well as we begin our message this morning I want to ask you a question are
you are you tired of having the same life over and over year after year do
you want change but never really seemed to be able to make it happen
have you made new year's resolutions that never seem to come to pass I just
read a statistic yesterday that said 92% of New Year's resolutions fail by
January 15th that was last week I don't think I'm gonna ask for a show
of hands to say how many of us in here broke some of the New Year's resolutions
that possibly were made you know we always like to start the new year with a
great start and how things are gonna be different and and sometimes things are
changing sometimes progress is made but often times folks just end up frustrated
so today I want to talk to us about how to make 2017 our best year yet how to
make this year our best year yet now there's some spiritual principles and
there's some practical principles sometimes you know we we focus a lot on
the spiritual but there's a big emphasis there's there's there's a lot of wisdom
and in the practical things of this life for us to be able to accomplish the will
the plan and the purpose of God for our lives now on January 7th January 1st the
first message of the year was Jesus said come follow me and I'll make you fishers
of men so we talked about how how to be followers of Christ and what that looks
like and then on January the 7th we watched a clip from the Disney movie
inside out and we talked about why am I so emotional we saw how we're created
not just from the video but the video helped us to see you know some things
about our emotions and this young girl as she grew we discussed that that
emotions don't rule us and control us we need to learn to control our emotions
were created a spirit we have a soul and we live in a body right so we're a
three-part being and so we understand how that works and then we talked about
why am I so emotional how we learn to control
that that when we invite Jesus into our life we receive forgiveness of sin we're
born from on high or born again the Spirit is new but we do something with
our mind and we do something with our body amen then then the next week on the
fourteenth we talked about who's label are you wearing and a lot of times words
and things that other people have said maybe moms or dads or relatives or maybe
it's a spouse maybe it's just thoughts that you've had because a teacher said
something to you and and you carry these negative thoughts are these negative
labels around with you you'll never amount to anything you've tried that
before you might as well give up who do you think you are why do you think it's
gonna be any different you're just a slow learner I mean all kinds of
different phrases that many times we just play over and over and over in our
mind and we talked about how we can through Christ take off those old labels
and put on some new labels we talked about how important it is to run the
spiritual Holy Ghost virus checker because those negative thoughts are
nothing but viruses that try to destroy your life and destroy my life and we
have to learn to say okay wait a minute where did those things come from all
right so that's what we talked about then and then last week Hayne Schurz if
you weren't here last week I encourage you get the CD or listen to the podcast
go to the website because he talked about some of the myths of faith and
emotion and just brought a real balanced message concerning our emotions he said
taught about the myths like faith replaces emotion like if you have faith
you have no emotion or showing emotion is a sign of weakness that's a myth
or emotions are not important so there are some great truths that he brought
out concerning our emotions and a balanced approach to what they look like
so today we're gonna talk about how to make this year your best year yet now I
hesitate to say 2017 because this message could go for many many years and
just how to make this your best year yet so but we're here in January and and
still there's there's just another week or so left of week there's only a few
days left of this month and but you can still make some decisions that'll
that'll set the course of this year to be something that that has beyond your
imagination because God is that kind of a God God has those kinds of desires for
you and for me so we're gonna talk first about what are you thinking what are you
thinking everybody say what are you thinking now I encourage it
use your bulletin or take notes or follow us along on you version because
some of these things I believe will just help set in motion and set an order some
of the steps that we can take practically now I want to just tell you
for a moment about our brain can I give you a couple things my wife it has done
a number of teachings from Dr. Caroline Leaf on our brain and and did you know
that your brain the non conscious part of your brain has 400 billion actions
per second that's the not you didn't know all that was going on in the back
of your brain did you you you makes you tired said it makes you tired you know
some of you are just looking at the lights going oh wow look if there's
snowflakes over there you know but behind that thought there's 400 billion
other actions going on inside of your brain right now in our conscious mind
2,000 actions per second just think about that
2,000 actions per second your brain has enough space for three
million years of memory can i mettle for just a moment those of you who are
getting older would you quit saying I'm having a senior moment would you quit
saying oh I don't know you know I just can't seem to remember anymore as I get
older I just keep okay I'll say it shut up I wasn't gonna say it but I'm gonna
say it quit saying that God created you with
