We're in Joshua chapter number seven. Joshua chapter seven the Bible reads
Well, the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing for Akin the son of Carmine the son of Zabdai the son of
Zero of the tribe of Judah took of the accursed thing and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel
And Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI which is beside Beth Avon on the east side of Bethel and spake unto them saying go up and view the
Country and the men went up and viewed AI
And the return to Joshua and said unto him,
let not all the people go up, but let about 2,000 or 3,000 men
go up and smite AI, and make not all the people to labor
thither, for they are but few.
So they went up thither of the people, about 3,000 men,
and they fled before the men of AI.
And the men of AI smote them about 30 and six men,
for they chased them from before the gate, even
into Shebarim, and smote them into going down,
wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became his water.
And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the even tide
He and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads
And Joshua said alas oh Lord God wherefore us thou
Where has thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us
Which to God we've been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan
O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turn at their backs before their enemies?
For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it,
and shall environ us around and cut off our name from the earth.
And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
Israel hath sinned.
And they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them.
But they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also,
and they have put it even among their own stuff.
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies but turn their backs before their enemies because they were accursed
Now there will I be with you anymore except you destroy the accursed from among you
Up sanctify the people and say sanctify yourselves against tomorrow for thus say at the Lord God of Israel
There is an accursed thing in the midst of the O Israel
Thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you
In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought according to your tribes, and it shall be
that the tribe which the Lord taketh hath shall come according to the families thereof, and
the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households, and the household which
the Lord shall take shall come man by man, and it shall be that he that is taken with
the accursed things shall be burnt with fire, he in all that he hath, because he hath transgressed
the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel."
So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes and the tribe of Judah was taken
He brought the family of Judah and he took the family of the Zahraites
He brought the family of the Zahraites man by man and Zabdai was taken and he brought his household man by man
And Achan the son of Karmai the son of Zabdai the son of Zira of the tribe of Judah was taken
Joshua said unto Achan my son give I pray the glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now
What thou has done hide enough from me?
And they can answer Joshua and said,
Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel,
and thus and thus have I done.
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment,
and two hundred shepherds of silver,
and a wedge of gold, a fifty shepherds' weight,
then I coveted them and took them,
and behold, they are hid in the earth,
in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
So Joshua sent messengers,
and they ran unto the tent, and behold,
it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.
And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and unto all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord.
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan, the son of Zira, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them unto the valley of Acor.
And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
Way for the name of that place was called the Valley of Acor unto this day.
Let's pray to the Lord God. Thank you for this church. Thank you for our pastor.
I pray that you would be with him now. Please strengthen him.
Fill him with the Holy Spirit. Please bless the preaching.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen. Okay. We're in Joshua chapter seven this morning and look down at verse number eight. It says, oh Lord
What shall I say when Israel had turned at their backs before their enemies for the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall
Hear of it and shall environ us around and cut off our name from the earth
And what wilt thou do unto thy great name and the Lord sent him to Joshua get thee up
Wherefore lies thou thus?
upon thy face." And the title of my sermon this morning is Get Up and Do Something About It.
Get up and do something about it. I'm going to review just a little bit of what's taking place
here. Let me give you a little bit of a background of the story here in Joshua chapter 7 regarding
We essentially have, of course, Moses has already passed off the scene, he's no longer leading the
children of Israel, he's in heaven, and he has essentially selected or deigned Joshua to be
the leader of the children of Israel, to bring them into Canaan land, also known as the promised land.
So he brings them into the promised land, and of course this is the land that God gave to the
children of Israel for an inheritance. He's been telling about this for many years, explain to them
Wells they did not dig
Vineyards that they did not plant and it was gonna be a land flowing with milk and honey
It's basically God's purpose. God's will for their life, right? It's this specific geographical location
But here's the thing is that you know the promised land
Canaan land didn't come without its challenges. It's not like God was going to give it to them on a silver platter
He wasn't going to spoon feed it unto them. They actually had to earn it, right?
They had to go city by city and essentially
battle the people that are there in and specifically wipe out the Canaanites, okay, and of course the
twofold purpose behind
conquering Canaan was number one. It was supposed to be a land inherited by the Israelites. It's what God promised unto their forefathers
But two, you wanted them to take it over because of the fact that the Canaanites were so wicked.
You know, the Canaanites were involved in infanticide, they were involved in homosexuality,
sodomy, bestiality, they were involved in incest, in all manner of abominations of the
land.
And so God gave them space to repent, they didn't get right with God, therefore God
was going to bring down the hammer upon the Canaanites via His people, the Israelites.
He wanted them to wipe them out and essentially take over their land.
its inhabitants and wanted to throw them out because they were so vile and wicked.
So the twofold purpose of conquering Canaan was that he wanted to give the Israelites
this land but he also wanted to remove the Canaanites out of the land.
So obviously there's this seven year campaign taking place throughout this time and in a
matter of seven years the Israelites were able to conquer and take over approximately
31 cities and towns.
Jericho, right? This is what we would famously refer to as the walls of Jericho,
where the Lord commanded Joshua and his people to essentially march around the
walls of Jericho once every day for six days and on the seventh day, march around
seven times, the walls would come down and they were able to essentially
infiltrate and destroy the people, rehab the harlot is saved, a great work is
accomplished, and you know the morale is very high.
You know, everyone's excited, like, whoa, you know, God delivered these people into our hands by supernatural means.
The Lord is fulfilling His promises.
And so everything's going great.
Jericho's taken over.
And Joshua was kind of like, you know, let's go to the next city.
We've conquered Jericho.
Jericho's a great city.
A lot of people, they were not able to stand before us.
Let's move on to AI.
Okay, now look at chapter seven, if you would.
Chapter seven and verse number one.
It says but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing actually skipped down to verse number two
It says in Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI
Which is beside Bethaven on the east side of Bethel and spake unto them saying go up and view the country and the men went up and viewed AI
And they returned to Joshua and said to him,
let not all the people go up, but let about two or 3,000 men
go up and smite AI and make all their people to labor,
not make all the people to labor thither,
for they are of a few.
So basically, they're looking at AI and saying, this is cake.
This is not that hard.
AI is smaller than Jericho.
We should have no problem with this.
Now, there's a problem, though, because when they conquered
Jericho, which is the first city,
God specifically commanded him and told them,
don't take up the accursed thing, right?
Now, what is he referring to when he says the accursed thing?
