you
All right, good morning everyone welcome to first works baptist
church
let's all find our seats as you find your seat
please grab a song book turn to song number
four hundred and twenty four
song number four hundred and twenty four
oh come all ye faithful
let's all stand together for this first song
if you are able
song number four hundred and twenty four
oh come all ye faithful
all together on that first verse
oh come all ye faithful
joyful and triumphant
oh come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem
come and behold him
born the king of angels
oh come let us adore him
Christ the Lord
sing choirs of angels
sing in exultation
all ye bright hosts of heaven above
glory to God all
glory in the highest
oh come let us adore him
oh come let us adore
him Christ the Lord
Yea Lord we greet thee
for this happy morning
Jesus to thee be all glory given
Word of the Father
now in flesh appearing
oh come let us adore him
Christ the Lord
Amen, wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer
Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much Lord for giving us this day
that we can come here to your house Lord and sing these hymns unto you and these praises unto you Lord
and we ask that you would please just bless our service this morning Lord
please bless every aspect of it please fill us with your spirit in the congregation Lord
throughout the singing that it would prepare our hearts for the preaching and please also
fill past me here with your spirit as it preaches unto us Lord that we may leave here changed
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You may be seated
Please turn your song hooks to song number 425
just one page over
Song number 425, No Room in the Inn
Song number 425 all together nice and strong on that first verse
No beautiful chamber
No soft cradle bed
No place but a manger
No where for his head
No praises of gladness
No thought of their sin
No glory but sadness
No room in the inn
No room, no room for Jesus
Oh give him welcome free
Lest you should hear at
Heaven's gate
There is no room for thee
No sweet consecration
There is no room for thee
No seeking his
part
No humiliation
No place in the heart
No thought of the Savior
No sorrow for sin
No prayer for his favor
No room in the inn
No room, no room for Jesus
Oh give him welcome free
Lest you should hear at
Heaven's gate
There is no room for thee
No one to receive
Him
No balm to relieve
Him
No saith but a spear
No seeking his treasure
No weeping for sin
No doing his pleasure
No room in the inn
No room, no room for Jesus
Oh give him welcome
free
Lest you should hear at
Heaven's gate
There is no room for thee
All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be
426 if you want to get that ready in your song books. I heard the bells on
Christmas Day, 426. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and
raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there. Of course,
our services are as follow. Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 pm.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. We are a family
integrated church and so infants and children are always welcome in the service.
But for your convenience, the mother baby rooms are located in the back of the building should your child
need some diversion and changing tables, speakers and screens are available
there as well so you can still tune into the preaching. And then you see the so many times
and teams there in the middle. The list of expecting mothers if you can keep them in prayer.
And then the important reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you read that.
And then on the right hand side there, this coming
Saturday, December 16th at 6 pm is the first works
Christmas. Wait, is it this coming Saturday? It is right. Yeah. Is the first
works Christmas program. And so I believe the last two practices will be after
service today in the morning and then we'll have another practice tonight.
And so tonight will be the costumes and they'll wear all the
gear and the attire. It'll be like a run through for the program. And so
I want to encourage you to make sure you invite your family and friends to that to come see the
scene. Of course the orchestra is going to be playing right before that. But it starts at
6 pm and so we're looking forward to that. If you have any questions
regarding the program you can see Brother Maury Lemons. He's the one who's running that
entire program there and so you can see him for more details about that.
Sunday, December 24th of course is our Christmas Eve service. Don't want to miss
church on Christmas Eve, right? You know, it's Christmas Eve.
And so the services are going to be at the regular time
for Sunday morning, Sunday night. After Sunday morning service there will be
Mediterranean food for lunch. And then after the Sunday evening
service we're going to have alligator. And I'm not kidding about that.
Brother Jose, he's providing an actual alligator
and so it's going to be dead and it's going to
be seasoned and so we're looking forward to it. And there will be dessert. And I think we're
going to have like other normal food for people who can't seem
to stomach the alligator or something. But I don't know. I'm looking
forward to the alligator. I'm just being honest with you. And so more for us
for those of us who actually want it. But we're looking forward to it. And then on Sunday
apparently Maury's one who just does not want the alligator back there.
Sunday, December 31st is the New Year's Eve service. Friday, January
5th is the men's prayer night. And that'll be at 7 pm
at the church building. And then on Friday, January 26th is Sarah
and Giovanni's wedding. If you could do us a favor and scan on the right hand
side there to RSVP so they can get a head count. And so
we're excited for them. Looking forward to that. And then if you look there at the bottom
please make sure you don't bring food or any drinks except for water and coffee
into the main auditorium. And no loitering in the foyer or
fellowship hall during the preaching service. Okay. So please make sure you're not being a distraction
going out there. If you're getting a cup of coffee or water that's one
thing. But make sure you're not out there fellowshipping with the ushers and
gossiping and doing all that stuff. And then quiet time is this afternoon
from 3 pm to 4.15. The lights will be off throughout the entire building.
So make sure you get a good nap in right before evening service. And then lastly please make
sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during the service. And that is pretty much it. Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
426 I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
Song number
426
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
All together on that first verse.
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols
play and wild and sweet
the words repeat of peace
on earth, good will to men
I thought how
as the day had come
the belfries of all Christendom
had rolled along the
unbroken song of peace
on earth, good will to men
and in despair
I bowed my head
there is no peace on earth I said
for hate is strong and
mocks the song of peace on
earth, good will to men
then peeled the bells more
loud and deep, God is not
dead nor doth he sleep
the wrong shall fail, the right
prevail with peace on earth
good will to men
till ringing singing
on its way the world revolved
from night to day
a voice a chime, a chance
sublime of peace on earth
good will to men
Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering
and you can turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 8.
8.
Amen.
