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Amen, all right over there in Philippians chapter number three and of course today is the last day the last Sunday of The year and it's a good way to end the year to be in the house of God of course and I want to encourage you to start the year off right by being in the house of God next Sunday on the first Sunday of the year and Usually at the end of the year. I like to preach a sermon not every year, but often on the idea of of Setting goals and having looking forward to the new year and this morning I want to preach to you on the subject of how to set and achieve Goals how to set and achieve goals and we're there in Proverbs chapter number three if you look at verse number twelve I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul said the Apostle Paul was very Successful man someone has succeeded Personally spiritually and in his Ministry his business and in Philippians 3 and verse 12. He says this he says not as though I had already Attained the word attained means to have succeeded in achieving or reaching something He says not as though I have already attained either were already perfect the were perfect in our King James Bible means Complete or mature he says, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which I For which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. He says this in verse 13. He says brethren. I count not myself To have apprehended the word apprehend again means to achieve to attain to grass and here we have the Apostle Paul Who was arguably the most successful Christian church planner evangelist missionary the world has ever known And he says look I have not Apprehended I have not already attained I am not perfect complete mature and he says I've got things that I can work on things that I can get better at and as we begin a New year and end an old year. I think we're all ready to put 2020 in the books We're all ready to move on from this year The new year is a great time to take inventory of where you are and Where you are lacking? It's a good time to take some inventory and really look inside of yourself and look at yourself and look at your family And ask yourself. Where am I in life? Where am I? spiritually physically financially emotionally And and where is it that I am lacking now sometimes when you preach these types of sermons some people check out And they think you know why you know. I don't need that. I'm good to go you know and You know I don't know what else to tell you except if you're the person who thinks I don't need to work on myself Then you are foolish and If you don't know Where you need to work on yourself, then just ask your spouse Or ask your kids or ask me. I'd be happy to tell you if you would ask me and All of us have something we can work on all of us know look none of us have attained No one is already perfect no one has apprehended and The new year is a great time For a fresh start the end of a year is a great time to take inventory to see where we are and where we're lacking And the new year is a great time for a fresh start to leave the past behind and work towards Getting better notice what he says there again in verse 12 He says not as though I had already attained either were already perfect And then he says this because sometimes when you bring this stuff up some people they tend to negativity right so you say hey You're not perfect. They're like. I know you know. I'm not saying you're not perfect to hurt your feelings I am saying you're not perfect to motivate you because notice the apostle Paul says he wasn't throwing a pity party He says not as though. I had already attained either were already perfect He says, but I follow after He says look I realize that I've got things that I can do things that I can work on and because of that I follow After that phrase he means I keep working at it. I'm I'm following after a goal I've got something I want to do if that I may apprehend that for which also I am Apprehended of Christ Jesus. He says brethren. I cannot myself have apprehended, but this one thing I do notice he says forgetting those things which are behind Look let me tell you something about your past you can't redo it You know whatever you did or didn't do in 2020 whatever you did or didn't do in the last decade whatever you did or didn't do in your Marriage or raising your children. I'm not trying to excuse it for you, but I'm telling you this There's no point in dwelling on it. You say well. Well. Well. There's a lot of mistakes There's a lot of things that could have been done better. Well let that motivate you to follow after Let that motivate you to do more to be better to grow Paul had so many regrets that he could have told us about He spent so many years on the wrong team persecuting the Church of God and and working in the wrong way And he says you know what what I've learned is that I need to forget those things which are behind He says and reaching forth unto those things which are before So I want to speak to you this morning on this subject of how to set and achieve goals and what I want to do This morning, and it's looking very practical sermon. I'd encourage you to take some notes I've got two parts to the sermon the first part has to do with how to set goals And I'll give you four thoughts on how to set goals and then the second part has to do with how to achieve goals and I'm gonna give you four thoughts in regards to how to achieve goals and I Encourage you to write these down And I'd encourage you to really take this seriously and over the next week as we end this year and begin the new to set Some goals for yourself too, and you can call them whatever you want. You know goals resolutions, whatever But the point is this we all should be working on ourselves So let's talk about setting goals notice verse 14 in verses 12 and 13 He tells us how he has not yet attained how he was not already perfect now He has not yet apprehended in verse and he also tells us in verses 12 and 13 He says that I follow after I'm continually working at it He says forgetting those things which are behind then he says this in verse 14. He says I press toward the mark The word mark is referring to a target or a goal The apostle Paul says I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus the prize there is the reward or the result He says look and honestly if you if we look at the apostle Paul we say how is it that one man could accomplish so Much he's telling us a secret to success here He says I'm constantly pressing toward a mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and I would just encourage you you need to have some goals You need to have a mark you need to have some purpose to life somewhere You're heading towards and working towards you should set up some goals So when it comes to setting up some goals I want to get just four thoughts on how to set up some proper goals because what I've learned is that Oftentimes we don't know how to set up good goals We set up bad goals And and then we fail at those goals and a lot of it has to do with how we set them up to begin with So let me give you four thoughts in regards to how to set up goals And maybe you can jot these down number one make your goals specific not general Make your goals specific not general now over the years I preach several sermons on the subject of goal setting and things like this and Many of you have heard those sermons you say why are you preaching them again? Because you're still not there Because you still need the help and I need the help But you know, I will say this over the last several years. I've usually