WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.000 Church, you've given us your Lord, please bless Brother Ulysses as he preaches on to us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 00:05.000 --> 00:06.000 Amen. 00:08.900 --> 00:12.900 Tonight we're in Ecclesiastes chapter 11. Look down your Bibles at verse number three. 00:13.220 --> 00:17.260 The Bible says, if the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth. 00:17.260 --> 00:21.540 And if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north in the place where the tree falleth, 00:21.700 --> 00:22.980 there it shall be. 00:22.980 --> 00:27.220 He that observeth the wind shall not sow and he that regarded the clouds shall not reap. 00:27.220 --> 00:33.020 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child. 00:33.260 --> 00:36.180 Even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. 00:36.900 --> 00:42.340 of the sermon this evening is the winter arc. The winter arc. And what am I referring to 00:42.340 --> 00:46.820 when I say the winter arc? Some of you maybe have never heard that, but it's a popular 00:46.820 --> 00:51.340 trend online and it pretty much has to do with like people wanting to hit like a reset 00:51.340 --> 00:55.020 button at the very end of the year. And I like things like this because it's a good 00:55.020 --> 00:58.420 thing to participate in because a lot of times, you know, at the beginning of the year you 00:58.420 --> 01:02.180 set up goals for yourselves and then some people, you know, set up goals that are too 01:02.180 --> 01:04.900 unrealistic, right? And then towards like January. 01:04.900 --> 01:08.740 secondary, second, you know, you already fell off the train kind of thing, but you know 01:09.300 --> 01:13.740 At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter when you start, but it's a good way to put 01:13.740 --> 01:18.260 it in your mind, kind of get in that mindset that, hey, it's time to hit a reset button. 01:18.260 --> 01:23.460 And when we talk about the winter arc, a lot of times people refer to it as a 90-day period, 01:23.460 --> 01:27.220 beginning at October 1st, and it carries on all the way to the end of the year. 01:27.220 --> 01:28.220 So it's about 90 days. 01:28.220 --> 01:31.740 A lot of people like participating in this because, like I said, it's a good way to start 01:31.740 --> 01:32.740 over. 01:32.740 --> 01:33.860 Maybe you fell off the tracks. 01:33.860 --> 01:37.300 Maybe you didn't get to fulfill certain goals that you had for yourself. 01:37.300 --> 01:39.220 at the beginning of the year. 01:39.220 --> 01:40.400 And when we talk about goals, 01:40.400 --> 01:42.900 it is good to set up goals, especially as a Christian, 01:42.900 --> 01:43.720 right? 01:43.720 --> 01:45.700 We have goals when it comes to our personal life, 01:45.700 --> 01:47.740 we should have goals when it comes to our spiritual life. 01:47.740 --> 01:49.660 And there are many goals that we have, 01:49.660 --> 01:50.960 whether it's at work, 01:50.960 --> 01:52.740 whether it's goals that we have with our children 01:52.740 --> 01:54.000 or with our family, 01:54.000 --> 01:56.840 as a Christian, you should set up goals. 01:56.840 --> 01:59.740 And one of the things that we should do as Christians 01:59.740 --> 02:02.140 is just have that mindset that, you know what? 02:02.140 --> 02:03.940 Every day is a brand new day, 02:03.940 --> 02:05.300 His mercies are new each day. 02:05.300 --> 02:07.860 And it's a fresh start every single day. 02:07.860 --> 02:10.120 And I wanna encourage you this evening 02:10.120 --> 02:11.980 to just think about that. 02:11.980 --> 02:13.660 The year is coming to an end. 02:13.660 --> 02:15.940 We just started fall, winter's gonna come. 02:15.940 --> 02:19.460 And what have you done with the whole year of 2026, right? 02:19.460 --> 02:22.040 Some of us, we just let the days go by. 02:22.040 --> 02:24.380 And then before you know it, the year came to an end 02:24.380 --> 02:26.380 and you didn't accomplish anything, right? 02:26.380 --> 02:28.900 And unfortunately, a lot of times where you're at today, 02:28.900 --> 02:30.960 it's just a result of all the decisions you made 02:30.960 --> 02:32.260 at the beginning of the year. 02:32.260 --> 02:33.300 And you have no one else to be. 02:33.300 --> 02:37.800 blame but yourself. So this morning, this evening I just want to encourage you to just 02:37.800 --> 02:41.660 think about that, some of the things that you should consider if it comes to the winter 02:41.660 --> 02:46.200 arc. And I like that name because when you think about an arc, a character arc, a lot 02:46.200 --> 02:49.660 of people just think about it as like, you know there's certain stories where a character 02:49.660 --> 02:53.780 starts off as a good person and then towards the end they end up being somebody really 02:53.780 --> 02:58.440 bad. Or a character starts off being like a terrible person and then they go through 02:58.440 --> 03:01.300 some tragic events and at the very end they end up you know. 03:01.300 --> 03:04.720 know turning their life around to become a good person and these are things you 03:04.720 --> 03:07.800 know that we read in fiction there's a lot of characters like that in the Bible 03:07.800 --> 03:11.320 but you know when it comes to us maybe we had a bad start at the beginning of 03:11.320 --> 03:14.440 the year maybe at the beginning of year your marriage wasn't where it should be 03:14.440 --> 03:18.040 right or maybe at the beginning of year you really didn't have like any goals 03:18.040 --> 03:22.240 any clear goals in mind or maybe you know as a teenager you know you were 03:22.240 --> 03:25.900 doing really bad in school and it's your last opportunity to find you know turn 03:25.900 --> 03:29.300 things around and then get it right so this evening the title the story 03:29.300 --> 03:35.600 is the winter arc. Now if you would go with me to Hebrews chapter 10. 03:36.200 --> 03:38.960 Like I said, what is the winter arc? 03:38.960 --> 03:40.400 It's just that popular trend. 03:40.400 --> 03:42.960 Usually it's like 90 days beginning on October 1st 03:42.960 --> 03:44.560 all the way to the end of the year. 03:44.560 --> 03:47.120 And it's not something that you have to participate in. 03:47.120 --> 03:49.640 Obviously some people just, it's a popular trend, like I said, 03:49.640 --> 03:52.240 and a lot of people just like participating in this 03:52.240 --> 03:54.360 because it kind of sets the mood, you know? 03:54.360 --> 03:56.800 Not really in California, you know, but in other places, 03:56.800 --> 03:59.600 it gets cold, and a lot of people just like isolate themselves 03:59.600 --> 04:00.560 and they work on themselves. 04:00.560 --> 04:02.600 A lot of people enjoy self-improvement. 04:02.600 --> 04:04.040 And I think you should as a Christian, you know? 04:04.200 --> 04:08.160 lot of things that we can improve as Christians and it only takes a couple 04:08.160 --> 04:12.480 of minutes to analyze right to do some introspection you realize hey there's a 04:12.480 --> 04:16.920 lot of things that I have to work on now as you were turning their Hebrews 04:16.920 --> 04:20.760 chapter 10 let me read to you from Acts chapter 1 the Bible says why say you 04:20.760 --> 04:24.920 gazing up into heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven 04:24.920 --> 04:30.240 shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven and so here is 04:30.240 --> 04:32.200 after Jesus Christ already gave the great 04:32.200 --> 04:36.320 Commission after he resurrected, he already told him, you know, the Holy Spirit, the Holy 04:36.320 --> 04:39.120 Ghost should come upon you and you should receive power. 04:39.120 --> 04:43.620 And so Jesus Christ has just ascended, carried up in the clouds, and his disciples are just 04:43.620 --> 04:45.760 standing there gazing, right? 04:45.760 --> 04:48.560 And so the angel is just telling them, why is Sanye here gazing? 04:48.560 --> 04:50.160 And a lot of us are just like that. 04:50.160 --> 04:51.920 We're just standing around, right? 04:51.920 --> 04:54.160 We're not really getting anything done. 04:54.160 --> 04:57.600 God already gave us all the commandments, all the things that he wants us to accomplish. 04:57.600 --> 05:00.200 But instead of getting to work, all we're doing is just... 05:00.200 --> 05:05.240 standing around. And where we started in Ecclesiastes chapter 11, let me read to you verse 4, it 05:05.240 --> 05:10.120 says, he that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall 05:10.120 --> 05:14.240 not reap. And a lot of times people are like that, you know, based on the circumstances 05:14.240 --> 05:18.760 in their lives, based on the way the weather is outside, you know, they make decisions 05:18.760 --> 05:23.320 based on those things. A lot of factors, right? If it's too cold, you know, instead of just 05:23.320 --> 05:27.880 saying, I'm going to throw on a jacket, you know, and they decide, you know what, I'm 05:27.880 --> 05:28.200 I'm soon. 05:28.200 --> 05:30.200 call off of work, it's too cold to go to work. 05:30.200 --> 05:31.200 Right? 05:31.200 --> 05:35.120 Or, you know, instead of getting things done, you know, instead of going out so many, right, 05:35.120 --> 05:37.200 it's just way too hot, I'm not going to go out so many. 05:37.200 --> 05:38.200 Why? 05:38.200 --> 05:41.720 Because they let the weather, they let their circumstances determine how they act, and 05:41.720 --> 05:42.560 it shouldn't be like that. 05:42.900 --> 05:47.340 So, if you're in Hebrews chapter 10, where I told you to go, look down at your browser, 05:47.340 --> 05:52.020 verse number 24, the Bible says, and let us consider one another to provoke and to love 05:52.020 --> 05:58.420 and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the man or some is. 05:58.420 --> 06:02.740 And so, the reason why I want to read this verse is because obviously the Christian life, 06:02.740 --> 06:06.900 you know, if we take it at face value, it's very simple, it's very basic. 06:06.900 --> 06:10.900 Now, it's harder than what, you know, it's harder, it's easier. 