He's referring to the silver, the gold, the brass,
the spoils of war, right?
Because commonly, what they would do
is when they would conquer some city or town,
they were given permission to essentially spoil
that land of all of its goods.
But the Lord specifically told the Israelites,
don't do that with Jericho.
Whatever you find in Jericho make sure you sanctified unto the Lord needs to be consecrated and put into the treasury of the house of God
Okay, and obviously the implication here is that the city's thereafter you can have the spoils of war
However, Jericho, on the other hand, you cannot have the spoils of war.
That needs to be consecrated unto the Lord.
Now, why is that?
Well, this is essentially the same principle of the tithe, right?
If you think of the tithe, the 10% of the gross income goes to the Lord.
It's sanctified unto the Lord, right?
Now look at chapter 6, if you would.
Chapter 6 and verse 18.
Here's where he gives us this commandment it says in verse 18 and ye and any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing
Lest you make yourselves accursed
When you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it not sounds to me like this is
I'm cursing involved here, right? Like he's like, you know, don't take of the accursed thing
Don't make yourselves a curse if you take of the accursed thing you yourselves will be cursed
I mean there's enough warning here. It's pretty clear like I think we shouldn't touch this stuff
It sounds like it's probably not a good thing to take of the accursed thing and if I were them I would ask you know
What is what are you talking about because I don't want to touch it right look at verse 24?
I'm sorry verse 19. It says but all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are
Consecrated unto the Lord they shall come into the treasury of the Lord
So obviously he's explaining here that the accursed thing is synonymous with the silver gold vessels of brass and iron look at verse 24
And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein, only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.
So in general, Israel understood what the commandment was, Joshua obviously understood what the commandment was, they understood, don't touch the stuff, needs to be consecrated unto the Lord.
And again, as I mentioned, this is essentially the same principle of the tithe, right?
It's the first city that's being conquered.
It's the first city that's being destroyed.
So the principle still applies that that quote, unquote,
10% should go unto the Lord, right?
And this is a principle that we see throughout the Bible,
not just in the book of Joshua.
And it's not a foreign, it's not an alien principle
to the children of Israel, because they were already
taught what the tithe is back in Exodus and Deuteronomy
and Numbers, what it was all about,
you know, consecrating that into the Lord.
And you say, well, I don't know what the tithe is.
What is the tithe?
Tithe simply means 10th, OK?
And it basically means that the 10th of your gross income
should go into the Lord, OK?
So $100, $10 out of $100 should go into the Lord.
And you say, well, I can't operate off of like $90.
You would actually operate better off of $90
than you would off of the $100 if you kept those 10.
Because of the fact that when you obey the Lord in the tithe he ends up blessing you and in fact go to go with me
If you went to Malachi Malachi chapter 3 hold your place there in Joshua
And we're gonna see why
The consecration of the gold silver and the brass and the iron is synonymous with the
accursed thing.
Why God still calls it accursed, okay?
Look at Malachi chapter 3 and verse number 8.
It says here in verse number 8, will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say wherein have ye robbed thee?
Ye, listen to this, are cursed with the curse, for you robbed me, even this whole nation
the Bible says.
So God considers you taking or keeping of that tithe, the tithes and offerings as a robbery
and also as a curse upon your own life.
Now what does that curse bring?
It says, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in minehouse,
and prove me now herewith, sayeth the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows
of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive
it.
Look at verse 11, and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and ye shall not destroy the
fruits of your ground, neither shall your vancaster fruit before the time in the field,
sayeth the Lord of hosts.
Make sure you bring the tithes and offerings into the house of God for the functions of the house of God and
When you do so, this is what's gonna happen. I'll bless you for it
I'll open up the windows of heaven. You'll be able to be blessed
You'll be able to operate far greater with
90% than you would with 100% if you consecrate the accursed thing unto the Lord you understand now
Why is he calling a cursed? Well verse 11 says that if you keep that tithe
What happens the devourer will come and essentially destroy your resources. It's basically what he's saying, right?
He says he's gonna destroy the fruits of the ground the vine shall not cast her fruit before the time in the field
Sayeth the Lord so obviously, you know the tithe or the
That which is consecrated unto the Lord is considered an accursed thing to the person who's keeping it
And obviously, there is a curse upon that person's life, upon their resources.
And you know, again, this is a principle that even applies in the New Testament.
You know, you have a lot of churches and pastors that will say,
well, that's Old Testament, that's under the law.
Yeah, guess what? So is thou shall not kill, right?
So is thou shall not steal.
So is you know
Sodomy and so is bestiality and these are things that were under the law and guess what they're still applicable today
Now people often bring up this this question and they'll often rebuttal and say well
If God wanted us to tithe in the New Testament, there should be a clear verse in the New Testament that commands us to do so
You know they bring up the clear verse response, right?
But let me explain to you why God did not put a clear verse
in the New Testament about tithing because of the fact that he gave you a bunch of
clear verses already in the Old Testament and because the Old Testament is
already replete with the doctrine of tithing in the Old Testament because it's
just permeated throughout the Old Testament you would actually have to find
me a verse in the New Testament that tells us not to tithe.
So instead of looking for a verse that says we should tithe well, sorry
There's a bunch of verses in the Bible that says we should so it actually the burden of proof lies upon you to find me
A verse that says that we shouldn't you understand obviously there are things in the New Testament that have been repealed
Obviously, there are things such as the meats drinks diverse washings
Carnal ordinances the observance of holy days and the Sabbath these things are done away with
many of which were a shadow of things to come,
they were a shadow of Christ,
but the practical things of the law,
such as stealing, murder, and yes,
even the tithe is still applicable
because of the fact that in the Old Testament,
the tithe was instituted in order to keep
the operation going in the house of God.
Well, guess what? The operation needs to
continue in the New Testament as well.
And the church is the house of God, the pillar and ground of truth, right?
So in order for the church to operate in order for
soul-warning and evangelism and materials and the rent and the salaries to be taken care of,
there needs to be tithes coming into the storehouse in order to fund that, you understand?
But a lot of times the people who are against this stuff are people who are just against leadership.
They're against the local New Testament church.