used weight loss as the example For the goals and the reason I like to use weight loss is because it's something that that people have a lot of goals about So probably the number one goal that people Set for the new year resolution for the new year It's also says something that's simple for us to kind of wrap our minds around But you know what I've noticed is that when I when I do the the weight loss goal, it rarely goes over Well, you know people usually people check out just because they don't want to hear it So I'm gonna use a different a different example this year. All right, so some of you are like, ah, here comes the weight Lie, here comes all the weight jokes. Okay, I'm not gonna use weight loss as an example for the sermon this year I'll use a different example But you know some something that when we started 2020 something my wife and I had and you and you know this One of our personal goals for 2020 we had lots of goals And I and I won't go through and talked about all our goals. I will say this we did not accomplish all of our goals But the Lord allowed us to I was just last night I was going back and kind of looking at notes and and goals that we had For for ourselves personally and then goals we had for the church and we we did accomplish about 80% of our goals Which I'm thankful for we did not accomplish all our goals I'm not standing up here telling you I've got it all, you know put together part of this is motivating me To do better to be better but one of our goals that my wife and I had as we were going into 2020 was to produce a children's book and You know, we had a goal of producing one children's book in 2020 by the grace of God we produced two and and we and we're thankful for that and and praise the Lord for for that, of course and You know when when it comes to making a goal or having a goal your goals should be specific Not general. So here here's the example In 2020, my wife and I sold somewhere around 500 Books between book one and book two and this is not having anything to do with churches Just our personal little side business that we've got and we sold around 500 books and And and that's that's that's not a lot but it's you know, for those of you wondering the average self-publisher Studies tell us that the average self-published Book sells somewhere between 50 and 100 books in the lifespan of that book So someone self-publishes a book and they will sell the average cells between 50 and 100 So the fact that we were able to solve 500 in In in in the first year is great We're not dr. Seuss, but you know It's it's it's a good start when we when we talk about making goals Specific and not general. Here's here's here's a point You know if my wife and I and we were talking about it last night sit down and say, okay Well last you know in 2020 we sold around 500 books. So next year we want to sell more books Well, here's the problem that's that's too general That's not specific You want to sell more books? What does that mean? You know a specific goal is hey last year. We sold around 500 books in 2020 So in 2021, let's sell another 500 books, you know, or maybe let's sell 750 books or let's try to have a goal of selling a thousand books, you know, the point is to be Specific or we might say well in 2021. We don't plan on Creating another book, you know, we want to just focus on the two that we've got So since we're not creating new content maybe a goal would be to sell 400 books of the ones that we've already sold because obviously if you already sold 500 of Book one and book two to sell another 400 means you have to find 400 new customers, you know The point is to be specific When you're making a goal see sometimes people say I don't set goals that doesn't work But people they set these goals and they're these just generic General goals, you know, they'll say I'm totally one, you know, I'll lose some weight Okay, some of you are like I thought you said you remember enough weight Sorry, I can't help myself You know, but here's the question You want to lose weight great? I think that's a great goal. But how much weight? Be specific. It may require you getting on a scale It may require you just looking at some, you know documenting some facts and say okay Well, you know you say well, I've got a goal of losing weight for the last 17 years every every new year okay, but maybe Maybe if you get specific and say my goal is to lose X amount of pounds in 2021 you say I want to save some money in the new year the great How much money do you want to save in the new year? I want to get out of debt in the new year good How much debt do you want some people you ask them how much that you're they don't even know Not even sure how much that they're in maybe you need to you know Print some statements open up some bills figure out how much that you're in and ask yourself You know, how much debt could I pay off in the coming year if you are in business or in sales? You might say well, I want to sell more Books, I want to sell more cars. I want to sell more houses. I want to sell more of my service I want to get gain more clients. I want to do this. Okay, great. Great. But here's what I'm saying Don't go into next year saying I want to get more clients go into next year saying I want 50 new clients No, no one thinks I want some more cars. Okay, how many cars do you want to sell? How many houses do you want to sell? How many books do you want to sell? The point of a goal is to make it specific not general You go into the next year saying I worried the Bible more. Okay. Well, what does that mean? two times a year three times a year For some of you and I'm not meeting up on you I'm saying here's a good goal a good goal would be just I just want to read the Bible cover to cover next year I think that's a great goal You got to make that goal But look there's a difference between saying I want to read the Bible next year versus I want to read the Bible cover to cover next year One's very general and generic the other one's very specific You need to make sure that your goals are specific not general Sometimes people make goals like this. They say I want to be a better husband. I Don't be a better wife. I Want to be a better father. I want to be a better mother. I want to be a better sibling I want to be a better son or a better daughter. I want to be a better employee or I want to be a better employer And and look all of those are great ideas I'm not trying to discourage you from that and I'm gonna get back to this later on the sermon But just just understand this I want to be a better mom. It's too general You say well, how do I know when a when a goal is specific? Here's how you know when a goal specific? When it's specific enough for you to be able to know when you have accomplished the goal See if my wife and I say in terms of anyone want to sell more books, okay Well, when have we accomplished that when we've sold one book? done You know, but if we say hey in terms of anyone where it's all 400 books. Well, look, that's real easy to track Once we get to 400 401. Hey, we accomplish our goal We did what we set out to do the problem with these types of goals. I want to be a better dad Okay. Well, when do you when are you a better dad? In terms of anyone I'll be a better mother. Okay. Well, what are you a better man? Are you gonna are you gonna survey the children? Children am I now a better mother You know, and again, I'm not against that I think you should try to be a better husband I think you should try to be a better wife I think you should try to be a better husband and father and and and all those things but just understand this