06:10.900 --> 06:15.060 said than done, right? Is what I'm trying to say. Because Christian lives just consist of certain 06:15.060 --> 06:20.420 basic things that you have to do day after day, but where it gets hard is that we're inconsistent 06:20.420 --> 06:21.540 a lot of the times. 06:21.700 --> 06:26.020 And this verse, it just talks about going to church, you know, being around God's people. 06:26.020 --> 06:30.740 And as a Christian, one of the most basic things that you have to get done, or get down 06:30.740 --> 06:35.060 if you want to succeed as a Christian, is what this manner of going to church. 06:35.060 --> 06:39.780 And here we see in verse 25, look down your Bibles at Hebrews 10, verse 25 says, 06:39.780 --> 06:44.260 not forsaking the assemblies of ourselves together as a manner some is. 06:44.260 --> 06:48.180 And so the Bible clearly says that as a manner some is, you know, there's some people in here, 06:48.180 --> 06:49.700 even today, you know that 06:49.700 --> 06:52.340 that is our manner, you know, missing church. 06:52.340 --> 06:53.580 That's what they're known for. 06:53.580 --> 06:55.600 You know, we don't even have to ask ourselves, 06:55.600 --> 06:56.700 you know, is so, so gonna come, 06:56.700 --> 06:58.540 we already know they're gonna miss, right? 06:58.540 --> 07:01.300 And you know, you shouldn't like let that be you. 07:01.300 --> 07:02.140 You shouldn't be like, 07:02.140 --> 07:03.540 well, I don't really expect them to come. 07:03.540 --> 07:04.840 It shouldn't be like when you show up to church, 07:04.840 --> 07:07.160 you're like, oh, dang, he's actually here tonight, right? 07:07.160 --> 07:10.080 But it shouldn't be, you shouldn't be characterized as that. 07:10.080 --> 07:11.180 And so the Bible here is saying, 07:11.180 --> 07:13.260 not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together 07:13.260 --> 07:14.900 as the manner some is, 07:14.900 --> 07:17.020 but exhorting one another and so much the more 07:17.020 --> 07:17.700 as you see the day. 07:17.700 --> 07:21.120 approaching. So I understand obviously a Thursday night's a little bit different. 07:21.120 --> 07:25.320 People that you know work, they come out late, a lot of people live far that come 07:25.320 --> 07:28.880 to our church and the traffic is just insane. But I'm talking about just 07:28.880 --> 07:33.160 missing church consistently like week after week. You can't even make it to one 07:33.160 --> 07:36.760 service. You're pretty much like consistently being inconsistent right? 07:36.760 --> 07:39.960 Because a lot of people are like that. They'll come one week and we see them 07:39.960 --> 07:43.080 and then we're like all right well we'll see them again like in a month right? And 07:43.080 --> 07:45.700 we don't want to be characterized as that. 07:45.700 --> 07:50.180 So one of the basic things that we can do as a Christian is if we want to succeed, you 07:50.180 --> 07:53.880 know, one of the things that we have to get down and if you haven't gotten it down yet 07:53.880 --> 07:55.920 is this matter of coming to church. 07:55.920 --> 07:59.220 Now go to Mark chapter 11, go to Mark chapter 11. 07:59.220 --> 08:02.060 Now while you turn down, I'm going to read to you from Joshua chapter 1. 08:02.400 --> 08:08.000 Another basic discipline that we have to develop is this manner of Bible reading, right? 08:08.000 --> 08:12.320 And in Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, the Bible says, this book of the law shall not depart 08:12.320 --> 08:16.760 out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, and thou, that thou 08:16.760 --> 08:21.600 mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make 08:21.600 --> 08:24.840 thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 08:24.840 --> 08:27.440 So not only do we have to come to church, right? 08:27.440 --> 08:30.400 And it's not like, well, you come to church whether, if you feel like. 08:30.400 --> 08:33.960 it right? A lot of times we're out there sowing it and they tell us well I'm not very religious 08:33.960 --> 08:37.600 I don't really go to church I don't need to go to church to have a relationship with God 08:37.600 --> 08:42.220 well actually you do right because going to church is a commandment in the Bible and another 08:42.220 --> 08:47.340 thing that we should do as a Christian is develop the discipline of Bible reading and 08:47.340 --> 08:52.680 here it says that for them thou shall make thy way prosperous and then thou shall have 08:52.680 --> 08:57.360 good success see a lot of people want to be successful in every area of life but you're 08:57.360 --> 08:58.360 you're not going to be successful. 08:58.400 --> 09:01.000 according to the Bible if you're not reading the Bible. 09:01.300 --> 09:06.300 And so one of the things that I want to encourage you, you know, there's only three months left in the year. 09:06.300 --> 09:11.300 And maybe you started off right, you know, you started at Genesis and then you stopped reading after Genesis 5, right? 09:11.300 --> 09:15.300 Maybe that's you tonight. But you know, there's still time for you to finish the Bible. 09:15.300 --> 09:18.300 There's like more than 90 days. There's probably like 100 days left. 09:18.300 --> 09:22.300 And if that's you tonight and you have that goal, you know, you set up that goal in the beginning of the year, 09:22.300 --> 09:27.300 I want to read my Bible this year from cover to cover and you didn't, you failed, there's still time, right? 09:27.300 --> 09:29.300 There's still time to get it done. 09:29.300 --> 09:34.420 And really you can read it in 90 days and I'll tell you how one of the ways that you can read it in 90 days 09:34.420 --> 09:36.420 It's just 13 chapters a day 09:36.420 --> 09:40.820 Right and 13 chapters a day from what I like timed in and looked it up 09:40.820 --> 09:43.540 You know if you read pretty fast you read pretty normal speed 09:43.540 --> 09:48.700 It's like 40 to 45 minutes and everybody has 40 minutes in here to read the Bible now 09:48.700 --> 09:50.300 I'm not saying you have to do that all in the morning 09:50.300 --> 09:56.140 You could break it up into you know morning lunch and then at night right you read 10 minutes at in the morning 09:56.140 --> 09:57.300 You read you read? 09:57.300 --> 10:01.020 10 more minutes in the afternoon and then you just finish the chapters at night. 10:01.020 --> 10:02.420 There's ways to get it done. 10:02.420 --> 10:06.140 So if you haven't read your Bible cover to cover this year or you think you might not 10:06.140 --> 10:08.480 finish, there's still time, right? 10:08.480 --> 10:10.180 Don't give up, don't quit, don't wait. 10:10.180 --> 10:13.060 Well, I'll just wait until January 1st, 2027 to get started again. 10:13.060 --> 10:16.780 Don't do that because then you're going to be, you know, next year again and it's going 10:16.780 --> 10:18.580 to be September and you're still in the same boat. 10:18.580 --> 10:20.300 You haven't finished it again. 10:20.300 --> 10:23.580 So you're there in Mark chapter 11. 10:23.580 --> 10:25.020 down at verse number 24. 10:25.900 --> 10:29.980 The Bible says, Therefore I say unto you, What things, whoever you desire, when you pray, 10:29.980 --> 10:35.020 believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them. So number one in the introduction is this, 10:35.020 --> 10:40.060 that as Christians, the Christian life is very basic. The only thing is that we have to be 10:40.060 --> 10:43.580 consistent. And I'll be the first to admit, you know, throughout the years, sometimes you are 10:43.580 --> 10:48.540 inconsistent. You know, you have the flesh, you have the old man, you're not always succeeding at 10:48.540 --> 10:52.380 the goals that you, you know, set for before yourself. But the point is this, you have to 10:52.380 --> 10:53.580 to get back on it, right? 10:53.580 --> 10:53.900 You can't. 10:53.900 --> 10:55.540 just quit all the time. 10:55.540 --> 10:57.200 And the first thing that I brought up 10:57.200 --> 10:58.700 is the fact of going to church. 10:58.700 --> 11:00.340 You know, get that down already. 11:00.340 --> 11:02.700 You know, you've been in our church for more than a year. 11:02.700 --> 11:04.580 You should be consistent in church. 11:04.580 --> 11:07.540 And I'm not saying you have to go all three services. 11:07.540 --> 11:08.380 That's the goal. 11:08.600 --> 11:13.240 you know, three to thrive. But even if you can't come, all three services make it to one service, 11:13.240 --> 11:17.080 right? It's not that hard. And especially if you've been here for more than a year, 11:17.080 --> 11:21.240 this is something that you should have already developed. Number two is that you have to develop 11:21.240 --> 11:25.960 that discipline of reading your Bible every day. And even if you don't read, you know, 11:25.960 --> 11:31.320 five chapters, 10 chapters, read one chapter, right? Just read something. It's not that hard. 11:32.100 --> 11:35.540 So, and the third thing that I brought up right now is that you have to pray. 11:35.540 --> 11:37.180 These are just basic Christian disciplines. 11:37.180 --> 11:40.740 You have to go to church, read your Bible, and pray. 11:40.740 --> 11:42.780 Because we all have needs, right? 11:42.780 --> 11:44.420 Everybody needs something from God. 11:44.420 --> 11:46.660 Everybody needs God to give us wisdom. 11:46.660 --> 11:48.640 Everybody wants God to provide for them. 11:48.640 --> 11:51.100 But you have not because you ask not. 11:51.100 --> 11:57.380 Now go to, if you would go to, let me see here. 11:57.380 --> 11:58.540 Go to Hebrews chapter 12. 11:58.540 --> 11:59.540 Go to Hebrews chapter 12. 12:00.300 --> 12:05.340 So the title of the sermon this evening is the winter arc, the winter arc. I'm going to read to 12:05.340 --> 12:11.420 you from second Peter chapter one. The Bible says, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always 12:11.420 --> 12:13.100 and remembers of these things. 12:13.300 --> 12:16.700 though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 12:16.700 --> 12:21.340 Yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you 12:21.340 --> 12:22.340 in remembrance." 