But, sorry, you need to show me a verse in the Bible that says we shouldn't specifically tithe.
okay in the New Testament that is still a thing and in my experience I've learned through my
own experience and other people's experiences that when you don't hide the devour does come
All of a sudden there's hospital bills all of a sudden your car breaks down all of a sudden
All the finances start going down the drain and you start realizing. Oh, man. I forgot the tithe. I need to tie it
Okay, and so obviously that is the case in Malachi chapter 3
but the principle of
Consecrating that until the Lord is found in Joshua now go back to Joshua if you would
The Bible also tells us in Proverbs chapter 3 honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of thine increase, right?
So, Jericho, excuse me, should be something that was consecrated was essentially the first
fruits that the children of Israel got going into the Promised Land.
That should have been given unto the Lord.
Regardless of how beautiful the stones were, regardless of how nice the gold was, how much
gold there was, how much silver, regardless of the Babylonian garments, right, it should
be consecrated unto the Lord.
Zeichen is obviously the one who is troubling Israel by stealing this stuff, by robbing
God of this.
You know, if he would have just waited another chapter, if he would have just waited a little
bit, he could have enjoyed it.
And here's a good principle is that sometimes people jump the gun on making a specific decision
because they think they just need to make a decision right now, but let me just say
this, sometimes you just need to wait another chapter.
You know instead of making a hasty decision today because of something that's going on in your life financially
Physically in your church. Why don't you just wait another chapter Aiken?
Because here's the thing is that you know, I'm sure Aiken in heaven right now is thinking you know
I pretty much destroyed my entire family because it wasn't just him who destroyed his own life
He destroyed his children's life his wife's life all his substance. He became a reproach unto Israel
Why because of greed because of covetousness the Bible says he saw he coveted he took
Whereas you know if they would have just gone to AI God's like go for it take anything you want
But then in the costing his life go to chapter 7 again
Chapter 7 of Joshua, it says in verse 1,
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing,
For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdai, the son of Zira,
Of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing,
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.
Now isn't that interesting?
It says that Achan participated in the accursed thing,
But Israel was cursed because of it.
You know, well I thought Joshua and everyone else did what they were supposed to do.
Yeah, but the principle that's being taught here is that your sin can affect the entire congregation.
You know, the sin of one member, the fornication of one member, the drunkenness of one member,
the railing of one member, the extortion, the idolatry of one member can often affect the entire congregation.
And this is why the Bible tells us that your glory is not good knowing that a little leaven leaven at the whole lump.
You know a little sin and a member that is not getting right with God. They're not being repentant
They're not, you know cleaning up their lives can't often affect and permeate throughout the church
And so just like achon, you know the curse came upon the entire nation because they're essentially a body of believers in the Old Testament
And God will deal with them as a whole. Okay. Look at verse 2
And of course at this point Joshua doesn't know that achon took of the accursed thing. He doesn't know as far as he's concerned
Everyone, you know obey the commandment
Everyone, you know consecrated the the accursed thing unto the Lord verse 2 says in Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI
Which is beside Bethven on the east of Bethel and speak of them saying go up and view the country and the men went up and viewed AI
So he sends a reconnaissance into the you know, AI obviously even though God has already promised to give him this land
They have to do their part right
Just like us, you know, God has given us many promises in His Word,
but it's not like we just sit at home and do nothing and it just comes to us.
We actually have to go out and do something about it. You know, the Bible promises us
that we will reap souls when we go out and preach the gospel,
but it doesn't just happen with you just sitting on your rear end doing nothing, right?
You actually have to go out there and do something about it.
Okay, and so, you know, they know the AI is theirs
So he's doing his due diligence sending reconnaissance kind of surveying the land sealing what they have to deal with
Look at verse 3 and it returned to Joshua and said unto him
Let not all the people go up but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite AI and
Make not all the people to labor thither for they are but few so he says, you know
We don't have to send as many men as we sent for Jericho
AI is a lot smaller just send about two or three thousand we should be able to handle it first four
So they went up fitter of the people about three thousand men and look at this turn of events and they fled before the men of AI
Now that's a lot different than Jericho
So it's like two or three thousand men go out and then they're running from AI
He says in verse five and the men of AI smote of them about 30 and six men
for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim
and smote them into going down, wherefore the hearts of the people melted
and became as water. So they suffered this great loss
and you think to yourself, oh it's only 36 men. Yeah, but it's 36 men though.
It's 36 men that will now return back home. 36 men who had children, who had wives
and in fact no one should have been lost.
No lives should have been lost, there should have been no fatalities, but because of one
man's sin these 36 men lost their lives and essentially the children of Israel became
a reproach because of the fact that they are sinning.
Now what does this teach us?
It teaches us that the odds will always be against you if God is against you.
I don't know how many resources you've had and it doesn't even matter how many past victories you've had if you're in sin and
You're not obedient to God you're involved in things that you shouldn't be involved with guess what it doesn't matter
How many resources you have God is against you so is everything else
He will not allow you to prosper as a Christian if you have sin in your life
Now we're all sinners. We all make mistakes. We all fail. We all for all I've sinned come short of the glory of God
Obviously what I'm referring to is unrepentance in
If I regard iniquity in my heart the Bible says the Lord will not hear me. Okay?
And so the odds are against the children of Israel, even though they had this great victory over Jericho,
they can't destroy AI, not because AI is just stronger than them,
not because they're just more fortified, they have more weapons,
they have more armor, they have more horses or chariots of iron,
it's because they actually have God on their side.
And it's not because they're godly, it's because God is against Israel at this point for robbing him of that which is supposed to be consecrated.
So we see here that the odds will always be against you.
Folks, let me just give you a word of advice for the new year.
If you want God to bless your endeavors, you better make sure God's on your side.
You want God to bless your business your finances your health your relationships your ministry
Your soul in your walk with God you better make sure that God is on your side
That's one of the greatest motivations to just stay right with God
It's like you know what I don't want God to punish me, but I also don't want God to not prosper me
And so if I'm going to make sure that I succeed in 2025
in the areas that I might have failed in in 2024,
I got to make sure that God is on my side
because if God before us, who can be against us?
You know, I'm going to take over AI though, AI is so small.
I'm not even going to have to put as much effort
into AI as I did into Jericho.
Yeah, actually you can put in all the effort,
all the resources, but you're going to lose
if God is against you.
Look at verse six.
And Joshua rent his clothes rent. It doesn't mean like he you know
Don't that's the way we would use is like let me just go borrow some clothes rent rent means like he tore his garments
which is an expression of lamentation,
it's an expression of humility, right?
It's basically representing the fact
that he's tearing his heart, right?