three million years of memory space up here find some hard drive Seagate can't
touch that IBM can't touch that there's no computer company in the world the
iCloud can't touch that amen come on three million years of memory
Wow your brain I like this one too in one day your brain uses more
electrical current than all the cell phones in the world your brain uses more
electrical current than all the cell phones in the world all right those are
just some cool things about our brain and yet sometimes we are so limited in
the things that we do because of what we think so today I want it I want to
expand your thinking there's a whole month has been titled soul control and
the purpose is as we go into this new year
what is it that God has for us and what can be better
amen so what are you thinking did you ever have a parent say that to you what
are you thinking or maybe they said what were you
thinking you know in a negative way because maybe we did something that was
stupid but here the scripture says let's go to Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 Joshua
chapter 1 verse 8 this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you
shall meditate in a day and night that you may observe to do according to all
that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you
will have good success well I thought it was all up to God well I read this verse
and I see there's some things that you and I have responsibility for He said
don't let the book of the law don't let the Word of God depart from your mouth
but meditate in it day and night so when you're thinking about the word and when
you're saying the word you know what'll happen you'll begin to do the word amen
when you meditate the word and you say the word you begin to do the word and
doing the word is important but it starts with your thinking then you
we'll make I'm just waiting for God to do something I just you know Lord Here I
am I'm just trying to be patient when are you gonna do something Lord when you
meditate in the Word when you keep the Word in your mouth and you're able to do
the word then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good
success amen see there's so much of that so much of
this stuff in the world today that just especially in some Christian circles
that just makes it sound like God is just gonna do everything and you have
nothing to do you just sit back and let God just do it all and if it's not
happening it's because God's not doing it and you're just a poor little sucker
on the short end of the stick because God's not doing it and He hasn't chosen
you and He's chosen this person and that person and this person but He hasn't
chosen you know the scripture says is this okay I love you so I just want to
make sure you know that all right he said if you meditate in the Word and
you keep the Word in your mouth you'll do it and then you'll make your way
prosperous and then you'll have good success now I know that Eastern
religions may put Christians on edge when we use that word meditate because
there's yoga I'm not saying there's anything wrong with yoga there's some of
the movement and stretching and exercise and that kind of thing but sometimes the
things that that are taught through Eastern religions are you know empty
your mind of all thought and just dwell on you know an ant walking across the floor
or I'm kind of being facetious but you know it gives us a negative connotation
of meditation but the Hebrew word for meditate there means murmur it means to
ponder it means to imagine so in engage your mind in God gave you a
brain He took a shop class many years ago and learned diesel mechanics when I
was in high school and my my shop teacher's name was Klinsky so we used to
call him Colonel Klink he wasn't he was a very strict man he was a
very tough man and but we learned a lot in that class about diesel mechanics and
he had a sign on his desk that said engage brain before putting mouth in
gear isn't that good engage brain before putting mouth in
gear and he spoke with a German accent he I don't know how old he was when he
moved to America but it was really a fun class but lots of wisdom there so
meditate means to murmur you can say it over and over and over again you can
ponder it you use your brain use your imagination and think about the word
what does the word say what is the action what is the result what is the
picture that this Word of God is bringing to us then the book of Psalm 77
verse 12 says I will also meditate on all your work and talk of your deeds
there it is again I will meditate on all your work let's just meditate on the
work of God for a moment meditate on His love for you meditate on his forgiveness
for you meditate on His healing power for you meditate on the fact that your
name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life and you're going to heaven not too
soon we don't want anybody to leave too soon but meditate on the fact that
heaven is your home meditate on the fact that Jesus is in you and greater is He
that's in you than he that's in the world what are we thinking day by day by
day what are we thinking moment by moment what kinds of things do we allow
to go through our brain and the Bible says that if we'll purpose to meditate
on the Word of God we'll find ourselves doing the Word of God and then we'll
find ourselves prospering and being successful
now Malachi chapter 3 don't get nervous I'm not gonna read the tithe chapter
here we're past the tithe verse but notice what it says Malachi chapter 3
verse 16 those who feared the Lord did what they spoke with each other and the
Lord listened to what they said Wow the Lord listened to what they said why
I just thought I was talking now the Lord listens to what we say in