12:22.340 --> 12:26.860 And so here Paul is saying he's not negligent to put you in remembrance of these things, 12:26.860 --> 12:27.860 right? 12:27.860 --> 12:30.860 He's always reminding them of the things that they have to get done. 12:30.860 --> 12:34.020 And let it not be said of us, you know, hey, we're just tired of hearing all the time, 12:34.020 --> 12:37.580 you know, the pastor telling us, read your Bible, go to church, go so many. 12:37.580 --> 12:40.540 These are things that we constantly have to be reminded of. 12:40.540 --> 12:41.300 Why? 12:41.300 --> 12:43.020 we forget sometimes, right? 12:43.020 --> 12:45.780 And you miss one week, you forget about it. 12:45.780 --> 12:46.860 And then you miss one week, 12:46.860 --> 12:48.380 it becomes easier to miss a second week. 12:48.380 --> 12:50.040 And then you just develop bad habits. 12:50.040 --> 12:50.880 And before you know it, 12:50.880 --> 12:52.580 you're not even out there sowing anymore. 12:52.580 --> 12:53.900 And I guarantee you, you know, 12:53.900 --> 12:54.860 I don't even have to ask, 12:54.860 --> 12:56.620 there's somebody in this room right now 12:56.620 --> 12:59.060 that probably does not go sowing every single week. 12:59.060 --> 13:01.340 And if that's you, you know, you gotta get that fixed. 13:01.340 --> 13:03.340 Because we are a sowing church. 13:03.340 --> 13:05.660 You know, the name of our church is what? 13:05.660 --> 13:06.700 First Works Baptist Church. 13:06.700 --> 13:09.220 We believe in doing the first works, our first love. 13:09.300 --> 13:11.300 And so we promote soul winning here. 13:11.300 --> 13:13.200 You know, you don't feel, you know, like. 13:13.300 --> 13:15.460 Well, I feel just too pressured to go out so many. 13:15.460 --> 13:17.500 Well, you know, that's actually a good thing, right? 13:17.500 --> 13:20.940 Because it would be bad if we weren't pressuring you to go out and, you know, 13:20.940 --> 13:24.140 keep God's commandments and going out there and winning the loss. 13:24.140 --> 13:27.420 So this is something that you have to purposely put in your mind. 13:27.420 --> 13:29.860 You know, hey, I need to be out there giving the gospel. 13:29.860 --> 13:31.820 And I'm saying maybe you can go out on Sunday. 13:31.820 --> 13:35.140 Maybe you could go out another day of the week, get with your team leader, ask them, 13:35.140 --> 13:39.540 hey, what's a what's another day that I can go or maybe give it give me an area. 13:39.540 --> 13:41.300 Give me some ideas. Maybe they can meet you up. 13:41.300 --> 13:43.740 or do Ome TV, there's really no excuse 13:43.740 --> 13:45.240 why you can't go so many now. 13:46.100 --> 13:50.100 Now if you're there in Hebrews 12, look down at your Bibles in verse number two, the Bible 13:50.100 --> 13:54.740 says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set 13:54.740 --> 13:59.380 before him, endure the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of 13:59.380 --> 14:00.380 the throne of God. 14:00.380 --> 14:04.980 And so here we see that, you know, Jesus Christ, you know, he already knew what he had to accomplish, 14:04.980 --> 14:05.980 right? 14:05.980 --> 14:07.780 He had for the joy that was set before him. 14:07.780 --> 14:11.100 And a lot of times what makes it easier for us to get something done is just picturing 14:11.100 --> 14:13.620 in our mind the end result, right? 14:13.620 --> 14:14.100 knowing. 14:14.100 --> 14:15.480 what we're gonna get out of it. 14:15.480 --> 14:18.160 And a lot of times if we have that goal in mind, 14:18.160 --> 14:21.120 we're more likely to put steps into achieving that. 14:21.120 --> 14:22.320 So this evening, like I said, 14:22.320 --> 14:24.160 the title of the sermon is the Winter Arc. 14:24.160 --> 14:25.200 I wanna give you three things 14:25.200 --> 14:26.800 that you should consider tonight 14:26.800 --> 14:28.640 when it comes to the Winter Arc. 14:28.640 --> 14:30.880 Now everybody's arc is gonna look different, right? 14:30.880 --> 14:33.120 Some of you guys wanna improve in different areas. 14:33.120 --> 14:35.000 Everybody has different goals. 14:35.000 --> 14:36.440 Just like in a personal level, 14:36.440 --> 14:39.840 some of you had the goal of losing weight, right? 14:39.840 --> 14:42.100 Some of you guys had the goal of... 14:42.100 --> 14:46.420 like getting a better job or getting married. 14:46.420 --> 14:47.700 Some people didn't accomplish that. 14:47.700 --> 14:51.300 But I'm not going to look at anybody. 14:51.300 --> 14:53.940 These are goals that people have year after year. 14:53.940 --> 14:54.940 No, I'm just kidding. 14:56.200 --> 14:58.440 These are goals that people have sometimes, right? 14:58.440 --> 15:02.040 Just getting married, starting a family, getting in shape, 15:02.040 --> 15:03.000 whatever the case may be. 15:03.000 --> 15:05.560 These are goals that you can start now, right? 15:05.560 --> 15:08.440 So don't wait till 2027 to get started. 15:08.440 --> 15:10.440 January 1st, I'm gonna sign up for the gym. 15:10.440 --> 15:12.680 Just start, sign up tomorrow, right? 15:12.680 --> 15:14.600 Don't go right now, but they're about to close. 15:14.600 --> 15:17.240 But go sign up for the gym. 15:17.240 --> 15:19.400 And honestly, look, this is a real thing. 15:19.400 --> 15:21.800 One time me and Pastor Roo was just talking it up 15:21.800 --> 15:23.560 and then he's like, I'm gonna start working now. 15:23.560 --> 15:24.200 Let's go sign up. 15:24.200 --> 15:30.160 And we literally just signed up on a random day in September, I think, and then he hasn't stopped going since then, right? 15:30.160 --> 15:35.360 So it's never like the wrong time to sign up to the gym or to start your goals is what I'm trying to say. 15:35.560 --> 15:39.100 So the three things I want you to consider tonight when it comes to, you know, 15:39.100 --> 15:44.220 just changing the way that you are, setting yourself up for success for the upcoming year. 15:44.220 --> 15:48.640 I want you to consider these three things. Number one is consider this. What motivates you, right? 15:48.960 --> 15:51.640 What is it that motivates you? Because honestly, 15:52.300 --> 15:55.000 We all don't have discipline, right? At the end of the day. 15:55.000 --> 15:56.300 Let's just be honest, right? 15:56.300 --> 16:00.500 These are things that come, you know, after you put in the work. 16:00.500 --> 16:04.800 And if we're honest with each other, sometimes we just fail to put in the work right away. 16:04.800 --> 16:08.900 And so everybody at the beginning, you know, you need some kind of motivation. 16:08.900 --> 16:14.300 After a while you get motivated, you develop the habits of going to church, reading your Bible, praying, 16:14.300 --> 16:18.900 you know, just being an asset to the church, then you can really rely on just discipline at that point. 16:18.900 --> 16:20.300 Sometimes you're not going to feel like it. 16:20.300 --> 16:25.700 But because you develop the habits the discipline even when you're not motivated you're still gonna do it 16:25.700 --> 16:27.160 But how do you even get to that point? 16:27.160 --> 16:32.740 You know what motivates you like why is it that you come to church because you all come here on your own free will right? 16:32.800 --> 16:36.320 No one wants to go pick you up. Nobody say like hey go to church now 16:36.320 --> 16:40.900 I'm gonna put gas in your car so you could come I mean I don't think nobody did that right, but you know 16:40.900 --> 16:43.460 What is it that motivates you to do what you do? 16:44.200 --> 16:49.720 Now, when I bring up motivation, like what is motivation? 16:49.720 --> 16:54.440 So when I looked it up it says that act of an instance of motivating or providing with 16:54.440 --> 16:56.680 a reason to act in a certain way. 16:56.680 --> 17:00.920 The state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish 17:00.920 --> 17:01.920 something. 17:01.920 --> 17:05.160 So as a Christian we do have to stay motivated to do what's right. 17:05.160 --> 17:09.560 We have to stay motivated to come to church and sometimes in the beginning it is because 17:09.560 --> 17:11.340 you know of somebody else, right? 17:11.340 --> 17:12.200 You want to see your friends? 17:12.200 --> 17:17.880 friends, you want to see friends that you have, maybe somebody from work invited you 17:17.880 --> 17:21.880 here and that's your motivation to go there. You don't want to let them down. And so the 17:21.880 --> 17:27.680 way that we develop motivation, we have to create it. So what is motivation? Again, it's 17:27.680 --> 17:31.800 just an instance of motivating, providing with a reason to act in a certain way, and 17:31.800 --> 17:35.880 in the state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish 17:35.880 --> 17:39.900 something. Now if you would, go to Philippians chapter 3. 17:41.900 --> 17:43.900 Philippians chapter 3. Excuse me. 17:52.000 --> 17:55.040 So if you're there in Philippians chapter 3, the Bible says in verse 14, 17:55.040 --> 17:59.520 I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 17:59.520 --> 18:02.080 Now go to Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. 18:02.800 --> 18:07.040 You know, one of the ways to stay motivated is pressing towards the mark. 18:07.200 --> 18:11.500 The first thing I want to bring up when it comes to staying motivated is that we have to establish goals. 18:11.500 --> 18:15.000 We have to put in our mind what is it that we want to accomplish. 18:15.000 --> 18:18.800 We don't want to just live day by day and not having any kind of goals. 18:18.800 --> 18:21.200 There's something in life that we want to accomplish. 18:21.200 --> 18:24.100 There's something that we want to do. 18:24.100 --> 18:28.100 When it comes to spiritual matters, we know that we're going to get rewarded for everything that we do. 18:28.100 --> 18:31.500 That should be in the forefront of our mind. 18:31.700 --> 18:36.100 Now when it comes to establishing goals, oftentimes people establish like too big of a goal. 18:36.100 --> 18:40.020 And then they try to do it and then they fail at it and then they just quit. 18:40.020 --> 18:43.940 The better way to do it is just establish small goals so that when you accomplish those then you 18:43.940 --> 18:49.540 get closer and closer to that bigger goal that you have for yourself. Now I think I tell you, 18:49.540 --> 18:52.740 yeah go to Hebrews chapter 12, look down your Bibles at verse number two, the Bible says, 18:52.740 --> 18:54.200 looking unto Jesus. 