Welcome back tonight is our ship night. So what that means is pick song this section first
Does anybody from this section have a song that they want tonight marching design on 43?
I believe him number 43. We're marching to Zion him number 43 number 43
We'll sing there on the first come we
Sweet city up to sing speed
City and say it's sweet before we reach the heads or walk the goal
Street's a young to saw it a full city of God
I'd be driving through thing through to fair to stop the full side
Beyond we're more upward to song the beautiful city of God this time
We'll open with a word of prayer heavenly father
We thank you for another evening to gather together to sing praises out in your name
Lord, I pray that we would just all have a heart of fellowship in us this evening that we would rejoice in the family
That you've given us spiritually Lord and that we would grow close ties and connections
With the family with the church that you have built here in Oklahoma City, Lord
I also just pray that the service would be done decently in an order that you would open our ears to the message that you've laid
On brother Dylan's heart this evening these things we pray in Jesus name. Amen. All right, mr. Gary
147 leaning on the everlasting arms great him
147
147 we'll sing there on the first what a
Fellowship what a joy divine leaning on the everlasting
arms what a
blessedness what a peace is mine leaning on the
everlasting arms
Leaning
Leaning safe and secure from all alarms
Leaning
On the everlasting arms, oh how sweet to walk in this
Pilgrim way leaning on the everlasting
Or if the path grows from day to day
on the everlasting
arms
Lean and secure from to feast at peace with my lord so near
leaning on the
Everlasting lean and secure from the steadfast baptist church
We're gonna go through our announcements at this time
If you don't have a bulletin go ahead and raise your hand and usher will bring you one
We do have our bible memory passage of the week listed there hebrews chapter six verse four
Just still barely getting started in this chapter
So plenty of time to work on it on the inside is our service times listed sunday morning at 10 30 a.m
Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m
And our wednesday evening bible study every wednesday at seven o'clock p.m
Our soul winning times are listed there and our nursing home schedule as well
Also our year-to-date year-to-date salvations and baptisms and as always please if you go to a soul winning time
Report your salvations to the soul winning leader
So for example today if you went soul winning if you had a salvation, please just text me
Or email the church and i'll make sure to get those numbers
Reported on the right. We do have our list of prayer for expecting ladies miss whitney reed
Please be praying for her during her pregnancy and today is september 1st
So I believe that brother alvarez is now pastor alvarez. So that is great news. How exciting
That he came from this church and is now a pastor
So we're very excited for him and for pure words baptist church
Make sure you pray for him keep him in your in your thoughts and prayers send him a message of congratulations
And uh to his wife as well. It's a huge accomplishment for him and we're very happy for their family today also is our
Fellowship event our fifth sunday fellowship very excited for that
At the end of the service i'm going to ask
Some men if they could help me clear this middle section
I think we should be good to set up tables just in this middle section if it gets too crowded
We can move aside as well
But if some of the men will just help us with that after our last song the theme tonight is family favorites
And I went out so winning with alex. We tried to find some dogs, but we couldn't find any
So it's okay. Maybe next time for him
So september 7th this saturday is our first soul winning rally very excited for this
At 9 15, we'll start eating. We're going to get breakfast catered coffee
So it's not just the curi coffee. We're going to get some good coffee catered really excited for that
It's going to be a good time of fellowship at 10 o'clock
We'll start with having a song and then brother eric is going to preach a soul winning challenge for us
And then we'll pair up and go soul winning somewhere locally here in the community
So looking forward to this upcoming soul winning rally and every saturday after that october 4th through the 6th
Is the heritage of the lord conference hosted by steadfast baptist church in cedar hill?
And again, that is a conference catered towards the youth
So if you have kids teenagers, this would be a great one to take them to for sure and it's only
Three and a half hours away. So it's close. It's a blessing that we're so close to them
So I'd encourage you to go to that october 6 will be our next fifth sunday fellowship
I'll let you know what the theme is for that when I come up with one
And november 6 through the 10th is the faithful word baptist church missions conference in tempi, arizona
If you're interested in that conference, I highly recommend you make it out. I went to the one in 2020
It was a great time and it was in january. So the weather was tolerable. Hopefully the weather is tolerable there in november
I'm glad this is not like in july or anything like that
So love for you guys to go out for that as well. And at this time we'll go ahead and go to our next song
Yes, 105
Him number 105 all that thrills my soul
105 we'll sing there starting on the first
Who can cheer the heart like jesus?
Why his presence all divine
True tender pure and precious
Oh, how blessed to call him. Oh thrills. My soul is jesus
He's more than life to me
Said lord i see so freely on the green sea my soul is g than life to me
Ten thousand lord i see snow my soul is g than life to me ten thousand lord i see
And supply i see strength every law to me my soul is g than life to me
Stuff ten thousand lord i see some die will see my soul and life to me ten thousand lord
I see the offering plates are being passed. Excuse me. Turn if you would to philippians chapter number three
philippians chapter number three philippians chapter number three
Philippians chapter number three the bible reads finally my brethren rejoice in the lord to write the same things to you to me indeed
It's not grievous but for you it is safe beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision for
We are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit and rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence in the flesh
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
He might trust in the flesh. I more circumcise the eighth day
Of the stock of israel of the tribe of benjamin and hebrew of the hebrews
As touching the law of pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church touching the righteous
The righteousness which is in the law blameless, but what things were gained to me
Those I counted loss for christ yay doubtless
And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung
That I may win christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness
Which is of the law but that which is through the faith of christ the righteousness which
Is of god by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of
His sufferings being made comfortable
Unto his death i'm sorry conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain into the
resurrection of the dead not as though I had already attained
Either were already perfect, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am
apprehended of christ jesus
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended
But this one thing I do for getting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things
Which are before I press toward the mark of the high prize
I'm sorry. I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus
Let us therefore as many be as perfect
As be perfect be thus minded and if in anything ye be otherwise minded
God shall reveal even this unto us. Nevertheless
Where to we have already attained let us walk by this by the same rule
Let us mine the same thing brother and beef be followers together of me and mark them which walk
So as ye have us for an ensemble for many walk of whom I have told you often
And now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of christ
Whose end is destruction whose god is their belly?
And whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things for our conversation is in heaven
From whence also we look for our savior for the savior
The lord jesus christ who shall change our vile bodies
That it may be fashioned like unto the glorious body according to the working whereby
He is able even to subdue all things unto himself heavenly father lord. We just thank you so much for this day
we just pray that you'd be with uh
Be with brother dylan just help him preach and I just pray that you'd be with this congregation
And just help us to focus on your provision for us and we love you and we thank you in jesus precious name
We pray amen. Amen. All right
Well, we're in philippians chapter number three and keep your place there because we're going to come back a little bit
in a few minutes, but let's start reading in philippians chapter number three verse 13
Bible says brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do
Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god
In christ jesus and when I read this verse from the apostle paul the human author of this chapter
You know, I think of goal setting because here he's saying that he's pressing towards the mark
He has a goal that he's trying to reach in his life
There's a prize that he wants to obtain and this is a pretty popular passage that people will go to to
To talk about goals and stuff like that and that's what we're going to talk about tonight
The title of my sermon tonight is how to accomplish your goals how to accomplish your goals now
I hope you have goals if you don't have goals. That's a completely different sermon
I'm assuming you have some goals. That's what this sermon is assuming and tonight we're going to learn from the scripture how to effectively
Accomplish your goals now, like I said keep your place there but go to luke chapter number 10 luke chapter number 10
I'm going to try to give you an alliterated sermon tonight. All right
So if you like to take notes, you know, this will make you happy
I guess this is uh one of those sermons luke chapter number 10
So number one if you want to accomplish your goals according to the scripture, the first thing you must do is prioritize
You must prioritize look at luke chapter number 10 verse 38
It says now it came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named martha
Received him into her house and she had a sister called mary which also sat at jesus's feet and heard his word
But martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said
Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone bid her therefore that she helped me and jesus answered
And said unto her martha martha thou art careful and troubled about many things, but notice this next phrase
But one thing is needful and mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken
Away from her so notice in this story. What do you have you have two sisters?
That have invited the lord jesus christ into their home and you have mary
Who's sitting at jesus's feet basically just listening to him speak and just cleaning wisdom from the lord jesus christ
And what is martha doing? Well, she's going around and she's cleaning she's serving she's covered about with a lot of care
And the interesting thing about this story is that what martha is doing is good
I mean, can we all agree that serving is a good thing to do?
It's a good thing to work hard
It's a good thing to clean your house and to be you know, not lazy not a busy body
What she's doing is really good and but the truth is is that what mary?
Was doing was best and oftentimes it's not necessarily
Bad things that keeps us from the best things oftentimes
It's good things that keep us from the best things
And so when you want to accomplish something in your life, you want to accomplish a goal you must prioritize
Notice because jesus said that one thing was needful. What does that denote that denotes the idea of prioritization that hey
Yeah, what martha was doing was good in and of itself. It's a great to be working hard in your house and cleaning
But that was not the priority that she should have had
now
Go to philippians go back to philippians chapter number three, but you know, I think that we can relate a lot with martha here
Because if your life is anything like my life
Martha's actions here kind of resonate with me that just being full of care and covered about with a lot of things
You know a lot of us have a lot of responsibilities and things to take care of i've got four little girls
I've got a wife i've got a job, you know
There's a lot that i'm doing in life and so I can relate to her situation
And really doesn't that just kind of describe the american way of life today
The american way of life today is being full of care and covered about with a lot of things to do
And you know how I know this is especially an american thing is because when I go to other countries
What is noticeably different about other countries is how quiet it is
It's weird when I went to germany this year. It was so strange going outside. There's no construction
There's no sirens. There's no honking. There's no people out working in the streets
And that is not what america is like, you know in america
It doesn't matter what time of day or night you go outside in the city and people are going to and fro
They're working night shifts. They're doing construction in the middle of the night
There's always police and fire and ems going down the road. There's just a lot of sound
Why because we're just a really busy nation. We constantly have stuff to do
And when I went to mexico, it was the same thing you go outside and it's the middle of the day and it's just quiet
People aren't doing a whole lot
And in a way, it's kind of good that america is like that because it kind of points to the fact that there's still a lot
Of hard-working people here. There's a lot of people here that are putting a lot of
Energy into their life and wanting to build things and create things and work hard and that's great
But here's the thing in order to do that and in order to accomplish your goals and in order to accomplish the most important
Goals in your life. What you must do is you must
Prioritize you must prioritize look at how the apostle paul did this philippians 3 verse 7
But what things were gained to me those I counted loss for christ
Yay, doubtless and I call I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of christ
Jesus my lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung
That I may win christ so notice in paul's life his greatest priority
Was serving the lord Jesus Christ and when he lost everything he says hey all of that
I don't care about any of that stuff because the apostle paul you got to remember he was a Pharisee of the Pharisee
He was brought up from a child to be trained as a Pharisee
And so I'm sure he had a lot of prestige and respect in his circle of friends and circle family
And you know what he lost all of that to become to go from being Saul to Paul
Why because it wasn't his priority to be liked or to have influence or to have power his priority was Jesus Christ
That was his one thing in his life look at verse 9 and be found in him not having mine own righteousness
Which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
Conformable unto his death it's saying hey more than anything
You know what the priority is for me that I may know him and you know a lot of people are not living their lives
Like this today. This is a special person
You know people like to say this kind of stuff and you know
This is one of those verses that sounds really great on a on a postmark card or whatever
But not very many people live their lives where their true priority is to know Christ
But that was Paul's priority verse 11 if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead
Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect
But I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this notice this phrase if you like underlining in your Bible underline this one
Thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I
Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus notice in the Apostle Paul's mind there was one thing that was the priority in his life
There wasn't a bunch of priorities that was competing for his heart competing for his attention
No, he prioritized in his life and he says hey, there's one thing that's important to him. What is it knowing Christ?