that sometimes Sometimes we make goals are too general. And here's what I think sometimes we want them to be general Because specific goals are accountable goals and If I never get on the scale there I go in If I never jot down I Need to lose 25 pounds this year. I need to lose 50 pounds this year I need to lose 35 pounds this year We just got to leave it kind of you know Just kind of goes up into the cloud somewhere and it's just like I want to lose some weight this year Then I'm not really accountable for anything and that's fine If you want to be where you are in the same place in life one year later But if you actually want to press toward the mark Then you have to make your goals number one specific and not general Specific means you'll know when you accomplished it Here's number two We're talking about how to set goals number one make your goals specific not general number two make your goals difficult yet attainable Make your goals difficult yet attainable. Some goals are so easy that they are a joke Other goals are so difficult that you're setting yourself up for failure Your Goals should be difficult They should stretch you But they should be attainable Again, since my wife and I sold somewhere around 500 books in 2020 I'm at the personal books that we've wrote You know, then then it may be appropriate For us to say yeah, let's let's try to sell another 500 books 400 books 700 books You know, it would be silly for us to say hey, honey In our first year we sold 500 books in 2021, we're gonna sell 1 million, you know, it's like come on You know that that sometimes we set these goals, you know, maybe you people get this idea I'm gonna do this. I'm accomplices and they have these super big goals. Look have goals that are difficult yet attainable Difficult yet attainable don't make them so easy. They're a joke But Don't make them so difficult that there's no way that you can actually accomplish them Look have a goal of reading the Bible cover cover this year. I think everyone should at least have that goal You should just jot that down read the Bible cover to cover 2021, you know, some of you could read the Bible cover to cover twice next year It's it's it's easy to have a goal. It's not easy. Let me say it's attainable To have a goal of reading the Bible cover to cover three years three times in a year four times in a year You know people tell me I'm gonna read the Bible 22 times next year. It's like shut up Are you on monk, you know Have you ever read the Bible? You're not gonna read the Bible 20 times in one year You're not gonna read a Bible 10 times in one year You got to make sure that your goals are difficult yet attainable number three Make your goals short-term and look this is my opinion And and and I do a lot of reading on subjects like that. I like reading business books leadership books you know the Best practices types type of books and you know, you'll you'll see that in the sermon I've got things I want to read to you and things like that In my opinion it is best to say short-term not long-term goals And again, this is just my opinion but if I were you what I would do is I would have set quarterly goals Sometimes the problem people have in the new year is they set these these one-year Goals, but a year is often too long to strive for one goal Some of you set goals last year and you can't even remember what they were and you dead sure can't find the piece of paper you wrote them on a Year is often too long to strive for one goal You're likely to forget about it. You're likely to just you know, just get busy with life so I believe it is best to set quarterly goals 12-week goals and And and the cool thing about setting quarterly goals is that you get to have a new year every 12 weeks Every 12 weeks you get to look at a sheet of paper and say yeah, we did that. Yeah, we accomplished that Yeah, we got there. Yeah, we did that and then set new goals for the next year And obviously if you've got quarterly goals, you're not gonna have some big huge goal but I think short-term goals goals that you're able to get to in A small amount of time have that victory are more likely to be one go to Proverbs 29 if you would from the set if you open up your Bible just keep your place in Philippians because we're gonna come back to it and go to Proverbs if you Keep your if you open your Bible just right in the center You're more than likely to follow the book of Psalms right after Psalms. You have the book of Proverbs Proverbs 29 Let me give you the fourth the fourth point in regards to setting goals number one Make your goal specific not general number two make your goals difficult yet attainable number three make your goals short-term short-term goals So again, for example, if my wife and I have a goal of selling 400 books next year Then then then our goal would be to sell 100 books in the first quarter Another hundred in the second quarter another hundred in third quarter another hundred fourth quarter Here's the other thing short-terms goal allow you to adjust. I Mean if we said and we end up selling 350 books in the first quarter then we're like, hey, maybe our goal was a little too short too small Maybe we should make if we end up selling 50 books in the first quarter Then we might we might say well Maybe that was it was too difficult to find that many Customers that have already don't have book one and book two or whatever The point is this when you have short-term goals, it allows you to see the finish line Sooner it allows you to make adjustments a year is just often too long to strive for one goal You're likely to forget about it. I believe it's better to set quarterly goals I would encourage you to set a goal for January February March if Your goal for example, let's say your goal is to read the Bible cover to cover in in in 2020 2021 You know nothing crazy you're not gonna read it two times or three times or four times Although many of you could have that goal if you say I just want to read it cover to cover Well, look then here's goal Number one read nine times a day in the month of January and knock out the New Testament you knock out one-third of the of the Bible in the first month of the year Now you've got 11 months to finish the Old Testament two-thirds of the Bible. We've got a chart for you coming Oh, it's already here, but we haven't given it to you that that That allows you to read the Old Testament starting Genesis 1 February 1st through December 31st read the Old Testament You you read 20% of the Old Testament in February and March and you're on track To read the Bible cover to cover have your goals short term Number four make your goals small not large and again kind of going with this idea break it up Take that big year-long goal and break it into smaller goals have small short-term goals that add up to big long-term goals I Mean, maybe you need to lose 40 pounds next year, but your goal could be to lose 10 pounds in the first quarter of the year Proverbs 29 are you there look at verse 18? Proverbs 29 verse 18 the Bible says this where there is no vision the people perish But he that keepeth the law happy is he look when it comes to setting up goals you need to get a vision Get a vision for how things could be Get a vision for what your spiritual life could be like Get a vision for what your financial life could be like your health could be like your relationship with your spouse or with your children Look your business get a vision dream a little bit say because Bible says look where there is no vision the people perish We need to have a vision for what God can do and obviously I have a different life than