18:54.500 --> 18:58.740 The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured 18:58.740 --> 19:03.260 the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." 19:03.260 --> 19:07.340 So I said before this that Jesus already had in mind, you know, what was the end goal? 19:07.340 --> 19:10.500 And a lot of times if we're going to accomplish something, you know, we have to put it in 19:10.500 --> 19:14.460 our mind, you know, what is it, what's the destination that we want to get to? 19:14.460 --> 19:19.460 And when we have a clear destination, a clear goal, then we're able to put steps towards 19:19.460 --> 19:20.460 working towards that. 19:20.460 --> 19:22.460 Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 6. 19:22.500 --> 19:24.340 for Army Chapter 6. 19:27.500 --> 19:31.500 See, what is it that you want to get out of the Christian life, right? 19:31.500 --> 19:32.940 What do you want to get out of the Christian life? 19:33.500 --> 19:36.540 And instead of that, you get out what you put into it, right? 19:36.540 --> 19:39.420 A lot of people want the product without the process. 19:39.420 --> 19:42.660 You see, you can't go to the ATM and expect to like withdraw 19:42.660 --> 19:45.140 a hundred bucks if you never put a hundred bucks in, right? 19:45.140 --> 19:46.820 It's gonna say like overdraft, I'm just kidding. 19:46.820 --> 19:49.340 But you can get, you know, 19:49.340 --> 19:51.580 something that you don't put in the work for. 19:51.580 --> 19:53.900 And a lot of times people see other people's success, 19:53.900 --> 19:56.620 other things that people have and they want that, 19:56.620 --> 19:58.200 but they didn't see all the work that was put in 19:58.200 --> 19:59.340 to achieve that. 19:59.340 --> 20:01.500 And a lot of times people just wanna take shortcuts, right? 20:01.500 --> 20:08.500 They see somebody lose weight, they see somebody like get stronger, they see somebody getting a better job, better pay. 20:08.500 --> 20:11.500 What is it that they did, you know, to help them get to that point? 20:11.500 --> 20:16.500 And a lot of times, instead of people trying to do the same thing and replicate it or putting it into work, what do they do? 20:16.500 --> 20:18.400 They just start hating on them, right? 20:18.600 --> 20:22.600 So, if you're there in Deuteronomy chapter 6, look down at verse number 5, the Bible 20:22.600 --> 20:23.600 says, 20:23.600 --> 20:27.280 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 20:27.280 --> 20:28.520 with all thy might. 20:28.520 --> 20:31.840 And so we ought to love God, but here's the thing, there are certain things that will 20:31.840 --> 20:35.120 motivate us practically to do it better, right? 20:35.120 --> 20:36.560 Sometimes we do it out of discipline. 20:36.560 --> 20:39.800 The way that we show that we love God is by keeping His commandments. 20:39.800 --> 20:44.360 Now we should serve God out of love, but in a practical way we should set goals, right, 20:44.360 --> 20:46.540 that help us accomplish that. 20:46.600 --> 20:49.720 Goals as Christians because everybody like I said has personal goals 20:49.720 --> 20:53.000 I'm not gonna ask you you know you have to the service to tell me where your goals are 20:53.080 --> 20:58.780 But as a Christian some of the goals I could think of it's just this matter of you know training other soul winners, right? 20:58.960 --> 21:00.960 You yourselves when you got to this church 21:00.960 --> 21:06.040 One of the goals that we had for you is what to become a soul winner to be able to preach the gospel 21:06.040 --> 21:08.400 And now that you know how to preach the gospel 21:08.400 --> 21:14.040 You know where your goal should be is to be able to train up somebody else right the way that somebody invested time in you 21:14.600 --> 21:18.820 to teach you the ropes, to teach you the verses, to show you, you know, even to the point of 21:18.820 --> 21:22.820 how to knock a door, you know, those are things that you should be able to teach others now, 21:22.820 --> 21:23.820 right? 21:23.820 --> 21:27.420 You should have it in your mind as a Christian, because as a Christian there's so many things 21:27.420 --> 21:28.420 to do, right? 21:28.420 --> 21:30.020 The Christian life is not boring at all. 21:30.400 --> 21:33.360 It's only boring to those that do nothing. 21:33.360 --> 21:36.820 If all you do is just come to church, listen to their preaching, and then go home and just 21:36.820 --> 21:40.420 forget about everything, then I can see why you think it's boring. 21:40.420 --> 21:45.120 But if you come to church and you expect to learn how to serve God, how to do something 21:45.120 --> 21:49.540 great for God, and then during the week you're actually putting in work, you're investing 21:49.540 --> 21:55.160 in others, you're memorizing scripture, you're reading the Bible, you're praying, you're 21:55.160 --> 21:58.360 You're getting people saved on OmiTV, going out. 21:58.400 --> 22:00.320 Christian life is exciting, right? 22:00.320 --> 22:02.400 And as a Christian, one of the goals that you should have 22:02.400 --> 22:03.900 is to train up somebody else. 22:04.100 --> 22:08.540 You know, it's cool, I think, that the Grossman's, you know, the Grossman's, it's cool seeing 22:08.540 --> 22:13.060 that Christian came when he was like 16 years old, just a baby, just a kid, and now he has 22:13.060 --> 22:15.340 a sister going through the same thing now, right? 22:15.340 --> 22:18.260 Just becoming soul winners, being an asset to the church. 22:18.260 --> 22:21.700 And that's like, you know, that's the goal, right, for everybody here, just being, you 22:21.700 --> 22:26.140 know, young in the Lord, learning how to win people to Christ, and then you yourself going 22:26.140 --> 22:28.980 and taking what was taught to you and showing it to somebody else. 22:28.980 --> 22:32.060 You know, as a father, my goal is for my kids to become soul winners. 22:32.100 --> 22:37.100 right, for my wife to be a soul winner, for my family to continue on this legacy of getting 22:37.100 --> 22:38.100 people saved. 22:38.100 --> 22:41.180 You know, you don't want it to be said of you as like you're the only soul winner in 22:41.180 --> 22:42.180 your family. 22:42.180 --> 22:43.180 What about your kids? 22:43.180 --> 22:44.180 You know, what about your spouse? 22:44.180 --> 22:47.500 You know, you should have that goal, well, there's nobody else that could train you. 22:47.500 --> 22:49.380 You could train your spouse, right? 22:49.380 --> 22:53.700 You could train your kids and your kids should be able to see you as a soul winner. 22:53.700 --> 22:57.780 You know, you may not hold some title in church, you might not be like a team leader or an 22:57.780 --> 23:00.020 usher or anything like that, but hey, you could be a soul- 23:00.100 --> 23:04.340 winner, right? And isn't it cool if your kid sees you and is like, hey, my dad is a soul 23:04.340 --> 23:07.980 winner. I know my dad, you know, gets people saved. You know, that's something that your 23:07.980 --> 23:09.580 kids should be able to say. 23:10.100 --> 23:15.700 Now another goal, you know that we should have is just to have a better resurrection, right? 23:15.700 --> 23:20.980 Have a better resurrection shining brighter and brighter. And how do we do that? By earning rewards, 23:20.980 --> 23:25.140 you know, getting people saved, you know, teaching others the Bible, you know, getting things done 23:25.140 --> 23:30.100 for God, serving God in whatever capacity that we have. Another goal that we should have as 23:30.100 --> 23:35.460 Christians is having a successful marriage, having a good marriage, right? And unfortunately, you know, 23:35.460 --> 23:38.020 we do live in a day and age where I don't, I don't know. 23:38.100 --> 23:42.340 that's off the top of my head, but there's a lot of Christian couples that end up in divorce, right? 23:42.340 --> 23:46.540 And in fact, we know people in our church that unfortunately have ended up in divorce as well. 23:46.540 --> 23:52.860 But here's the thing, you know, as Christians, our goal should be to stay married to the person that we were married to, right? 23:53.020 --> 23:59.860 Till death do us apart. You know, that's a goal that we should have. A goal that we should have too as Christians to have good children. 23:59.860 --> 24:05.860 You know, we don't want to have children that end up being criminals, children that fall away from church, you know, 24:06.100 --> 24:10.420 that end up you know being a reprobate right these are things as parents you 24:10.420 --> 24:14.280 know you know God forbid that one of our children becomes a reprobate right some 24:14.280 --> 24:17.780 fag or something but you know as parents we should be able to train up our 24:17.780 --> 24:21.220 children in the way that they should go teach them young teach them when they're 24:21.220 --> 24:24.580 young you know teach them the Word of God teach them why it's important to go 24:24.580 --> 24:28.140 to church why it's important to read the Bible why it's important you know for 24:28.140 --> 24:31.380 them themselves to develop their faith right because one day we're not going to 24:31.380 --> 24:34.100 be here you know right now our children are small a lot of us have 24:34.100 --> 24:37.520 young children and one day they're gonna be out there on their own. You know we 24:37.520 --> 24:40.400 always, well at least I tell my daughter sometimes one day she's gonna be a mom 24:40.400 --> 24:43.840 right and she's gonna have her own children and then their children is gonna 24:43.840 --> 24:46.340 have their own children and you know how kids are and they're like and then their 24:46.340 --> 24:48.440 children's gonna have their own children and then they start thinking about it too 24:48.440 --> 24:52.360 much. But that's our kids are right. But as a parent you know we just want to have 24:52.360 --> 24:56.540 those goals in mind having our children be successful Christians. And I go to 24:56.540 --> 25:00.000 Philippians chapter 3, go to Philippians chapter 3. 