What is it serving Christ pressing towards the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and you know for Martha?
Martha was working. She was doing a lot of service. She was doing something good
But what did Jesus say was the one thing that was needful notice that same phrase
One thing was needful for her and that was to actually listen to Jesus Christ to spend time with him
and the truth is is that every single person you and I we all have priorities in our life and we all need to figure out what
Our one thing is in life because for a lot of people the one thing in life their biggest priority in life is
Alcohol, you know
There's some people where they go to work and they just can't wait to get off work to go to happy hour to go get drunk
They can't wait to go home and just crack open a beer. Why because that is their one thing in life
That's what they care about more than anything else for a lot of other people
They're one thing in life what they care about as the most important priority is money
You know this describes most Americans today most Americans today
What they care about is how they can make as much money as humanly possible at any cost
They don't care what the job is. They don't care what they have to sacrifice to do that
They don't care about family time at home or their children being raised by the public school or whether they're being raised at home with
Their mom they just care about money. What do we have today only fans?
What is this women literally whoring themselves out on the internet because they have one thing that's important to them
Making money and they're willing to become a literal whore just to make money one thing that matters in their life
For a lot of people their one thing that they care about is just enjoyment and pleasure and when they live their life
They're not really worried about getting a good career or serving God
All they care about is to have as much free time as possible so that they could just enjoy this world
Enjoy living it up and enjoy having free time and leisure
You know for a lot of people their one thing is college football. There's people like that, huh?
I bet you there's a lot of people like that in Oklahoma and especially even farther down south, you know
Isn't isn't Oklahoma now in the SEC? Oh, yeah
So that's that's like big time everyone worships football if you're in the SEC and there's a lot of people where it's just like
All they care about is watching the NFL game on Sunday and all they care about on on Saturdays watching college football
And all they care about Monday through Friday is watching baseball games
You know one time I went soul winning during the Super Bowl and I was living in Washington State at the time and the Seattle Seahawks
We're in the Super Bowl and that was the worst day of soul-winning. I've ever had in my entire life. Why because
Everyone's one thing was the Seattle Seahawks
That's all they cared about and I'm just telling you if you want to accomplish something in your life
If you have a goal if you want to serve God if you want to just live a balanced life
You need to figure out priorities. You need to prioritize. What is the one thing in your life?
That's most important and you know
I would hope that every single person in this room we could all have the same one thing and it's the same one thing that
The Apostle Paul had and that is to serve Jesus Christ, you know for me that is my one thing
That is my biggest goal in life. That is why I'm here in life is to serve God
You know if you're saved that is the one thing that your life is here to do to serve
God go to Matthew chapter number 22 Matthew chapter number 22. Most people haven't made this a priority in their life
Most people would say oh, yeah, I have a goal. I have a goal to serve God
I want to serve God but they haven't made God a priority in their life. Look at Matthew 22 verse 37
Jesus said unto him thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind
This is the first and great commandment notice
Jesus didn't teach that he wants God to be some sort of afterthought for us that once we've taken care of our affairs
Once we've had fun once we've done the things that we want to do then we can go ahead and love God
No, he wants us to love God with all of our mind with all of our heart with all of our strength
You know what that makes me think of priorities. That makes me think of someone that prioritizes
God go to Colossians chapter number three Colossians 3 while you turn to Colossians 3. I'll read for you Ecclesiastes 12 13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole
Duty of man, you know what the one thing men should prioritize according to the Bible is
Fearing God and keeping his commandments. It's that simple and you know, it's it's a lot more simple than it is easy
It's not necessarily easy to do that, but it is simple fear God and keep his commandments
That is the one thing in our life that we should be
Prioritizing look at Colossians 3 verse 1 if you then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above
Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affection on things above not on things on the earth
For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ notice this next phrase who is our
Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory
The Bible says that if you're saved if you've been risen with Christ Christ is your life
Christ is your purpose in life Christ should be the greatest priority in your life
Well, how do you know how can you gauge yourself in your life and say am I making Christ a priority is?
Serving God my great one thing in my life. Well, you could examine your actions when you wake up in the morning
What is your priority is your priority?
to grab your phone and log on to Facebook and log on to tik-tok and log on to Instagram and just scroll a bunch of random
Garbage is your priority to start stuffing your face with food is your priority just to you know, do nothing
Well, if your priority is Christ, you know what you would do when you wake up in the morning
Is that you would do something spiritual you'd say a prayer to the Lord or you'd read your Bible or you'd sing a hymn or something
spiritual to acknowledge
Jesus Christ why because he is our life, you know
If you're someone that prioritizes Christ you say Christ is my great one thing Jesus is my greatest priority in life
You know that type of person would be in church every single time. The doors are open not just well
You know, it's Sunday morning. Do I feel like going to church today or do I feel like going fishing?
Do I feel like going to church today or am I gonna get an early workout at the gym today?
No a person who has Christ as their one thing in their life when there's a church service
They already know they're going they don't have to think or wonder or guess. Am I am I gonna go to church today?
