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