His presence look at this a scroll of remembrance was written to record the
names of those who feared Him and always thought about the honor of His name is
your name there are the things that you and I are saying do they cause God to
listen and to whoa I'm gonna write down that that name Casey I'm writing your
name down God says I'm writing that name down because He honors me Karlene I'm
writing Karlene's name down because she honors Me I'm riding Bill's name down
because he honors me I'm writing just just does God do that for each of our
names because He hears what we say and it brings honor to His name He sees the
things that we think about that brings honor to His name the scripture says in
verse 17 they will be my people says the Lord of heavens armies on the day when I
act in judgment they will be my own special treasure I will spare them as a
father spares an obedient child then you will again see the difference between
the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not
what are you thinking we need to base our thinking on the word Philippians
chapter 4 verse 8 says and now dear brothers and sisters one final thing fix
your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely
and admirable think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise so
the Bible has a lot to say about our thoughts the Bible has a lot to say
about you and me directing our thoughts in a certain direction not just letting
any thought we want come in and float around and take up space
now take charge over the thoughts in your brain amen take charge over the
thoughts in your brain don't just let all these kinds of things
float around in your brain all right now number two
say what everybody say say what all right did you notice the references to
our thoughts and our words in Joshua Psalms and Malachi meditate and speak
meditate and talk they spoke notice there's a coalition a
correlation between what you think and what you say your words are very
important we started the service with that emphasis from Revelation 12:11 they
overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony we we went
to Deuteronomy Jesus God said not Jesus God said the Word says I've said before
you life and death blessing and cursing and then He tells us how to choose he
says choose life how do you choose life by choosing to speak what God's Word
said now notice Mark 11:23 because let's go over to the New Testament Mark 11:23
says for assuredly I say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be
cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things
he says will be done he will have whatever he says
now we hand it out at the beginning of the year we have a few left if you
didn't get one a book by ministered by the name of Charles Capps who back in
the 70s and 80s was a great teacher he passed away I don't know when but he's
passed away and gone on to be with the Lord but he wrote a book called God's
creative force or God's creative power and it talks about our words and the
Lord spoke to Charles Capps one time and He said my word is not void of power
my people are void of speech in that something God said to Charles He said my
Word is not void of power my people are void of speech they hear
the world and speak as the world speaks by observing circumstances they have
lost sight of my Word they even speak that which the enemy
says and they destroy their own inheritance by corrupt
communication of fear and unbelief I'll add that comes out of their mouths no
Word of mine is void of power only powerless when it is unspoken no Word of
mine God said no Word of mine is void of power only powerless when it is unspoken
now it would take a theologian I believe to make that difficult and confusing
because basically Jesus said you can have what you say right that's what
Jesus said you can have what you say the Lord went on to say to Charles Capps He
said I've told my people they can have what they say and they are saying what
they have I have told my people they can have what they say and they are saying
what they have can we go back go back to mark 11:23 for just a moment for the
screens Mark 11:23 and and notice that Jesus said this this this is Jesus
talking we understand that maybe you have a Bible that has red letters and so
these are the words of Jesus sometimes you know it's funny because we think how
much our life would be different if Jesus just walked in the room and said
something to us oh God I need some help oh Jesus what do I do with this
situation in this circumstance and so Jesus would walk in and Jesus would say
because this is what He said so you know if I was in the presence of Jesus I know
I would get my answer and here's what Jesus would say I say to you whoever
says to this mountain whoever says to the situation the circumstance the
hindrance in their life be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt
in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done he will have
whatever he says that's what Jesus would say now you know
III think what some people might do is they might say wow that just tickles me
to death at least you die laughing aren't you glad aren't you glad the
mercy of God
there's mercy and in God people say the dumbest things we say the
dumbest things at times and we should be glad that God doesn't every single word
we say in the moment come to pass as soon as you say it but I'll tell you
what you're planting seeds that will come to pass every word we speak is
planting seeds that will come to pass this doesn't always sound real nice but
it's true everything we have right now in this life wherever we are
individually is as a result of the words that we have spoken over years and years
and years now some are very happy with their life because you've been very