It's just it's a part of who they are why because Christ is their one great thing
And you know you could you could gauge yourself and you could lie to yourself you could pretend like Christ is your great one thing
But if you're not prioritizing church if you do not make it a habit of going to church
Every time you possibly can then Christ is not your one great thing if you're not reading the Bible every single day Christ
Is not your one great thing. No, you are your one great thing your will your desire
Your goals for your life is your one great thing and look
I hope we have other goals too
But your one great thing your one great goal in life should be serving God and your actions should
Reflect that go to collage. You're in Colossians chapter 3, you know, like I said, there's several other areas of life
We should prioritize there's several other areas of life that we should have goals in we talked about the most important one
Which is serving God, you know, of course, I hope also you have goals for your family
I hope you have goals for your finances for your physical health for all sorts of other things
But you know, what's another area in our life that we should prioritize? Well, it's family that is an important prioritization in our life
And look at verse 18 of the same chapter says wives
Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord
You know if your wife and you you have this thought that hey, I want to be a great wife
I want to prioritize my husband. What does that actually look like of a woman that actually prioritizes her husband?
Well, look right there the Bible says submit yourselves unto your own husbands. That would be an example practically speaking of hey
Do you actually prioritize your husband ladies? Well, do you submit to him? Do you obey him when he tells you to do something?
Do you just agree and do it with a good attitude or do you want to put up a fight?
Do you want to you know bristle and buckle at what he's saying and resist him and backtalk and argue, you know
That's not a wife that's prioritizing her husband. That's a wife that's being contentious and nagging
No wife that would prioritize her husband would obey her husband look at verse 19 husbands
Love your wives and be not bitter against them
You know
I hope the men in this room that are married have a goal to be a great husband and to be a very godly husband
But you and to prioritize their wives, but if you say, you know, I'm a man. I want to prioritize my wife
What does that look like it looks like what the Bible says?
They're loving her and elsewhere in Ephesians chapter 5 the Bible commands us to love our wives as Christ
Loved the church and gave himself for it. So what does it look like for a husband? That's prioritizing his wife
It means that he's selflessly leading her. Yes. He's in charge. Yes. He's making all the decisions
but he's making all the decisions for the betterment and benefit of his wife and you know
This is what every leader should do. This is what bosses should do in the workplace. They should be completely empowered
They should be completely in charge, but they should make all the decisions for the betterment of their company for their employees for their
clients for other people
Pastors today, you know, they should be a hundred percent in charge
They should be having authority in the church, but every decision that they make should be for the betterment of the church
Why because that's what prioritizing someone else actually looks like means you're leading for their benefit. Yes, you're in charge
But you're doing it for their benefit go to 1st Timothy chapter number 5 1st Timothy chapter number 5, you know
I hope you have some goals for work
Why is that? Well, look what the Bible says in 1st Timothy 5 verse 8
But if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is worse
Than an infidel look this should be a priority in man's life
It should be a big priority in your life to be able to provide money for your family
To be able to put food on the table to put a roof over their head
Why because if you don't according to the Bible you're worse than someone that's not even saved
Why because even regular unsaved people provide for their families?
They know that that's a priority and it's a complete shame and disgrace
For a man that is saved to not provide for his family
You know, that's a joke and so that should be a priority in your life. You want you have goals with work
What are you gonna have to do?
You're gonna have to prioritize it ladies you have work to look at the same chapter verse 13
It says speaking of women here with all they learn to be idle wandering about from house to house and not only idle
But Tatler's also in busy bodies
Speaking things which they ought not so this is the bad example
This is not what you want to be like as a lady verse 14. We understand the will of God here
I will therefore that the younger women marry bare children
Guide the house give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully for some are already turned aside after Satan
So notice this should be a priority for ladies to work hard to keep the house
To love their husbands to love their children, but we understand that this is not the greatest priority of life
Why well because in Luke chapter 10 we saw Mary and Martha Martha was doing this she was working hard at home
But what she was missing out was the greater priority of serving God and so you got to realize that when you have goals in life
There's things you want to accomplish you must sit down and prioritize
What the main goals are and your actions should reflect that you know something else that I think is important to prioritize is just simply rest
Let me read for you Exodus 34 21. It says six days thou shalt work
But on the seventh day thou shalt rest in earring time and in harvest thou shalt rest
And you know, of course in the New Testament the Sabbath is not something that we have to observe that's been fulfilled in Christ
It was a picture of salvation by faith blown in Jesus Christ
But this still may be a good principle that you want to adhere to in your life
That you may want to just work six days really hard and have one day to rest if you can, you know
You say I'm super stressed. I've got all these things. I'm full of care like Martha. I'm covered about with all this work
Well for you most people don't have this problem, but for you you may need to prioritize
Rest in your life. So number one if you want to accomplish your goals you need to prioritize go to Ecclesiastes chapter number three
But number two if you want to accomplish your goals, you must plan you must plan
So first you prioritize you say okay
Here's my priorities in life number one serving God number two my family
Number three work number four rest behind all those things you sit down and you say this is my priorities in life
But it's not enough just to make your priorities
You must actually plan and I think the Bible gives us this principle here in Ecclesiastes chapter number three look at verse one
It says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven Bible saying hey
Everything has its proper season and its proper time
And if that's the case when you have your priorities you need to plan those things out
And the Bible is gonna give us a bunch of examples here look at verse 2 a time to be born and a time to die
Now you can't really plan those things out, but you know people do try to plan births people do try to say hey
Here's your due date.
They're trying to plan it out a little bit.
And maybe if you're in Canada, I guess
you could kill yourself legally there.
So I guess you can plan your time to die in Canada.
What a wicked place.
A time to plant and a time to pluck up
that which is planted, time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to break down, time to build up, a time to weep,
and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to get, and a time to lose, a time to keep,
and a time to cast away, a time to rend, and a time to sew,
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, a time to love,
and a time to hate, a time of war, and a time of peace.