25:00.800 --> 25:03.760 Now here's the thing, you know, even though we set goals... 25:04.200 --> 25:09.480 We might accomplish some but even when we accomplish those then we're able to you know set more goals 25:09.480 --> 25:11.760 So we're never really going to get to a point where we're like, alright 25:11.760 --> 25:16.920 Well, I accomplish everything that I want to accomplish as a Christian and here in Philippians chapter 3 look down in verse 13 25:16.920 --> 25:23.660 The Bible says brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and 25:23.960 --> 25:28.700 Reaching forth unto those things which are before so even if we get all these things done, right? 25:28.700 --> 25:32.200 Just put that behind you you have failures in your life. Put that behind you 25:32.200 --> 25:37.680 you, you know, and then it's time to look to the things are before us. Now go to, if 25:37.680 --> 25:43.640 you would to Galatians chapter 6, Galatians chapter 6, the point I'm trying to make right 25:43.640 --> 25:49.880 now is that what is it that keeps you motivated, right? What is it that keeps you motivated? 25:49.880 --> 25:55.200 How do we stay motivated? First thing I say is that we need to set goals as Christians. 25:55.200 --> 25:58.240 thing is that we need to keep that momentum up. 25:58.600 --> 26:01.400 I'm going to read to you from Psalm 90. The Bible says in verse 10, 26:01.400 --> 26:03.960 the days of our years are three score years and 10. 26:04.400 --> 26:09.120 And if by reason or strength they be forescored years, yet is their strength, labor, and sorrow, 26:09.120 --> 26:11.360 for it is soon cut off and we fly away. 26:11.360 --> 26:13.180 Who knoweth the power of thy anger? 26:13.180 --> 26:15.460 Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 26:15.460 --> 26:19.860 So teach us to number our days, that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom." 26:19.860 --> 26:22.080 You know, one day this will all be over. 26:22.080 --> 26:25.140 You know, not to get dark, but one day we will die, right? 26:25.140 --> 26:27.860 And here the Bible is saying, is like, teach us to number our days. 26:27.860 --> 26:29.200 You know, what does that mean? 26:29.200 --> 26:31.380 Teach us to make our days count, right? 26:31.380 --> 26:32.380 One day we are going to pass. 26:32.400 --> 26:37.160 from the scene, you know, the hour coming when no man can work, and whatever we do here, 26:37.160 --> 26:38.160 you know, that's it, right? 26:38.160 --> 26:41.760 We'll get rewarded for it, but we don't know when that day is when we're going to die. 26:42.400 --> 26:46.960 And so one of the things that we should do is not only set goals, but keep the momentum 26:46.960 --> 26:47.960 up. 26:47.960 --> 26:49.800 You know, you have good momentum right now, keep it going. 26:49.800 --> 26:54.120 You know, a lot of times it's easier when people first get saved, they have really good 26:54.120 --> 26:58.000 momentum, you know, everything's new to them, the hymns are new to them, church is new to 26:58.000 --> 27:01.140 them, you know, just having good friends is new to them. 27:01.140 --> 27:05.720 And this is something that over time sometimes, you know, we can forget how good it is, right? 27:05.720 --> 27:07.240 We just grow accustomed to it. 27:07.240 --> 27:09.320 But we need to keep that momentum up. 27:09.320 --> 27:10.400 here in 27:10.400 --> 27:14.140 Galatians chapter 6, look down at your Bibles in verse number 9. 27:14.140 --> 27:17.920 The Bible says, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap 27:17.920 --> 27:19.900 if we faint not. 27:19.900 --> 27:22.400 Now go to Ephesians chapter 4. 27:22.400 --> 27:23.340 Ephesians chapter 4. 27:25.400 --> 27:28.760 Now in order to get momentum going, you do need to take the first step, right? 27:28.760 --> 27:30.640 It's not just going to start automatically. 27:30.640 --> 27:32.240 You do have to put in the work. 27:32.240 --> 27:33.760 You have to take the first step. 27:33.760 --> 27:37.600 And Ecclesiastes chapter 11, where we first started at Ritual verse number 4, it says, 27:37.600 --> 27:41.640 He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not 27:41.640 --> 27:42.640 reap. 27:42.640 --> 27:46.840 So again, don't let your circumstances determine whether or not you choose to act. 27:46.840 --> 27:52.240 You know, whatever circumstances you have right now, maybe you're financially struggling, 27:52.240 --> 27:53.400 You know, don't let that deter- 27:53.400 --> 27:55.280 you from doing what's right. 27:55.280 --> 28:01.000 Oftentimes people get into a financial struggle and they're like, well I'm just going to quit 28:01.000 --> 28:06.440 church and it doesn't make any sense because that's when you should be more in church. 28:06.440 --> 28:10.440 That's when you should seek first the kingdom of God and all these things should be added 28:10.440 --> 28:12.640 unto you. 28:12.640 --> 28:16.160 I think that's how you go to Ephesians chapter four. 28:17.000 --> 28:19.000 In the 4th chapter it says in verse 11, 28:19.000 --> 28:21.600 and he gave some apostles and some prophets 28:21.600 --> 28:24.000 and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers 28:24.000 --> 28:25.500 for the perfecting of the saints, 28:25.500 --> 28:26.800 for the work of the ministry, 28:26.800 --> 28:29.200 for the edifying of the body of Christ. 28:29.200 --> 28:30.600 Now before I get into this passage, 28:30.600 --> 28:32.900 is that number one, we do have to stay motivated. 28:32.900 --> 28:35.400 Number two, we do have to keep momentum going. 28:35.400 --> 28:36.700 And one of the ways that we can do that 28:36.700 --> 28:40.000 is that we have to find people who we can follow, right? 28:40.000 --> 28:41.400 And we don't believe in this whole thing 28:41.400 --> 28:43.000 where it's like, well, I only follow God. 28:43.000 --> 28:45.000 Because everybody follows somebody, right? 28:45.000 --> 28:51.680 And Paul even himself said, be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 28:51.680 --> 28:56.080 So we all follow somebody, but you have to choose right, you know, who is it that you're 28:56.080 --> 28:56.640 going to follow. 28:57.200 --> 28:59.840 And I believe in this church there's a lot of people that you can follow. 28:59.840 --> 29:03.760 You know, there's a lot of people that have succeeded at things that we perhaps want to 29:03.760 --> 29:08.160 succeed at. And if we look to see how they did it, you know, these are people that we can, 29:08.160 --> 29:12.880 you know, emulate. These are people that we can follow, that we can seek, you know, advice from. 29:14.080 --> 29:17.760 Now go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. 29:28.900 --> 29:31.900 And so that's why it's important to be in church. 29:31.900 --> 29:36.900 So whenever you're able to come to church, make it that goal to come to church at least once. 29:36.900 --> 29:40.900 Now we're all for three to thrive, but if you can't even do that, make it to one service. 29:40.900 --> 29:44.900 And unfortunately, to be honest, people miss church for dumb reasons. 29:44.900 --> 29:48.900 Sometimes their hair hurts or those of us that have hair... 29:48.900 --> 29:49.900 No, I'm just kidding. 29:49.900 --> 29:53.900 But there are reasons why people miss church. 29:53.900 --> 29:56.400 And a lot of it is just dumb reasons at the end of the day. 29:56.700 --> 29:59.340 And honestly we make time for what's important. 29:59.340 --> 30:02.100 You know, if you have something important going on, 30:02.100 --> 30:03.300 you're gonna make time for it. 30:03.300 --> 30:04.400 You know, you wanna be somewhere, 30:04.400 --> 30:06.100 you wanna watch a movie, 30:06.100 --> 30:09.140 you wanna like go, I don't know, 30:09.140 --> 30:10.640 whatever event that you wanna go to, 30:10.640 --> 30:11.820 if it's important to you, 30:11.820 --> 30:13.240 you're gonna find a way to go there. 30:13.240 --> 30:15.080 And church is important. 30:15.080 --> 30:16.920 So, you know, you shouldn't miss church 30:16.920 --> 30:18.080 just for any reason, right? 30:18.080 --> 30:19.460 If you have to work overtime, 30:19.460 --> 30:21.420 if you have to work, you got sick, 30:21.420 --> 30:23.200 you know, those are legitimate reasons. 30:23.200 --> 30:24.700 But if you're just missing for the sake of- 30:24.700 --> 30:28.100 missing, just you're feeling lazy, you know, that's inexcusable, right? 30:28.100 --> 30:29.520 Inexcusable. 30:29.520 --> 30:34.440 And so one of the ways that we can make sure to be in church is by not scheduling things 30:34.440 --> 30:35.820 during church hours, right? 30:35.820 --> 30:38.880 And a lot of times this is what causes people to miss church. 30:38.880 --> 30:41.480 You know, we have seven days a week, right? 30:41.480 --> 30:46.200 But for some reason, every party, every conciena, everything has to be on a Sunday, right? 30:46.200 --> 30:47.820 Or like late night Saturday. 30:47.820 --> 30:50.860 But don't schedule anything when it's time for church, right? 30:51.300 --> 30:52.740 You don't do that for work. 30:52.740 --> 30:55.420 You don't say, well, I'm going to go do this 30:55.420 --> 30:56.660 during my work hours, right? 30:56.660 --> 30:58.860 Because you know you have to be at work or you'll get fire. 30:58.860 --> 31:00.980 So it's important to go to church. 31:00.980 --> 31:03.260 And if it's important to you, don't schedule anything 31:03.260 --> 31:04.780 during church hours. 31:04.780 --> 31:07.420 You only have to come to church at 10.30 in the morning. 31:07.420 --> 31:07.820 And then what? 31:07.820 --> 31:08.940 Church isn't until 5. 31:08.940 --> 31:11.600 You have all these hours to do whatever you want, right? 