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Calvary, mercy there was great and grace was free. All the world was right for me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiply to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. Now I'm given to Jesus everything. Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiply to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. 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 for giving us another day, Lord, that we can come here to honor you and praise you, Lord, with these hymns and to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, Lord. And we thank you so much for this year that you've given us. We ask that you please give us another fruitful year, Lord, that we all might grow in your word and in knowledge of the truth, Lord. And we ask that you please just be with us this morning during our service. Please bless each and every aspect of the service. Please give us your spirit in the congregation that we may be attentive to the preaching. And please fill a pastime here with your spirit as well that we may leave here changed. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Please turn your song hooks to song number 121. Song number 121, Like a River Glorious. Song number 121, all together nice and strong on that first verse. Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace over all victorious in its bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth fuller every day. Perfect yet it groweth deeper all the way. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised perfect peace and rest hidden in the hallow of His blessed hand. Never folk can follow, never traitors stand. Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care. Not a blast of hurry, touch the Spirit there. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised perfect peace and rest. Every joy or trial, falleth from above. Traced upon our dial by the Son of love. We may trust Him wholly, all for us to do. They who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised perfect peace and rest. All right, great singing. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be song number 100 day by day if you want to get that ready in your song book, song number 100. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand, one of the ushers can get one for you. Some important information on there. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. You see there the sowing times and teams, the list of expecting mothers if you can keep them in prayer, and then the important reminders there at the bottom. On the right-hand side there is just our upcoming church events. Of course, today is our New Year's Eve service, and we're not going to have anything today after the service, but tonight we are. We're going to have pizza, and there's going to be a lot of junk food in the back, okay? I don't even know the list of all the stuff that Brother Jose brought, but he brought a lot of junk food for us to finish the year strong, you know, for the diet to reboot tomorrow. And so we're going to have a lot of fun. Now here's the thing is that I'm cool with staying here till midnight if you stay here till midnight, okay? But, you know, if people start like, you know, start heading out, then I'm probably going to head out too, right? So, you know, it's really up to you guys, you know. I practically live here, and so if you want to stay here till midnight, that's all good. I'll be here with you. But if it's only like the singles, I'm out of here, okay? You know, we're going to have some families in here, all right, to stay till midnight in order to make it count, all right? And so we're looking forward to tonight. It's going to be a great night, and so that's pretty much it for the New Year's Eve service and the men's prayer night. It's coming up on Friday, January 5th, 7 p.m. at the church building. Sarah's bridal shower will be on Sunday, January 14th, and then Sarah and Giovanni's wedding is on Friday, January 26th. Now let me give you some stats from this last year. 2023 was great. We had a very successful year. In total for salvation, we had 1,388 salvations. And then we had 53 baptisms, amen? And then we had 48 first-time visitors, and 16% of those, which would be eight, became soul owners, amen? So let's give the Lord a round of applause. What a successful year. And so we're looking forward to a great 2024. And of course we've got some things planned as far as missions are concerned. We're going to focus a lot on Mexico, and so Lord willing. And by the way, the 1,388 is shy from last year. It's about four souls shy, but that's going to be increased probably by the end of the day, okay? Because we're going to take so many numbers tonight, so we'll probably pass that up from last year. But we're looking forward to a great 2024, and that is pretty much it. Of course, you see the reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. Let's go ahead and sing our next song, song number 100, Day by Day. Song number 100, Day by Day. Altogether, nice and strong on that first verse. Day by day and with each passing moment Strength I find to meet my trials here Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment I've no cause for worry or for fear He whose heart He is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what He deems best Lovingly, it's part of pain and pleasure Mingling tall with peace and rest Every day the Lord Himself is near me With a special mercy for each hour My cares He vain would bear and cheer me He whose name is counselor and power The protection of His child and treasure Is a charge that on Himself He laid As Thy days, Thy strength shall be in measure This the pledge to me He made Help me then in every tribulation So to trust Thy promises, O Lord That I lose not faith's sweet consolation Offered me within Thy holy Word Help me, Lord, with toil and trouble meeting Heir to take as from a Father's hand One by one, the day's the moment's fleeting Till I reach the Promised Land You can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11 You can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11 You can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11 You can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11 You can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11 You can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11 Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with a finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor when he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he saith, I'll return unto my house from whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself. They enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation, they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them. For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it. For they repented at the breaching of Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas is here. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light. But when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of the candle doth give thee light. And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him, and he went in and sat down to meet. When the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have, and behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you Pharisees, for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are as graves which appear not, and the men which walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying, thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers, for ye laid men with burdens, grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touched not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers, for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation. From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perish between the altar and the temple. Verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge, ye entered not in yourselves, and then that were entering ye hindered. And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying weight for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, we just thank you for this church. Thank you for our pastor, just ask that you be with him now, please strengthen him, just bless him with your Holy Spirit, and please bless the preaching now, and continue to bless our church, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Luke chapter 11 this morning, and the title of my sermon this morning is Work and Pray. Work and Pray. Another title can be Pray and Work. Pray and Work, because at the end of the day we got to do both in the coming