2 Corinthians 8
the Bible reads moreover brethren we do you to
wither the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia how that in a great trial
of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality
for to their power I bear record yea and beyond
their power they are willing of themselves praying us with much
intrigue that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering of the saints
and this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord
and unto us by the will of God and so much that we desired Titus as he had begun
so he would also finish in you the same grace also therefore as
he abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and all diligence
in your love to see us see that ye abound in this grace also
I speak not by commandment but by occasion of the forwardness of others
and approve the sincerity of your love for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through
his poverty might be rich and herein I give my advice for this is expedient
for you who have begun before not only to do but also be forward a year ago
now therefore perform the doing of it that as there was a readiness to will so
there may be a performance also out of that which ye have for if there be first
a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not
for I mean not that other men be ease and ye burdened but by an
equality that now at this time your abundance may be a supply to their want that their
abundance also may be a supply to your want that there may be equality as it is written
he that had gathered much had nothing over and he that had gathered little had no lack
but thanks be to God which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you
for indeed he accepted the exhortation but being more forward
of his own accord he went unto you and we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel
throughout all the churches and not that only but who was also chosen
of the churches to travel with us by this grace which is administered by us to the glory
of the same Lord and declaration of your ready mind avoiding
this that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us
providing for honest things not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men
we have sent with them our brother whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things
but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you
whether any to inquire of Titus he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you
or our brethren be inquired of they are the messengers of the churches and of the glory of Christ
wherefore show ye to them and before the churches the proof of your love
and of our boasting on your behalf and let's pray to the Lord God we thank you for
your word for preserving it for us and for this opportunity to hear it preached
just ask that you would bless Pastor Mehir with your Holy Spirit now and help us be attentive
Pastor Mehir with your Holy Spirit now and help us be attentive to your word and in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Alright, Amen. We are in section
chapter number 8 this morning look down in your Bibles at verse number 1
it says moreover brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God
bestowed on the churches of Macedonia how that in great trial
of affliction the abundance of their joy and deep poverty abounded unto the riches
of their liberality for to their power I bear record yea
listen to this and beyond their power they
were willing of themselves and the title of my sermon this morning
is inconvenient challenges for the new year inconvenient
challenges for the new year I want to take advantage as your pastor to just
inconvenience you a little bit this morning and give you some challenges and
help you to step out of your comfort zone to accomplish some things
in the new year and none of this stuff is going to be easy it's actually
going to be very inconvenient for you if you're not doing it already okay
now you say to yourself well what's the point of that well if you look here in
2 Corinthians chapter 8 the Apostle Paul is addressing the church
at Corinth and he is essentially talking to them about the subject
of giving and making a collection for the saints and he uses
the church at Macedonia in the very beginning as an example of
someone who is sacrificing and giving and he says in verse number 3 that
to their power yea beyond their power they were willing
of themselves meaning that you know they obviously had to inconvenience themselves
in order to give to the churches and grow
in that area and in fact we know it was an inconvenience to them because
of the fact that it says in verse 2 that they're in great trial of affliction
that they were able to give of their deep poverty and be
generous in that area and so obviously it wasn't easy for them to
make this collection and give to the saints but
they were willing of themselves meaning that they were voluntarily doing
this they were choosing to do this to do it beyond
their power so they obviously extended themselves just a little bit
in order to give to the saints now let me just say this is that
if you don't do any of these things okay if you just choose
to do just the bare basics the bare minimum of the Christian life
you can still be right with God okay and so don't think to yourselves
well you know if I don't do this then I'm just not a good Christian no that's not true
if you just do the bare minimum in the Christian life it's true that you can still be right with God
right however there is this concept in the Bible that the Bible teaches
regarding spiritual growth that we're supposed to abound in all things
right meaning that we're supposed to do above and beyond that which is
average and God doesn't just want us to be average Christians
just doing the bare basics he wants us to abound in blessings
he wants us to abound in all things and in fact look at verse number seven
it says therefore as he abounded in everything
in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence
and in your love to us see the abound in this grace also
I would think that as Christians who are members of
first works Baptist church you would not only want to do the bare basics of that which is required of you
but you would want to abound in your Christian life as well
you would want to get better as a Christian better as a servant of God
and obviously we're not referring to getting better overnight either
okay this is obviously a challenge of an incremental change
that you should make throughout the year day by day week by week
month by month to become better and not just stay at an average
condition of the Christian life but actually abound now go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10
if you would 2 Corinthians chapter 10 I'm going to read to you some more verses
regarding this concept of growing and abounding you're in 2 Corinthians
10 I'm going to read to you from chapter 9 and verse 11 it says being enriched
in everything to all bountifulness which causeth through us
thanksgiving to God 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 58
one of the most common verses that we know we can quote it it 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 vain in the Lord there it says that we should be abounding in our service
for God abounding in the work of God Philippians 1
tells us and this I pray that your love may abound yet more
and more in knowledge and in all judgment so according to the Bible
we're not supposed to abound in the work of God but even in our love
one toward another that means as you grow as a Christian as you mature as a Christian
your love for the brethren should mature as well your love for the lost
should mature as well and it's based upon your knowledge
and judgment that's what the Bible tells us I'm going to read to you from 1 Thessalonians chapter
3 verse 11 it says now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ direct our way into you and the Lord make you to
increase and abound in love one toward another
and toward all men even as we do toward you
2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse number 3 says we are bound
to thank God always for you brethren as it is meet because
that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one
of you all toward each other abounded it seems to me that the theme
of the Bible when it comes to growth is that we're increasing in knowledge
increasing in our faith abounding therein with thanksgiving I don't think
God just wants us to do the bare minimum you know what I mean
and obviously if you're the type of Christian says well you know
I'm just trying to do the bare basics and that's all I can do
well here's the thing you know again you can stay right with God or you can pray
unto the Lord and say Lord increase me Lord make me to abound
Lord make me to increase in my faith and to abound in the work of God
abound in all the areas of my life as a Christian help me
to for my faith to grow exceedingly one of my favorite passages
in the Bible in regards to Christian growth is 2 Peter chapter 1
where the Bible talks about adding to your faith virtue
to virtue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance
patience to patience godliness to godliness brotherly
kindness to brotherly kindness charity and then it says for these things being you and
abound they make you that you should neither be barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it sounds to me like God wants us
to continue to add to our faith not subtract to our faith
not regress on our Christian life but rather add thereto right