31:12.200 --> 31:16.760 So, go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9, the Bible says right there in verse number 10, 31:16.760 --> 31:25.000 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest. 31:25.000 --> 31:27.800 And so whatever you're trying to do, do it now. 31:27.800 --> 31:31.000 Now go to Colossians chapter 3, go to Colossians chapter 3. 31:31.000 --> 31:38.040 One of the other ways that you can make sure that you stay motivated, that you stay doing what's right, is putting yourself in the right environment. 31:39.100 --> 31:42.500 And the right environment is just being in church, being around good people. 31:42.500 --> 31:45.500 You know, being around people that are actually serving God. 31:48.600 --> 31:53.240 And so I don't believe there's anybody that like in this room that would say, you know, 31:53.240 --> 31:56.680 that was just straight up say, I don't really care if I succeed in my Christian life, right? 31:56.680 --> 32:00.280 I don't think anybody thinks that. But unfortunately, some people act that way, 32:00.280 --> 32:04.840 right? Because they're not doing anything that would help them succeed in their Christian life. 32:04.840 --> 32:08.120 And so one of the best ways to do that is by putting yourself in the right environment, 32:08.120 --> 32:12.680 hanging out with the right people, hang out with people in your team, you know, people your age, 32:12.680 --> 32:16.280 people that are older people that are hard workers, people that are so 32:16.600 --> 32:21.980 There's people that inspire you to go to mission trips, people that inspire you to be a hard 32:21.980 --> 32:22.980 worker. 32:22.980 --> 32:23.980 These are people that you should be around. 32:24.600 --> 32:28.280 Now in Colossians chapter 3, look down at verse number 23, the Bible says, 32:28.280 --> 32:34.760 and whatsoever you do, do it hardly as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord 32:34.760 --> 32:40.040 ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. And so whatever we do, 32:40.040 --> 32:44.680 do it hardly as unto the Lord. So whatever it is that we do, we have to have in our mind, 32:44.680 --> 32:50.040 we're doing it as unto the Lord, right? And if we have that mindset, we're going to do a better job 32:50.040 --> 32:52.560 at it because if we're only doing it to be seen of many 32:52.600 --> 32:57.220 then, you know, to get approval, to get validation, eventually you're going to stop doing it. 32:57.220 --> 33:00.760 But if you're doing it as unto the Lord, you're going to try to do your best, right? 33:00.760 --> 33:02.640 Because you know that God is watching you. 33:02.640 --> 33:06.120 And if you're, you know, at your job, whatever you do, whatever it is that you do for work, 33:06.120 --> 33:07.840 do it as unto the Lord. 33:07.840 --> 33:10.760 Because if you're doing it as unto the Lord, you're going to be an honest worker. 33:10.760 --> 33:12.680 You're not going to be stealing from your job. 33:12.680 --> 33:14.360 You're not going to be stealing hours, right? 33:14.360 --> 33:16.880 You're not going to be messing around where you're on the clock. 33:16.880 --> 33:20.520 And so these are things that as a Christian, if you have it in your mind, you know, I'm 33:20.600 --> 33:23.960 doing this as unto the Lord, then you're going to do what's right. 33:23.960 --> 33:27.000 You know, wives, you serve your husbands, right? 33:27.000 --> 33:29.740 You submit unto them, do it as unto the Lord. 33:29.740 --> 33:33.080 And these are things, you know, as husbands, yeah, we fail at times, right? 33:33.080 --> 33:36.480 We probably jerk some of the times, right? 33:36.480 --> 33:37.760 Some of the times, right? 33:37.760 --> 33:39.360 But wives should still submit. 33:39.360 --> 33:42.000 It doesn't matter, you know, regardless of how your husband is, because you're doing 33:42.000 --> 33:43.240 it as unto the Lord. 33:43.240 --> 33:47.700 You know, children, you know, obeying their parents, they're doing it as unto the Lord. 33:47.700 --> 33:48.540 And not every parent is. 33:48.600 --> 33:52.520 perfect. You know, our parents made mistakes. We as parents, we're going to make mistakes. 33:52.520 --> 33:56.480 You know, sometimes we're not always going to, you know, we try to keep our promises, 33:56.480 --> 34:00.120 right? But sometimes things come up and you don't do what you thought you were going to 34:00.120 --> 34:04.360 do. Right. But children should not develop this attitude of just obeying their parents 34:04.360 --> 34:08.880 if they're good parents. Right. You're doing it as into the Lord as Christians. Now go 34:08.880 --> 34:11.880 to second Timothy chapter three, second Timothy chapter three. 34:12.300 --> 34:15.420 So the title of the sermon this evening is the winter arc. 34:15.420 --> 34:20.180 But before you even start that, if you choose to start that, or whatever time in the year 34:20.180 --> 34:24.840 you choose to hit like a reset button, these are things that you should consider. 34:24.840 --> 34:27.780 Number one, you should consider what motivates you. 34:27.780 --> 34:29.420 What is it that motivates you? 34:29.420 --> 34:33.980 Number two, how is it that you handle tribulations and trials? 34:33.980 --> 34:37.020 Are you better at doing that this year than you were last year? 34:37.020 --> 34:39.580 Because some people are not here in church anymore. 34:39.900 --> 34:45.700 And it's, you know, they were here earlier this year, but because they got involved in sin or you know 34:45.700 --> 34:49.880 Some trial came into their life. They're out of church now and as Christians, you know 34:49.880 --> 34:52.600 If we want to be better Christians, we got to you know 34:52.600 --> 34:57.100 Get that thing down now of being able to go through hardships, you know 34:57.100 --> 35:02.020 You should develop some thick skin you should develop some strength because some Christians, you know 35:02.020 --> 35:07.900 They get out for whatever reason, you know, some small problem happens. They get a flat tire or you know something 35:07.900 --> 35:12.220 small right and it just takes them out of church and there's people unfortunately 35:12.220 --> 35:16.420 that are always at getting out of church every year it's like instead of like 35:16.420 --> 35:20.980 getting better they're just regressing each year right and it's almost expected 35:20.980 --> 35:23.980 of them to be oh well this is around the time that they get out of church you 35:23.980 --> 35:27.580 know that shouldn't be you right and so how is it that you're handling 35:27.580 --> 35:32.900 tribulation trials go to second Timothy chapter 3 second Timothy chapter 3 35:33.300 --> 35:34.580 The Bible says in verse 12, 35:34.580 --> 35:37.220 ye and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus 35:37.220 --> 35:39.140 shall suffer persecution. 35:39.140 --> 35:40.900 And so why are we amazed, right? 35:40.900 --> 35:43.140 If you were choosing to live for God, 35:43.140 --> 35:45.540 serving God, living a good life, right? 35:45.540 --> 35:46.660 Living righteously, 35:46.660 --> 35:50.020 why are you surprised that you suffered through persecution, right? 35:50.020 --> 35:53.380 And persecution could be anything from like losing friendships, 35:53.380 --> 35:56.020 losing a girlfriend, losing a job, 35:56.020 --> 35:57.300 you know, whatever the case may be, 35:57.300 --> 35:58.980 these are things that happen in life. 35:58.980 --> 35:59.860 Get over it, right? 36:00.400 --> 36:04.080 And as a Christian you should be able to endure hardships. 36:04.080 --> 36:08.020 You know, it's not, you're not going to go through your whole life with the same friends. 36:08.020 --> 36:11.140 Sometimes you're close to somebody and you grew up with them, maybe you've been friends 36:11.140 --> 36:15.000 with them like over the years, but eventually things could happen, right? 36:15.000 --> 36:16.580 And don't let that take you out of church. 36:16.580 --> 36:18.600 You know, sometimes friendships end. 36:18.600 --> 36:20.320 Sometimes relationships end. 36:20.320 --> 36:21.920 Sometimes you do lose your job. 36:21.920 --> 36:24.300 Sometimes you know, there's problems in your marriage. 36:24.300 --> 36:25.400 Sometimes there's problems in your life. 36:25.400 --> 36:27.100 You go through health. 36:27.100 --> 36:28.400 You know, you go through health problems, right? 36:28.400 --> 36:32.720 These are things that we're all going to go through, experience it throughout our lives. 36:32.720 --> 36:34.800 And it shouldn't be something that takes us out of church. 36:35.680 --> 36:41.040 Now go to, if you would, go to Mark chapter four. Mark chapter four. I'm going to read to you from 36:41.040 --> 36:47.200 John 16. John 16 says in verse number one, these things have spoken unto you that you should not 36:47.200 --> 36:48.400 be offended. 36:48.400 --> 36:52.800 They shall put you out of the synagogues, yea the time cometh, that whosoever killeth 36:52.800 --> 36:55.520 you will think that he doeth God's service. 36:55.520 --> 37:00.140 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me. 37:00.140 --> 37:04.080 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come ye may remember that I 37:04.080 --> 37:05.560 told you of them. 37:05.560 --> 37:09.080 And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you." 37:09.080 --> 37:12.780 And so Jesus, he always warned his disciples, right, of the things to come. 37:12.780 --> 37:16.400 And isn't that what pastor does every Sunday, every service, you know, telling us, hey, 37:16.400 --> 37:18.380 hey, you're gonna go through persecution, 37:18.380 --> 37:20.020 you're gonna go through trials in life. 37:20.020 --> 37:21.920 These are things that he tells us 37:21.920 --> 37:23.760 so that we won't be offended, right? 37:23.760 --> 37:25.920 And maybe you're like, oh, I've never heard him say that. 37:25.920 --> 37:27.920 Well, maybe you're not paying attention, right? 37:27.920 --> 37:30.980 These are things that Pastor Warrens is about, 37:30.980 --> 37:32.080 the Bible Warrens is about. 37:32.080 --> 37:33.980 We know that we're gonna go through hardships. 37:33.980 --> 37:35.820 And if you know that you're gonna go through hardships, 37:35.820 --> 37:37.300 you know that you're gonna go through trials, 37:37.300 --> 37:39.680 why is it that you let it affect you, right? 