year. We need to work, and we need to pray. Now as a Christian throughout the years, I've always heard this phrase from leaders and pastors and just different Christians, where they'll say you need to work like it all depends on you, but you also need to pray like it all depends on God. So you need to work like it all depends on you, put in the effort like it depends on you because it does, but you also have to pray like it all depends on God because it does depend on God, amen. And so at the end of the day, whenever we want to accomplish something, achieve something in the Christian life, a spiritual endeavor, whatever it may be, you need to make sure you keep this formula in mind that you have to pray, but you also have to work. Now why is that? Well because of the fact that the Bible tells us that my house shall be called a house of prayer, and we ought to be a people of prayer. Prayer is essentially us depending on God, expressing and displaying our faith in the Lord by asking Him to bless our endeavors, to give us wisdom, to give us guidance, and to bless whatever it is that we're doing. But also the Bible tells us that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. So obviously the Bible teaches us that yes, we have to pray, but we're also supposed to labor and work to make sure that we accomplish that which we're seeking to do. You never want to be a Christian that views accomplishing things where you just put in all the work and all the effort, but you're not depending on God. You go out there and you're preaching the Gospel, but you don't pray before you go preach the Gospel. You read the Bible, but you're not saying, Open down my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. You go to work and you do your labor and you do all your regular weekly activities, but you're not asking God to actually oversee your endeavors and your work and your labor. You've got to depend on God. Let me read to you a couple of verses here. In Psalm 32 verse 8, the Bible says, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Isaiah 48 verse 17 says, Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go. Psalm 37 verse 23 states, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Now, here's the thing is that we also don't want to take this Calvinistic approach, where we just pray, but we just sit on our rear ends and believe that we're just predestined to succeed or something like that. Like if God wants it to happen, it's just going to happen. I'm just going to pray and leave this in the hands of a sovereign God to have him do everything, and you just don't do anything at all. That's a wrong attitude to have. That is a lazy man's religion where it's just like, well, everything's predestined, and so God just controls all of us, and therefore I'm just going to pray that God's will be done and just not participate in that effort whatsoever. No, God wants us to actually do something about it. In fact, the Bible tells us that faith without works is dead being alone, amen? And it's interesting that Calvinists always want to quote that verse as a way to solidify and to confirm salvation, but what about things pertaining outside of salvation when it comes to the work of the Lord? You know, God wants us to labor. He wants us to go preach the gospel. He wants us to obey his word and actually put in the work to display that we do have faith in what we're praying for. And so look at Luke 11, if you would, because this concept is actually found in this particular passage here. In verse number 9 it says, And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you. Now what does that mean? Referring to praying, right? We often define praying as asking God for something, and it says there that if you ask, it shall be given you, but notice what it also says, seek and ye shall find. Now at that point, it requires for you to go out and look for the answer to that prayer, right? He says knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Now one of the greatest ways that I believe, one of the most practical ways that I believe this can be applied is in the matter of soloing, if you think about it, okay? Now we often use this verse to just kind of apply it to just prayer in general, but really this has the formula in which we're supposed to work and pray because it says there, when it comes to soloing for example, we ask the Lord to send forth laborers into his harvest, right? We ask God to lead us to the people that want to be saved, that want the truth, that want to hear the gospel, we ask for God's leading, and then what do we do? Do we just sit here and just hope that it happens? No, we go out and seek and save that which is lost. So we pick an area, then we go and we seek them out. We seek those who are lost, and you're like, well, you know, how do you know that you're going to run into the person that wants to hear the gospel? Well, we know by faith because we ask for it. So every week when we go out, we say, Lord, lead us to the person who wants to hear the gospel. And then, you know, Lord willing, brother Ulysses is spirit-filled enough to prepare those maps, you know, and give us the areas whereby, you know, we will be led of the Lord to go to a certain place. And once we get there, what do we do? We knock, right? So we ask, we seek, and then we just knock on doors waiting for that answer to prayer that someone would get saved. This is a perfect example of what it is to pray and to work, right? We pray, God, lead us, send forth labors into your harvest, and then we go out into the highways and hedges. We go out into the neighborhoods, and then we just knock on those doors until we find the answer to our prayer. Because, you know, you're obviously going to knock one door, and someone's not going to be home. You knock on the second door, someone's going to open, but they're not interested. You knock on the third door, they just want to argue. You knock on the fourth door, they, you know, it kind of just goes over their head. But then you knock on the fifth door, and that person actually gets saved. Guess what? The fifth one is the answer to the prayer. And so the point that I'm trying to make here is the fact that in the Christian life, we're supposed to pray and we're supposed to work. Pray like it all depends on God, but make sure you're working like it all depends on you. And the implication there is that we're doing both with fervency, you understand? With passion, with fervency, and urgency. We're not just praying like, Lord, yeah, just get someone saved, I guess, you know. In Jesus' name I pray, amen, you know. No, you know, in your prayer time, you know, actually have some passion when you pray and ask the Lord to lead you. And you say, well, I'm not very passionate about the things of God. I'm not very passionate about soul winning. Then you need to pray that God will make you passionate about soul winning and about the things of God. To soften your heart, to break up the fallow ground, and to make you a fervent soul winner and servant of the Lord. So that you can pray with some passion in your heart, asking the Lord to lead you to those who want the truth. And then work with fervency as well. Work like it all depends on you. Labor to find that soul, labor to accomplish that endeavor that you seek to do in 2024. Now go to Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3, if you would. So let's talk about those two points, which is basically the two points of my sermon. And that is, first and foremost, pray like it all depends on God. And sometimes, you know, Christians, if they're not careful, because Christians are, some Christians are very disciplined. They are creatures of habits. They're very ritualistic in the sense of they like a schedule. They just like doing things on a very rigid schedule. And, you know, if they go soul winning every week, that's just what they do every single week. You read your Bible every single day, you read it at a certain time, you don't miss. You go to church. You're very disciplined. If you're not careful, you can miss the element of prayer. Because of the fact that now you're just really dependent upon your character and your ability to essentially execute those spiritual tasks, you stop depending on the Lord for the results. You understand what I'm saying? And so we never want to just miss the element of prayer in our life and think to ourselves, well, yeah, you know, prayer is important, but I got to make sure I work. Yeah, that's true, but you also got to make sure you're praying through those things. And pray for rain in the latter rain. You know, maybe you're working a job where you're not