careful with your words but other folks have been a little lacks with their
words and there's situations and circumstances and struggles and trials
and I'm not saying we all don't go through things I'm not saying that at
all but again I I refer to as folks are
getting older and it's so easy to make comments about the physical body it's so
easy to make comments about the mind it's so easy because that's what the
world says and yet if God has given us the capacity with our brains to have
three million years of storage don't you think you give us the capacity to recall
it amen you can have what you say you can have what you say how many people
would say well that just blows my mind Lord push people's heads would explode
all over the place because they could have what they say now again I know I
think the mercy of God but I think it's also a
principle the words that God has given us the ability to speak you think about
this whole creation and how it was all form God spoke things into existence so
now that's God He spoke and it happened immediately but He gives us the same
ability to speak and see things come to pass that we say so your words are like
seeds now James chapter 3 talks a lot about the tongue and I think Hayne
referred to this last week so we won't go all the way through it but James
chapter 3 says that there's power in the tongue to determine the direction of our
lives just like a bit in the mouth of a horse I think it was in the Bible School
in our school of Bible and School of the ministry he asked one of the students
how much a bit weighs and somebody said about three pounds two and a half three
four pounds those of you who have horses you know
how much does a bit weigh and how much does a horse weigh a thousand pounds 800
pounds twelve hundred pounds and that bit in that horse's mouth can steer all
of that power and all of that strength James talks about the rudder of a ship
ships that are huge many times the comparison in size for the ship itself
and the rudder that steers that ship the rudder is very small in size comparative
to this the length of that ship or the size of that ship and yet those are the
examples that James gives when he says your tongue will direct your life Wow do
we really think about that on a daily basis Isaiah chapter 55 verse 10 and 11
says for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and they do not return
there without watering the earth making it bare and sprout and furnishing
seed to the sower and bread to the eater so will my Word be that goes forth from
my mouth it will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and
without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it that's the new American
Standard Version so rain comes down snow comes down and it causes growth that
causes life it causes change in our world right but here's what God said He
said that's the way my Word is when my Word goes out now here's what we have to
realize God's already spoken His word so He's waiting for you and He's waiting
for me to return His Word to Him that's what He's waiting for Jeremiah says I'm
watching to perform my Word He compared it to the almond tree right now in
Greece the almond trees are getting ready to sprout and begin to bud here in
Colorado we think how is that even possible fruit trees aren't gonna be
budding for months yet but in Greece in the Mediterranean where Jesus was and
where this scripture was penned or written God told Jeremiah I'm like that
almond tree the first one the watching waiting it's it's bringing the the
recognition that there's gonna come a change in in in the climate and and and
this tree is awakening it's the first one to wake up He said that's how I'm
watching for the words that come out of your mouth that's how important your
words are and He said they won't return to him without completing or
accomplishing what He sent it to accomplish so He sent His Word to heal
us all right Psalm says I sent you I sent My Word to heal you He sent His
Word to heal us and to deliver us from our destruction so He sent His word with
a purpose and you and I can say Lord I thank you for sending your ord to heal
me by Jesus stripes healed I thank you for life and health
in this body no matter what the circumstances no matter what the
situation the Spirit of God if you've been born again the Spirit of God lives
in your spirit and He can affect every part of your body you need to see the
Spirit of God touching every cell and every joint in every muscle and every
tendon and every system of your body that's the life of God flowing through
your body whether you feel like it or not you begin to say it and you'll see
it happen there's a lot of you in here that can testify that you've done that
and you've seen that before so Romans chapter 4 verse 17 here here God is
talking about Abraham and He's talking to Abraham and he says a father of many
nations have I made you in the presence of him whom he believed even God who
gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist okay so
here it is again the importance of your words now God
does what he calls things into being that do not yet exist so He had a
thought he spoke it out and it became now He's helped us we don't have to come
up with all original thoughts He's helped us through His Word to say this
is what I want for you this is my heart's desire for you this is my will
this is my plan this is my purpose for you so He gives it to us through His
Word and then He expects us to speak it out and some people might say well isn't
that just something God does God spoke He called things that were not as though
they were I can't do that that's something that God does know the Bible
says for you and me to be imitators of God as dear children so what you saw
your father do you can do Amen what you see your father do you can do you
