(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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