necessarily struggling. You know, you've gotten a raise and the Lord is providing for you and you're paying your bills and you might even have a little extra where you can enjoy things with your family. The temptation there can be to stop praying. Whereas maybe when you didn't have as much, you know, you're reminded to pray a little more. And to ask the Lord for the rain in the latter rain and to ask God to bless your efforts. But you know what, the temptation sometimes for Christians to be is that when you're succeeding, when you're doing well, you don't pray as often. And God expects us to pray like it all depends on Him, even if it's going good. Even when the bills are being paid. Even when you already have the raise. Even when everything is going hunky-dory in your Christian life, we're still supposed to pray like it all depends on God as if it's going to fall apart tomorrow. Why? Because that's an expression of faith in the Lord, recognizing that we need Him. Look at Proverbs 3, verse 5. It says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. One of the worst ways that you can enter 2024 is on your own understanding. Without acknowledging God, and without God's direction. Just kind of doing your own thing. And this is very much a thing that Christians will do, especially in a time of need, or in a time of urgency. They'll often just kind of result to their own understanding and way of thinking. They're just like, well, you know, God's not giving it to me right now, so it's time to just figure it out on my own. But you know, the Bible forbids us to lean on our own understanding. Because our own understanding is often outside of the parameters of God's word. It often does not take the principles of the Bible into account. And it behaves hastily, right? Whereas when we wait upon the Lord, He shall renew our strength, He will lead us, and we trust in Him. We just kind of wait on Him, and wait for Him to kind of just lead us in the way that we should go. Okay? Acknowledge Him so He can direct our paths. And obviously when the Bible says trust in the Lord with all thine heart, it's obviously taking into account that you are walking in the Spirit, you're reading the Bible, you're listening to preaching, you're constantly looking for God's direction. When we say like, you know, wait upon the Lord, wait for God's direction, we're not just saying like sit in a dark room or something like that until the light bulb goes on. We're obviously telling you, the Bible's telling us to seek things that would give us that answer, which is the Bible, prayer, coming to church. That's a way to wait upon the Lord. Waiting upon the Lord isn't you sitting on a mountain somewhere, on a hill, just waiting for a lightning bolt to strike you or something, you know. Waiting upon the Lord is meeting God in all the places that He would say that He's going to lead you in. Which is church, in your personal Bible reading, in prayer time, out sowning. These are the areas that we're supposed to trust in the Lord in and acknowledge Him in. Okay? Look at Proverbs chapter 16 and then we'll go to Proverbs chapter 20. And I hope that, you know, if you have some New Year's resolutions, which I'm sure a lot of people have New Year's resolutions, it's very good to kind of hit a reset button on certain things. You know, I hope you have some spiritual goals. You know, it's good to have some weight loss goals and to have some goals for your job and your business and your family. But I hope the top priority would be spiritual matters though. Okay? And in fact, I hope that you plan those out before you plan everything else out. Because the Bible says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and these things shall be added unto you. Okay? You know, maybe you have a goal of losing a certain amount of weight or gaining a certain amount of weight. Some people are like, wait, what? People have goals of gaining? Yeah, they're wild. You know, I can't fathom that either. You know what I mean? And some people, but most of the time it's just like losing weight. Or maybe you have a certain goal of lifting a certain amount of weight, running a certain amount of miles, cycling a certain amount of miles, right? Brother Rick over there? You know, maybe you have a certain goal to, you know, I want to move up in my business, in my corporation that I work for. I have these goals that I want to accomplish, but I hope beyond all of that is that you have some spiritual goals. I hope you have the desire and you have the goal to read the Bible more. Maybe it's to memorize scripture. Maybe it's to read the Word of God a certain amount of times this year. Maybe it's to actually start preaching the gospel and get a certain amount of people saved, right? And maybe, here's a really good goal for everyone to have, is just to either implement or continue in your discipline of prayer. Okay? Because that's a discipline that, you know, I think in the Christian life it's hard to keep up sometimes. One of the reasons why is because of the fact that no one sees you doing it. So it's easy to kind of forego sometimes or to skip. You understand what I'm saying? Whereas, you know, prayer is definitely an important discipline in our life. And it all begins with how we behave as soon as we wake up in the morning, right? Do we seek the Lord's face in the morning? Do we pray? Do we spend time in worship and confessing our sins? And also just, you know, petitioning for things that we need. You understand? And so when we do that in the morning, that often carries over to the remainder of the day. And, you know, when you hear the phrase, walking with God, that phrase implies that throughout the day you're thinking upon the Lord in certain instances. And it doesn't mean that you just drop on your knees the moment you need something and just start praying unto the Lord like a holier than thou or something. You know what I mean? Like a Pharisee on the street corner. Like a Jack Treiber type. You know what I mean? You know, walking with God means that throughout the day you're praying thus within yourself unto the Lord. You're driving in your car. You run into a certain issue. You need a parking spot. You start worrying about a particular thing in your life. The automatic thing is what? To pray. Not to pull out a cigarette. Not to, you know, go do something sinful or to, you know, put on a certain song to get you going. No, it's just like the first response should be what? Pray. Pray unto the Lord. It says in Proverbs 16 verse 9, A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. What does that mean? It means that, you know, we in 2024 are going to devise a way to be successful, right? We're going to plan a way to be successful. We're going to plan certain things. And that's good, but at the end of the day we need the Lord to direct our steps in order to achieve that. Go to Proverbs chapter 20. Proverbs chapter 20. And often when we think about God directing our steps, we often associate that with leading us to successful ends, right? But really this also means to keep us from the evil. Because just as it's important for you to be successful in the Christian life in 2024, it's very important that God just protects you from the evil. That we're not led into temptation. That we are, you know, led away from the pitfalls of 2024. That we don't find ourselves in a predicament where we build up a sinful habit or we become associated with sinful people and not even know it. See, directing our steps, when God directs our steps, it's important that He directs us in being successful, but also just avoiding a lot of sinful habits, sinful people, sinful situations, things that are detrimental to our Christian life. You understand? That He would direct us to the right people. To the right church. Right? To the right brethren. And lead us away from people who are toxic. Okay? I'm not for that word necessarily all the time, but you know there are some toxic people out there that can kind of destroy your life if you're not careful. Look at Proverbs 20 verse 24. Man's goings are of the Lord, how can a man then understand his own way? And the answer is by reading the Bible. You see, it's important that when we plan for 2024, we plan it around the parameters of God's word. We plan it around God's guidelines. And a lot of times Christians have a hard time figuring out what the will of God is because they just don't read the Bible. Because the will of God is in the Bible. Amen? The revealed will of God is in the word of God. That's why we as a church, we emphasize reading the Bible cover to cover starting on January 1st. And you know, let