imitate Him now notice notice as I was reading this
last week Romans chapter 4 verse 17 that when God called Abraham and said you're
gonna be the father of many nations if you study that you can go back and see
that his name was Abram which meant exalted father and God said now now your
name is gonna be Abraham father of many and I find it very interesting that when
God said your name is Abraham father of many how many kids did he have zero he
didn't even have one to start with like maybe he could have a little bit of
credit here you know well I have one and I know there's gonna be a whole bunch
more now he had zero kids and he was 75 I believe
seventy-six somewhere around there and God said you're gonna have kids now I'm
sure his would be like our thought I don't know why we think any different
even though the folks lived a little longer back then his thought had to be
the same as our thought 75 I'm gonna have a kid 75 how many of you who are 65
or 70 want to have kids anybody want to raise your hand
you're just thankful for your grandkids aren't you praise God I've got grandkids
I can play with them and send them home right with their mom and dad sugar them
up buy him all the toys that you didn't want your kids to have at home because
they made too much noise and send them on home with them and say here have fun
parents revenge to your kids I know I know what you're thinking but God when
He told Abraham He said you're the father of many nations Abraham didn't
have one kid and and this circumstance or the situation made it look like he
would never have kids and I think God did that on purpose I think God chose
him in that stage of life in that place of life to tell you and to tell me that
with God and His Word and His will revealed nothing is impossible because
it looked impossible to a 75 80 year-old man
I think he was about 100 by the time his kids came 1999 somewhere around there
what and then he kept having kids after that so God chose him in a place that
looked hopeless God chose him in the place God revealed His will to him and
said this is what's gonna happen Abraham so you know what Abraham had to do
Abraham had to be like God and Abraham had to agree with God and it took them a
little while they even tried their own way
Ishmael those of you know who know the story Sarah said look it's not working
I'm not being able to have kids at this point once maybe God maybe God had a
senior moment and got confused maybe God mixed things up so take my servant sleep
with her have kids with her and maybe this is the way God wants and and and
they did that and we have all kinds of situations in the world today God loves
Ishmael and the family of Ishmael but there's all kinds of situations and and
and and sometimes people say when they do some mistake they say well that was
my Ishmael when we try to do things on our own God said no no no I'm gonna
bless Ishmael he's gonna be a great people I'm gonna bless him we're gonna
take care of him but you're gonna have a kid and he did his name was Isaac all
right so he persevered Sarah had to have faith she had to release her faith she
had to have faith to have the kid to but God spoke His word and God's patient i
said here's my will it'll come to pass when you believe it and when you say it
and He's just waiting for you and me to hook up and to say it Isaiah 51 verse 2
says this yes think about Abraham your ancestors and Sarah who gave birth to
your nation abraham was only one man when I called him but when I blessed him
he became a great nation you might feel like one man one woman you might feel
like the situation in your life is limit the situation in your life looks
hopeless the situation in your life looks like there's no way out but friend
I'm here to tell you according to the Word of God when God blesses you you
will become a great nation you will become great there will be plans and
purposes that He wants to accomplish through your life that only you can
accomplish no one else only you can accomplish them when you hook up your
faith so what are you thinking what are you thinking say what what are you
saying and here's number three everybody say just do it alright now now here's
where the rubber meets the road alright just do it I looked up some of the
history for Nike if you don't know that just do it slogan then just do it phrase
came as a marketer was trying to do some things for Nike in 1987 it was their
biggest slump ever Nike laid off 20% of their workforce and they had only an 18%
market share in the sporting-goods tennis shoes clothing line that whole
thing when they came up with the just do it phrase their market share went from
eighteen to forty three percent in ten years that translated from a revenue
source of eight hundred and seventy seven million dollars to nine point two
billion dollars from 1988 to 1998 a phrase just do it just do it we have all
kinds of just do it phrases today because I think this is one of the
weaknesses that we have as believers and I'm constantly being challenged in this
area just do it someone said this the distance between your dreams and reality
is called action isn't that good that's an anonymous I don't I don't know
who said that but I came across this quote the distance between your dreams
and reality is called action Benjamin
Franklin said words may show a man's wit but action his meaning words may show a
man's wit but action his meaning Mitch Albom said faith is about doing you are
how you act not just how you believe Mitch Albom said faith is about doing
you are how you act not just how you believe Abraham Lincoln said things may
come to those who wait but only the things left by those who hustle isn't
that good things may come to those who wait but only the things left by those
