or wife he
cannot be my disciple meaning that Jesus is our greatest priority we give him the
most amount of time effort and energy and that is at the expense of other
things and that's how anything in life works you know if you just give a bunch
of time you know young men to video games okay you're investing in video
games you're leveling up in whatever world you're playing in but you know
what at the expense of that is time with your family at the expense of that
is time with God at the expense of that is your physical health if you're not
being fit at the expense of that could be your career all sorts of other things
there's an opportunity cost in everything that you do and your time is
the most valuable resource that you have and so when you intend to build a tower
when you intend to have a goal and follow through on it you need to count
the cost and see if you have to finish it look at verse 29 lest happily after
he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold it
begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish or
what King going to make war against another King sitteth not down first and
consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against
him with 20,000 you know if you were going out to war if you were going out
to combat tomorrow and there's 50,000 Russians invading the United States
invading Oklahoma City you'd want to think like okay I need to plan how many
people do I need to take these guys on you wouldn't just haphazardly go into a
battle without a plan and it should be that way with every single thing in your
life go to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 9 2nd Corinthians chapter number
9 so in order to accomplish a goal number one you need to prioritize number
two you need to plan and number three you need to perform you need to actually
do the thing that you're planning on doing look at 2nd Corinthians 9 6 the
Bible says but this I say he which soweth sparingly shall reap also
sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully
the Bible's teaching that you get out of something what you put into something
you know elsewhere the Bible says that you reap what you sow and if you have a
goal it doesn't matter how well you prioritize and it doesn't matter if you
write on some piece of paper that God's your best priority and it doesn't matter
if you schedule out your day and you say I'm gonna wake up and read the Bible all
of that is completely vain and completely meaningless if you don't
actually perform the action that you desired to do and this is what a lot of
people do I mean New Year's rolls around and they're like man I really want to
prioritize my physical health I really want to get in shape this year and they
make a plan and they say okay here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna go down to
the gym and I'm gonna sign up for the gym membership they've made their plan
and then it's February 1st and they just they stop going to the gym and they
don't perform and then weeks go on weeks go on weeks go on and then now it's
December 31st again and nothing in their life has changed why they prioritized
they made a plan but they didn't perform and it's like this in anything
in life you want to serve God that's your biggest priority yeah please
prioritize it make a plan but then you actually have to get your lazy butt up
in the morning and read the Bible people do this with their finances you know a
lot of people and finances are hard right now the economy is hard a lot of
people are constantly struggling with their finances and it's like they may
prioritize they may decide okay here's where my money needs to go they may plan
they may make a budget and on paper it's like okay all of this is gonna work but
if you don't actually perform if you don't actually stick to the budget
nothing's ever going to change you're not gonna ever be successful in
accomplishing your goal if all you do is prioritize and plan you know you have to
do you have to perform you have to actually do the action go to James
chapter number four James chapter number four and it doesn't matter how much
money you make if you're bad at performing you could make millions and
millions of dollars a year and still be in a terrible state financially because
you don't actually perform the plan look at just about any professional athlete
look at like pick any guy in the NBA he's like probably in debt yet he's
making tens and tens of millions of dollars a year because you have to
actually have to do the thing James 413 notice the first three words here go to
now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain notice these men they've
prioritized hey we want to improve our financial situation so they made a plan
they said hey tomorrow we're gonna go into this city we're gonna buy and sell
and get game we're gonna make lots of money but what does the Bible say at the
beginning of this verse go to now meaning you actually have to do your
plan it's not enough just to plan it out you actually have to do the plan go
to Deuteronomy chapter number 28 Deuteronomy chapter 28 while you're
turning there let me keep reading here James 4 17 says therefore to him that
knoweth to do good and do with it not to him it is sin hey you could prioritize
being a godly Christian and plan to do it but if you know to do good and you
don't actually perform it you don't actually do that action you know it's a
sin to you and it's vain and it's meaningless Deuteronomy 28 verse 1 and
it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the
Lord thy God to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee
this day that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the
earth notice you reap what you sow and if you actually diligently follow all
the commandments of the Bible and you go to do the Bible God will exalt you God
will bless you you know if someone follows the principles in this Bible
quite honestly it doesn't even matter if they're saved or unsaved the principles
that are in the Bible are tested they're tried and they work and it's funny when
I read books about leadership or business and I'm seeing these men make
this point and I'm just like wow you're just literally ripping off the book of
Proverbs and you don't even know it why because if someone does these things
they will be exalted they will be successful go to Daniel chapter number
six Daniel chapter number six while you're turning there let me read 1st
Corinthians 15 58 says therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast
unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord you know that person is that's someone
that performs someone that's steadfast is someone that is always abounding in
the work of the Lord you can make a priority to serve God you can make a