You're breaking my heart.
His heart is broken.
It's rent.
He says, in Joshua, rent his clothes
and fell to the earth upon his face
before the ark of the Lord until even tide.
He and the elders of Israel
and put dust upon their heads.
And Joshua said,
Wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us?
Well to God we have been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan now
What does this show us about Joshua? It shows us that Joshua is just like us
You know why because he's kind of exaggerating a little bit
You know when we suffer loss we have a tendency to just throw out the baby with the bathwater
You know, oh, you know, you know Joshua is like the man
He's leading all the children of Israel, but all of a sudden he suffers a loss
And it's just like why'd you bring me out bring me bring me out here to kill me?
We should have just stayed on the other side of Jordan Lord now the Amorites are gonna destroy us now
Everything's gonna go down the drain down the toilet and he's just kind of like allowing his thoughts to just spiral out of control
Just because of this one loss
And let me tell you, let me say something in 2025,
you're gonna suffer loss.
You will suffer loss.
Don't spiral out of control because of it.
You're gonna suffer disappointments.
Don't get all emotional about it
to the point where you make some dumb decision, okay?
You know, don't be like Joshua where it's just like,
oh man, we should've just, well,
we should've just never come to church.
We should've just never, we should've just never moved.
I should have just never it's just like go get some sleep or something
Go eat a double-double get some sleep
Go chill out for a little bit. You know
Just relax looking for a say oh lord. What shall I say?
When Israel turn at their backs before their enemies, he's like, how am I gonna motivate them to like fight again?
This is the second fight and we lost
For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it and shall
Environ us round and cut off our name from the earth and what would thou do unto thy great name?
He's like oh man
We're gonna be such a laughing stock before the Canaanites after they hear about AI. What are we gonna do?
You know, he's having this fatalistic attitude
Okay
And I'm preaching to myself, obviously,
because I'm very fatalistic, okay?
I could be very pessimistic.
Where something goes wrong is just like,
you just think of the worst possible outcome,
the sky is falling, but you know,
we need to kind of get it together here.
And look at verse 10.
So he's lamenting, he's on the ground,
he's like, we're dead, we should have been
on the other side of Jordan, his clothes are all messed up
because he ripped him.
He's got dust on his head, he's complaining.
Look at verse 10, the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up, wherefore liest thou thus upon
thy face?
I love that phrase.
He's like, Get up.
What are you doing?
Get up.
Israel hath sinned.
They all have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them for they have even taken to the accursed thing and have also
Stolen and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuff
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies
But turn their backs before their enemies because they were a curse neither will I be with you anymore except you destroy their
accursed from among you
What is he saying? You know instead of crying about it instead of complaining about it instead of just thinking of the worst possible
Outcome instead of it. You know regretting coming over into the promised land. Why don't you actually get up and do something about it?
It's what he's telling them
Because he's telling them assess the situation for what it is
Israel has sinned. I'm with you
But obviously if you're losing this battle is because you guys are doing something that you're not supposed to be doing
So this is what he tells him at the end except you destroyed the accursed from among you
He's basically saying do something about it
Get up and actually do something about it. And you know what? This is a great phrase to take into 2025
You know, you might be this year lamenting over some of your sins that you've committed in 2024 and
You're like Joshua. You're on the floor. You're just lamenting. Oh, it's because of my husband
It's because of my wife. It's because of my situation. It's because of this. Hey, why don't you actually just get up and do something about it then?
Instead of just like lying on the floor with dust on your head,
renting your garments, talking about all your regrets of 2024,
why don't you actually get up and do something about it?
Some of us are going to be getting up doing something about it,
and some of us in 2025 are still lying on the ground.
Lamenting over the losses of 2024.
I don't want to lament over the losses of 2024.
I want to actually get up and do something about it.
People often lament over past sins. Get up and do something about it.
You know, a just man follows seven times and rises up again,
the Bible says, right? And he tells Joshua, get thee up. Wherefore lies thou
upon thy face?
And obviously we understand that, you know, sins can obviously destroy your life.
There's certain things that you can get involved with that can actually hinder your walk with God,
hinder God's blessing upon your life.
The Bible says that your iniquities have turned away these things
and your sins have withholding good things from you.
You might have kind of foregone certain good things in your personal life because of sin.
And you know what, if that's the case, okay, but get up from the ground
and actually go do something about it.
Look at verse 13
He says up sanctify the people and say sanctify yourselves against tomorrow for the sake the Lord God of Israel
There is an accursed thing in the midst of the O Israel thou canst not stand before thine enemies
Until you take away the accursed thing from among you. What is he saying clean up your life?
Get cleaned up get sanctified
Hey, you know what if you're a person who struggles with alcohol and you struggle to alcohol in 2024, you know up sanctify
thyself
Get right with God throw away the alcohol
You know dump it down the toilet or the sink or ever supposed to go throw away the bottles and get right with God
And here's here's something that'll help you if that's you you know get away from people who drink alcohol
How about that?
You know one of the reasons people struggle with alcohol is not necessary because they're alcoholics
Those are obviously that plays a role in it
But one reason why they keep delving into alcohol is because they keep hanging around with people who are also alcoholics
It's just like man. I love the Lord and I just keep struggling with alcohol
Well show me your five closest friends you hang out with the most and I guarantee you three out of those five are probably alcoholics
You know if you're gonna overcome a specific sin in your personal life if you just keep struggling with this thing over this past year
Then why don't you take inventory of the people do you keep around you and by the way?
This is why it's important to just be in church
Say why because guess what? There's no alcoholics here
There's not people who are just drinking alcohol unfettered. You know, this is not some reformed church
You know where we have a bar in the back a
Wine-Biver station
For you to get your fix or whatever. It's not that kind of church. You're gonna be around sober people at church
You like yeah, but that's only once a week. Yeah, but you can make it three times a week though
You know, we got Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday night, you can be present in those times and be exhorted
to continue in the faith, to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, to be so reminded.
And you know what? One thing I've noticed, if I want to be like a specific person,
I just need to be around that person all the time.
If I want to have the characteristics and attributes of a successful person, guess what?
I need to be around successful people all the time.
Not be around losers and drunkards and people to smoke marijuana and do drugs and just low lives of this world
Oh, you know, but I grew up with them. Yeah, but they're growing you down though
So who cares if you've known them for X amount of years if they're
Alcoholics and they're pot smokers and vapors or whatever fill in the blank
And that's not conducive to your spiritual growth that you need to get away from people like that
Unless you just want to remain on the floor though
Unless you just want to keep lamenting your sin in 2025, then stay on the ground.