I mean, the Bible is just going on and on and on here
about how there's a time for everything, a time, a time,
a time.
The Bible is being so repetitive here.
And here's the thing.
The Bible is denoting the idea of planning and of scheduling.
And my advice for you, if you have a busy life,
if you have a lot of goals you want to accomplish,
my advice to you is to schedule everything.
And I mean just about every single thing.
You know, when you have a major life change,
it's always a good time to reevaluate your priorities
and to reevaluate your plan.
And so recently, I just moved here.
And so we've got a new house.
We've got new neighbors.
I got a new job, new boss, new coworkers, new church,
new grocery stores, new schedules, new everything.
Everything's new, right?
So this last week, I've been thinking a lot about this,
because I've had to sit down and say, hey,
I've got a limited amount of time.
What are my priorities?
I had to decide what those are.
And then when I decide what those priorities are,
I had to plan, meaning I had to schedule,
how am I going to give my time to those priorities?
So this has been my schedule for the last week.
And I'll just kind of explain to you how I schedule my day.
And maybe this could help you if you're the type of person
that doesn't like to plan.
I don't understand your brain, so I cannot help you at all.
But if you do like to plan, this is how I roll here.
So I wake up at 5.30, I get to work at about 6.15.
I like to get there a little early.
That way I can get a little bit of Bible reading in
before I go to work.
Why?
Because that's my priority.
I want to get there early so I don't have to stress
about being late, and I just read the Bible
in the parking lot until it's time to clock in.
I start work at 6.30 a.m., and we have lunch
at about 11 o'clock, and at 11 o'clock,
I try to get more Bible reading in,
hopefully finish my Bible reading in for the day.
So I've got my priorities, I've got my plan.
I've got serving God, I've got my Bible reading in.
You know, when I drive to work,
I like to get my prayer in at that time,
and then at lunch break, I get more Bible reading in.
I get home at about 3.30 p.m., so at 3.30,
I see my family for a little bit,
make a cup of coffee, change into my workout clothes,
and I get a quick workout in.
I try to do it like 30 minutes, 45 minutes max,
because if I spend a bunch more time than that,
then I'm gonna be messing up with my priorities, okay?
So I get off the gym at about 4.30,
from about 4.30 p.m. until dinner's ready,
I'll try to do some church work, some administrative work,
or write sermons, or whatever.
At that time, we have dinner, after dinner,
I like to have some family time,
because that's a priority for me.
So we'll all hang out, we'll all go outside with the kids,
and play basketball, or we'll play a game,
we'll have family Bible time.
You know, this is a priority in my life,
so this is something that I've scheduled,
that hey, after dinner is family time.
We put the kids to bed right at eight o'clock p.m.,
from about eight to nine-ish, I do some more church work,
put about another hour in, and then after that,
I try to give just my spouse another hour of the day,
and then it's to bed.
So literally, from the time I wake up
to the time I go to bed, every single hour is planned.
And that's because I wanna make sure
that I'm giving my time to the priorities
that I have in my life.
Why, because I have a goal,
and that goal is to serve God with my life,
and that goal is to be a good husband,
and that goal is to be a good dad,
that goal is to be a good worker,
and that goal is to have good physical health.
And so I've made those priorities,
and then I've allocated that time to those areas
by making a plan.
So, you know, I can't stress it enough.
I really am a huge believer in plans and schedules,
and if you feel burnt out
and you feel like your life is not balanced
and you feel like you're not able to accomplish your goals,
you need to sit down and look at every single hour of your day
and see where that time is going,
because you might find that an hour of your day
is going to just scrolling on social media,
doing absolutely nothing,
and then you wonder why you can't accomplish your goals.
Well, it's because you're not planning.
And when you fail to plan,
you plan to fail as the saying goes, right?
Go to Proverbs chapter 24, Proverbs chapter 24.
Now, of course, you also have to be at peace
with the fact that life happens.
So you make the priorities, you make the plans,
but sometimes you got to realize
that those plans will be broken.
Emergencies will happen, things will come up,
and I hate that that's the case
'cause I just want to control everything
and I just want to plan every second,
but you just have to be okay with the fact
that you're gonna make your plans
and sometimes that's gonna be broken,
sometimes you need to be flexible.
But here's the thing, if you consistently make a plan,
you're gonna find that a lot of times
you actually can schedule everything that you tried to do.
Proverbs 24, look at verse 27.
Prepare thy work without and make it fit
for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house.
And again, I think this proverb is also
pointing to this idea of planning
that if you're gonna build a house,
you don't wanna just lay the foundation without a plan
and then you just show up to the foundation
with all this different assortment of wood
and you don't know how long it is
and you haven't laid everything out to know,
okay, this is gonna be the office,
this is gonna be the living room,
this is gonna be the kitchen.
You just start haphazardly putting up
wood of random assortments, that's gonna be a failure.
You're not gonna make a house.
You're not gonna accomplish your goal.
And if you have any goal in life,
if you don't have a plan,
you will not just accidentally succeed.
No person that is successful, think of any business,
any person of influence or leadership that you respect,
any pastor, any good dad,
anyone that's good with their finances,
you know, any good husband.
That did not happen by accident.
You don't just randomly, by accident,
be successful in this life.
No, what it takes is prioritizing.
Okay, I have this goal.
What are the action steps that are priorities
for me to accomplish this?
Then you actually need to plan that out.
Actually prepare thy work without.
Go to Proverbs chapter number six.
Proverbs chapter number six.
So look, if serving God is a priority in your life,
you need to plan time to give to God.
If family is a priority in your life,
you need to sit down and plan time
to spend time with your family.