abound increase adding to our faith
on a daily weekly monthly and even yearly basis
now let me also say this is that by way of introduction
these challenges that I'm going to give you this morning are not
beyond the scope of your capabilities okay so don't
don't think to yourself oh man you know yeah that's good for everyone else but I can't
really do any of that these aren't beyond the scope of your capabilities I'm not going to
challenge you to do something you just can't do okay can a man add
to his stature you know by giving thought no you know what I mean so obviously
we're not going to challenge people and exhort people to do things
that they just can't not do these are things that you are able to do and in fact look at 2
Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13
it says here in verse 13 for we will not boast of things without our measure
but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us
a measure to reach even unto you so I'm not going to give you
something that's outside of your measure but in fact it's according to the measure
of the rule that God has distributed unto you so whatever
challenge I'm giving to you it's already something that God's commanding you to do right it's
according to the rule that God has already distributed to you I'm just encouraging you to
rebound in that area now if I was preaching at a different church
it's not a fundamental Baptist church you know maybe some non-denom church
this would be a challenge to most of them to just take care of the bare basics
right but this is a fundamental Baptist church this is First Works Baptist church
I'm going to assume that the majority of the people here 99% of the people here
are doing the bare basics therefore it's time to level up amen
and what better way what better time to do that than in the new year
where everyone's got their new year's resolution I'm going to lose this much weight
I'm going to take up karate I'm going to take up you know some
sort of physical activity or something like that I'm going to start doing this
well let's add some spiritual goals to that list shall we
in a bounder and go to First Thessalonians chapter 4
First Thessalonians chapter 4 and so obviously these are challenges
that are not beyond the scope of your capabilities and in fact I think of what the
Apostle Paul said in First Timothy chapter 1 where he said
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord listen to this who hath enabled me
for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry so even the Apostle Paul
understood this concept that God was commanding him to do something
that might have been outside of his capabilities but God enabled him to do so
so if God commands you to do something number one he either knows that you can
do it or he's going to enable you to do it if you can't do it right
so think about that look at First Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 1
it says furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you
by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us
how ye ought to walk and to please God so you would
abound more and more for you know what commandments we gave you
by the Lord Jesus Christ and so here's some things
that I'm going to give you on how to walk and how to please God
and how to please God and my desire and my prayer this morning would be
that you would abound more and more and obviously you know what the commandments of the Lord are
and so very basic sermon this morning some
inconvenient challenges let's start off go to First Corinthians chapter 1
if you would First Corinthians chapter 1
First Corinthians chapter number 1
now obviously as Christians you know we should have
goals each year of areas that we want to improve in maybe it's in our
homes maybe it's in our marriage maybe it's with our children at work
or just personally just improving ourselves
personally this coming year but we got to keep in mind that the spiritual goals
are the most important because that essentially determines everything else on how
everything else is going to go and that should have top priority on our list
so I'm going to give you these challenges and these challenges
fall into three categories okay so there's three
categories and these three categories
are elements of the Christian life that no Christian can live without
okay if someone were to tell me what are the keys to the Christian life
I would say these three are the most essential things for you to do
as a Christian in order for you to succeed and to please
God and the categories will be Bible, Soul winning
and Church pretty simple right you can't
be a good Christian without all three of those right then and there okay
and you can't have one without the other like you got to have all three
like well you know I do the Bible and I go to church it's the soul winning no that's part of following
the Lord and in fact Jesus said if you don't if you're not
a fisher of men you're not really following him and so that's proof right there that you
need all three of these okay and so these challenges that I'm going to give this morning
fall into these categories right here now I typically don't do this in my sermon
but I'm going to do this this morning and that is I want to encourage you
ushers I didn't prepare you for this can we pass out some pens who needs a pen
because you guys are going to write down what challenge you want to
and if you're faking it it's all good you know as long as it looks like you're writing it down
okay you're just like you know that's fine
but I want to exhort you to write down one of these
challenges because I'm going to give a couple and I'm not saying you have to do all of them
now if you want to take up all of them kudos to you right
but if you're like you know what that's one that I need to work on and that's one that I'm going to
take up hey I take that challenge I take you up on that challenge
I'm going to take you up on that I'm going to improve in this area
and so you can write one of these one of these challenges down
and I'm going to address two groups in our church which is the church
two groups in our church which would be the newer Christians
slash the babes in Christ and
or the seasoned Christians okay
and I'm not going to point out who's a new Christian who's a babe in Christ and who I think is a babe in Christ
or whatever you know you just you determine that on your own but based upon
these challenges you might be like you know I'm a babe in Christ actually
I think I'm going to be in that category alright so let's talk about the Bible
challenges regarding the Bible challenge number one
is to increase your Bible content consumption this year
okay increase your Bible content consumption
this year the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 4
I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you
by Jesus Christ that in everything ye are enriched by
him in all utterance and in all
knowledge the Bible says so this challenge is to enrich your
knowledge of God's word enrich your knowledge of the Bible
of the content of the word of God and it doesn't happen by accident
it's not going to happen by osmosis it's not going to happen by accident
you have to on purpose choose to do these things in order that
at the end of 2024 you're like you know what I have increased
in my knowledge of the word of God of the Bible so let me address the new
Christians slash the babes in Christ first
and let me just explain what a new Christian or a babe in Christ is
okay a babe in Christ is essentially someone who just
got saved and I would even say within the last year or even
two years that would be considered a babe in Christ here's another way to describe
a babe in Christ is someone who has been saved for maybe even 10 to 20
years but has never grown in their faith so both would be
considered a babe in Christ right because when we talk about when we're measuring a babe in Christ
we're saying how much they have been faithful or consistent in the Christian
life how much Bible they know how long have they been actually walking with God
if you've been saved for a long time it doesn't mean you're mature in the Lord
it's really based upon your consistency and faithfulness to
God through the Bible and so let me address the babes in Christ regarding
this challenge okay so this is only four babes in Christ and new
Christians so you seasoned Christians don't tune me out and don't mock
the challenge of the new Christians especially if you haven't done this okay
so challenge for you new Christians pay attention
read the Bible for 15 minutes a day
I'm not done yet though without skipping days
you see you know what I've learned as a Christian over the last
couple of years over the last 16 years really is that
it's not hard for Christians to read the Bible for 15 minutes a day you know what the hard part is
it's to do it every single day without missing and I've noticed that sometimes
new Christians will take up the challenge of reading the Bible 15 minutes a day but you know
they'll skip a day here or there you know they'll skip Sunday
or they'll skip Monday they'll skip Tuesday and then they'll try to
basically like add all of the chapters that they miss on Wednesday or something
they're just like all right I'm gonna read for an hour then just to make up for no no
no no why don't the better thing to do would be to
learn how to read the Bible every single day you see the discipline
of reading the word of God every single day is far more important