I don't know about you, but I want to get up.
But here's the thing, if you're just going to be there complaining about and regretting
all the failures because of alcohol, because of weed, because of drugs, and X, Y, and Z,
then you know what, instead of just lying there with your clothes rent, regretting,
and just feeling all of this regret because of 2024, instead why don't you actually get
up and do something about it, get yourself some new friends at church, well three times
You know, get some phone numbers, get some IGs, go to Six Flags together, go eat together,
go hang out together, oh sounds kind of cultish, no actually the cold is the bunch of people
who get together on Friday to drink alcohol, so they can all get drunk together and throw
up separately on Saturday morning.
Sounds cold just to me. Yeah, let's all let's just all get together and poison ourselves
You know isn't that what cults do they kind of get together drink poison and die well guess what you're no different
The only thing is you're not dying. You're just dying slower
Yeah, you're getting on Haley's Comet Colt
You know they got together, you know, you guys know what I'm talking about
You know the Haley's cold. You guys know about that cold you guys need to have a brush up on your colts man
They're the guys who wore like the the Cortez nikes. They dressed all in black that shaved off their heads
You guys know what I'm talking about look it up on YouTube. You'll be it's a good watch. Okay, or how about this?
You know Joe Joe Jones. Oh, that's that's another one
Jim Jones
Right Jim Jones who literally moved his entire church
to South America and
Made them all drink Kool-Aid and killed everyone
That's a cold
Or how about this?
How about you and your buddies that get together
on Friday and Saturday to drink poison?
Oh, it's Kool-Aid.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
With alcohol, just so you guys can pass out and wake up
the next day and do it again.
That's a cold.
What we've got going on here is just an assembly of sober
people who enjoy being sober.
Clean up your life.
Upsanctify thyself.
You know maybe in 2025 you just need to reconsider and revisit the friends that you have okay, and and and by the way
Even amongst Christians should I I should say that as well, you know sometimes there's Christians are just bad influences
I've learned that aside from just like if I want to be successful
I want to be around successful people I've learned this if I want to just be a happy person with a happy disposition
I need to be around people who have a happy disposition as well
Because there's Christians that don't have a happy disposition
Bunch of grumps. They're just grinch grumps who just like they're just so spiritual
So holy that smiling is like a sin or something like that
You know and let me say this
You know if you're that person in our church who is just an absolute grump don't influence others to be like you
You know don't influence others and suck away the joy from their life
So you can be just like you, you know, be a positive influence upon the people in our church
You know, I'm not saying that you have to be super enthusiastic
lively and you know
You don't got to be like that, but obviously, you know, there should be some semblance of joy in your life, though
if you're just like
You know, okay, it's just the line for a smile just the line for a smile, that's it
But you know what you hang around people like that long enough you will be like that
Because we can't help but emulate
the countenance of those who are around
Okay, and so
2025 if there are certain sins you've been struggling with you know, how about fornication fornication is a common sin amongst young people
You know how about first of all you just repent and just don't don't fornicate and and you know
Revisit point number one, which is get away from the people that are causing you to fornicate
Get away from that girl get away from that guy that's causing you to fornicate or how about this?
You know if you both are Christians you both are saved. Why don't you just get married amen?
Get married
Oh, yeah, what a horrible idea, right?
Just get married is just such a horrible idea.
It's better to just fornicate and just where God's curse is just on your life from then on.
Actually, getting married is actually a blessing.
It's actually God's order.
It's what God ordained.
And you ask people who are serving God and they got God's hand in their life and they're married,
it is happily ever after.
Okay, and so clean up your life. Sanctify yourself. Sanctify the people.
Don't be someone who is just covering their sins because you're not going to prosper.
Whosoever confesseth and forsakeeth them, the Bible says shall obtain mercy.
And so if you find yourself lamenting on the floor with your face down, dust on your head, clothes rent,
because of the sinful failures of 2024, get up and do something about it. Don't just lament. Go and repent.
Don't lament. Repent, amen.
And look, there's a time for lamentation where you just feel bad for what you did.
Absolutely.
You know, you just feel bad because you failed in that area.
Maybe you got involved with pornography.
Maybe you got involved with alcohol.
Maybe you got involved with fornication.
Maybe you got involved with a specific sin out there.
Okay, lament.
But there comes a point where you just got to get up and do something about it though.
Lamentation should only be the initial stage of repentance, but after that you get up
Wipe yourself off and you're like all right. Let's put a plan together to just fix this situation because new year knew me amen
No new year new man
You know put off the old man
Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind
Which after God has created in righteousness and true holiness put on the new man amen
So, sanctify yourselves, and look, one of the best ways to sanctify yourself as a Christian
is just get as much Bible content in as possible.
Obviously, through church services, preaching of God's Word, but just reading the Bible
consistently.
So, don't take those Bible reading schedules lightly.
You know, we made them try to look nice and everything, but folks, utilize those things.
Don't be like the January 1st gym people who go to the gym on January 1st.
No way. You won't catch me dead at the gym on January 1st.
There's nothing that's going to be available.
Everything's taken up by the January 1st members.
I wait a couple of weeks because after a couple of weeks people fizzle out.
You know the soreness is there and they're just like I can't handle this next year
They're like 2026 is my year, you know, and then I go, you know, may you not be a January 1st Bible reader
Hey, may you not be a Genesis Bible reader a
Genesis 6 1 through 6 Bible reader
Then you start getting into the genealogies and you're like, you know what 2026 is my year
2026 will be my year.
No, you know, read all the way through, amen.
Phenogenesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
go through the historical books,
go through the poetical books,
go through the major prophets,
go through the minor prophets,
go through the New Testament,
and then if you have the advanced section,
go through it again.
Why?
Because you want to sanctify yourself.
You know, what sets us apart from everyone else?
I'll tell you what sets us apart is the Bible.
But it's not just the Bible. It's believing the Bible. It's not just believing the Bible is reading the Bible. It's applying the Bible and
so
Oh, yeah, but you know, I just I
Just got this sin in my life that I can't seem to shake all right get up and do something about them
Put a plan together
Do something.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1, having, therefore, these promises
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God, the Bible says.
Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter number 6, Matthew chapter number 6, if you
would.