who hustle Zig Ziglar said you don't have to be great to start but you have
to start to be great isn't that good you don't have to be great to start you know
sometimes we have these pictures of all these famous men and women you know I'm
not like that no you don't have to be great to start you just have to start to
be great Thomas Jefferson said do you want to know who you are don't ask act
action will delineate and define you that's who we are it's how we act I
remember when the Lord called us to move to Greece a number of years ago to do a
Bible School over in Athens and and there was a young person in the church
and I've oh I think it might have been Eddie Gann that name just came back to
me some of you remember Eddie the Gann family Martinez Carla and Vick Vick
yeah and Vick and Carla yeah their son had a t-shirt and here's what the
t-shirt said the t-shirt said you can't steal second with your foot on first and
God used that when when we are getting ready to move I think we'd already made
the decision and and there were other confirming things that God had
especially for His Words first and foremost but I saw that t-shirt and
something went off on the inside you can't steal second with your foot on
first now I know those of you who are baseball knowledgeable fans you know
that yeah most of the time people are already leading off of first in between
first and second before they steal second but you can't do that unless you
give with your foot still on first base now apparently that comment that phrase
was by a guy named Robert quillion who was an American journalist and humorous
sometimes people say Freddy Wilcox was the one who was accredited for that but
it was really traced back to a guy named Robert quillion and he said progress
always involves risk you can't steal second and keep your foot on first you
can't steal second and keep your foot on first action just do it now here's what
the Bible says James chapter 1 verse 22 you said pastor or did you forget about
the Bible no here's what the Bible says James chapter 1 and verse 22 don't just
listen to God's Word you must do what it says otherwise you're only fooling
yourselves for if you listen to the Word and don't obey it's like glancing at
your face in the mirror you see yourself walk away and forget what you look like
but if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free and do
what it says and don't forget what you heard then God will bless you for doing
it Wow be doers of the Word and not hearers only start with God's Word start
with applying what we know to our daily lives there's there's there's all kinds
of things you can say Craig Groeschel the pastor of Life Church down in Tulsa
and Oklahoma City in all kinds of places I came across this thing he was he was
doing a podcast on leadership and and part of it was positive declarations now
I just had to make me laugh because he was teaching about the importance of
your words and in positive declarations and he gets up every morning and these
are some of the things says Jesus is first in my life I exist
to serve Him and glorify Him I love my wife and will lay down my life to serve
her my children will love God and serve Him with their whole hearts I will
nurture equip train he quit empower them to do more for his kingdom than they can
imagine I love people and believe the best about others I'm disciplined Christ
in me is stronger than the wrong desires in me I'm growing closer to Jesus every
day because Christ because of Christ my family is closer my body is stronger my
faith is deeper my leadership is sharper I'm anointed empowered equipped and
called to reach people far from God I'm creative I'm innovative I'm focused I'm
blessed beyond measure because the Holy Spirit dwells in me and and I had to
laugh because Craig can say here's some positive declarations that you need to
make over your life and people would go yes praise the Lord and Joel Osteen
would say that and people would say you're just part of that name it claim
it Bunch that word is still out there every once in a while you're just part
of that name it claim it Bunch aren't you part of the name it claim it Bunch I
read these are all scripturally based the Word is near you in your heart and
in your mouth when you begin to speak the Word of God something's gonna happen
folks listen people get a hold of this in the world they they get a hold of it
in the world and they make positive confessions they tell you you make
positive confessions over your life what kind of house do you want to have what
kind of car do you want to drive what kind of job do you want to have they
just they just limit it right to that secular or physical only level but
friend I want you to know God's Word includes it all amen
it could it includes it all and sometimes we just get so caught up in
the spiritual side we miss the practical application of it and James said be
doers of the word and not hearers only
Wow so you got to do something people might say I want to advance in life I
want to increase and I want to make more money I want to get
a better job I want to be a better husband I want to get in shape and lose
weight looking yet how can you tell what's really important to them is by
what they do all right this is this this is a challenge for us
because this is where the rubber meets the road for the person who says I'm
looking for that next promotion I I want the race I want to move up in the
company but now watch what he or she does they come to work at the last
possible moment or they're late all the time they're on the internet searching
stuff for personal life visiting with people all through the day in their
workplace instead of working they leave with the earliest possible moment to get