than how much Bible you read a day even though that is important it's more
important to develop the discipline of just picking up the Bible and reading it
every single day without miss
so now some of you seasoned Christians you might think to yourself oh man
maybe I need to take up that challenge actually which is perfectly
fine but the reason I say 15 minutes a day is because
if you read the Bible for 15 minutes a day you will finish the Bible in one year
in fact you know like man 15 minutes a day I don't know
well you scroll through Instagram for more than that you're on Facebook
a lot longer than that you know you're on there you're watching those reels
for hours on end and so 15 minutes of your day
to read the word of God is not hard at all but the challenge for
newer Christians is to not skip a day
meaning it's got to be important meaning
no matter what happens that day you're getting your Bible reading in
now let me give you a word of advice
when it comes to being consistent in a particular discipline
it's very important to have a time and a
place to do it every single day because if you tell yourself well I'm going to read
the Bible for 15 minutes a day I'm going to do it every day I'll just find some time somewhere
you know because I'm so busy you know that's not going to work
what works is when you already have mentally the environment that you're going to do
that discipline in and the time that you're going to execute the task
so if you tell yourself at 7 o'clock every day at
my desk I'm going to read for 15 minutes a day half of
the battle is won already because the environment is important
determining where you're going to execute that task is very
important now obviously as the years go by and you've been consistent in your Bible
reading you can be flexible as far as what time and
where you read your Bible because of the fact that the discipline of
just reading has already been ingrained in you you already know how to do it
it's something that you're not going to go without but as a new Christian
all these guys just come in I got to start all over again alright so challenge number one
I'm just kidding all these babes in Christ just walked in I'm just kidding
the challenge for you is to pick a place
the challenge for you is to pick a time
now along with that let me just say this and this is an
inconvenient thing for you to do it's to find someone to help you to
be consistent this is very inconvenient
you say why is that because it's embarrassing can you help me read my Bible
everyday I mean you know you think to yourself well
you know I'll just make sure that I do it well you know I've learned that
success happens far more speedily when we have
someone aiding us in our spiritual growth and checking up on us
making sure that we read the Bible I remember when I first got saved and at the
church we were going to we had a lot of these accountability partners that would help us to be consistent
and I remember it got to a point where you know we would have these clubs
in church where we would essentially take on about
five students of the Christian school or whatever to call them every single day
and I remember there's one particular guy that I would call every single day
at a specific time and the only thing that I would ask him because I didn't care anything else
about his life no I'm just kidding no the only thing I would ask him I would say
I would say uh Jeremy or no his name was Josh I said Josh
did you read your Bible today and he says I read my Bible today and I would say
okay great what did you read and he would tell me some content
of what he read and I'm like alright see you tomorrow
every single day for months on end I just called him and asked him did you read your Bible
today and you know what I guarantee you to this day he's
probably still reading his Bible okay because it helps to have an accountability
partner and so it would cause the inconvenience in that
area is that you need to find someone to actually hold you accountable okay
and obviously you want to find someone who's mature in the Lord someone who's also consistent someone who's
actually reading the Bible themselves you know not someone who's taking the challenge with you okay
so read the Bible fifteen minutes a day new
Christians and babes in Christ without skipping days
find a place find a time and be consistent
and here's the thing folks is that once you find a place and find a time
and you do this for a certain amount of time you know you're not going to be like these people
who have these New Year's resolutions up until the end of January
you understand what I'm saying? It's like I'm resolved to
do this and by the time February comes around it's just like they've fallen off the wagon
and they're no longer keeping with it you obviously want to keep this for the rest of your life
but we're starting off with 2024 first so
inconvenient challenge for new Christians and babes in Christ
increase your Bible content consumption by reading the Bible for
fifteen minutes a day without skipping days
now you know what it's going to require especially if you're a mom and you have a busy life
it's going to require for you to look at your schedule and see when is the best time
for me to read the Bible okay now in my opinion
the best time to read the Bible is in the morning but for some people that just doesn't happen
very often maybe the evening is far more
conducive you need to find a time whatever time you pick though you need
to stick to that time I'm going to read the Bible every night at 9pm
in my room on my chair okay stick to that
for three to six months and you will be consistent
for the rest of your life okay so that is the challenge for new Christians and babes in Christ
fifteen minutes a day without skipping
days finding a time and a place and getting an accountability
partner to make sure that you're reading the Bible every single day because you know there's something about
like getting a phone call knowing you're like okay he's going to
call me she's going to call me so I got to make sure I get my Bible reading in okay
like well they're only doing it because they're going to get a call well that's what accountability is for
you know we do certain things for the Lord because
we know that if we don't we might get punished or we'll get blessed for it so there's nothing wrong
with having an accountability partner knowing full well that they're going to call you
and check upon you to do so okay alright
now let's talk about seasoned Christians when it comes to Bible content consumption
now when I mean seasoned Christians I'm referring to people who have read the Bible they've read the Bible
you know they read it maybe every year they've already
been consistent in reading it every single day okay here's your
challenge you scholars read through the Bible
two to three times this year two to three times
seven to ten chapters a day
now this can be accomplished listen by
reading the Bible and listening to it daily
okay so you could actually do this
this is very much attainable it's actually very simple to do
if you just break it up into five chapters in the morning
or whenever it is that you actually read the Bible you open up the Bible you read five chapters
okay and then you listen to five chapters
so you read five chapters on your own and on your way to work you turn on Alexander
Scorby and you listen to five chapters
now here lies the issue with people when it comes to these
types of challenges and they're like well you know I just really need to like
read slowly and I have a hard time paying attention
when I listen to the Bible then discipline yourself to pay attention
okay because if you do that then you'll pay attention in church
so the problem is not the method of
consuming the Bible through audio the problem is you
you gotta pay attention okay
and so listening to the Bible is a great exercise
for your mind to listen to
and pay attention and retain what you're listening to to kind of block everything out
and look let's just be honest when we read the Bible there's times when our mind wanders
I think everyone can I'm the pastor and that happens to me
you know I'm just I'm reading and then it's just like my mind wanders a little bit
I'm like oh gotta get back on track now what you don't want to do when that happens
is just keep rereading what you feel like you lost
in translation okay you guys remember the
SAT score the SAT exams they would always have this
instruction where they said like if you don't know the answer just keep going
right and then come back to it later you guys don't want to or am I that old
you guys know what I'm talking about right that's kind of like what the Bible okay
so if you're reading the Bible and you feel like
your mind wanders a little bit and you feel like you didn't consume whatever previous
verses were in that chapter or the previous chapter just keep reading because you have a lifetime
to build that discipline you're going to read that chapter again it's not going
anywhere right you can come back to it later it's not
going to go anywhere and obviously I'm not referring to studying the Bible studying the Bible is
different in the sense that you're spending time on a particular passage meditating
upon it cross referencing things of that nature we're referring to just reading
the Bible at this point okay so you seasoned Christians you scholars
out there read the Bible two to three times a year this can be
accomplished by reading the Bible listening to it daily seven to ten chapters a day
five chapters in the morning five chapters excuse me five chapters of reading