plan to serve God but the person that is steadfast is the person that performs
the actions over and over and over and over again consistently you are not
someone that's steadfast if you just go to church once a month you're not
someone that steadfast if you just go soul winning every once in a while by
definition when you stop doing something you're no longer steadfast someone that
wants to make serving God a priority someone that wants to make the plan and
actually perform the action you know what they do they go soul winning on
Saturday and then they go next Saturday or whatever your day of the week is
whenever your time is you pick a time and you just perform that action and
then the next week you come you just perform that action and whatever goal
you have in life I want to lose weight okay you prioritize losing weight you
make a plan you say here's the time I'm gonna put into working out here's the
diet plan that I'm gonna follow then you just perform that action over and over
and over again you just get up and you work out and you get up and you make
that healthy meal and then the next day comes and you perform that action again
and again and again and you stay steadfast and you know what's gonna
happen you're gonna find out that you're actually gonna accomplish your goals
you're gonna find out that you're gonna wake up one day and you're gonna be fit
and it's because you actually prioritized you made a plan and you
performed that plan Daniel was someone like this look at Daniel chapter 6 verse
10 now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and
his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem he kneeled upon his
knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a
four-time you know this is a guy that was steadfast
Daniel prioritized he purposed in his heart that he wanted to serve God and he
made a plan in his life he had a daily routine where he prayed three times a
day and then something happened where that actually became illegal but you
know what he kept doing he just kept performing his plan kept performing his
plan and man if there's a guy that's blessed by God it's Daniel and if
there's a guy that accomplished his goal of being a servant of God it was Daniel
go to Hebrews chapter number 12 I'll read 1st Corinthians 15 10 says but by
the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not
in vain but I labored more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of
God which was with me see Paul had a goal and it was to press towards the
mark right and he had a plan to do that you know what he did he performed it how
do you know that because he said that I labored more abundantly than they all
and how did the Apostle Paul become the most successful evangelist that's ever
lived it's because the guy was steadfast because the guy actually was performing
he was not lazy Hebrews chapter number 12 now it's also important that when you
go to perform the action that you're doing it at a pace that you can sustain
right it doesn't make sense if you're like hey I'm super unhealthy and super
out of shape I'm gonna go down to the CrossFit gym with all of the ex retired
Special Forces guys and start doing you know workouts with them it's like that's
not gonna work all right look at Hebrews 12 verse 1 wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us and notice let us run with patience
the race that is set before us you know every single person carnally speaking if
we were if we all went out on a run today we would all be running different
paces some of us would be going way slower than others right but here's the
thing and everybody has different stages of life that they're in where you could
run faster at a different stage of life and so it's okay to just be honest with
yourself and just say hey here's where I am at life this is the pace that I can
run the Christian life at and just go at that pace look if cause if you going
soul winning twice a week is gonna cause you to just completely quit serving God
then just keep going once a week but you know at least just keep running the race
though at least just keep going once a week at least just keep going to church
you know I'm not saying you have to read your Bible cover to cover four times a
year and spend 90 minutes a day reading your Bible but just read your Bible
through once a year at least you know keep going keep running the Christian
race we all have different paces we run at and that is totally okay last point
go to Zechariah chapter number four so you want to accomplish a goal you got to
prioritize you got a plan you have to perform lastly you need to pray you have
to pray look at Zechariah 4 verse 6 Zechariah 4 verse 6 then he answered and
spake unto me saying this is the word of the Lord unto his rubable saying notice
not by might nor by power but by my spirit sayeth the Lord of hosts and us
as Christians it doesn't matter what goal we have in our life whether that's
a spiritual goal or a carnal goal you know we have to be humble and remember
that we are completely dependent upon God for anything and everything and
anything that we do anything that we accomplish like Paul even said he said
yeah I labor more abundantly than they all but there's a lot of grace bestowed
unto him and the power that he was getting to perform his great works it
wasn't because the Apostle Paul was so smart and so great and so strong in the
flesh no it was because the Spirit of God was working greatly in him and you
know it'd be good for us to understand before we even attempt to do anything
that it's impossible to go on our own strength to accomplish something big for
God it is impossible to try to raise a godly family by your own strength in
your own power today in 2024 man it's dang near impossible to provide for a
family by yourself under your own strength in your own power you know you
need God to help you you need the power of the Holy Spirit go to Proverbs or
Psalms actually go to Psalm 18 Psalm 18
Psalm 18 look at verse 1 it says I will love thee O Lord my strength the Lord is
my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust
my buckler and the horn of my salvation in my high tower verse 3 I will call
upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine
enemies the sorrows of death compassed me and the floods of ungodly men made me
afraid the sorrows of hell compass me about the snares of death prevented me
in my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God he heard my voice
out of his temple and my cry came before him even into his ears and you know we
just have to have a humble view of ourselves and remember that even if you
prioritize everything perfectly even if you plan things out very meticulously