you have different life I have goals and and things that I want to do for our church and and Personally with our family you may have a different business or a different career or different things going on But you ought to get a vision you ought to set a mark you ought to have some purpose you will waste next year If you don't have any direction that you're heading to So set some goals. I don't know how to set some goals, okay? Well make your goals specific not general make your goals difficult yet attainable make your goals short term not long term And I like 12-week goals make your goals small not large break them up into bite-sized Portions Get a vision because where there is no vision the people Parrish go to Proverbs 24 if you would you're there in Proverbs 29 flip over Proverbs 24 So the first part of the sermon and the shorter part of the sermon have to do with how to set goals the second part of this sermon and what I would like to focus on is how to achieve goals because Setting the goal gives you purpose It gives you a purpose for where you're going But achieving the goal requires practice Requires practicality Requires you actually doing things to get that goal setting a goal and achieving goals are two different things Some of you are like well pastor. I've listened to your goal setting sermons, and I said all those goals I did all that I made them specific. I made them general I wrote them down, and then I put them on my refrigerator, and I'm still fat I'm still broke I'm still carnal Well, here's the thing it's good to set goals, but you also need to work at achieving those goals you can't just put a goal on piece of paper and Expect for it to set itself to achieve itself So four steps for just any goal make your goal specific not general make your goals difficult yet attainable make your goals short-term Not long-term make your goals small not Big let me give you four thoughts in regards to how to achieve goals number one Figure out the steps needed to achieve your goals Once you've taken the time to dream a little to get a vision to say you know well Here's what here's what I want to do. Here's what I want to accomplish. Okay now You're not done now you need to dig into that goal now You need to dig into that goal and ask yourself, okay? If I'm going to sell a hundred books in the first three months of my wife And I are gonna sell hundred books the first three months of the year if I'm going to lose ten pounds in the first three Months of next year if I'm going to read the Bible two times Next year which means that I need to read half the Bible in the first quarter of the year if I'm going to grow My business if I'm going to expand if I'm going to hire more Employees if I'm going to do these things then I need to dig in and figure out What are the steps needed to achieve your goals you must define the steps? Are you there in Proverbs 24 look at verse 27 notice what the Bible says? Proverbs 24 verse 27 prepare thy work without without means outside and make it fit for thyself in the field and Afterwards build thine house and of course is a proverb that is teaching us It's a little weird a wise statement that's teaching us a concept But the concept is this you don't show up to a field and just start building a house You have to prepare before you get there Before you even step foot on the field. He says prepare thy work without make it fit for thyself in the field Here's what he's saying outside of the job site Before you get to the job site Before you get there You know figure out what you need What building materials you what tools you're gonna need what are you gonna need to build this house get ready and when it comes to? Building in in your life. You need to realize that there's some things that are gonna require There's some things you're gonna need you to figure out. What steps are needed to Achieve this goal keep your place there in Proverbs go go back to Philippians chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 you need to define the steps Define the steps clear and effective steps Turn to Philippians, but I want you to hear what I'm gonna say Clear and effective steps Towards a goal are the key to successfully achieving that goal not the goal itself in Fact if you can figure out how to get the clear and effective steps and never even write down a goal you're more likely to achieve it Clear and effective steps towards a goal are the key to successfully achieving a goal Not the goal itself Jim Rohn who's an entrepreneur and author and speaker and he's dead he wrote lots on Business and things like that. He said this success is a few simple disciplines practice every day while failure is simply a few errors in judgment repeated every day if You want to achieve if you want to succeed if you want to get your goals you need to figure out What is it that I need to do every day? What is it that I need to do every day if I want to memorize the book of the Bible? I don't write that down on piece of paper, and then just okay, Lord Help me memorize it by osmosis you know I got to figure out what am I gonna do every day to achieve that goal if I want to read the Bible if I want to Build a business whatever it is clear and effective steps towards a goal are the key to successfully achieving a goal Not the goal itself James Clear author of atomic habits I'm gonna read to you a little excerpt from that book here in a minute He said this this is why the system is greater than the goal The goals are good set the goals I'm all for goals But the systems developed the systems developed to reach that goal are more important the systems Is greater than the goal I? Mean my wife, and I could jot down on a piece of paper this time last year We did jot down a piece of paper. We have a goal to write a children's book, okay? What kind of a children's book my wife's gonna write it and I'm gonna illustrate it And and we're gonna do you know we can sit there and and write it down and plan it and put it on a refrigerator Door somewhere, but look that books not gonna write itself It required effort energy It required a bunch of small goals You know well you're gonna write the first draft by this time And then we're gonna edit it down And then we're gonna edit it down And then you know I have to we have to figure out well How is this book gonna be laid out how many pictures gonna be needed what kind of picture gonna be needed okay? We need these many pictures well this if we're gonna have this goal this book done by this time Then these pictures need to be done by this time and these pictures need to be done by this time and look here's all I'm Telling you writing a children's book and again. I'm not you you may not want to write a children's book I understand that that's fine. That's just something we wanted to do, but the point is this we could write that down We could write that plan, but you know what it took it took hours at night It took time after we put the kids to bed to say okay you work downstairs all work upstairs You you know write and write and edit and think and write and proofread and do those things on all draw and it took time to actually accomplish the goal wishing never accomplished anything only working does So figure out the steps needed to achieve your goals Define those steps Define what it's going to take to Lose weight Save money get out of debt Start a business hire an employee Get more sales Figure out what it means figure out what you have to do Then I would say this not only should you define the steps, but you should refine the steps Refine the steps If you would allow me to I'd like to read to you a