Because if you don't, time will just get away from you.
There's always more work to be done.
There's always more things to do.
And if you don't actually make the plan,
it's just not gonna happen.
Proverbs chapter six, verse six,
"Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise,
which having no guide, overseer or ruler,
provided her meat in the summer
and gathereth her food in the harvest."
So the Bible's personifying this animal here, the ant.
And the ant is kind of personified as a leader.
Why? Because this ant is doing things
without any overseer, guide or ruler.
There's no boss telling the ant what to do.
Yet the ant realizes, hey, I have a goal.
It's called surviving.
And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna prioritize
that survival and plan in the summer of gathering my food
so that I could survive in the winter,
so that I could survive in the harvest.
That is a picture here of the principle
that we're talking about.
And of course, this animal, this beast,
this creature just instinctively knows that
because God made this animal to be a picture of that.
Go to Luke chapter number 14, Luke chapter number 14.
Luke chapter number 14, verse 27.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower,
sitteth not down first and counteth the cost,
whether he have sufficient to finish it.
So I think that when it comes to making a schedule,
it helps you to count the cost.
It helps you to realize, hey, if I have a goal
to do something, what I spend my time doing
is an opportunity cost.
Meaning that if I invest my time into one area,
it's going to be benefiting and blessing that area,
but it's at an expense of something else.
And so that's why God needs to be our number one priority.
Jesus even said that if any man hate not his father
or mother, brother, sister, wife, he cannot be my disciple.
Meaning that Jesus is our greatest priority.
We give him the most amount of time, effort, and energy,
and that is at the expense of other things.
And that's how anything in life works.
If you just give a bunch of time, young men, to video games,
OK, you're investing in video games.
You're leveling up in whatever world you're playing in.
But you know what?
At the expense of that is time with your family.
At the expense of that is time with God.
At the expense of that is your physical health,
if you're not being fit.
At the expense of that could be your career,
all sorts of other things.
There's an opportunity cost in everything that you do.
And your time is the most valuable resource
that you have.
And so when you intend to build a tower,
when you intend to have a goal and follow through on it,
you need to count the cost and see if you have to finish it.
Look at verse 29.
"Lest haply after he hath laid the foundation
and is not able to finish it, all that behold it
begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build
and was not able to finish.
What king, going to make war against another king,
siteth not down first and consulteth,
whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh
against him with 20,000.
If you were going out to war, if you were going out
to combat tomorrow, and there's 50,000 Russians invading
the United States, invading Oklahoma City,
you'd want to think, OK, I need to plan.
How many people do I need to take these guys on?
You wouldn't just haphazardly go into a battle
without a plan.
And it should be that way with every single thing
in your life.
Go to 2 Corinthians, chapter number 9.
2 Corinthians, chapter number 9.
So in order to accomplish a goal, number one,
you need to prioritize.
Number two, you need to plan.
And number three, you need to perform.
You need to actually do the thing
that you're planning on doing.
Look at 2 Corinthians 9.6.
The Bible says, "But this I say, he which soweth sparingly
shall reap also sparingly.
And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
The Bible's teaching that you get out of something
what you put into something.
Elsewhere, the Bible says that you reap what you sow.
And if you have a goal, it doesn't
matter how well you prioritize.
And it doesn't matter if you write on some piece of paper
that God's your best priority.
And it doesn't matter if you schedule out your day
and you say, I'm going to wake up and read the Bible.
All of that is completely vain and completely meaningless
if you don't actually perform the action that you
desire to do.
And this is what a lot of people do.
I mean, New Year's rolls around, and they're like, man,
I really want to prioritize my physical health.
I really want to get in shape this year.
And they make a plan.
And they say, OK, here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go down to the gym.
And I'm going to sign up for the gym membership.
They've made their plan.
And then it's February 1st, and they stop going to the gym.
And they don't perform.
And then weeks go on, weeks go on, weeks go on.
And then now it's December 31st again,
and nothing in their life has changed.
Why?
They prioritized.
They made a plan, but they didn't perform.
And it's like this in anything in life.
You want to serve God?
That's your biggest priority?
Yeah, please prioritize it.
Make a plan, but then you actually have to get your lazy
butt up in the morning and read the Bible.
People do this with their finances.
You know, a lot of people--
and finances are hard right now.
The economy is hard.
A lot of people are constantly struggling with their finances.
And it's like they may prioritize.
They may decide, OK, here's where my money needs to go.
They may plan.
They may make a budget.
And on paper, it's like, OK, all of this is going to work.
But if you don't actually perform,
if you don't actually stick to the budget,
nothing's ever going to change.
You're not going to ever be successful in accomplishing
your goal if all you do is prioritize and plan.
You know what you have to do?
You have to perform.
You have to actually do the action.
Go to James chapter number four, James chapter number four.
And it doesn't matter how much money you make.
If you're bad at performing, you could
make millions and millions of dollars a year
and still be in a terrible state financially
because you don't actually perform the plan.
Look at just about any professional athlete.
Pick any guy in the NBA, he's like probably in debt.
Yet he's making tens and tens of millions of dollars a year
because you actually have to do the thing.
James 413, notice the first three words here.
Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow,
we will go into such a city and continue there a year
and buy and sell and get gain.
Notice these men, they've prioritized.
Hey, we want to improve our financial situation.
So they made a plan.
They said, hey, tomorrow we're going to go into this city.
We're going to buy and sell and get gain.
We're going to make lots of money.
But what does the Bible say at the beginning of this verse?
Go to now, meaning you actually have to do your plan.
It's not enough just to plan it out.
You actually have to do the plan.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter number 28, Deuteronomy chapter 28.
While you're turning there, let me keep reading here.