and then five chapters of audio now if that's not enough for you then increase it
go to four or five four to five times a year
okay but I think two to three times a year for just
a Christian member of a church is a great accomplishment for a seasoned
Christian to do okay now we're not done yet though okay
because along with Bible content consumption
here's a new challenge for both groups make Bible memory and
accessory discipline this year now let me address
the new Christians again for you new Christians memorize soul winning verses
okay so go to your team leader and tell
them I want every soul winning verse that's necessary to get someone saved
and if you could have it on my desk on Monday morning you know that would be great thank
you
get all the soul winning verses and memorize them all when I first got saved that was
pretty much the first thing I started memorizing in the Bible were my soul winning verses
once I memorized the Romans road then I
branched outside of that to other verses throughout the Bible
having to do with salvation eternal security hell just
memorizing that so that I can become more proficient in my
gospel presentation because the more verses you memorize the
more you're quick in the draw when you're at the door okay you just
have a spiritual belt of ammo to choose from
when you're just shooting from the hip and you just have the verses memorized okay
and so for new Christians memorize soul winning verses
this will require just a three by five writing it
down and obviously there's different methods of doing this if you need more
information regarding how to memorize you can see me after the service but that's
kind of outside of the scope of the sermon so I'm not going to go into all that for seasoned
Christians this year short passages and or
chapters of the Bible okay now we're going to begin doing
scripture memory for the church this new year starting in January we're going to start
doing scripture memory of passages and then we'll
alternate between chapters and passages in the Bible
and that's going to help so you know part of that is to kind of help you
be accountable and obviously it's you know
you have to be willing of yourself so no one's going to force you to do it and no
peer pressuring anybody like are you oh you're not memorizing with us oh
okay well you memorize everything else you know don't you know your birthday you know
don't start guilt tripping people because they're not memorizing passages or something
okay there will be a reward for those who are able to quote
these passages though and so as a way to motivate you
to do so but here's the thing is that people sometimes ask me
you know they'll ask me about finding certain
truths in the Bible and how to do it one of the greatest ways
in my opinion of getting these deep truths of the Bible
is actually scripture memory and it's not because of the fact
that it just unlocks something in your brain and
it's because you're thinking about it all the time because really the best way to get Bible
truths deep Bible truths out of the Bible is to think about the Bible
when you're constantly thinking about the word of God you're thinking about a certain passage it's just
running in your mind that's called meditating on God's word right
so the more you do that the more layers that you peel back
in those portions of scripture and you can get more out of the word of God in
that way and so you know the Bible tells us this book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth but thou shall meditate therein day and night that thou mayest
observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shall make that way prosperous
and then thou shall have good success so one of the reasons I put this here
as far as Bible memory is concerned is to help you to be successful in your other areas
because this is actually a guaranteed way for you to succeed in your Bible reading or
in just any area in your life is just by memorizing the Bible
you say well how do you know because he promised that he'll make our way prosperous and we will have
good success and so Bible content
consumption you say well what about sermons well you're getting sermons here and you are already
probably consuming sermons on a weekly basis anyways we're trying to increase
your personal walk with God because I
guarantee you even though this is a fundamental Baptist church
I guarantee you there are people in this church that have not read their Bible this week
that's just the nature of the beast and I guarantee you that if you do read your Bible
there's probably been a couple days that you've gone without
it's quiet it's got quiet it's just really quiet right here
I mean it's just the nature of it's just human nature and so
you're like I know end times prophecy though
I'm not questioning that you know I'm just saying that
you know here is the dirty little secret of Christians sometimes
is that they don't esteem their personal walk with God as
much sometimes and so this is a reset button for all
of us for new Christians and for seasoned Christians to pick up the word of God once again
and to make it a consistent discipline and when I say consistent I mean
daily discipline of just reading the Bible every single day and
obviously it has to be a King James Bible
and whatever scriptures you quote has to be King James by the way
and I'll give you the rules as far as how we're going to do this with scripture memory
but we will have rules that if you're going to quote it to someone
it can't be someone in your family and you know
it can't be your best friend or something like that who's going to help you to cheat so you guys can split the winnings
or whatever you know it's got to be someone who is
not part of your family that you can quote it to and so
I think this is a great discipline for the new year and it'll help you
to kick off the new year with a lot of success and so Bible content
consumption write it down I hope you roll one of those challenges down
you don't have to write them all three or all those challenges but one of those if you say you know what
I can't memorize the Bible right now I got to work on reading the Bible
for 15 minutes a day and I got to work on reading it every single day
well kudos to you okay that's good well it's like well I can't
really memorize the Bible right now you know I just I'm a seasoned
Christian I did miss today though so maybe I got to add that to my repertoire
and you know what I am going to try to read the Bible twice this year
or three times this year and I'm going to implement the
discipline of listening to the Bible as well in order to
streamline that achievement okay but maybe
you're on the ball you're a disciplined individual
you don't miss reading the Bible for you it's just like well the Bible
says man shall not live by prayer alone so I've just always read the Bible you know
maybe you grew up in a home of discipline or you've been in church for quite some time
you just read the word of God okay let's add some scripture memory to that then
let me inconvenience you somehow today by adding
something that you don't currently have at this moment and
this is an inconvenience okay and so but it's an
inconvenience that will yield fruit that will abound okay
now 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 2 let's talk about the second challenge here
and the second challenge is to abound in utterance
what is that I'm talking about soul winning okay so here's
the second challenge you're like man I thought you just gave us like three or four challenges well that was under the category
of Bible content consumption though now because remember there's
three categories Bible, soul winning and church
so the second one is soul winning okay abounding
in utterance because he says in verse number 5 of 1 Corinthians 1 that in
everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance
let me read to you from Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 18
says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints
and for me that utterance may be given unto me
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I
may speak boldly as I ought to speak
go with me if you would to Matthew chapter 13 if you would Matthew chapter 13
Matthew chapter 13 talk about
inconvenient challenges for the new year
look at Matthew 13 and verse 22
it says here in Matthew 13 verse 22
he also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word
and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word and he becometh unfruitful but he that receives seed into
good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it
which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some in hundredfold
some sixty some thirty so the challenge obviously overall
for soul winning is that you'd be a person who yields thirty
fold some of you would yield sixty and some
of you would yield a hundred now let me give you
some specific challenges in that regard let's talk to new Christians and babes in Christ
okay and when I again
when I'm talking about new Christians I'm talking about people who don't preach the gospel they don't go soul winning
join a team and go soul winning on Sunday
you should make it your goal
to discipline yourself to already have in your mind Sunday is
church and soul winning right and I'm telling you that's
half the battle won already people lose
when they already are defeated in their mind
prior to even trying to accomplish the goal
if you're already defeated in your mind if you already think like oh we'll see