little excerpt from a book called atomic habits it's written by a guy named James clear and It's under the heading of this coach improved every tiny thing by 1% and here's what happened And I'll just read this to you and kind of make make the point the fate of British cycling changed one day in 2003 The organization which was the governing body of for professional cycling in Great Britain had recently hired Dave Brails Ford as its new performance director at the time Professional cyclists in Great Britain had endured nearly 100 years of mediocrity since 1908 British riders had won just a single gold medal at the Olympic Games and They had fared even worse in the cycling's biggest race the Tour de France in 110 years no British cyclists had ever won the event Brails Ford had been hired to put British cycling on a new trajectory What made him different from previous coaches was his relentless commitment to a strategy that he referred to as the aggregation of? Marginal gains which was the philosophy of searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything you do Brails Ford and his coaches began by making small adjustments You might expect from a professional cycling team They redesigned the bike seats to make them more comfortable and rubbed alcohol on the tires for a better grip They asked riders to wear electrically heated over shorts to maintain ideal muscle temperature while riding and while riding and use Biofeedback sensors to monitor how each athlete responded to a particular workout the team tested various Fabrics in a wind tunnel and had their outdoor riders switch to indoor racing suits Which proved to be lighter and more aerodynamic, but they didn't stop there Brails Ford and his team continued to find 1% improvements in overlooked and unexpected areas They tested different types of massage gels to see which one led to the fastest muscle recovery They hired a surgeon to teach each rider the best way to wash their hands and reduce the changes of The chances excuse me of catching a cold They determined the type of pillow and mattress that led to the best night's sleep for each rider They even painted the inside of the team truck which helped them spot little bits of dust that would normally slip by unnoticed but could degrade the performance of the finely tuned bikes as These and hundreds of other small improvements accumulated the results came faster than anyone could have imagined Just five years after Braille Ford took over the British cycling team dominated the road and track cycling events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where they won an astounding 60% of the gold medals available Four years later when the Olympic Games came to London the Brits raised the bar as they set nine Olympic records and seven world records That same year Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France the next year his teammate Chris Froome Won the race and he would go on to win again in 2015 16 and 17 giving the British team five Tour de France victories in six years during the 10-year span from 2007 to 2017 British cyclists won 178 World Championships and 66 Olympic and Paralympic gold medals and captured five Tour de France victories in what is widely regarded as the most successful run in cycling history and I read all that to just say this in sports It's easy like cycling To understand what the goal is Because everybody has the same goal, right? I mean everybody that gets on a bike at the Tour de France has a goal of winning the race every football team has a goal of winning the championship Every baseball team has a goal of winning the World Series Every football team has a goal of winning the Super Bowl every everybody in in sports. Everybody has the same goal So what what makes the difference is not who has the most effective goal. They all have the same goal You say what makes the same the difference. Here's what makes the difference the steps they take to achieve those goals There's a reason why some people just succeed in in the same area. Look every area of life Has people that are just better than others every industry every Everywhere you go there's there's going to be people that are better and they all might have the same goal They all have the goal of selling children's books. They all have the goal of Having a church they all have the same goals what makes some people achieve better than others. It's not the goal It's the steps they take To achieve those goals, so you must define The steps and you must refine the steps if I'm gonna lose weight then what actions do I need to take to lose weight and How do I refine those actions to make them better and more effective? How do I refine the actions of saving money of getting out of debt of selling more books? And this is where the whole husband wife father mother thing comes in, right? He'll say I wanna be a better husband. Okay. Well, that's what you said last year in the year before that you still stink. I Want to be a better wife, I'll be a better mother. Okay, but let's let's dig into that Let's dig into that. What would make you a better mother? I Mean if you say I want to be a better mother, I want to be a better husband. Okay Well, then obviously you're there's something You're failing at there's something you're missing that makes you feel like I'm not where I should be and and all of us could say That so what needs to change? For you to not be the perfect husband or the perfect wife but to be a better husband a better wife a better mother a better father a Better employer a better employee dig in define the steps and then refine the steps Make them better. I'm Having a staff training the month of January and I've been telling the staff guys about this You know a very Baptist Church. We're in the business of reaching people with the gospel and And don't let that word offend you. Jesus said I must be about my father's business book of Acts talks about the fact that they Brought in the deacons and set them over this business. This is our business This is our industry reaching people reaching people with the gospel, you know, we've got goals We've got all sorts of goals and things that we've accomplished and things that we want to accomplish in the next year But I'm gonna be teaching them a lesson about look there's really only it's not that complicated There's really only certain reasons why people come to church There's certain things that we have found over the years why people come to church and there are certain reasons why people stay in church so We need to define that and refine that Make it better get better get better at and in different areas. We all have different strains and we all do different things I Preach that's my main thing. There's lots of things that I do But there's only you know If I have to tell you what's the number one thing that I do as the pastor very Baptist Church I set the strategy. I set the plan. I set the calendar. I do the counseling There's lots of things that I do but if there's one thing that I that I got my job requires is for me to stand up three times a week and preach and I have to preach and look and I hope this doesn't sound wrong and I hope you you don't do you take this Carly But I need to get up here and I need to be engaging and entertaining. I Know you need to feel like you're actually learning something and again getting something or or or the church will begin to It will stop growing and people will start leaving and start going somewhere else where they can learn and grow and be entertained So we all have to get better. I tell our preachers this You have to get better every time you preach. I