me also say this regarding Bible reading. Okay? I hope that if you have not read the Bible cover to cover that you make that decision to start that tomorrow. Okay? And you say, I need a Bible reading calendar. Well, there's a great app. In fact, let me pull it out. Because I was supposed to talk about this earlier, but I completely forgot. But Brother Ulysses told me about this app. It's a really good app. And it's called Reading Plan. It's a Bible reading app. But the Bible's not on there. It's just literally where you check off what you've read. And you can actually click on it and choose a plan. And if the actual app itself doesn't have the plan, it'll give you an option to go outside of the app to go find a plan to actually input it into that particular app. And it gives you reminders. It even has something where you can be accountable to someone. You can share that with someone and then both of you can read through the Bible twice a year or three times a year, whatever it is. And it gives reminders. And I think it's a great app to essentially just keep track of our Bible reading. But here's the thing. No matter what you use, just make sure you use it. And make sure you just follow through. But even beyond that, make sure you're praying, God, help me to finish the Bible this year. You know, teach me thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths. Help me to be led of you to achieve spiritual endeavors. And Bible reading is an important endeavor, my friends. Do not minimize the importance of reading the Word of God. Don't let preaching be the supplement to your Bible reading. Don't think to yourself, well, I listened to five sermons this week, therefore that should be enough to cover all the Bible reading I would have done this week or something like that. No, it's not enough. You know, you can't get filled on potatoes. You need the meat. And yeah, you might be able to eat potatoes and you can eat the sides and they'll be delicious and they'll be great. But you know what? The main course should be steak, amen? The main course should be the meat. The main course should be the pork. The main course should be the poultry of God's Word that you're consuming it on a daily basis. Because man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God. And that, my friend, is one of the greatest disciplines that you can learn this year if you haven't learned it already, which is to read the Bible every single day. And I'm telling you, once you build the character to actually read the Bible every day, you'll learn that you can actually have character do more things consistently outside of the Bible. You know, find me a person that's not consistent in their Bible reading. I'll find you a person that's not consistent in a lot of areas in their life. Why? Because Bible reading and prayer are things that you do in private. And what you do in private is often a reflection of where you're going to be in public. So if you can take care of that private discipline of reading the Bible every single day, which by the way can include listening to the Bible, my friends, you will be successful in other areas in your life because you're putting God first reading the Word of God. Okay. And so, pray. Now, look at Luke 11 and go back to Luke chapter 11 if you would. So when it comes to prayer, what are some of the things that we can do this year that can help us depend on God like it all depends on Him, pray like it all depends on God? And that is, you need to pray continuously. Have not just a prayer time, listen to me, but a prayer life. Not just a prayer time, but a prayer life. What do I mean by that? You know, a prayer time is what we would consider something that we do in the morning as soon as we wake up when you're reading your Bible. You have a list of things that you go through. But a prayer life is that when you just commune with God throughout the day. Okay. And I'm not saying out loud where you're just praying in the streets like a Pharisee. I'm just talking about the fact that you are thinking upon the Lord when situations arise. When problems arise, cares arise, worries arise, or maybe everything is going great for you. You don't have any problems right now. Well, you know, how about taking time to praise the Lord? To think upon the Lord and worship Him for all His greatness, you know, for His judgments. Look at verse number five, it says, I say unto you, though He will not rise and give Him, because He is His friend, listen to this, yet because of His importunity, He will rise and give Him as many as He needed. Now, this is an important element of prayer right here because what Jesus is teaching is that if we're going to get the answer to our prayers, it's important that we continuously pray for it. In other words, we are persistent in our prayer life. Because He's saying, He's giving us this example of a man who comes to a friend's house at midnight and he wants three loaves of bread and the guy is dead set on saying, no, I'm not going to give it to you. And in fact, He uses this terminology here. He says, the door is now shut. It's like that window of opportunity is gone or something. And He says, though He will not rise and give Him because He is His friend, yet because of His importunity, He will rise and give Him as many as He needed. So, from a carnal perspective, the reason the guy gets up and gives him the three loaves is because the other guy is just kind of being annoying about it. He's just constantly knocking on the door, hey, I need those three loaves. He's like, I'm sleeping. And the guy's like, yeah, but I got a friend. I need those three loaves. And he's like, my kids are with me in bed. He's like, but I need those three loaves. Alright, fine, take as many as you need. Just leave me alone. And what this is teaching us here is that when we pray unto the Lord, we need to make sure that we're persistently knocking on that door. Okay? Constantly praying. Now, the great thing about praying unto the Lord is that He will not get annoyed with us. Because the Bible actually says that He will not abrade us for coming to Him. In other words, He's not going to scorn us. He's not going to get upset. In fact, I feel like He's probably looking for more people to just knock continuously. I think the problem that He probably faces is the fact that people don't pray enough or long enough. Or they're persistent enough in prayer. Why? Because they just stop believing. You know, they've been praying for a year. It's like they didn't get the answer to the prayer so they just quit. And importunity is necessary when we're praying. When we say we need to pray like it all depends on God, we're saying, Lord, this is not going to happen unless you make it happen. I need to remain persistent. Keep asking, keep asking, keep asking for that answer to the prayer that we need. And so be persistent this year. What are some of the things that you need? What are some of the problems that you're having? What are some of the issues that you've come across? What are some of the things that you look at in your life and you're like, man, it's hopeless. Can't be fixed. Well, have you even prayed about it? Yeah, for like a week. Okay, well, try a year. What if I pray for a year? Then guess what? Pray for another year. Keep knocking on the door until you get the answer to prayer or until God just makes it abundantly clear that it's not going to happen. Now, let me just save you some, let me just save you just wasted time in prayer. Okay? Because you might be praying for something that God just doesn't want you to have. Okay? And the way you can determine that is, again, by knowing the Bible. Because some people are just like, they pray for things that God clearly does not want them to have. And, you know, think about my mom, for example. You know, I've been in church, I've been a Christian for about 17 years. It's taken a long time for my mom to get saved. But she recently got saved within the last few years and she got baptized and she started going soul-willing. And I just would never would have imagined that. I'll just be honest with you. You know? But I prayed for my mom for years. I prayed for all my family for years. They're on my prayer list and I'm constantly praying for them. And even for people, you know what? There's people on my list for my family that I'll just be honest with you, like, in my heart I've kind of lost hope for. But you know what? I continue to remain persistent in prayer for them because I believe in prayer. I don't like believing in them. You know what I mean? But I do believe in the prayer. So I just doubt that they will, but I don't doubt