Matthew chapter number 6, the title of the sermon is Get Up and Do Something About It.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about being proactive in 2025. Don't let success just happen to you. You happen to
success. And obviously success doesn't just happen to people, by the way. There might be a lucky
person every now and then that it's by chance that they are successful. But you know what,
we have to intentionally succeed, try to succeed at our walk with God, intentionally succeed at
Hey, let's let's let's gear up on this owning this this year. Amen. If you're someone who maybe you just kind of been on and off
I'm preaching the gospel
Let 2025 be your year
You're like, oh man, I just wish I was a better talker. I wish I knew my introductions better
I wish I actually memorized the verses. Okay, stop lamenting actually get up and do something about it
And look, I'm gonna help you with this in February. We're gonna have a training
Okay, it's gonna be a four-week soul winning training after the services and we want everyone to commit to not only be there after the
Service but also for those same people to go soul winning that day
Now don't freak out because we're not gonna put you at a door to talk to anybody throughout those four weeks
Okay, you're gonna be a silent partner, but I'm just trying to get your foot in the door
So instead of lamenting and just like, oh man, I didn't get anybody to save this year.
I was so inconsistent.
I just didn't memorize the verses.
Boo-hoo!
Get up and do something about it this year.
Be a part of the statistic at the end of the year for 2025 of the person who actually got people saved in our church.
Okay?
And we're going to have signups for that training soon.
Get up and do something about it. What about you know, maybe maybe some of you had financial setbacks this year
And you know, you're lamenting over the fact that you lost money. Maybe you're in debt
Maybe you struggled financially. Okay, get up and do something about it. Okay, put a plan to get look at Matthew chapter 6 verse 31
It says therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal
Shall we be clothed for after all these things do the Gentile seek what is he saying if you're the kind of person
Just constantly worrying about
What are you gonna eat? What are you gonna drink? You know, where's the rank gonna come from?
You're thinking like an unsafe hurt like a Gentile the Bible saying there
This follows after all these things do the Gentile seek after
For your Heavenly Father knoweth that he have need of all these things and sometimes when people worry about that stuff
They don't take into account God
Right, it's just like man. What am I gonna do about all this? Well, how about the fact that we have God?
How about the fact that our Heavenly Father knows that we have need of these things?
Yeah, but what am I supposed to do though, you know, I just can't get seem to get this job
I can't get this raise. Well, here's the number one thing you have to do and I guarantee you if you do this one thing
You will succeed if you do this one thing
You will be fed if you do this one thing you will be clothed if you do this one thing God will take care of it
But you have to do this one thing
verse 33
But see key first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things, what things?
The food, the clothing, all these things
shall be added unto you.
That's a pretty simple formula.
Yeah, but I had some financial setbacks this last year.
Well, obviously sometimes financial setbacks
can happen to those who are even seeking
the kingdom of God, right?
You know, I would say I've sought the kingdom of God over the last 17 18 years
But over those those years I've had financial setbacks
You know in my marriage personally and it's not because I wasn't seeking the kingdom of God
But sometimes there are seasons where God allows financial setbacks in our life to teach us this one word contentment
And so if you are in that situation and you take inventory of your spiritual life and you're saying well, that's weird
I am seeking the kingdom of God. I'm winning people to Christ. I'm going to church. I'm reading my Bible. I'm still broke
I'm broke and I'm doing all these things right, okay, then you know recognize that maybe God just wants you to learn how to be a based
You know, it's funny how it says I've learned how to base and I've learned how to abound like it's pretty easy to learn how to
bound
When you're a bounty is just easy like oh man
Look at all his food. Oh man. Just like all the the mortgage is getting paid the rents getting paid
That's not really hard. You know, it's kind of easy to about
It's the abasing that takes some discipline
Right. It's serving God when you've been abased
It's reading your Bible and depending on God and praying for things when you don't have anything, right?
He says I can do all things through Christ's strength and to me
But here's the thing, you know sometimes you'll be broke even when you're seeking the kingdom of God
But there are other instances where guess what maybe you're broke because you're not seeking the kingdom of God
You know, there's certain things by the way that money can't buy
That require you to seek the kingdom of God like for example peace or
contentment
Some people will make all kinds of money still not happy
Make all kinds of money still have peace. They're overly anxious
They're there. They're worried all they think about is money
That's something that money can't buy
You know what purchases those things. I'm telling you right now is seeking the kingdom of God
So if you've had financial setbacks in your life, okay, get up and do something about it
And here's the something seek the kingdom of God in his righteousness
You're like, you know what I was just broke this year
Just had no money
I'm just barely making it or sometimes I didn't make it
Okay, but how were you in church this year? Well, you know, no, because I was working
That's probably the reason why
You know, yeah, but you know, I got to make sure I feed my family. Well, don't don't think like a Gentile
That's the manner of the Gentiles
Know God's formula is this you seek him first in the kingdom of God his righteousness you serve him
And you'll make sure that you're taking care of
Now I can I can say that to the cows come home, and there'll still be Christians who don't believe me
And sometimes people just need to experience it personally, first hand, before they realize
how true of a statement and promise that is, okay?
Get up and actually do something about it.
Now obviously, maybe you think to yourself, well, you know, I've served God, I do seek
the kingdom of God, I'm still broke, you know, I'm not involved in sin, and I'm still broke,
so what's the issue?
Well, sometimes you just need to be more diligent to know the state of life lock.
Sometimes you just need a budget
Most people are just broke
Because they just don't have a budget
And it's not like God's cursing you or God's like punishing you or God's against you
He's actually with you
It's just that the money that you have with you. You don't know how to like handle it
You know, you're overspending or you're not keeping track and it sometimes is just a it's easy fix
Now look some some people are so wealthy that they can like be lax in that area a little bit
I may not affect them, but for the but the rest of us though
We need a budget
Okay, and the Bible tells us in Proverbs 27 verse 23 be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and
Look well to thy herds. He says what does that mean? You know look at what you're spending
Create a line item. Okay
of what's going out and what's coming in,
and obviously if there's more going out
than what's coming in,
it's not that God's not with you,
it's just that you're not,
you know, you're just overly spending.
You know, eat at home a little more often this year.
Amen?
You know, get rid of your Amazon app.
Oh, I just hit a.
You know, that prime and the deliveries and you know, man that's like a, that's like a golden cow here, apparently.