can't look I can't as the pastor of this church I can't get up here and preach The same today as I preached ten years ago. Sometimes people will send me emails and I appreciate it and I appreciate The encouragement feels a man you've reached a lot better now and you did ten years ago and it's like, you know, thank you I'm trying I'm trying to get 1% better every week I'm using 1% better every week. You may not notice that from this week to next week You may not notice that from this month to next month, but you'll notice it from this year to five years from now You'll notice as you're getting better. You're improving. So look we must define and we must refine We must define what do I need to do in order to accomplish my goal? And how can I do it better? Now if you're cycling, maybe it means getting lightweight Suits and putting alcohol on the tires and and doing all those things if you're a mom It might mean deleting Facebook It might mean you know, it might mean all sorts of things. I don't I don't know the point is this Figure out the steps needed to achieve your goals define them and refine them define them and refine them Number two go back to Philippians if you would I'm giving you four steps to achieve your goals We talked about four steps to set your goals and all four steps to achieve your goal number one figure out The steps needed to achieve your goal define them and refine them number two narrow your focus Narrow your focus and do not try to do too much And I'll tell you this is where I struggle I struggle with this and oftentimes when we are Recalibrating and recalculating our goals at very Baptist Church whether it's at the beginning of the year every quarter or whatever One of the things that I'm constantly trying to do and I'll talk to my wife a lot about I'll talk to the staff guys A lot about it is is what do we need to cut out? What are we doing because we have this tendency to just take on things? And what I've noticed in ministry is that in ministry people are often trying to get you to take on things You'd be shocked how many great ideas people have about we should start this ministry And we should do this ministry and we should go there and we should do that and we should do all this all these things And here's the thing all of it is good I'm not saying it's it's it's bad But we need to realize that we must narrow our focus and try not to do too much notice what Paul said in Philippians 3 13 brethren I Count on myself to have apprehended. He says this but this one thing I do But this one thing I do Paul says you know what? I've got one when it comes to minister. I got one focus And obviously we have different areas of life But in every area of life you ought to have a focus when it comes to being a husband You ought to have this one thing I do when it comes to being a father this one thing I do when it comes to being a pastor this one thing. This is my focus. This is the one thing I'm trying to come Paul said but this one thing I do we must narrow the focus do not try to do too much see Oftentimes often we fail because we're trying to do too much trying to do too many things and We don't ever accomplish anything There's a story of Warren Buffett who's a successful Investor he had an employee who he was trying to help and he told the employee to write a list this employee wanted to succeed and be successful and He told him I want you to write a list of 25 things you'd like to accomplish in the next 10 years See employee went home and took a couple days and thought about it. Whatever wrote down list of 25 things That he wanted to do in the next 10 years. He brought it back and it's best next meeting with his boss He said I want you to sit down. I want you to take this red pen I want you to circle the five most important things in that list of 25 You know take your time He took his time and he went through the list of 25 things and he circled the five most important things He said now here's what I want you to do for the next 10 years Your goal is to put all your energy effort or your time or your focus or your resources Into accomplishing those five things. That's what you need to do. Now. What do you think you need to do with the other 20? Like I thought about and said well, I don't know Maybe those are things I should work on on the side or on the weekends or when I've got some time And he said no, those are the things that you are to never do under any circumstances Because the enemy of best is not bad the enemy of best is good and Oftentimes we have all these things we want to do and they're all good things You know because the bad things we say well, no, I don't want to do that. No, I shouldn't do that That's not a good thing. But that's not that's a bad thing But when people bring you or when you accumulate I want to do all these things. They're all good things But what's the best thing? You could do right now Look and when it comes to setting goals when it comes to achieving things you need to ask yourself. You need to ask yourself You know, what should I say? Yes to but more importantly what should I say? No to What's the no and sometimes it's not no for now? You know, and I've taught this to to our church family in the past go to Galatians if you would Galatians chapter 6 The point is this there's so many things that you can do There's so many things you can do The Lord has allowed our church to have a little bit of influence and I'll tell you this I'm often being asked to preach and to travel and to go to this event and that event and this conference and that conference and I'll tell you I've had to learn to say no I've had to learn to schedule things out. I We have learned my wife and I have kind of figured out that you know Something I can do is short trips once a month with the kids and That's what we've done. I'm traveling in January to preach in Texas. I'm going in February to preach in Idaho I'm going in March to preach in LA. I'm going in April to preach in Atlanta So it's kind of nice how it all worked out that way. No it all worked out that way on purpose. I Could say yes to all sorts of things. I Could get on a plane if I wanted to every week of my life and go do something good And lose my kids in the process And lose my family in the process Here's all I'm saying is sometimes you just need to say no for now You know they'll come a day in my ministry when my kids are grown and out of the house and married and serving the Lord Hopefully and there'll be really no reason why My wife and I can't get on a plane every week and go preach somewhere and go do something and be back for Sunday And be back for Wednesday, but that's not the time now That's not the 35 year old version of me now that can do that so you need to figure out what's the best thing you should be doing with your time and Learn to say no to a bunch of good things Because people are constantly trying to put something on your plane as a pastor I feel like they were constantly just we should do this and we should do this and we should do this sometimes I feel like an ogre is like no no no no no But this one thing we do this is what we're focusing on This is what God has called us to do Narrow your focus do not try to do too much the enemy of best is not bad the enemy of best is good number three Look for actions that produce the greatest results Look for actions that produce the greatest results Galatians 6 and verse 7 the Bible says this be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap there is a law and I preached about it in the Past I won't take a lot of time To go into but there's the 80-20 rule the 80-20 rule says