in prayer though. And so you say, well how does that work then? Well I doubt that they'll come around because of who they are. So therefore I need to pray that God changes them, changes their way of thinking, so that they can get saved. And I think my mom is a great example of that. My mom is 78 years old. She gets saved, she gets baptized, starts coming to church. And then one day she just comes to me and she's just like, I want to go sowing. I'm like, dude? You know what I'm just like, what? I'm like, yeah alright. And then I never, I have never pressured my mom to go sowing. I'm not for pressuring people to go sowing if they just don't want to go. So I didn't really pressure her. But now she just comes to me and she's like, hey I'm going sowing today. So who am I with? And obviously she doesn't know how to preach the gospel. And she even tells me, she's like, Miss Kelly has been a huge blessing to my mom. And my mom is very thoroughly impressed with her gospel presentation. And she's like, that's how I need to learn how to do it. But just to hear those words, even if my mom remains a silent partner for the remainder of her life, just to hear my mom say those words is incredible for me. And it just teaches me the power of prayer. Why? Because he's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. So for me it's just like, praying for my mom to get saved, praying for my mom to get saved. And then boom, it happens and he just does abundantly above that. But it requires some endurance in prayer. It requires some persistence to get that what you want, that what you need. You know the Bible tells us that men ought always to pray and not to faint. In other words, you know, he's telling us there that basically prayer requires persistence and continual coming before the throne of grace. And that it's tiresome sometimes because you can faint. Because he says men ought always to pray and not to faint, implying that it's possible that you will faint in prayer. And you will quit on prayer because you're not getting the answer that you want immediately. We need to be persistent in 2024. What is that one thing that you stop praying for in 2024? Okay, maybe it's to get that promotion. Maybe it's to expand your family. Maybe it's to have children. Well, you know what, you need to pray. And we'll get into the working aspect of it in just a bit, but we're focusing on the fact that we need to pray like it all depends on God. Because at the end of the day, it does depend on God. We're coming to God continuously, we're knocking on that door saying, Lord, give me three loaves. I need three loaves. And it's like he's not rising to give us those three loaves, but we need to just keep asking. Because you'll be surprised, maybe he'll give you six. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Go to James chapter one if you would, James chapter one. So praying like it all depends on God requires for us to pray continuously. But it also requires for us to ask in faith. Meaning that we have to believe. Okay, the Bible tells us in Matthew 21 verse 22, All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. Now what I believe this is referring to is just believing that God can do it. Because, you know, I don't really have a whole lot of faith in humanity sometimes, you know. I just lack a lot of faith in people sometimes. Sometimes I do believe in people though. Sometimes. But when I lack faith in people, I try to make sure that my faith in God is where it needs to be. So when I pray, I need to pray believing that God is capable of it because nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. And that's one of the most simplest statements in the Bible. Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. You're like, well I prayed so many times, you know, I just never got it. Well, did you pray believing though? Or did you pray and then your heart was like, but God's not going to do it. Then what's the point of him answering that prayer if you don't believe he's going to do it? He's commanded for us to pray in faith, believing that it can be accomplished. Matthew 17, you're in James chapter 1, Matthew 17 verse 20 says, Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Now, please don't misunderstand me, because again, I need to reiterate this point, that there are certain things that we're not going to get an answer to prayer for. And you need to know what those things are. And whatever you're praying for, you need to make sure first of all, that it matches up with the Bible. You know, you're like, oh man, I just want to marry this girl. I want to marry this guy, but they're just not saved. You know, but I'm praying that they get saved as soon as I marry them though. That's not going to work. It's not going to work. And look, I'm not talking to you if you've already done that. I'm talking to those who have not yet gotten married. Okay, so the rest of you tune me out. But you can tune in a little bit, eavesdrop a little bit into what I'm saying. But you single guys, you know, and single ladies, you're like, oh man, you know, I just found this one person, and I just feel like they're a good person. And, you know, I get along with them great. I'm just praying that once we get married, they're already locked in. I got them, and therefore they're going to come to church, they're going to get saved. That's, you know, that's a bad prayer. It's not going to happen. Because God doesn't want us to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Oh, that's like fellowship. Well, you know, marriage is like the highest form of fellowship. So that could be applicable to that. And so there are certain things that you got to understand that you can't pray for because they're already outside the scope of God's guidelines. And you need to figure out which ones those are, okay? And not allow yourself to be defrauded when you don't get the answer to prayer and start getting bitter towards God, bitter towards the things of God because you didn't get an answer to prayer. No, it's your fault for not looking towards the Scriptures or asking someone who knows the Scriptures, is this biblical to do, is this biblical to pray for? Look at James chapter 1. Here's something that we need in 2024. It says, So the Bible's telling us if you are a simpleton, if you're lacking wisdom, then number one, we obviously know we can be around wise people and become wise. Number two, we can read the Bible and become wise. But the Bible also teaches us that God can just supernaturally give us wisdom. And in fact, He gives it to us generously, liberally means generously, and He's not going to abrade it, He's not going to scorn you for it. It shall be given to Him. Look what verse 6 says, What does that mean? You got to believe that it's going to happen, okay? Nothing wavering. What does that mean? You can't be doubtful later on and think to yourself, well, you know, it's probably not going to happen. Okay, yeah, then it won't happen. Why? That is, that verse scares me a lot. Because what it's basically saying is that whatever it is that you pray for, whatever it is that you ask for, whatever endeavor you choose to go for, you got to make sure you're all in. You got to go all in, and you can't doubt. Why? Because if you're being double minded, and you're kind of back and forth, then guess what? You just don't get anything. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. So it's important that whatever you choose to do, whatever you choose to pray for, you better just go head first, all in, into the eight foot pool, and just go all in, into the deep end, and don't look back, don't waver. Just be fully persuaded in your mind that God's going to answer that prayer, that it's going to be accomplished, and it's going to happen, you know, and we're not talking about the power of positive thinking either. You know, because these people who promote that, it's just like, okay, then add a stature to your height then. The Bible actually speaks against that. You can't by taking thought, add a stature, a cubit to your stature. It's true, right? I mean, if that were the case, we'd just think ourselves skinny, think ourselves with muscle, and it'll just happen, and it's not going to happen. We got to put effort into it. But what the Bible's telling us here is that God wants us to be fully convinced, fully persuaded. So He prefers a person who is fully persuaded, who has bought into that vision already, who is just like, you know what, this is what's going to happen, and I'm going to shoot for it, I'm going to go for it, and I'm just not going to waver. He prefers that than the person who's just constantly jumping back and forth. He just halted between two opinions. Well, that person's not going to get anything. First and foremost, because they're too busy, they've got the paralysis of the analysis, so they're not going to get anything. But also, God's not going to bless that endeavor, because God likes someone who is just, you know what, this is what I'm going to do, and I'm already set, my forehead is like a flint, it's just, I'm going to do it, I'm going to be stubborn about this, and I'm just going to go for it. Why? Because verse 8 says, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Now, how do we apply this practically? You know 2024 is all about diets, amen? You better determine you're going to stick to it. And you better determine whatever endeavor you've got going on here, because we've got a multitude of different goals in our church, whatever it is, body recomposition, or losing a certain amount of weight, I don't care what you do, just make sure you do it. Don't be double-minded about it. And don't do steroids. I've got to make that disclaimer. Which includes TRT, SARMS, TREN, DECA, DBAL, all of that. Did I miss any? I've got to make sure I give this major disclaimer, brother Matt. You understand? Because if not, people are like, okay, he didn't mention this one though. Matt's not, I'm not saying that, he's good. He's good. That's off the table. Do it on your own. In four months we're going to see people with acne that's just, these clusters of acne, I don't know, man. How are you cutting and gaining all that muscle at the same time? But the important thing is that you are just determined is what it is. And in context, go to John chapter 15, in context of prayer, is just be fully persuaded when you pray. Be realistic, obviously. Got to be realistic of whatever goals you're trying to achieve, but at the same time, once you realize this is an attainable goal, this is something that can happen, then be fully persuaded and make sure you're praying to that end. So go home, get your prayer sheet, and put that prayer on there and just put, I need to pray for this every single day of 2024 until it happens. So what if it doesn't happen by December 31st of 2024? Just keep doing it. Remain persistent. God doesn't work on our timetable. But here's another thing is that if we are praying like it all depends on God, we will seek the Bible for answers. And that's not part of working in my opinion. I think this is in conjunction with prayer because that's how we get, that's how we find the answers to our prayer as well, is by reading the Bible. Psalm 119, 105 says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It's important that as you're praying, you're also cracking the Bible open and just reading it and paying attention to what you're reading to make sure you know and can identify the answer to that prayer. Because you might find something in the Bible that you've never really learned before, a concept, something you may never learn, and then you find it there and you're like, okay, well that's the answer right then and there. Look at John 15 verse 4, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except that abide in the vine. No more can ye accept ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. It sounds like we got to pray, you know, we got to pray like it all depends on God, because it really does. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you, the Bible says. So the importance of abiding in Christ implies that we have to be in the Bible, we have to read the word of God, in order to really understand the mind of the Lord. And again, you'll save yourself a lot of wasted time if you just already know what the Bible says, because there's certain things we just don't need to pray for anymore. Because it's already revealed in the Bible of what we should and shouldn't do. Now go to Proverbs 16 if you would, Proverbs 16. So pray like it all depends on God this coming year. And a good way to do this, especially if you're married and you have kids, pray with your family. Pray as you're laying in bed about to go to sleep. Pray with your kiddos. Have a night throughout the week that you're getting together to pray for specific needs that you have and teach your kids to pray. You say, yeah that's such a hard endeavor to have my kids pray. Listen to me, here's a great way to get answers to prayers is you teach them to pray. I've learned that. You say, why? Because they have more faith in us sometimes. And so if we can just teach them to pray, when they pray, they pray believing more than we believe sometimes. And so yeah, it requires a little more work on our end to teach our kids to pray, but it's definitely very beneficial, not only to them but just to the family as a whole, teaching them to pray and showing them how to seek the face of the Lord. And so this coming year, I hope that you have a time throughout the week that you get together with your friend, whether it's every day, where you say, alright kids, we're going to pray right now. Alright kids, we're going to pray for this specific need and ask the Lord to bless, ask the Lord to lead us. That's important. Don't get so busy this year where you just neglect that. You say, well I don't have kids. Then pray with your spouse and seek the face with your spouse. Wait, seek the Lord's face with your spouse. You say, well I'm single. Then it's just you and the Holy Spirit there. He's always there. And so pray for a spouse. You say, yeah, but I've been praying for so long. Well, here's my second point. Now you've got to work like it all depends on you. Because it's important that we pray like it all depends on God. And the emphasis on that is the fact that we need to make sure we're consistent, we're persistent, we're depending on the Lord, we have the mind of Christ. And by the way, when you pray, you are automatically walking in the Spirit which is something that is necessary in order to succeed as a Christian. So praying helps us to just walk in the Spirit and we're not fulfilling the lust of the flesh and it puts us in the right state of mind so that we're able to judge matters accordingly and according to the Bible. Now with that being said, we're not Calvinists here so we need to make sure that we work like it all depends on us. Not at the exclusion of prayer but in conjunction with prayer we need to recognize, you know what, this all depends on me too though. And God is expecting me to put in work to make sure that it happens. Why? Because our work is an expression of faith. So just as praying to God that he would answer a prayer is an expression of faith, so is our work. Because we're saying, Lord, provide, Lord, answer this prayer. Okay, now because I believe you're gonna do it, I'm gonna go ahead and work on it, I'm gonna work the plan, I'm gonna try to make it happen because I believe you can do it, I believe you're gonna provide through my efforts. That's how God operates. You can't just pray and pray and pray and just expect for God to just do all the work. You know, when it comes to salvation, yes, he did all the work. And so there's no works involved for salvation. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. Let's say the man should, yeah, but works, you know, shows that you're saved. No, the Bible tells us that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, not by works of righteousness. So when it comes to salvation, salvation's a gift. Salvation does not require our effort, our deeds, our obedience to God's commands. However, after salvation, God wants us to work because we are his workmanship. And I like how that verse follows up after it says, not of works, let's say the man should boast. And then he says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Implying that after salvation we should put in work thereafter. So now it's time for you to work like it all depends on you. Now let me give you a couple thoughts here. First and foremost is that you have to commit yourself unto the Lord. Okay, commit your works unto the Lord. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16 verse 3, commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. Now what I believe this is actually saying here is when it says commit thy works unto the Lord I believe what it's stating is that whatsoever we do we should do it as unto the Lord. Okay, in other words it shouldn't be for vainglory. At the end of the day no matter what you do, no matter what you're trying to achieve it should be as unto the Lord. And we're not, and by the way I'm not just talking about spiritual matters that's obvious. Just things outside of the Bible whether it's your job, your hobbies you know whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish that's outside of the parameters do it as unto the Lord. Hey you trying to grow your business? Do it as unto the Lord. Commit thy works unto the Lord. Okay, you trying to lose weight? Do it as unto the Lord. Why? Because your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, amen. Hey you trying to gain weight? Do it as unto the Lord. You say well how does that work? Well you know sometimes people do need to gain weight in order to be healthy. Some people are just too small, too thin that could be it too. What I'm saying is that whatever endeavor you're seeking to achieve you should have in mind I'm doing this as unto the Lord. I need to have God in mind I need to commit my works unto the Lord so that God can bless these efforts because at the end of the day let me just give you a reality check here we're Christians. So everything that we do centers around Jesus. Did you know that? We do, I mean Jesus Christ is our, Christ who is our life. And although he gives us the liberty to just do all types of things and enjoy life he always gives us this little caveat that it should be as unto the Lord. Okay, hey you trying to make money? Great, do it as unto the Lord though. Hey your business or your job you're just succeeding exceedingly and you're getting paid and finances are going up great but make sure you're doing it as unto the Lord though. And so commit thy works unto the Lord go into 2024 thinking to yourself you know what I need to make sure that I do this business as unto the Lord I'm working at this job as unto the Lord. I'm doing this hobby as unto the Lord yes you can. There could be a hobby that you have that you do as unto the Lord. Even if it doesn't, listen to me, even if it doesn't improve the kingdom of God you can still do it as unto the Lord. Because the Bible says whatever you eat whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God. Okay, so that means every facet of your life can be dedicated as unto the Lord like I'm doing this as unto God and you know what one of the best ways that's actually one of the best ways to do things because when you do it as unto the Lord you're doing it in 100% effort. So you're lifting weights you're trying to get big you're trying to get strong if you do that as unto the Lord you're going to get that last rep in amen. Put some more weight on that amen. The Bible tells us in Psalm 37 verse 5 commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass but also other than committing your works unto the Lord you need to prepare as well. So yeah we pray as it all depends on God but we need to work like it all depends on you which requires preparation. Don't go into 2024 just thinking that these goals are just going to pop out of thin air. A plan without, or excuse me a dream without a plan is only a wish. You got to make sure you actually have a systematic way of succeeding in your spiritual endeavors in your job whatever it is that you're doing you got to make sure you prepare. The Bible tells us prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the fields and afterwards build thine house. Where did I have you turn? Where? Okay go to Ecclesiastes instead. Ecclesiastes 11 if you would. Now let me just give some specifics here okay. You never want to just try to achieve a goal in the coming year and just think that your desire to accomplish that goal is going to make it happen. You want to accomplish a goal so you're like well I'm already done I got the determination and that's what's going to make it happen. That's an element but it's not going to make it happen. You need a plan. Okay. You need to prepare. And sometimes listen to this you need a sacrifice as well. Okay. Now let me just as the pastor of this church you know someone like a father unto the church let me just make a couple statements here regarding that okay. You know because it really depends on what your goals are but let's just think about you know having kids. You know our church has a lot of kids and God's blessing our church tremendously. Right. I mean it's a blessing to see all these little kids just running through the church the stampede of children just running through the church and I consider it as a sign of God's blessing upon our church. And I want to get personal. Can I get personal as the pastor here? Even if you say I can't I'm going to do it anyways. I'm going to do it anyways. You know I know that there's people that you know want to have children and they struggle with that. The fact that there's kids and people are having kids and they wonder like why not us or whatever. Okay. Now there's certain situations where maybe God has not allowed you to have kids. That's definitely a factor that needs to be taken into consideration. Okay. But sometimes it's just a matter of health. Okay. And it requires your sacrifice and your persistence and your work to actually fix your body in order to make it a hospitable environment for future children. Believe it or not. And don't compare yourself with other people though too. Because you think to yourself well so and so you know is not like that and they're having children. Yeah but you don't have so and so's body. You have the body that you have. And so maybe you've been praying to have children for a long time and I commend you on praying. Amen. Because we need to pray. But you know what you need to work too. And by work I mean like you need to put in a good amount of effort whether it's gaining weight. Listen to me. I'm getting personal here. Gaining weight or losing weight. For some it's gaining weight. For some it's losing weight. Work like it all depends on you. But the thing about you though is that you're in a church where you have a lot of support. You have people that can root you on and hold you accountable and just take it from me the older you get the faster the years go by. I feel like I just blinked in years 20, 24. Okay. And so I think it's a who said amen Brother Rick? Brother Rick did you blink? No I'm just kidding. The reason I even say that is because of the fact that you may think oh man I just do this for how long? But you know what it goes by like that. Okay. And progress requires time. And I'm just saying this because of the fact that I feel like I need to say it as the pastor of the church and sometimes it's an uncomfortable thing for me to do. But I do it because I love you guys but sometimes it requires not just prayer you need to do work on your end. You know and husbands you need to support your wives in that and you know obviously tonight's not the best night to start that. You know tonight it's really the worst actual time we're probably going to make it worse actually. But you know you support that you know if they're doing it you need to support them and encourage them and I'm talking about in the times okay. Where you know if Pastor Mahiel wants to do a McDonald's run you know what I mean. My wife needs to be like hey you're doing so well though don't do it. Just go to sleep. Just don't do that midnight run. And then I say you don't tell me what to do. I'm the man. I'm just kidding. You know it's just like you know what we need that support. Okay. And so work like it all depends on you when it comes to child rearing. You know I would love to see and I think God wants to see also all our people just flourishing and being fruitful and having children and again I'm speaking in terms of you know if God has already closed that door and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's closed that door then obviously this is not for you. But if you don't know that and you really haven't done everything you possibly can to make sure that happens then this applies to you. Okay. Pray like it all depends on God but you need to work like it all depends on you. And sometimes it's just a matter of health you need to take care of that. Okay. Now let me just say this also in Ecclesiastes 11 we're in Ecclesiastes 11 when it comes to working don't wait for the perfect conditions. Like well you know once everything is in place don't wait for that. Just do it. Okay. I'm waiting for January 1st yeah you might have to wait for that for sure because tonight again is not necessarily the perfect time. Okay. But don't wait for the perfect condition. Why? Look at Ecclesiastes 11 verse 4 says He that observeth the wind shall not sow and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap as thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether thou shalt prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good. You're like well I'll just wait until I get a