Know the state of thy flocks, he says, for riches are not forever, and doth the crown endure to every generation.
The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered.
The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
Now obviously we're not dealing with goats.
You know we won't got goats or lambs or anything like that if I had one I wouldn't know what to do with it
Okay, this is the the translation here for us would be the monetary wealth that we have right
But he's basically saying like well God gives you that lamb that he gives you that goat that you have the hay that appears
It only appears for a little time, so you got to make sure you take care of it or a good steward of it
Okay, and by the way, you know obviously the Bible teaches generosity
But let me just say that some people are like, you know, well, you know, I don't want to be wasteful
So I'm very frugal
You know, that's good, right? Frugality is good
But frugality is only good if you're being generous with others and
sometimes people
Think that they're frugal, but they're actually just stingy
It's stinginess with the cloak of frugality
He's like, oh, I don't like to spend because I'm a very frugal person.
But frugality is meant to kind of cause you to go without so
that you can be a blessing to someone else.
And if you're being frugal, but you're not
being a blessing to someone else, stop saying you're frugal.
You're just stingy is what it is, right?
He says in verse 27 and verse 27 and thou shalt have goats milk enough for thy food and for the food that I household and
For the maintenance of thy maidens you'd be surprised how far your dollar can stretch
If you just keep track of that dollar
That's what it's saying
You know instead of luxurious spending and just buying all the nice things and you know again
If you're like a really wealthy person you still need this by the way
But you know if you could go lax a little bit that's that's on you
But just in general though Christians need to keep track of their finances and it's not that God's against you
It's not because you're involved in sin
It's not because you know you just got some some wicked thing in your heart and God's chasing you
It's just you're just bad with finances is what it is. You just need to keep track of it
And so if you've had financial setbacks in 2024 and you're lamenting about it because you're broke right now at the end of
The year because you bought all these Christmas presents. Amen, you know, all right get up and do something about it
Okay, don't just lay on the floor and you know, just lament over the failures of the past year
Go to Joshua 24 if you would Joshua chapter 24
Talk about getting up and do something about it right getting up and doing something about it
Here's another thing we're almost done lamenting marriage or family problems
Maybe this past year was not your year
for a successful marriage
Parenting or family
Maybe you've had many bumps and maybe the whole year was a bump
There's bumps in the road and it's just like the whole year was just like
You just there's just no smooth road on 2024. You just had all these issues with your spouse all these issues with your family
And you're just like not looking forward to 2025
Well, you know, just get up and do something about it then change something
Insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results
So if something did not work in your marriage this year
Let me just give you the most golden piece of advice. Don't do it in 2025
Don't do it again change it
Like why I just really think this one thing will work if it didn't work for the last 365 days
Probably not gonna work and the next 365 days
You know and let me just let me hit this point real quick
You know you're lamenting over drama that's happened in other churches
You know and you're lamenting and you're just saddened over the estate of everything that's taking place and
Children are doing this and that and you're just on the floor then get up and do something about it then
Why don't you just get up and be be a parent to your children?
Why don't you focus on your marriage?
Why don't you focus on your children?
Why don't you focus on making your household the way you want it to be?
Regardless of where you stand on the whole issue
whether you forward or against it at the end of the day, you know instead of just focusing on other people's problems on
Everyone else's issues
Why don't we put a magnifying glass to your problems and your issues?
Why don't you do that? Why don't you get up and do something about your situation?
Because you know what we all got problems
We all got issues
We're all a little drama from time to time
Not as much as others yeah, but why don't you get up and do something about your situation though, okay?
Fix your marriage
Fix your children fix your child rearing fix your home
And you know what so much investment in 2024 went out into focusing on what's going outside of these walls
That I guarantee you something in your family probably waned a little bit because we're too busy on the phone
Scroll and looking through everyone else's problems
right
You know instead of going on your phone on Facebook and Instagram and just
Criticizing and focusing on other people's problems and other people's drama and other people's soap operas
You know why don't you go ahead and just delete that app and just you know be entertained by your own drama
Be entertained with your own drama, focus on your family, your marriage.
I don't know about you.
You know, me, I have some plans for my marriage and my child ring in 2025.
Personally.
You know, things that I've written down specifically that I want to change, things that I want to do.
You're like, where do you stand?
Here's where I stand.
I stand with the Mahias.
Because that's my family.
You know, and you know what, I can't change what goes on outside of these walls.
I just can change the philosophies that I have in my home
and reinforce things and strengthen my marriage, strengthen my childrearing.
And you know one thing that will just not help my marriage?
One thing that will not help my childrearing? One thing that will not help my home?
It's focusing on someone else's. How better I have it than them or how bad they have it than me.
Folks, at the end of the day, who cares what other people do?
But you know what, we live in a drama gluttonous society.
People are just gluttons for drama
Gluttons for drama
They just want to know all the the drama the soap operas and everything's going on in someone else's marriage. Who cares you can't change it anyways
So who cares focus once you invest that same energy
Into your own marriage and make it what you think other marriages should be
Right
Why don't you focus all that energy in your child rearing and make it what you think other child rearing should be?
That's a good one
You know because we're all good Monday morning quarterbacks. Are we not?
We all know we are all good UFC commentators
We all know what the guy at the bottom should be doing we all know what the guy on top should be doing
We all know what they should have done and here's the problem. Here's the issue. Okay, then you get in the ring and you fight
Then you go be a UFC fighter
Then you go in to get in that boxing match
Then you go and show us what a good marriage is then
Show us what a good child rearing is then don't talk to talk walk the walk
Don't talk about it be about it
2025 should be a year where we say you know what I'm gonna show by my I'm gonna show my faith by my works
Amen
What's the sermon sermons get up and do something about it, you know enough of this
Enough of this too much of this going on
Too much just flapping the gums talking this and that why don't we actually do something about it?
I want to see some results. Oh, I want to see action
right and
So it's important for us. What's the sermon the sermon is this is just let's be proactive
Let's take the initiative and actually do something about the issues that we may have faced or the issues that we've seen other people face
You know instead of just talking about it. Let's do something about it. Okay?