this that 20% of your effort will produce 80% of you the results This is true of everything 20% of your customers will produce 80% of your sales 20% of our church family will volunteer to do 80% of the work. It's just the way it works. It's a rely a reality of life So if that's true, and it is then you should figure out. What's the 20%? What's the 20% that must be done in order to accomplish the 80% look and like I've already used as an example for me in my ministry, it's preaching I Have you know you have these fear dreams where you have dreams that you the things that you're fearful of right? Everybody has those types of dreams my my dream that I commonly have is that I show up to church on a Sunday morning There's 180 people here the service about to start brother Matt walks up to start the service And I suddenly realized I did not write a sermon That's my fear dream, that's where you say deacon Look at your actions that produce the greatest results for a farmer look a farmer can do lots of things a farmer can can break up the ground a Farmer can set up sprinklers a farmer can set up fences a farmer can organize and whatever But you know what if he never puts that seed in the ground Nothing gonna happen and in fact if he doesn't take the time to set up the fences He doesn't take the time to do all these other things, but he gets that seed in that ground I mean the Bible says what's our man saw it that shall he also reap so figure out What produces the greatest results? What produces the greatest results what action what action could you take that would help you be closer to your spouse? What action could you take that would help you to spend more time with your children? What action could you take that would help you become a better whatever you are? Whatever you're doing be a better homeschool mom be a better pastor figure out look look at the actions that produce the greatest results the 20% that produce the 80% and do that I Was reading about a Sales group and again, I like to preach these I like to read these effectiveness and goals and stuff like that I like this kind of stuff. I don't preach this stuff all the time you get it once a year Next week, we're starting the book of Esther verse by verse on Sunday morning, so we I hope you join us for that But I was reading about this this article about a sales group that was launched a new region I don't remember what they were so I think they were selling homes, but I don't think they were real estate I think they were doing stuff with loans and stuff and They set out this group this new sales group of five Salesmen into this new region that the company had never been they were starting a new office and they give them some time to prepare and Four of the five salesmen Went out to do all this market research analysis research and customer reviews and figure out you know the market and this and that or whatever And one guy decided something different That guy sold 75,000 in the first year 250,000 the second year 500,000 the third fourth fifth year Eventually this guy kind of became a rock star in this industry, and he's they're just like man. This guy's like the sales genius So they decided to get the whole come together They brought them all into one room and brought this guy in to speak and to ask the secret of his success What is your secret to sales? And nobody asked him beforehand what it was He gets up in front of all his co-workers, and he says What I do is every day. I sit at my desk. I have a little plastic cup And that plastic cup there's 125 paper clips, and there's a second plastic cup. That's empty. I make a call I Make a cold call no matter how it goes good or bad I take a paper clip from one cup and I put it in the other cup and I don't allow myself to finish the day till all the paper clips from one cup are in the other cup and What I found is that if I make 125 cold calls a day you become the best salesman in the company and Here's all I'm saying he could have gone and done market research He could have hired all these people to do surveys he could have done all this market analysis But when he found this is in his in his industry that cold call was a 20% that produced the 80% And I would wager that in your life in your industry and whatever it is that you're doing there is something that brings greater results Than anything else so look for that action that produces the greatest results and do it be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever man, so with that shall he also reap Here's number four. We'll finish up go to Leviticus if you would Genesis Exodus Leviticus Leviticus Chapter 26 we're gonna go to Leviticus. We're gonna go to Proverbs and we'll finish up I Say pastor. Why would you take your time to preach this? Why do you read all these books and try to formulate them and help us with this? You know here's what I found if I can help you be a better husband. It'll make my life easier I Can help you be a better wife if I can help if I can if I can trick you I can guilt you if I Can you know harass you if? If I can bribe you into reading the Bible It'll make your life better, it'll make this church better It'll make my life better So I want you to have goals. I want you to get better. I want you to get better 1% every day 1% every week When it comes to achieving goals what must we do number one figure out the steps needed to achieve your goals define them and refine Them number two narrow your focus do not try to do too much number three look for the actions that produce the greatest results Number four look for ways to compound your efforts Look for ways to compound your efforts, but let me just say this without multitasking Leviticus 26 look for a second and ye shall chase your enemies But they shall fall before you by the sword I want you to notice this verse that God says in verse 8 and five of you shall chase in hundred and In hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword Why don't you notice the Bible talks here about compounding efforts You would think that you would need 100 soldiers to fight off 100 soldiers, but he says hey five of you can fight 100 You would think that you need 10,000 soldiers to fight 10,000 soldiers, but he says a hundred of you can fight 10,000 Look for ways to compound your efforts what I mean by that look for ways You know the phrase goes like this killing two birds with one stone Without multitasking Look multitasking is impossible your mind your brain was not created to focus on more than one thing at a time You say I want to spend time with my wife while working. No you're not You can't so what I'm what I'm talking about is not multitasking if You're if you're if you have a task this one thing. I do One thing at a time focus on one thing at a time What I'm talking about is sometimes we can combine things that don't require focus both require focus Here's an example One of my goals for 2021 was to work on my Spanish I'd like to Create some Spanish content for our YouTube channel and for our ministry But in order to do that I wanted to kind of brush up on my Spanish and work on my Spanish I started looking at different ways that I could do that and looking at different You know resources and things and I found things that I thought I liked and I thought man, that's good You know I could do that You know and it takes about 30 minutes a day and 30 minutes every day and blah blah I started looking at my schedule, and I started realizing. I you know I just I just don't have 30 minutes Every day to work on Spanish or to work on this or to work on that So I just started thinking I asked the Lord Lord helped