and you have a perfect plan and a perfect schedule and even if you perform
things we still need God's help to accomplish anything because I've said it
a lot lately God can just take away anything from you at any time and God
can give anything to you at any time you could be someone that's highly motivated
you prioritize you plan you perform you have a successful business it's doing
really well and God can just cut that business off anytime he wants he could
just cut the revenue anytime he wants he could just you know put it in the heart
of your customers to go to a different provider at any time he wants I mean
it's this way with anything and you know you know we need to do we need to call
upon the Lord we need to ask him to help us we need to acknowledge him that hey
Lord it's you that gives me the power to get wealth it's you that give it that's
given me any intellect I have it's you that's given me any strength I've had
it's you that's given me any success I've had and Lord please just keep
helping me because I need you you know if you do that that's a recipe to
actually continue to be successful and to continue to accomplish your goals but
the moment that we get prideful and start thinking oh yeah I'm successful oh
yeah I'm a good leader oh yeah I'm a great husband you know because I'm so
smart because I'm doing all these things that's when God is ready to knock you
down a notch you know I don't want people to have to go through that
because it's just a lot easier just to stay humble than to get all prideful and
for God to cut you down it's a lot easier just to stay humble go to Psalm
75 I'll read for you Proverbs 19 21 the Bible says there are many devices in a
man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand and hey
there's many devices in our hearts there's a lot of things that we devise
and plan but yet the counsel of the Lord shall stand when God wants something to
happen he'll make sure that it happens and there's no fighting against God
there's no fighting against his will Psalm 75 or 6 for promotion cometh
neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but God is the judge
he put it down one and set it up another so you know I hope everyone does have
goals I hope everyone has a desire I hope everyone has the one great thing of
our life that we desire to serve Jesus Christ but if you follow these
principles if you prioritize if you plan if you perform I promise you you will be
successful you will accomplish your goals but when you get there when you
start seeing success when God starts blessing you never let us get to the
point where we start to forget about God where we start to think that we've
accomplished things by our own power and you know let's just think about that
right now as a church while we're humble well we've got a fairly small church
here while we're meeting at a storefront you know I've got goals for this church
to have a big influence and to reach more people and to train more soul
winners and to build an army of soldiers of Jesus Christ here you know I hope
someday that God blesses this church and exalts us and you know when I was a part
of steadfast Baptist Church it was fun seeing us go from renting a place in
Hearst to being kicked out and being in hotel church talk about being humbled
right having church in a hotel a different hotel every single week but
then seeing God bless us and all of a sudden pastor Shelley and steadfast
Baptist Church is able to buy a really nice building and have a great facility
to meet at and you know praise God for that but pastor Shelley and steadfast
Baptist Church the reason why God's able to bless them with that is because they
don't think that they're doing it on their own power they're giving all the
glory to God and it doesn't matter what your goal is it doesn't matter if it's a
spiritual one it doesn't matter if it's a physical one whatever your goal is
follow these principles but always remember to stay humble always remember
to give the glory to God and if we as a church are blessed we're gonna make sure
that this church always is giving glory and thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ
let's have a word of prayer Lord thank you for your word thank you for the
principles found there in just pray that you would help us to lay these
things to our hearts and I just pray that if anyone in here has a goal to
accomplish something for you or something else in their life that you
just help them to leverage these principles to prioritize what's
important to make a plan to perform that plan and of course most importantly to
pray for your favor on their life and Lord I do pray that you put your favor
on this church and that you would bless us with more soul winners more laborers
that you would enlarge our coast that you would bless us Lord and just pray
that we would always give you the honor and glory for it we love you and Jesus
say we pray amen okay quick reminder so we are going to have our fellowship at
this time so right after the last song we're gonna have the men move this
middle section if you would you kind of put it off to the side as far to that
wall as possible would be great and we'll get some chair chairs and tables
out and hopefully that fits everyone if not we'll move one other section but
I'm gonna go ahead and pray for the food real quick we're gonna have a last song
as soon as the song is over feel free to start grabbing food and the men will be
moving these chairs all right let's have a word of prayer Lord thank you for this
time of fellowship thank you for our church and all the people here I do pray
that you now bless this food to our bodies help us to have a great night of
fellowship together we love you in Jesus name we pray amen
all right last section if you have a song I don't know that I know it let me
look at it 396 I do not confidently know this to lead it so if you have a follow
up I'll take a follow-up song I could do that 355 what a friend we have in Jesus
355
we'll sing there on the first what a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and
griefs to bear what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer oh what
peace we often forfeit oh what needless pain we bear oh because we do not care
we everything to God in prayer have we trials and temptations is there trouble
anywhere we should never be discouraged take it to the Lord in prayer can we
find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share Jesus knows our every
mass take it to the Lord in prayer are we weak and heavy laden bird with a load
of care
precious Savior still our refuge take it to the Lord in prayer to thy friends
despise forsake thee take it to the Lord in prayer in his arms he'll take and
the will find a solace there