if we go soul winning well then there's like a
fifty fifty chance that you're probably not going to go there's a large percentage
a possibility you're not just going to go on Sunday but if you're already determined
in your mind we're going to church and we're going to go soul winning
because that's just what we're going to do then that's the half the battle already won
and what happens is someone at church is going to ask you you go on soul winning
and you just open your big mouth and say yes
because now someone knows
and so you got to situate yourself in such a way
that you just go soul winning on Sunday
but don't be a person who allows themselves to be defeated
in their mind first and I'll give you a personal example of this okay
and yes it's a power lifting illustration sorry
there's times when I'm trying to hit like a top single of a particular number
let's say for squats and you know I have in my mind I'm going to
go for three fifty okay but if I
start that squat thinking I don't know if I can hit three fifty
more often than not I don't even go up to that number
because in my mind I'm already defeated now thankfully I remember a couple weeks ago
you know I was going to go up to a particular number and Ulysses was there
and he saw one of my squats and he said oh yeah you could go up higher than that
but if he wasn't there I would have just stayed at that particular number because I just thought to myself
like this is all I can do but I actually was able to hit that number
because I had someone exhorting me telling me that I could
so obviously you know how we illustrate that is first and foremost you need to go
into that squat believing that you're going to lift that thing obviously be realistic you know what I mean
okay don't take that illustration too far here
okay be realistic but you know come to church
on Sunday morning we're going to church and we're going soloing
and then you're going to have like a Ulysses at church to kind of
encourage you when you get here because you're a part of a team now
one of the soloing teams you're going to have one of your team leaders ask you
hey you coming with us and you're just like yeah I'm going okay
now notice I didn't put in there and start preaching the gospel
okay because it's important for
new Christians to see how it's done first for a long period of time
and obviously at the discretion of your team leader okay
but you like anybody else will catch the bug
when you go on the team and you're a silent partner and you're seeing everyone
people are getting saved and soul owners are preaching
the gospel you're going to have that desire and say you know what I want to do it too
okay and so
for Babes in Christ join a team why because
teams are accountability and just start going soloing
on Sundays why Sundays because it just makes the
achievement of that that much easier one of the reasons we have soloing
on Sunday in my opinion is because of the fact that it's just
easier for people to go you know we can have it on
Saturday we have so many times throughout the week but this
is the largest group of people who go out on a weekly basis because they're already
here so it's just easier to get them to go out so take advantage
of that by just saying you know what church and
soloing that's what we do church and soloing church and soloing church and soloing
so Babes in Christ new Christians join a team
and go soloing on Sunday now along with that let me just say
this I don't have this on my notes but it's important
for new Christians just to put themselves under someone's authority sometimes too which is why the teams
are there okay and I know sometimes people don't like that because they don't like to be told
that their soloing is wrong or they can improve in this area but get over yourself
just fix it and be better
okay we all need to be told that our form is wrong every now and then
we all need to be told that we're wrong in this area and that we can improve in this area
and yet it's humbling of course it is but it's meant to just make us better
and I know sometimes Christians are like well you know I'm a lone ranger
a solo winner and you know I don't really like to be a part of that team or just get
yourself on a team it'll make keeping the discipline of going
solo winner far more achievable than if you're to just go by
yourself not accountable to anybody join a team and go soloing on Sunday
alright let's talk to seasoned Christians seasoned Christians
now who am I talking about I'm talking about people who go soloing on Sundays alright
they already have in their mind church soloing church soloing right
okay here's one for you at a soloing time
throughout the week now let me talk to the seasoned Christians
the seasoned solo winners for a couple minutes here because here's the thing
folks you know Orange County is just a
great place right
it's like red it's Trump town
amen bless God it's nothing
like El Monte and Los Angeles, Los Angeles is just
different I wasn't very welcoming to us over there
but you know what Los Angeles is very receptive to the gospel
man it was so receptive I mean it still is but obviously it's just a lot
easier to get people saved in Los Angeles right
here in Orange County not as easy
right and I think all the team leaders can attest to this
that sometimes you go out and you just don't get anybody saved
and you might be the team leader or the Christian is just like is it me am I not right with God
do I have sin in my life well sometimes it's just the area you're going to
okay but do not
lose heart and don't be a Christian that thinks to
themselves oh it's just the area okay
and let me explain to you why because Ulysses and I we go
soloing in Orange County and we get about I get personally about
one to two salvations a week here just in Orange County
in the same areas that most people go to you say what's
changed the frequency of soloing
okay so the more frequently you go the more likely it is
that you're going to get someone saved so you team leaders out there
add another soloing time to increase the
frequency and then therefore the likelihood of you getting people saved
because you can make the excuse of oh but it's Orange
County okay then do more soloing so you can actually get
some more people saved create a soloing time in your
immediate area with your family or join one of the
other church sponsored soloing times but here's the challenge add another soloing
time oh but I don't have time yes you do
yes you do we all have time
to do the things of God we all have time to abandon the things of God as well
sometimes it requires a little bit of sacrifice of some other fun things that we like to do though
okay in order to accomplish that and so
the inconvenient challenge for you team leaders and you seasoned soul winners
is to add a so and I'm not talking to new Christians
okay I'm talking to the seasoned ones maybe you had a dry spell
this year of salvations and you're like I haven't seen a whole
lot of people saved and it's just like woe is me well stop
complaining and increase your frequency and just go get more salvations then
okay because soloing still works
preaching the gospel still works no matter where you're at
the truth is though Orange County is not Belize
Belize is a different beast you go to Belize and you're just handing out
salvations like left and right you're just like save save save save it's just
it's just super easy to get people saved out there but it's not like that here
so either you're going to complain about it
murmur about it and just be a fruitless Christian or you need
to revisit your methods and say you know what I just need to increase
the frequency of my soloing so I can get more people saved and really to be
a hundred fold is just about two salvations a week
now but here's some motivation for you okay
but I'm still going to inconvenience you right now
because we don't have Belize but we do have Mexico
and let me say this is that one of the reasons people think
that it's very unreceptive here is not because
it's unreceptive but because what? Spanish
so how do you get so many people saved then? Because I speak Espanol
I speak of the Spanish
Diablo Espanol
so let me just let me give you a challenge right now let me give you a challenge that you're just not going to like
you need to start learning Spanish now hold on a second
okay I'm not saying be fluent in Spanish
I'm not saying you're going to write a book in Spanish
I'm just saying learn to preach the gospel in Spanish
I've known people in the old IFB my mother in law
being one of them who speaks the most broken Spanish
but has gone a ton of people saved
because in college she just picked up Spanish she memorized the verses in Spanish
she memorized the phrases and she just grew accustomed to going to areas
where there's Puerto Ricans that was in Chicago and speaking to people who speak Spanish
and just got a bunch of people saved
so here's your options
either increase the frequency to get more people saved in English
or you know what you need to just start learning Spanish and you know what I think people here can learn Spanish
I know that some are more likely than others
and I understand the whole concept of you know
if you got it you got it if you don't you don't
but you know what I'd rather have someone speak broken Spanish
and preach the gospel in broken Spanish and get people saved
then you just not try at all because you just can't learn Spanish
you know what I'm saying?
some people might be listening to you like oh that's impossible I can't do that
well you haven't even tried so how do you know?