home to watch television because their favorite show is on at a certain time
and they have to be there to watch their show or maybe they're leaving to go play
so what's really important progressing growing learning doing better or going
home and watching television you can tell by our actions right we can say
what we want we could say what we desire but until we start doing something to
give us there we're just a hot air balloon full of hot air I guess that's
the better way to say it you all still love me I love you I do and and and I'm
I'm I'm studying this I'm like II there are some things I need to do now can I
give you I'm gonna give you just a few things real quick and this is the
practical side Habakkuk in chapter 2 and I'm gonna close with this Habakkuk
chapter 2 says this write down the vision write it write it I'll give
you a couple of statistics you'll love this statistics say that only 3% of
people today write their goals 3% there's been a lot of talk and it's
been pretty quiet for a long quiet for a few months now the 1% how all the 1%
have everything and the 99% don't have anything you know how you get into the
1% start writing your goals down amen you know people are still moving to
America there are staggering numbers of self-made millionaires and billionaires
in this country today because they believed if they could get here they
could do something to make millions of dollars and they did it how much more
should you and me believers of the Lord Jesus Christ be able to do that amen but
sometimes we just want to sit back and wait Oh God
oh thank you Father for supplying all my need and we just sit on the couch thank
you Father for supplying all my need thank you Father
there's things that He wants you and me to do so it begins with right the vision
right the vision I came across this article and there's a lot so I'm just
gonna highlight this for you because I want to stop but this one was
a guy by the name of Damien Pros and he wrote for elite daily and might have
been a British newspaper but the things that I've read different are authors on
goal-setting if you just google goal-setting you can find all kinds of
principles this is probably the most common thread through most of them but
most of them encourage folks to start with a journal write things down and you
say well how do how do I do that you you write down how much money do you want to
make what kind of house do you want to live in what kind of person do you want
to be in the kingdom of God write down some of the things what does it look
like where do you want to live what do you want to achieve in your
relationships what are you expecting for your career do you want to learn a new
craft do you want to start new hobby do you want to learn a new
skill we work my wife and I went to see how many of you seen that movie called
hidden figures anybody see that about the african-american ladies who worked
for NASA holy cow that is a great movie great movie there's a phrase in that
movie the the lady who was passed over those of you who've seen it I won't this
won't be a spoiler alert but those of you who see that there was a one of the
ladies there was three friends one was very gifted in math from a time she was
a little child she was very gifted in math another one
was an engineer and these are african-american ladies that in in the
50s and 60s when it would have been hard just for a lady to be in some of these
careers they were african-american ladies in these careers trying to be
advanced trying to advance in and and of course the white folk of those days we
would keep putting them down and so this one lady was a supervisor but really
wasn't qualified because she was african-american and they they didn't
want to make exceptions but she kept and she persisted and and so they're talking
about here in the movies NASA and and they're building the the the rocket and
and to get into space we're rushing with the Russians trying to get there okay
and so they show this computer coming in IBM what's an IBM and so they explain
what an IBM is and it takes up this entire room and those of you who started
out with IBM computers know they had this card and you'd put the card in and
it would dull the tape things would change and numbers would start coming
out into the brilliant those numbers meant something and so this lady who was
a supervisor she was over all of these other ladies who did the math for all
the engineers they were checking the math they were called computers all
these ladies we're called computers and so in the movie they're talking about
this new computer coming in so this lady goes to the library and I didn't know
they even had this then too but they have a section for african-americans and
they had a section for white people and of course the books in the
african-american section weren't the same as the white folks and so she was
in the white folks and she actually got kicked out of the library well go into
details but she got a book on is it called Fortran
the original some of the original computer language and she took that book
and she read it and she studied it and she went back to her group of ladies and
she began to teach them she said we're having a computer come in and this
computer can do 24,000 numbers per second and of course all the ladies were
freaking out because their job was about to go away and you know what this lady
did she taught them Fortran and she said ladies we are going to make ourselves
valuable make yourself valuable you say how do you do that you learn something
you stretch you increase what is your field instead of complaining all this
thing is going to replace me what can you do to learn to replace it or fix it
or run it the long short of the story the long side of the story is she
trained all those ladies who were doing numbers by hand she trained them how to