specific Bible before I just read it through. Just read whatever you got. Just read. Well I need to pick a perfect plan. Why don't you just start reading and find a plan as you're reading. I need to wait until it stops raining. You know what I mean? Just go. Just start. Just make it happen. Don't wait for the perfect conditions. Do not observe the wind because you're not going to sow. Do not regard the clouds because you're not going to reap. The perfect time is now. Now is the time. Today is the day of salvation. Just make it happen. And here's the great thing about that I was shooting thereafter but you're already in it. You understand what I'm saying? It's like people are like man I need to wait until I find the right gym get the right you know gear and have all the pre-workouts and all before I get started. Just go to the gym. Just do it. Just get into the gym and it's going to hurt and you're going to be in pain for like two weeks especially if you do leg day. But you know what? Just make it happen. Don't wait for the perfect conditions. I need to make sure that I get my numbers right and I need to make sure how much I'm going to eat. No okay but just go though. Jump on that treadmill. Lift those weights. Do whatever you got to do and troubleshoot along the way because the person who just jumps in and just does it and troubleshoots actually ends up getting further than the person who's halted between two opinions. Than the person who's just like February. I'll start February. After Valentine's. And then there's a birthday in March. After that birthday in March. And then it's just like well Easter is around the corner and so they always have those really delicious egg chocolates. I'll do it after that. And then it's just and so there's always going to be a reason. So here's the thing just do it and troubleshoot along the way. Okay. I don't know when to start sowing. Just go be a silent partner and you'll learn along the way. Okay. Don't observe the wind. Don't regard the clouds. Just in the morning sow your seed. In the evening don't withhold your hand because you just never know what might happen. Okay. And then lastly is go to Proverbs 14 if you would. Here's the last verse. I said lastly but I misspoke. Last. Be consistent about it. Whatever work that you do be consistent about it. The Bible tells us to be careful to maintain good works. One of the best things you can do is just become incrementally better each day and that's a good way to succeed is just make sure you dedicate a small amount of time to that discipline because over a period of time it actually makes a huge difference. Just be consistent. Okay. One of the easiest things you can do at the end of the year is just look at wow you know I was actually I consistently read my Bible. I consistently prayed. I went out every Sunday to sowing. I went to church. I consistently went to the gym. I mean that's an accomplishment in and of itself. But lastly here's the thing. Okay. Here's the last thing is that if you don't achieve a specific goal be happy that you achieved something. Because in all labor there is profit. Okay. Now this point is for me okay as well as for you but more so for me that's it applies to me because in my mind I'm like if I don't achieve the specific goal that I wanted then I didn't really succeed because I wanted the specific one and it's just like even if it falls just a little under that I'm like nope. You know I just kind of throw it out. I'm like I failed. But really at the end of the day so what's the saying if you shoot for the stars you at least hit the moon or something? Shoot for the moon and you'll land in the stars. Is that it? Shoot for the moon and you'll land in the stars. I don't know about that. I'll make a new one up. Here's a new one. This one's better. Okay. Because if you shoot for the stars which is further and you don't hit the stars at least you'll hit the moon. People you know they kind of just are upset because they didn't hit the stars but at least you got to the moon. At least you made some progress and in all labor there is profit my friends. Okay. You're like aw man I didn't get 20 people saved this year but did you get five though? Five is still great because what if you didn't go so many at all you would have gone zero. So at least you got five. You're like aw man this is my first year reading my Bible and I didn't read it all the way through but did you read through the Old Testament though? Yeah I got that done. Well that's good because last year you didn't do that. You understand what I'm saying? So you kind of have to look at what you did progress in and rejoice in that. Okay. And I'm not setting you up for failure here by the end of the year. I'm just saying that you need to look at the silver lining and everything and yeah you know what set the standard high. Be realistic but set the standard high so that if you don't achieve it at least you did something of significance that you could look back and say you know what I did succeed in a certain maybe I didn't hit my specific goal but I got pretty darn close to it and that is an achievement in and of itself and in fact the me of three years ago didn't do any of this. And so you know what is the sermon for today? It's simply this. Pray like it all depends on God because it does. So pray that God prospers you at your job that you get a raise that God will bless you in your endeavors. Pray that your business would take off. Pray that you would finish your Bible reading this year. That you know oh by the way those of you who are learning Spanish you need to horar amen. You're like man I'm looking to learn Spanish I can win people to Christ. You better be praying. Lord give me the gift of tongues so I can learn how to preach the gospel in Spanish but you also better prepare and put in the work for it too. And you know we don't got in Acts chapter two going on here. It ain't gonna happen. God's not gonna just like give you cloven tongues of fire. You have to put in the work. And so speak Spanish here with us as you're practicing. And you know what? Si hablo español. A lot of people do. If you're out there yeah embarrass yourself. Yes. You know embarrass yourself. Look funny in front of people because you're trying to learn. That's the best way to learn. You know people are gonna poke fun and make silly comments. Just take it and learn. That's what's necessary my friends. Okay. And so work. Pray like it all depends on God because it does but work like it all depends on you because it does. And I pray that you give us to help us to succeed. Help us have a great 2024. And in all our endeavors Lord whether it's spiritual it's at our jobs it's with our family. And Lord if there's someone here who just doesn't have any goals period may they just add one spiritual discipline. It's always good to just challenge ourselves in different ways Lord and I pray that you'd help us to exercise our brain exercise our bodies exercise our spirit and by the end of 2024 that we can look back and look at what great things you've done in our lives through our efforts Lord. And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. We love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Please do your song books to song number 245. Song number 245 the old account was settled. Song number 245 all together nice and strong on that first verse. There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven an old account was standing for sins yet unforgived. My name was at the top and many things below. I went unto the keeper and settled long to be found. Long ago long ago long ago yes the old account was settled long ago hallelujah and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago the old account was large and growing every day for I was always sinning and never tried to pay but when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe I said that I would settle I settled long ago long ago yes the old account was settled long ago hallelujah and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago when in that happy home my Savior's home above I was born again I'll sing redemption's story and praise him for his love I'll not forget that book with pages white as snow because I came and settled and settled long ago long ago long ago yes the old account was settled long ago hallelujah and the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago oh sinner trust the Lord be cleansed of all your sin for thus he hath provided for you to enter in and then if you should live a hundred years below up there you'll not regret it you settled long ago long ago long ago yes the old account was settled long ago