me to figure out how to do this you know and and and and I thought about this I'm doing nine chapters a day in the month of January. I'm reading nine chapters a day in In the month of January so this year what I'm gonna. Do is. I'm gonna read nine chapters a day in Spanish I Got myself a Spanish New Testament. I'm gonna read the new I'm gonna in fact I'm gonna do all my Bible reading in Spanish this year, and I'm killing two birds with only one stone I'm spending 30 40 minutes reading the Bible every day, and I'm spending 30 40 minutes working on my Spanish every day Then I took it a step further. I have a goal of reading one secular book a month I realized that's not very impressive my wife reads like one book a week my kids read like one book every several days So and you know in my house. I'm the slow reader But you know that's what I can do one book a month Well, I started realizing some of these leadership books that I read and and and business books that I read they translate them into Spanish So what I started doing is getting those books in Spanish Now I'm getting my personal Investment reading in 20 25 minutes every day and Doing in Spanish. I'm working on my Spanish Sometimes this is referred to as keystone habits or one One action ripples into multiple parts of your life the point that I'm making is this look for ways to be more effective I've Used this example in the past My wife and I we've tried to do our prayer time You know while walking the dog or while being on the elliptical being on the elliptical doesn't require any energy or focus On my mind so I can be on the elliptical for 20 30 minutes and get 20 30 minutes of prayer in multitasking does not work with two tasks that require concentration, but sometimes sometimes you can compound your efforts and Get more out of one task Then then you would if you did those separately so look for ways to compound your efforts look for ways to make five soldiers fight a hundred and 100 fight 10,000 go to proverb 16 will finish up proverb 16 I've been preaching to you on the subject of how to set and achieve goals Part one how to set goals four thoughts number one make your goal specific not general make your goals difficult yet attainable Make your goals short-term not long-term make your goals small not big Then part two how to achieve goals number one Figure out steps the steps needed to achieve your goals define them and then refine them number two narrow your focus Do not try to do too much number three look for the actions that produce the greatest result that 20% number four look for ways to compound your efforts without Multitasking now let me just say this and all of that Don't forget this involve God in your goal-setting and achievement process Proverbs 16 verse 9 Bible says this a man's heart deviseth his way But the Lord directed the steps Don't walk out of here is why I say oh pastor. You got me fired up next time. I'll make five million dollars That really what God wants you to do Next year, I'm gonna you know do this Do that Hey make your goals spiritual goals things that God wants for you to do a Man's heart the visor this way But the Lord directed his steps Make sure that your goals are goals that God wants for you Goals that that are gonna help your family goals are gonna help you Grow spiritually goals that God would be happy with you doing Paul said hey, I'm pressing toward the mark and the mark is Christ The mark is God Involve God in your soul getting setting achieving goal process, and you say I don't have any goal, okay Let me just give you if you just have no imagination. Let me help you. Here's a great goal Here's a great goal that you should have my wife, and I have this goal every year To not miss one service of church the entire year think how that would transform your life I Mean Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night we have a goal even if we're out of town. We're on vacation We find a church to go to Well, I don't believe in this traveling while church time Oh, I got a better deal if I flew out and you go to church on Sunday Make that a goal I'm not gonna miss church I'm gonna be in church. Here's a goal read the Bible cover to cover. We've been talking about it. Here's a goal Go soul winning every week 2021 I'm just trying to help you if you can't figure out some goals. Here's a goal become a tither Look figure out some things that you're failing at that you're going to be better at and do those things Involve God ask God ask your spouse ask me We'll help you a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directed his steps Go to Proverbs 13 and verse 12 finish up right here Involve God and your goal setting and achieving process and let me just say this You and your family will be happy When you live a life of purpose by setting and accomplishing goals Powers 13 verse 12 the Bible says this hope deferred maketh the heart sick But when the desire cometh hope deferred maketh the heart sick When you have when when a hope something you hoped what happened something you hope you would do got deferred You didn't do it that that makes you sad Makes the heart sick, but when desire when the desire cometh when you accomplish the goal. It is a tree of life You know accomplishing goals is a sweet thing Accomplishing goals is a good thing. It's a good thing for you. It's good thing for your family Last year we told our kids We told them hey, we want you guys to pray for us we're gonna we're gonna be trying to produce this book We told him you know we're gonna do it late at night after you guys go to bed We're gonna work on it things you know, but we're gonna. We're gonna do this We want you guys to be aware of it You know and when we were having them be involved and they were looking at the drawings and giving their input And they were reading it for us, and you know all that stuff And then we involved them when we finished the book and this isn't the book this is book two But I remember when we got book one the first time the proof book not the big order But the one order when we finished the book my wife And I remember our kids kind of looking at it and one of our kids Grab the book and said wow I can't believe that you guys did it You set out to make a book and you did it And you know for my wife, and I that was probably worth it if we never sold a book that was worth it right there That Our kids would look at parents who would say hey we have a goal And then they watch this work towards it, and they watch this accomplish it And I hope that my kids will set goals for themselves and work at it and accomplish them, and I hope you will too Because none of us have attained We've not yet apprehended We can all get better So don't waste this new year Make sure you set and achieve goals. Let's pray Heavenly Father Lord we do. Thank you Because there is nothing that we can achieve. There's nothing that we can do. There's nothing that we do without you And Lord I pray you'd help us Lord. I pray you I pray for myself. I pray for my wife. I pray for our staff Here at Verity Baptist Church that you would help us to set and achieve goals and Lord I pray for our church family I Pray that people wouldn't walk out of here thinking as a guy sermon That they would really think How can I get better? Where can I get better? How can I accomplish more? What what is the Lord trying to help me direct my paths in Lord help us to take some time to set some goals And help us to take some time to achieve those goals Lord help us to be productive not for production's sake But to bring honor and glory to your name in the matchless name of Christ we pray Amen