37:39.680 --> 37:41.920 Why is it that you let it get you out of church 37:41.920 --> 37:42.840 or get offended? 37:43.200 --> 37:46.240 Now go to Mark chapter 4, Mark chapter 4. 37:48.240 --> 37:51.440 You know people do marvel when bad things happen to them as if like life... 37:51.800 --> 37:54.600 doesn't consist of bad things happening, right? 37:54.600 --> 37:56.500 Don't be surprised when bad things happen. 37:56.500 --> 37:59.740 Don't be surprised if a relationship didn't work out. 37:59.740 --> 38:02.540 Don't be surprised if a job didn't work out. 38:02.540 --> 38:04.580 There's more jobs out there, right? 38:04.580 --> 38:05.540 And God is faithful. 38:05.540 --> 38:06.480 He's gonna provide for you. 38:06.480 --> 38:09.820 He's not gonna let you just be in the red or whatever, 38:09.820 --> 38:12.920 but he's gonna provide for every single need that you have. 38:12.920 --> 38:14.380 And maybe you did lose a friend. 38:14.380 --> 38:15.720 Maybe you got sick this year. 38:15.720 --> 38:18.820 Maybe you got, whatever happened to you this year, 38:18.820 --> 38:19.660 the point is this. 38:19.800 --> 38:23.820 It will get better and even if it doesn't, you know that this life consists of those 38:23.820 --> 38:25.700 things so don't be offended at that. 38:26.000 --> 38:28.720 Now, Mark chapter 4, look down at verse 16, the Bible says, 38:28.720 --> 38:33.360 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, 38:33.360 --> 38:36.640 who when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, 38:36.640 --> 38:40.160 and have no root in themselves, and so endure, but for a time after, 38:40.160 --> 38:44.880 when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. 38:44.880 --> 38:48.080 And so there are a lot of people like that that are going to come to the doors of our church. 38:48.080 --> 38:51.040 They're going to get saved, they're going to get plugged in church, 38:51.040 --> 38:53.840 but unfortunately they don't get rooted in the word, right? 38:54.000 --> 38:58.240 And so because they don't get rooted in the word and they think everything is like lovey-dovey in the Christian life 38:58.280 --> 39:02.960 They're gonna get offended. They're gonna get out of church when hardships come now go with me 39:02.960 --> 39:05.940 If you would to Proverbs chapter 6 Proverbs chapter 6 39:06.700 --> 39:09.900 I'm going to read to you from Proverbs chapter 24, the Bible says in verse 10, 39:09.900 --> 39:16.220 if thou faint in the day of adversary, thy strength is small. And so if you quit, you know, 39:16.220 --> 39:21.260 if you faint in the day of adversity, what does that tell us? Your strength is small. 39:21.260 --> 39:26.140 And this kind of always reminds me of like, you know, when you're lifting, right? And if you ever 39:26.140 --> 39:30.220 deadlifted, you know, there's that point in the deadlift where like you just think to yourself, 39:30.220 --> 39:34.620 like I should just let it go, right? But if only you just keep pushing, right? 39:34.700 --> 39:40.180 you let yourself just shake and like you know tremble it's gonna go up right so 39:40.180 --> 39:43.940 these are things that I kind of picture in my head where it's like if I let that 39:43.940 --> 39:47.980 bar go if I fell at this PR whatever I'm speaking about dead lifting you know my 39:47.980 --> 39:51.020 strength was small you know at the end of day I was just wasn't strong enough 39:51.020 --> 39:57.580 and maybe you're a runner you know I ran for one week I already quit but you know 39:57.580 --> 40:01.780 when you're running right there is a point whether you're running fast or 40:01.780 --> 40:02.700 slow 40:02.700 --> 40:07.100 matter you know you get it in your mind you know I could just stop I have free will you know why 40:07.100 --> 40:11.900 am I going to continue but if you have that going your head I am trying to accomplish this and you 40:11.900 --> 40:16.460 keep pushing forward you know your strength increases and it's the same way in the Christian 40:16.460 --> 40:21.180 life you know if you constantly quit in the Christian life that trial is going to happen 40:21.180 --> 40:25.660 again and because you didn't develop the thick skin you didn't develop the strength you're going 40:25.660 --> 40:30.140 to quit again right and so you don't want it to be said of you like hey last year I went through this 40:30.140 --> 40:30.640 same. 40:30.700 --> 40:34.320 exact thing and I ended up quitting last year and then it happens again this year 40:34.320 --> 40:37.100 and then what happens you end up quitting again you want to develop the 40:37.100 --> 40:40.580 strength every time you go through a trial a tribulation or hardship to be 40:40.580 --> 40:43.980 able to get over it and the way that you do that the more you do it the stronger 40:43.980 --> 40:48.060 you are as a Christian you know more problems arise you're gonna get through 40:48.060 --> 40:51.860 it and you know you are why because you've done it in the past right but if 40:51.860 --> 40:55.340 you're known to be a quitter whenever hard things come your way you're just 40:55.340 --> 40:58.300 gonna quit all the time until you develop that strength 40:59.100 --> 41:02.640 Now go with me if you would to, I think I told you to go to Proverbs chapter 6, look 41:02.640 --> 41:06.660 down your Bibles at verse number 19, it says, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he 41:06.660 --> 41:08.820 that soweth discord among brethren. 41:08.820 --> 41:12.660 And so here we see one of the problems that do arise when it comes to friendships in church 41:12.660 --> 41:15.780 is this matter of just division of strife, right? 41:15.780 --> 41:19.060 And a lot of times it has to do with people purposely causing strife. 41:19.060 --> 41:20.820 And these are things that will happen. 41:20.820 --> 41:25.100 You know, sometimes you do have a fallout because somebody, you know, tells lies about 41:25.100 --> 41:27.060 you or rails on you. 41:27.100 --> 41:31.540 these things will happen. And whether or not that person gets it right, you know, that 41:31.540 --> 41:34.580 shouldn't surprise you because the Bible warns us of that. You know, there's people that 41:34.580 --> 41:40.100 will lie about you and you can't let, you know, a lie, if you know it's false, you know, 41:40.100 --> 41:44.300 don't let it get out of you, get you out of church. Right? That's why I'm like thankful 41:44.300 --> 41:46.660 for pastors in our movement because they have thick skin. 41:46.900 --> 41:52.020 You know how many people have railed on them not just like in person but online right if they were 41:52.020 --> 41:56.580 like sensitive and they had like you know thin skin they would have been out of church already 41:56.580 --> 42:02.020 right but I'm thankful that we have men of God to look up to that you know go through it whether in 42:02.020 --> 42:06.580 the common section in life you know people are constantly lying about them and they develop that 42:06.580 --> 42:11.300 thick skin and they don't let them get out of the fight now go to first Corinthians chapter three 42:11.300 --> 42:12.800 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 42:14.200 --> 42:18.120 So the title of the sermon is the Winter Arc, but here are three things I want you to consider, 42:18.120 --> 42:23.240 and I'm almost done, is that number one, ask yourself, you know, what is it that motivates me? 42:23.240 --> 42:28.040 Number two is it, you know, how well do I do with tribulation and trials? You know, am I better this 42:28.040 --> 42:33.000 year than I was last year? And if you're not, you know, get it right this year, right? Develop that 42:33.000 --> 42:35.080 thick skin, develop that strength. 42:35.800 --> 42:40.920 Now the third thing that I want you to consider this evening and it's the last thing is, you 42:40.920 --> 42:43.260 know, how do you handle temptation, right? 42:43.260 --> 42:45.320 How do you handle temptation? 42:45.320 --> 42:47.040 Now before I get there, let me read to you from... 42:48.100 --> 42:51.000 Let me read to you from 1st Corinthians chapter 3. 42:51.000 --> 42:52.520 The Bible says in verse number 1, 42:52.520 --> 42:55.440 and I brethren could not speak unto you unto spiritual, 42:55.440 --> 42:58.260 but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 42:58.260 --> 42:59.980 I fed you with milk and now with meat, 42:59.980 --> 43:02.260 for hitherto you were not able to bear it. 43:02.260 --> 43:06.360 Neither yet now are you able, for ye are yet carnal, 43:06.360 --> 43:09.340 for whereas there is among you envy and strive in divisions, 43:09.340 --> 43:11.460 are ye not carnal and walk as men? 43:11.460 --> 43:13.620 So there's constantly, you know, striving in your life, 43:13.620 --> 43:15.460 you're constantly fighting against other people. 43:15.460 --> 43:16.100 What does that tell us? 43:16.100 --> 43:17.780 You're just a baby in Christ, right? 43:17.780 --> 43:19.460 Because little kids do that. 43:19.460 --> 43:21.300 You know, those of us that have small kids 43:21.300 --> 43:23.180 and the siblings are always fighting, right? 43:23.180 --> 43:25.540 They constantly fight, and that's how kids are. 43:25.540 --> 43:27.980 But as a grown adult, to always be fighting, right? 43:27.980 --> 43:29.820 To always be like, hey, you know, 43:29.820 --> 43:31.980 like just always having problems with people, you know, 43:31.980 --> 43:33.780 that just shows us that you're a baby in Christ, 43:33.780 --> 43:34.980 and it's time to mature. 43:36.660 --> 43:41.660 Now, I think I told you, go to Philippians chapter four. 43:41.940 --> 43:43.500 Go to Philippians chapter four. 43:44.200 --> 43:46.440 Sorry, just go to Philippians chapter 4. 43:50.500 --> 43:52.700 And so again, life, before I move on to the last point, 43:52.700 --> 43:55.620 it is filled with good times and bad times. 43:55.620 --> 43:57.900 The Bible talks about the seasons of life. 43:57.900 --> 44:00.180 We're not always gonna have a good time, right? 44:00.180 --> 44:01.860 Life is not always linear. 