be computer operators and programmers and when the guys who were supposed to
set up the computer couldn't get it running she got it running and she was
called she was the first african-american supervisor in NASA
right she was the first one and they just recently dedicated a building in
her name somewhere in the NASA system and she brought all of those ladies with
her into that place because it was gonna take all of them to run that computer
and they all had jobs they didn't get laid off they made their selves
themselves valuable so I would challenge you today how can you make yourself
valuable write it down make specific goals here's here's one that a lot of
times folks do around this time of year I want to lose 20 pounds okay sometimes
people say that I'm going to lose 20 pounds this year all right that's a good
goal but how about saying I want to lose 20 pounds in the next four months put a
deadline to your goal make it realistic but put a deadline to your goal because
if you don't have a deadline you don't have a
timeframe you don't have a step plan action plan it'll never happen
97% of people in the world are in America at least do not have written
down goals you can become top to 3% right now you can go home you can take
one of your bulletins with you go home today and start writing down some goals
write down as a specific plan how are you gonna do it how is it gonna happen
what needs to happen if you want to make yourself more valuable at your workplace
what specific things can you do to make yourself more valuable there is it learn
something is to go to night school is it take classes through somewhere at work
is it come in a half an hour early stay a half an hour late is it making sure
you're doing what your job is supposed to be done we sometimes we just want to
look at all the spiritual stuff and we we forget where the practical is it says
this proverbs 29 and worship team would you come on back up we'll close out the
service here worship team come up proverbs 29 says where there is no
vision the people are unrestrained but happy is he who keeps the law the
message says if people can't see what God is doing they stumble all over
themselves but when they attend to what He reveals they are most blessed you
know a couple of years ago we wrote down and I haven't always done this so I did
I started a couple of years ago we wrote down some vision for the church one of
the visions for the church was that we would be debt-free it happened I started
looking at that on a daily basis I started looking that on a weekly basis
what things can we do what kinds of things do we need to happen and then
opportunities started to present themselves
we sold a building we were able to pay off debt we were able to be debt-free
would that have happened if we didn't write it down I don't know I can't
answer that but I know there's something that we're writing down that today we're
seeing happen what we desire to do more with outreach in our community so we
wrote down by an ice cream truck I know that's a simple thing by an ice cream
truck converted by a no panel truck converted into an ice cream truck and
get it out in the community that took a little longer than we wanted but you
know what we've got an ice cream truck and it's gonna go out in the community
this summer and we're gonna make an impact by building relationships with
parents and kids and being seen in our community amen
there's desires that we have that we've got to write them down and then they say
all the time they say look at them every day look at them every day because
there's been times when I'll go a week to two weeks or a month or so haven't
looked at I start to look at it it focuses me and some of the things on
some of the things I'm trying
do it for your work life - oh there's seven areas one leadership book said you
can you do like a pie and it's got spiritual it's got career it's got
intellectual it's got family it's got social it's got financial there's
seven different areas you can look at your life and you can say
give them a number one to ten one unsatisfied ten satisfied and the low
numbers you can look at them and say okay what am I gonna do to get that number up
and you begin to pray you begin to focus watch what you think watch what you say
and watch what you do and watch this year be your best you praise God let's
all stand up together Father thank you so much for the Word your Spirit
teaching and ministering to us Oh Father I just pray as we pray before and as I
prayed leading up to this service Lord that the Spirit of God would just do
something in each and every one of our hearts to remind us of the importance
and creativity of your presence in our life Father that the Holy Spirit who
brooded over who hovered over the chaos of this world
waiting for you to speak waiting for you to declare and decree a faith when you
spoke and said let there be light Holy Spirit went into action
and light was and you said let there be stars and the
Holy Spirit went into action there were stars and you said let there be an earth
oceans animals trees vegetation they all came into being and that same
Holy Spirit is in and over each and every one of our lives
today so I thank you Father no longer victims no longer fearful no longer
wearing labels of limitations of the world and of teachers and of parents
and of past failures no longer wearing those things finding out and reminding
ourselves who we are the Jesus we have the mind of Christ and the wisdom of God
is formed within us at the spirit of the everliving Everlasting
God lives and dwells in us to teach us in to lead us in the guidance thank you Jesus
thank you Father Thank You Holy Spirit
you
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