Look at Joshua 24 verse 14 now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth
And put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord
And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve
Whether the gods which your father served there were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites and whom's and whose land
Ye dwell but as for me and my house
We will serve the Lord
I like what Joshua said there
He's saying look this is what you should do
But you know I'm just gonna be honest with you ask from me in my house
We're gonna serve the Lord regardless of what everyone else is doing. I want everyone to serve the Lord
I want everyone to go soul-winning. I want everyone to read their Bibles
I want everyone to have a happy marriage. I want everyone to
Raise their children for God and the nurturing and the admonition of the Lord
I want everyone to succeed but at the end of the day as for me and my house
We're gonna serve the Lord because I can't control what you do
And so, you know, let's take our eyes off of other people's drama and we got enough drama at our church
Some of you guys are drama
Some of you guys are entertaining enough
There's enough entertainment here
You know some of you ladies are more to it more entertaining than what's going on out there, and I'm just kidding
Some of the fights and conflicts. We don't have fights and conflicts, but you know
You're like, oh man, I was trying to come to a church that was like perfect
Well, you made it in perfect as soon as you stepped in
Because people are sinners
No church is perfect
What I'm saying is you know, let's not be busy bodies in other people's matters and
Let's seek to fix our situation and be the best version of ourselves. Can't believe I just said that
Here's my last two points, you know people lament over shortcomings and failures disappointments of the past year
You know learn how to fail forward. Okay, if you failed in a certain area, just forget about it
Don't don't be a person who just you know constantly focuses on the laments over things that happened 20 years ago
You just constantly resentful and bitter over things that happened in the past people that hurt you in the past
Just get up and do something about it move on with your life forget about that stuff. And here's my last point. I'm done
You know because most of these points are about you know failures sins
Negative things right and the message to people like that is get up and do something about fix your situation
But you know, maybe you're listening to this sermon. You're like I actually had a great year
Man, it's kind of sad that all these people had a bad year. You know
People involved in sin. Are there drunkers in our church or what's going on, you know?
Fornicators in our church and what drama. I don't know what drama is going on. I had a great year
And you know I I could probably point to things that happened this year that for me were a failure
But in general I did have a great year like I had I think I had a successful year
And you may be in that same boat.
You're like, actually, I made more money this year.
I got raises this year.
My health was great.
I achieved a lot.
I accomplished a lot of spiritual things.
Okay, well, instead of glorying or bragging
about your achievements of this past year,
why don't you get up and do something about this year?
Because we don't want to be the kind of people
that just rest on our laurels, either.
Oh man, because here's the thing, in 2024,
I had a great year in 2023.
But you didn't hear me talk about 2023 and 2024.
It doesn't matter how great it was.
Why?
Because I'm always looking forward.
And so I don't want to just brag or glory
and the achievements and accomplishments of this year.
Praise God for them.
It's awesome, I'm thankful, I think upon those things
and I praise God for them, but you know what,
I'm looking forward and I'm not just gonna allow
the achievements of this year to withhold me
from achieving something greater in 2025.
Don't be the person who's just like,
well, now I could just put it in cruise control,
now work is hard, not trying to make myself better,
not accomplish more.
Hey, if you've achieved something great this past year,
awesome, but let's see you do something else though.
Why don't you actually get up and do something else about it? Galatians 5
26 says let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking one another and being
one another. You know we should not be desirous of the vain glory of the past
we should seek to achieve greater things in the future. You know maybe you had a
great soul winning year this year. Great. Challenge yourself and do something
better. Meaning win more souls to Christ.
Maybe this year, maybe you had a great soul winning time this year, or this past year,
2025 should be the year where you go on a missions trip. Challenge yourself. Maybe you won, you know,
20 souls to the Lord this year. Great. Why don't you seek to win 40 this year? Okay. You're like,
well, we had a great, you know, just coming here on Sundays was great. Awesome. Why don't you add
Challenge yourself
Here's some of these let me give you some closing thoughts, and I'm done
Leave 2024 behind
Leave it behind
I'm not gonna remind you of it. I
Don't want you. I don't want you you to remind me about it
Let's just leave it behind whatever was done whether good or bad praise God for the good even praise God for the bad
Learn from the bad, but let's look forward to 2025
You're like, man, I was supposed to lose this much weight
in 24 hours.
It just didn't happen.
I just got fatter.
Personal testimony.
Well, if you can, get up and do something about it.
OK?
You're like, man, I was supposed to go to the gym this year,
and I was supposed to hit these PRs.
I had all these plans.
All right.
Can't change that, though.
So just get up and do something 2025.
But leave the overweight talk in 2024, OK?
But let me say this, hopefully in six months,
though, we'll see a difference, amen?
You'll see a difference.
And hopefully by December of 2025,
we're not going to have this conversation again, right?
Because here's the thing, it's great to leave something behind,
but it's all it's greater to look forward to that which is before though.
So leave 2024 behind.
Let me also say this, stop making excuses for why you can't seem to move forward.
Let's not make any excuses.
Excuses are easy to make.
Solutions are harder.
Be proactive, take the initiative,
and lastly just put a plan together.
Because a dream without a plan is only a wish.
Dream without a plan is only a wish and if and don't try to overdo it on your on your goals
Tap five or six goals. You want to meet?
Sit down put a plan together of how it's gonna be accomplished in the next six to twelve months
Because look, I think all of us in here would like to look back at the end of 2025 and say I did it. I
Accomplished it. I achieved it and now let's move on to 2026
What's the sermon sermon is this stop lamenting and just get up and do something?
There's a time and place to lament, to mourn, to be sad, to regret, to feel sadness about past failures.
But eventually we got to get up and do something. Eventually we got to go after Akin.
Eventually we got to go confront Akin and have that whole debacle take place in order for Israel to move forward into AI and move forward with the campaign, amen.
And so let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and we're so thankful for the examples of the Bible.
Lord help us as your people to get up and do something about our situation if we find ourselves
With a specific setback
Maybe it's in maybe it's just bad habits
Maybe it's bad thinking bad company
Lord to help us as your people to just have a time of reflection over these next couple of days Lord
And maybe we have to pen down some of the things we want to achieve Lord
And I pray probably the biggest thing Lord is that our church here would walk with you
I hope every single person every man woman boy and girl
Would take the initiative to read their Bibles this year, and I know a lot of people read their Bibles this past year
But we can't really carry that with us into the new year
There's no rollover walking with God in 2025
Help us as your people to determine to read through the New Testament for the children to read through the entire
Bible as adults and for some to read through the entire Bible twice
Help us to accomplish those things Lord and may you be with us Lord may you favor us?
Bless First Works Baptist Church, the soul-winning endeavors, the missions, all that takes place this year.
We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.