44:01.860 --> 44:04.300 It's not always like your life is just like, 44:04.300 --> 44:06.100 you're on top of the world. 44:06.100 --> 44:09.780 Sometimes we have low points, sometimes we have high points, 44:09.780 --> 44:13.620 but if we know this, when those hard times come, 44:13.620 --> 44:14.800 we're gonna be ready for it. 44:15.300 --> 44:18.340 Now in Philippians chapter 4, look down in your Bibles at verse number 11, the Bible 44:18.340 --> 44:22.740 says, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, 44:22.740 --> 44:24.220 therewith to be content. 44:24.220 --> 44:29.700 I know both how to be abase and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I am 44:29.700 --> 44:33.700 instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 44:33.700 --> 44:36.900 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. 44:36.900 --> 44:39.220 So at the end of the day, you know, we need to learn contentment. 44:39.700 --> 44:42.900 We need to learn how to be content with the circumstances in our lives. 44:42.900 --> 44:46.700 Some days are going to be good, some days are just going to be hardships. 44:46.700 --> 44:50.200 But we need to develop this attitude of contentment. 44:50.600 --> 44:55.160 So the last point I wanted to make is this, how do you handle temptation? 44:55.160 --> 44:57.480 Are you constantly just giving in to sin? 44:57.480 --> 44:59.320 Obviously, we're sinners. 44:59.320 --> 45:03.560 We're going to sin to the day that we die. 45:03.560 --> 45:08.480 But there are certain things that as you grow in your faith, you're going to get away from. 45:08.480 --> 45:11.440 You're not going to be, like let's say you used to drink all the time. 45:11.440 --> 45:14.240 The more you mature in your faith, obviously you wouldn't be in this church. 45:14.240 --> 45:18.560 You got out of that habit, you stay away from that. 45:18.600 --> 45:20.800 You're not going to constantly open that door, right? 45:20.800 --> 45:24.480 You want to be to the point where like, I don't hang out with those people, right? 45:24.480 --> 45:26.040 I'm not living in fornication. 45:26.040 --> 45:28.720 I'm not living with my girlfriend, you know, and stuff like that. 45:28.720 --> 45:29.800 That's what I'm talking about. 45:29.800 --> 45:34.840 So you don't want to, you know, just be constantly falling into sin, getting out of church. 45:34.840 --> 45:38.320 You know, this time around, if you have something like that in your life where like, maybe I 45:38.320 --> 45:43.160 develop a covetous attitude, you know, get that right now so that when the new year starts, 45:43.160 --> 45:44.920 you could start on a good foot. 45:45.200 --> 45:49.200 So go to James chapter 1, James chapter 1. Here's the last passage. 45:50.200 --> 45:52.200 How do you handle temptation? 45:52.200 --> 45:57.000 The Bible says, let no man say when he is tempted in verse 13, excuse me, James chapter 45:57.000 --> 46:01.980 one verse 13, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted 46:01.980 --> 46:05.100 with evil, neither tempted he any man. 46:05.100 --> 46:09.480 But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and entice then when 46:09.480 --> 46:14.820 lust had conceived it bring forth sin and sin when it is finished bringing forth death. 46:14.820 --> 46:17.320 And so we're all going to be tempted, right? 46:17.320 --> 46:20.200 But here's the thing, we're not supposed to give into it. 46:20.200 --> 46:24.440 You know, God gives us the ability, God told us to walk in the spirit so that we don't 46:24.440 --> 46:25.720 fulfill the lust of the flesh. 46:25.720 --> 46:29.640 And instead, you know, you can't prevent, what do they say, like you can't prevent birds 46:29.640 --> 46:34.100 from flying over your head, but you could like prevent it from, you know, building a 46:34.100 --> 46:35.100 nest on your hair. 46:35.100 --> 46:37.080 I forgot how it goes, but you get the point. 46:37.080 --> 46:39.440 You know, obviously you can't control certain things in life, right? 46:39.440 --> 46:42.040 There are certain things that are just going to happen no matter what. 46:42.040 --> 46:45.560 But how you react to it, how you handle that, you could control that. 46:46.200 --> 46:48.840 Now go to James chapter 4, James chapter 4. 46:52.800 --> 46:56.560 And in verse number seven the Bible says, submit yourselves therefore to God, 46:56.560 --> 46:58.960 resist the devil and he will flee from you. 47:00.100 --> 47:05.100 And so one of the ways that we can avoid temptation is just resisting Satan, right? 47:05.100 --> 47:08.600 And the Bible says, you know, he's going to flee from us for a season. 47:08.600 --> 47:12.400 So yeah, we're always going to be tempted, but we need to resist the devil. 47:12.400 --> 47:17.900 And so what I'm trying to get across in this point is just this, that you need to learn how to handle temptation, 47:17.900 --> 47:19.700 because we're all going to be tempted with things. 47:19.700 --> 47:24.100 And you need to learn how to put yourself in a place where you're not, you know, 47:24.100 --> 47:28.100 you're not putting yourself in a situation where you're going to 47:28.100 --> 47:32.100 to commit that sin, right? Let's say you're dating. You're not going to put yourself in 47:32.100 --> 47:35.740 a situation where you could commit fornication, right? You're not like, well, I don't know 47:35.740 --> 47:39.700 how I fell into fornication. Maybe because you keep riding with your girlfriend by yourself, 47:39.700 --> 47:44.620 right? Or maybe because you keep hanging out with her by yourself. Or like, how about, 47:44.620 --> 47:48.300 you know, people that have children out of wedlock, you know, bastard children. How did 47:48.300 --> 47:53.100 that happen? Well, maybe because you kept fornicating, right? Why are they so shocked? 47:53.100 --> 47:54.340 You know, these are things that... 47:54.800 --> 47:57.560 People could avoid, you know, from happening. 47:57.560 --> 47:59.240 You know, the temptation is there, 47:59.240 --> 48:01.040 but just remove yourself from it, right? 48:01.040 --> 48:02.960 Be like Joseph, flee for cation. 48:02.960 --> 48:05.200 And there are other things I could bring up, you know, 48:05.200 --> 48:07.280 just drink, why do I keep falling into, like, 48:07.280 --> 48:08.360 drinking with my friends? 48:08.360 --> 48:10.640 Why are you hanging out with those people, right? 48:10.640 --> 48:14.360 There's so many ways that you can avoid sinning, right? 48:14.360 --> 48:16.160 Sinning in that way, 48:16.160 --> 48:17.920 and things that would get you out of church. 48:17.920 --> 48:19.720 You know, why is it that I keep losing money? 48:19.720 --> 48:22.520 Well, maybe because you keep buying lottery tickets, right? 48:22.800 --> 48:27.800 There are certain things that you can do to avoid falling into these traps. 48:27.800 --> 48:31.400 So we're all going to be tempted, we're all going to sin, but we don't always constantly 48:31.400 --> 48:34.400 have to fall into these bigger sins is what I'm trying to say. 48:34.400 --> 48:37.520 And so tonight I just want to encourage you, think about these things, what are the three 48:37.520 --> 48:39.120 things that you should consider? 48:39.120 --> 48:40.960 What is it that motivates you? 48:40.960 --> 48:44.200 We all need motivation, let's be honest about that. 48:44.200 --> 48:49.280 And then how are you handling trials and tribulations this time around? 48:49.280 --> 48:50.760 Are you doing better this year than you were last year? 48:50.800 --> 48:53.800 If you're not, hit a reset button. 48:53.800 --> 48:59.240 You got the rest of the end of the year to get it right, to start 2027 on the right foot. 48:59.240 --> 49:00.820 How are you handling temptation? 49:00.820 --> 49:03.760 Are you avoiding going to places where you shouldn't be? 49:03.760 --> 49:06.160 Are you, October's coming up. 49:06.160 --> 49:07.940 Don't go to a Halloween party. 49:07.940 --> 49:11.080 Don't be dressing like a hoe on October 31st. 49:11.080 --> 49:12.320 I don't know how I blacked out. 49:12.320 --> 49:15.520 Maybe because you went and hanging out with your friends and drank alcohol. 49:16.600 --> 49:21.600 I was going to say something, but idiot. 49:21.600 --> 49:26.720 I don't want to say another thing, but yeah, you don't want to put yourself in those situations. 49:26.720 --> 49:28.880 Some thought just came to my head and I tried to avoid it, right? 49:30.000 --> 49:34.360 But you know you want to be able to set yourself up for success in this upcoming year. 49:34.360 --> 49:35.360 Let's pray. 49:35.360 --> 49:36.760 Emily, Father, Lord, thank you for this day. 49:36.760 --> 49:40.760 Thank you for allowing us, Lord, to gather tonight with God's people and be able to hear 49:40.760 --> 49:41.760 from your word. 49:41.760 --> 49:44.480 I pray, Lord, that you would help us to have a successful year. 49:44.480 --> 49:48.640 Help us, Lord, to develop good habits, spiritual habits, Lord, that would help us do what's 49:48.640 --> 49:49.640 right. 49:49.640 --> 49:53.080 I pray also, Lord, for Pastor and that he would feel better, Lord, so that he would 49:53.080 --> 49:54.080 be here on Sunday. 49:54.080 --> 49:58.000 I pray, Lord, that you would heal him, Lord, for whatever. 49:58.000 --> 49:59.000 whatever he's going through. 49:59.000 --> 50:01.520 I pray, Lord, that you keep us safe, help us get home safely. 50:01.520 --> 50:02.520 In Jesus' name, amen. 50:12.400 --> 50:14.400 Alright, we have one last song this evening. 50:14.400 --> 50:17.400 Song 248. 50:17.400 --> 50:19.400 Now I belong to Jesus. 50:22.600 --> 50:30.440 Song number 248, Now I Belong to Jesus. Everyone all together, nice and strong. 50:31.480 --> 50:43.000 Jesus my Lord will love me forever. From him no power of evil can sever. 50:43.000 --> 50:47.800 He gave his life to ransom my soul. 50:48.700 --> 50:53.100 Now I belong to him 50:56.000 --> 50:57.900 I belong to 51:07.700 --> 51:11.940 For the years of time alone 51:14.100 --> 51:17.780 But for eternity 51:20.900 --> 51:35.460 I was lost in sins, degradation. Jesus came down to bring me salvation, lifted me up from 51:35.460 --> 51:41.140 sorrow and shame. Now I belong to...