James 4.17 says, "Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
Hey, you could prioritize being a godly Christian
and plan to do it, but if you know to do good,
and you don't actually perform it,
you don't actually do that action,
you know it's a sin to you.
And it's vain and it's meaningless.
Deuteronomy 28 verse one, "And it shall come to pass,
if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice
of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do
all his commandments, which I command thee this day,
that the Lord thy God will set thee on high
above all nations of the earth."
Notice, you reap what you sow.
And if you actually diligently follow all the commandments
of the Bible, and you go to do the Bible,
God will exalt you, God will bless you.
You know, if someone follows the principles in this Bible,
quite honestly, it doesn't even matter
if they're saved or unsaved.
The principles that are in the Bible are tested,
they're tried, and they work.
And it's funny, when I read books about leadership
or business, and I'm seeing these men make this point,
and I'm just like, wow, you're just literally
ripping off the book of Proverbs,
and you don't even know it.
Why?
Because if someone does these things,
they will be exalted, they will be successful.
Go to Daniel chapter number six,
Daniel chapter number six.
While you're turning there,
let me read 1 Corinthians 15, 58.
It says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
for as much as you know that your labor
is not in vain in the Lord."
You know what that person is?
That's someone that performs.
Someone that's steadfast is someone
that is always abounding in the work of the Lord.
You can make a priority to serve God,
you can make a plan to serve God,
but the person that is steadfast
is the person that performs the actions
over and over and over and over again consistently.
You are not someone that's steadfast
if you just go to church once a month.
You're not someone that's steadfast
if you just go soul winning every once in a while.
By definition, when you stop doing something,
you're no longer steadfast.
Someone that wants to make serving God a priority,
someone that wants to make the plan
and actually perform the action, you know what they do?
They go soul winning on Saturday
and then they go next Saturday.
Or whatever your day of the week is,
whatever your time is, you pick a time
and you just perform that action.
And then the next week you come
and you just perform that action.
And whatever goal you have in life, I wanna lose weight.
Okay, you prioritize losing weight.
You make a plan.
You say, here's the time I'm gonna put into working out.
Here's the diet plan that I'm gonna follow.
Then you just perform that action
over and over and over again.
You just get up and you work out.
And you get up and you make that healthy meal.
And then the next day comes
and you perform that action again and again and again,
and you stay steadfast and you know what's gonna happen?
You're gonna find out that you're
actually gonna accomplish your goals.
You're gonna find out that you're gonna wake up one day
and you're gonna be fit.
And it's because you actually prioritized,
you made a plan and you performed that plan.
Daniel was someone like this.
Look at Daniel chapter six verse 10.
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed,
he went into his house and his windows being open
in his chamber towards Jerusalem.
He kneeled upon his knees three times a day
and prayed and gave thanks before his God
as he did a four time.
You know, this is a guy that was steadfast.
Daniel prioritized, he purposed in his heart
that he wanted to serve God and he made a plan in his life.
He had a daily routine where he prayed three times a day
and then something happened
where that actually became illegal.
But you know what he kept doing?
He just kept performing his plan,
kept performing his plan.
And man, if there's a guy that's blessed by God, it's Daniel.
And if there's a guy that accomplished his goal
of being a servant of God, it was Daniel.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 12.
I'll read 1 Corinthians 15, 10 says,
"But by the grace of God, I am what I am.
"And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain,
"but I labored more abundantly than they all,
"yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
See, Paul had a goal,
and it was to press towards the mark, right?
And he had a plan to do that.
You know what he did?
He performed it.
How do you know that?
Because he said that I labored more abundantly
than they all.
And how did the apostle Paul
become the most successful evangelist that's ever lived?
It's because the guy was steadfast,
because the guy actually was performing.
He was not lazy.
Hebrews chapter number 12.
Now, it's also important that when you go to perform
the action, that you're doing it at a pace
that you can sustain, right?
It doesn't make sense if you're like,
hey, I'm super unhealthy and super out of shape.
I'm gonna go down to the CrossFit gym
with all of the ex-retired special forces guys
and start doing workouts with them.
It's like, that's not gonna work, right?
Look at Hebrews 12 verse one.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us.
And notice, let us run with patience
the race that is set before us.
You know, every single person, carnally speaking,
if we all went out on a run today,
we would all be running different paces.
Some of us would be going way slower than others, right?
But here's the thing,
and everybody has different stages of life that they're in
where you could run faster at a different stage of life.
And so it's okay to just be honest with yourself
and just say, hey, here's where I am at life.
This is the pace that I can run the Christian life at
and just go at that pace.
Look, if you going soul winning twice a week
is gonna cause you to just completely quit serving God,
then just keep going once a week.
But at least just keep running the race though.
At least just keep going once a week.
At least just keep going to church.
I'm not saying you have to read your Bible
cover to cover four times a year
and spend 90 minutes a day reading your Bible,
but just read your Bible through once a year at least.
Keep going, keep running the Christian race.
We all have different paces we run at
and that is totally okay.
Last point, go to Zechariah chapter number four.
Do you want to accomplish a goal?
You gotta prioritize, you gotta plan, you have to perform.
Lastly, you need to pray.
You have to pray.
Look at Zechariah four, verse six.
Zechariah four, verse six.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying,
this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying,
notice, not by might, nor by power,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
And us as Christians, it doesn't matter
what goal we have in our life,
whether that's a spiritual goal or a carnal goal.
We have to be humble and remember
that we are completely dependent upon God
for anything and everything.
And anything that we do, anything that we accomplish,
like Paul even said, he said, yeah,
I labor more abundantly than they all,
but there's a lot of grace bestowed unto him.
And the power that he was getting
to perform his great works,
it wasn't because the apostle Paul was so smart
and so great and so strong in the flesh.