you're saying it's impossible but you haven't even tried well I tried for like a month though
we're talking about commitment here
and incremental success you can start off by just memorizing verses in Spanish
like oh man I just don't know how I'm going to do it well luckily you have a lot of Mexicans
in this church who can tell you how to pronounce things
there's plenty of them we're all over the place
start learning how to speak Spanish
and it's going to cause you to be a little humble too because yeah you might sound a little silly
especially you gringos
but you know what I know some gringos in our church
that without shame they go to a door
mi nombre ese giovanni
soy de iglesia
una habitación para usted but you know what let me just encourage you though
Hispanics love that though
they love it when they see a person who's not a Mexican
or Hispanic whatever trying to
communicate with them in Spanish they'll actually put in more effort to try to
understand what you're saying because they're very impressed when people learn their language
so you have an advantage so even if you speak
broken Spanish you're in good company
because the people who you're going to be preaching to
they're willing to listen and they like it
and I know you can pop up the Spanish gospel
have them listen to that but why don't you just memorize that video instead
and learn what that video is saying and I guarantee you
your salvations will increase because the problem is not necessarily
that it's really unreceptive I know that's
part of it but the issue is that every door you knock on
just so happens to be a Spanish speaker I mean how many of you come back from Seoul and you're just like
there's just a lot of Spanish speakers so it's not unreceptive though so stop saying that
you don't speak Espanol
now again I'm not saying you have to be fluent in Spanish
please don't mistake me I'm not saying that somehow
you're just going to be this Spanish
scholar or something but you can know enough
to preach the gospel in Spanish you can know enough to preach the gospel in Spanish
now those of you who know two languages for sure can learn Spanish
because you already know two languages how many of you know at least two languages here
raise your hand if you know two languages raise your hand nice and high don't be embarrassed don't be ashamed
okay raise your hand if you know three languages
okay
Connor is like a polyglot though
you keep your hand down Connor this isn't for you
Moses okay and Adam who knows four languages
anybody know four languages okay so we're capped out at three
so if you know two to three languages you can know some broken Spanish
and there's enough Spanish speakers here that can help you perfect that a little bit
okay and I think this is important my friends
because we have to adapt and overcome
you know what Mexicans ain't going nowhere
they ain't going nowhere they're right here
right here they're just not
and you know what in fact more are going to come which means
that we have to what we have to adapt and overcome
so part of adapting is just like I need to learn Spanish and
I need to learn how to preach the gospel in Spanish and look I remember when
when in our old church plant we were in Monterey Park there was a large Chinese population there
so what I did is I just started learning Mandarin
just enough though because I knew I didn't have to preach the gospel
in Mandarin I just need to know enough Mandarin to impress
them so they can speak to me in English because they would always tell me
just like no English no English I'm like
puto huama oh you speak I'm like yeah
and then we just start talking in English after that
but obviously that's a different case with Spanish speakers
actually no actually it isn't in some instances they probably do speak English
and so this is the challenge for you
is to learn to speak in Spanish and by the way some of you Spanish speakers
you better know how to preach the gospel in Spanish for sure
don't let these non-Spanish speakers out do you
by learning how to preach the gospel in Spanish you better know how to preach the gospel in Spanish
by learning how to preach the gospel in Spanish and you speak Spanish and you're not learning how to preach the gospel
you better learn how to preach the gospel in Spanish okay and it's very simple
you start off by just learning memorizing the verses you can grab my gospel
presentation in Spanish and learn the phrases there I mean we have a
guy here right here Connor he can probably help you out with some you know
phrases and words I mean his Spanish is probably the most proper Spanish here
and by the way he's not Mexican there's not a single Hispanic
ounce of blood on him okay but he's just
Connor okay and so hey
to get your hundredfold sixtyfold thirtyfold it's gonna cause some
inconvenient things for you to do you have to inconvenience yourself and
learn how to speak a little bit of Spanish more than just how to order a burrito
or something okay for you seasoned
and I'm speaking to seasoned Christians only at this point okay
I'm not talking about the babes in Christ babes in Christ you gotta work your way to that point
but you know what some of you were inspired to speak Spanish at one time and inspired to learn
Spanish and then you know you just got discouraged and you just fell off the wagon
okay well here's the reset button start learning again
and you will be preaching to a very forgiving
culture and a very patient culture because they like it when people
of other nationalities are attempting to speak to them in Spanish
it's just more likely that they're gonna listen to you and I would even say that
you're it's more likely for you to get a person saved in
Spanish if you're not Mexican or something and you're
like white than a full blown Mexican trying to get that person saved
you'll probably get them saved faster than Ulysses would
or Jose right you know because of the fact
that sometimes they're just like no to them because you know it's just like they're
Mexican but the white person they're like oh I want to listen to this person
well take advantage of it hey we need to take advantage of these
things I mean you hear about the Philippines right how a lot of times people
get saved because they just see Americans as like celebrities
you know but you know the soul owners will take it as long as you're willing to listen
you know in Belize they'll give you the time of day because they don't want to be rude
we'll take it we'll take it
so if you have that advantage take it okay
but start learning Spanish start picking it up again
start learning so you can increase the salvations this year
and I guarantee you we'll increase then look if you become somewhat proficient
you can come with us to Mexico and TJ because we're gonna start doing that again in January
and that is a gold mine of salvations there we go there
just people are getting saved left and right as well it's almost like Belize
yes
Moses always thinks we're having like a one on one conversation sometimes when I'm preaching
it's almost as receptive as Belize you know
and just a little more tiring because you're preaching in Spanish so like for me I get
I get exhausted you have to take breaks but we get a lot of
salvations in Mexico and TJ and there's plenty of Mexicans there
and it's a different and by the way it's a different Mexican culture too
they're just more patient with us as well
and so but I want to throw that out there because I think that's important
so and if you say well you know I've tried Spanish for years and I just don't get it
okay then increase your frequency then increase your frequency of sowing
and I guarantee you we'll get more salvations but I would
say that a lot of people could probably learn a little bit of Spanish
enough to get someone saved the Bible says in Matthew 9 36
but when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd then saith he unto his disciples
the harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few
pray therefore the Lord of the harvest he will send forth laborers into his harvest I'm gonna pray for you
I'm gonna pray that you increase your frequency but I'm also pray
you don't forget this challenge of learning Spanish a little bit okay
and I think it would be a wonderful accomplishment at the end of 2024
to know there's some people here that they took that challenge oh okay let me give you this last
example I know this guy
he's super white
very white his name is Pastor Jonathan Shelley
that man's white
that's Anglo right there you know what he learned Spanish in six months
he just applied himself and just like I think it was like
January to I think it was like June or July when we went to
a Mexico missions trip this is years ago
and he learned particularly for that trip and you know what happened he got his first
salvation in Spanish in Mexico and Pastor Shelley
he's you know he's a white man
okay and so but I'm praying for you that you
would take up that challenge okay it's gonna require some inconvenience on your end but it
can be done last challenge here
go to go with me if you would to Philippians chapter 2
Philippians chapter 2 so two categories down one last one to go okay
inconvenient challenges for the new year challenge number
three abound in church attendance and increase in love
abound in church attendance of course we know the verse Hebrews 10
24 25 says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of
some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day