No, it was because the spirit of God
was working greatly in him.
And you know, it'd be good for us to understand
before we even attempt to do anything,
that it's impossible to go on our own strength
to accomplish something big for God.
It is impossible to try to raise a godly family
by your own strength and your own power.
Today in 2024, man, it's dang near impossible
to provide for a family by yourself
under your own strength and your own power.
You know, you need God to help you.
You need the power of the Holy Spirit.
Go to Proverbs, or Psalms actually.
Go to Psalm 18, Psalm 18, Psalm 18.
Look at verse one, it says,
"I will love thee, O Lord my strength.
"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
"my God, my strength, in whom I will trust,
"my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower."
Verse three, "I will call upon the Lord,
"who is worthy to be praised.
"So shall I be saved from mine enemies.
"The sorrows of death compassed me,
"and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
"The sorrows of hell compassed me about.
"The snares of death prevented me.
"In my distress, I called upon the Lord
"and cried unto my God.
"He heard my voice out of his temple,
"and my cry came before him, even into his ears."
And you know, we just have to have a humble view
of ourselves and remember that,
even if you prioritize everything perfectly,
even if you plan things out very meticulously,
and you have a perfect plan and a perfect schedule,
and even if you perform things,
we still need God's help to accomplish anything.
Because I've said it a lot lately,
God can just take away anything from you at any time,
and God can give anything to you at any time.
You could be someone that's highly motivated,
you prioritize, you plan, you perform,
you have a successful business, it's doing really well,
and God can just cut that business off anytime he wants.
He can just cut the revenue anytime he wants.
He can just, you know, put it in the heart of your customers
to go to a different provider at any time he wants.
I mean, it's this way with anything.
You know what we need to do?
We need to call upon the Lord.
We need to ask him to help us.
We need to acknowledge him that, hey, Lord,
it's you that gives me the power to get wealth.
It's you that's given me any intellect I have.
It's you that's given me any strength I've had.
It's you that's given me any success I've had.
And Lord, please just keep helping me because I need you.
You know, if you do that, that's a recipe to actually continue to be successful and
to continue to accomplish your goals.
But the moment that we get prideful and start thinking, oh yeah, I'm successful, oh yeah,
I'm a good leader, oh yeah, I'm a great husband, you know, because I'm so smart and because
I'm doing all these things, that's when God is ready to knock you down a notch.
You know, I don't want people to have to go through that because it's just a lot easier
just to stay humble than to get all prideful and for God to cut you down.
It's a lot easier just to stay humble.
Go to Psalm 75, I'll read for you Proverbs 19 and 21.
The Bible says there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand.
And hey, there's many devices in our hearts.
There's a lot of things that we devise and plan, but yet the counsel of the Lord shall
stand.
When God wants something to happen, He'll make sure that it happens and there's no fighting
against God.
There's no fighting against His will.
Psalm 75 verse 6, "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from
the south.
But God is the judge.
He putteth down one and setteth up another."
So you know, I hope everyone does have goals, I hope everyone has a desire, I hope everyone
has the one great thing of our life that we desire to serve Jesus Christ.
But if you follow these principles, if you prioritize, if you plan, if you perform, I
promise you, you will be successful, you will accomplish your goals.
But when you get there, when you start seeing success, when God starts blessing you, never
let us get to the point where we start to forget about God, where we start to think
that we've accomplished things by our own power.
And you know, let's just think about that right now as a church, while we're humble,
while we've got a fairly small church here, while we're meeting at a storefront, you know,
I've got goals for this church to have a big influence and to reach more people and to
train more soul winners and to build an army of soldiers of Jesus Christ here and you know
I hope someday that God blesses this church and exalts us and you know when I was a part
of St. Fast Baptist Church it was fun seeing us go from renting a place in Hearst to being
kicked out and being in hotel church, talk about being humbled right, having church in
a hotel, a different hotel every single week but then seeing God bless us and all of a
sudden Pastor Shelley and St. Fast Baptist Church is able to buy a really nice building
and have a great facility to meet at and you know praise God for that but Pastor Shelley
and St. Fast Baptist Church the reason why God is able to bless them with that is because
they don't think that they're doing it on their own power, they're giving all the glory
to God and it doesn't matter what your goal is, it doesn't matter if it's a spiritual
one, it doesn't matter if it's a physical one, whatever your goal is follow these principles
but always remember to stay humble, always remember to give the glory to God and if we
as a church are blessed we're going to make sure that this church always is giving glory
and thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you for your word, thank you for the principles found therein, just pray that
you would help us to lay these things to our hearts and I just pray that if anyone in here
has a goal to accomplish something for you or something else in their life, that you
just help them to leverage these principles, to prioritize what's important, to make a
plan, to perform that plan and of course most importantly to pray for your favor on their
life and Lord I do pray that you put your favor on this church and that you would bless
us with more soul winners, more laborers, that you would enlarge our coast, that you
would bless us Lord and just pray that we would always give you the honor and glory
for it.
We love you and Jesus name we pray, amen.
Okay quick reminder, so we are going to have our fellowship at this time, so right after
the last song, we're going to have the men move this middle section if you would, kind
of put it off to the side as far to that wall as possible would be great and we'll get some
chairs and tables out and hopefully that fits everyone, if not we'll move one other section
but I'm going to go ahead and pray for the food real quick, we're going to have a last
song, as soon as the song is over, feel free to start grabbing food and the men will be
moving these chairs.
Alright let's have a word of prayer.
Lord thank you for this time of fellowship, thank you for our church and all the people
here.
I do pray that you now bless this food to our bodies, help us to have a great night
of fellowship together.
We love you in Jesus name we pray, amen.
Amen.