approaching for new Christians here's your challenge
retire your Sunday morning glory attire and come Sunday
night this is for new Christians
babes in Christ if you're a Sunday morning glory
meaning you only come to church on Sunday morning it's time to hang that up and start
getting involved with the big boys and come Sunday night
and I know you got things to do
everyone's got things to do we all got things to do
that's why I'm trying to inconvenience you here
though to start coming on Sunday night
okay and it's time to increase it's time to
abound it's time to make that decision to put the excuses
away and you know the yeah but we got something
going on tomorrow but tomorrow's tomorrow though
here's the great thing today's still today and it doesn't
even end until 12 and luckily
church finishes like hours before that
I'm seeing a lot of sour faces right now
I told you I was going to inconvenience you though I know it's an inconvenience
I know you got to work I know you got all types of responsibilities
and I'm only talking to the babes in Christ here
okay but there comes a point where excuses
got to go and it's time to kind of grow a little bit and abound and increase
and say you know what I'm going to start coming Sunday nights I'm going to stick around
I'm going to go sowing and then which will make it easier for me to stick around
and then I'm going to make it just a
family day activity here at church go eat
come to church here's some preaching and if you have to you know dash out
the door thereafter then so be it okay people do that
sometimes you know if they got to get going they got to get going but they're trying to add that service
add that service so hang up and retire
your Sunday morning glory only attire and come Sunday night you know
your favorite TV show will probably be on another time
okay your soap opera whatever it is you're trying to get home to watch
now to the seasoned Christians and when I say seasoned
who am I talking to I'm talking to the three to thrive we have people in our church
that are three to thrive meaning they're just like they're part of the furniture here
they're Sunday morning Sunday night they're Thursday you can
just essentially set your watch to them you know that they're going to be here
and if they're not it's just weird you know it's like it's
it's something extreme took place like they died or something
something happened they're just not here it's just like okay I guess you know
but in general they're here pretty much all three services
that is three to thrive and I love that phrase because it's true you want to thrive in your
Christian life you're here three services okay
but here's your challenge for those seasoned Christians who are three to thrive
you're like why aren't I doing enough though pastor isn't the three
services enough no I'm going to inconvenience you right now
make yourself an asset to your team
make yourself an asset to your team what do I mean
don't just show up participate
participate meaning sing in services
participate in the activities amen
don't just show up participate don't just solo in disciple
someone so ask your team leader who's someone that I can help
you train to be a full-fledged soul winner because I already know how to preach the gospel
I'm getting people saved I want to help someone else learn how to preach the gospel
as well because you know someone taught you how to preach the gospel
so now it's time to return the favor amen so here's
and by the way discipling people is an inconvenience that's very
inconvenient sometimes they don't listen and they do things wrong
and you know sometimes there's conflict or whatever but
you know what life is inconvenient sometimes and so
be an asset to your team by not just showing up but participating
not just soloing but discipling someone helping brother
Maury helping brother Ulysses helping brother Hike helping brother Cody
to actually train someone to be a full-fledged soul winner
and let me just say this that feels great once you train
someone and then they're out there preaching the gospel you participated in that
it's a fantastic feeling
and then here's so don't just show up participate
don't just solo in disciple don't just fellowship invest
in people okay
invest in people go out of your way to be a blessing to someone
for your introverts
that means you need to start going out of your way to talk to people in church
on your team okay and I know and by the way that's a major
inconvenience for introverts you know
this is like a terrifying scenario for them
you know it's just like after church it's terrifying
because it's like when everyone gets up and they're just
I don't know what to do but you know it's like
I don't know what to do but you know as Christians we don't really have that convenience
and that luxury to just not fellowship and invest in people
God's commanded us to do that okay and so don't just
fellowship invest in people look for an opportunity to be a blessing to someone I'm speaking to
seasoned Christians okay look for an opportunity look at Philippians
2 verse 18 says for the same cause also do you joy and rejoice with me
but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send to Mothius shortly unto you that I
also may be of good comfort when I know your state for I have no man like-minded
who would naturally care for your state
for all seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ
that's a great phrase there right great verse it's basically saying
you know Christians should be those who seek that which is Jesus Christ seek the benefit
of others seek to be a blessing to others not just what benefits them
don't ask what your church can do for you but what can
you do for your church don't ask what can the team
what can the team do for you ask what you can do for your team seasoned Christian
and so those are your inconvenient challenges for this
coming year Bible consumption okay
utterance and church attendance
I told you it wasn't outside of the scope of your capabilities
but it is going to be a little inconvenient to turn it up a little bit but
anything new that we haven't done will always be
inconvenient so it's important for us to just take that and
and if you need help if you're like why I need some accountability we have plenty of
people here that can hold you accountable to help you to be successful and achieve that in
this coming year let's pray father we thank you so much for your word thank you for
the commands in the Bible and the fact that the
Christian life is simple there's is made up of simple elements
and we just simply build upon those elements throughout our Christian life and I pray that you'd help us Lord
as we seek to increase our Bible consumption
and whether that's through reading the Bible more
often this year every single day but more times this year
or memorizing the word of God and I pray that you bless those who have determined to do so Lord
may you fill them with your spirit and your power and help them to be determined
to achieve that goal this year
and also when it comes to this matter of soul winning Lord I pray that you would help those
new Christians to join a team and be a part of a team
so they can be trained on how to preach the gospel and for those who are seasoned Lord I pray that you
would increase help them to increase their frequency but also Lord that you would
enable them to speak a little bit of Spanish in order to preach the gospel in Spanish
I know not everyone can become fluent but there's people here who can who can do just
enough to get people saved Lord and I pray that you would do so in their lives
and of course when it comes to church attendance may those Sunday morning glories
determined to just be here on Sunday night and then may those seasoned Christians
determined to start investing in other people's lives this coming year
we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name Amen
Alright for our last song we'll be singing Oh Holy Night
it'll be our song sheet if you don't have a song sheet please raise your hand
if you don't have a song sheet please raise your hand one of the ushers will
come by to bring you one Oh Holy Night as our last song
as the ushers come around just keep your hand
raised if you do need a song sheet
Oh Holy Night
all together nice and strong on that first
verse Oh Holy Night
the stars are brightly shining
it is the night
of our dear Savior's birth
Long
lay the world in sin and
error pining till
He appeared and the soul
felt its worth
A thrill of hope
the weary world rejoices
for yonder breaks
a new and glorious morn
fall on
your knees
O hear the angel
voices
O night
divine
O night when Christ
was born
O night
O Holy
Night
O night divine
led by the light
of faith serenely beaming
with glowing hearts by His
cradle we stand
so led by light
of a star sweetly gleaming
here came the wise
men from Orient land
the King
of kings lay thus in
lowly manger in all
our trials born to be
our friend He
knows our need
to our weakness
is no stranger
behold
your king
before
Him lowly bend
behold
your king
before
His lowly bend
truly He taught
us to love one another
His law is love
and His gospel is peace
chains shall
He break for the slave is
our brother and in
His name all oppression
shall cease
sweet hymns of joy in
grateful chorus raise we let
all within us praise
His holy name
Christ is the Lord
O praise
His name forever
His power
and glory
evermore
proclaim
His power
and glory
evermore
proclaim
Amen. Wonderful singing you are dismissed.