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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Hey, everybody, if you'll take our seats, we'll begin our evening service tonight. We'll sing the song number 18. We'll begin our evening service by singing song number 18. Take the name of Jesus with you. Song number 18, please. Come to me, Tia, first. Take the name Jesus made in you. Come, love, sorrow, and love. In the joy come to give in you. Take it then there is a precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, take the name of Jesus then. On the birth and joy of heaven, has a shield and a spell. It temptations when we gather, bring their holy prayer. Precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, oh, the precious name of Jesus. How it thrills us all with joy when his loving ones receive us. And his songs are told in glory, precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, oh, the last. At the name of Jesus, proudly calling your spirit as we. Kings and kings and men will crown you when your journey is complete. Precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, the last. On the birth and joy of heaven, precious name, oh, sweet. On the birth and joy of heaven, precious name, oh, sweet. Song number 310. Song number 310, Footprints of Jesus. Song number 310. Singing, Lord, every word. Singing, Lord, every word. Be called. Be called. And we see where thy goodness coming lead us to be. Lord, our praise to thee is just having love that way more. We lift all those hands to Jesus where they go. Oh, they leave earth on dark mountains seeking peace here. The Lord, the Son of God, is coming for thee. The grace of Jesus standing on that way more. We lift all those hands to Jesus where they go. If they leave the temple, holy, preaching, comfort. For it holds one more and all these turning ones. The grace of Jesus standing on that way more. We lift all those hands to Jesus where they go. Oh, they leave earth on dark mountains seeking peace here. We lift all those hands to Jesus where they go. The grace of Jesus standing on that way more. We lift all those hands to Jesus where they go. That has been our announcements. We are following. We are singing song number 323. Song 323. All right, we'll quickly go through our announcements. If you need a bulletin, just go ahead and lift up your hand. As always, we've got the service times in the upper left-hand side. We'll be back this Thursday going through the book of Acts, chapter number 27. We've got the soul-winning times as well as the salvations and baptisms below that. Again, happy birthday to everyone celebrating in the month of December. And don't forget the farewell party in honor of the Elliots coming up in about two weeks, so Sunday, December 17th. After the morning service, we're going to have catering from Juanitos. If anyone wants to bring any sides or anything like that, of course those are welcome, but please don't feel obligated. I'm sure we'll have plenty of food. And then on the back, there's also the Tempe Christmas caroling. Again, there's got a couple of guys that are insured here for the van, so if they're available and wanting to go up, they are more than welcome to take the van up there and anybody else that would like to go. Unfortunately, I won't be making it up there this year, but I would encourage anyone who can make it to go. It's always a great time of fellowship. And then, again, below that, we're not going to be having the Christmas Eve candlelight service this year. We're just going to have our regular service times. And then after the morning service, excuse me, the evening service, we're going to have the cocoa and cookies on Christmas Eve. So come on out and join us for that. And then, of course, a quick note about the recliners. Let's go ahead and just count up the soul-winning going back to Friday, if anyone's got anything from Friday. Or anything from Saturday. One for Saturday. What about today? Five. Praise the Lord. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into preaching tonight. We'll go to song number 323. War About Jesus. Song number 323. War About Jesus. O God, who died for me, Lord, Lord of Jesus. Lord, Lord of Jesus, Lord, this day may fullness be throughout his love, who died for me. Lord of my Jesus, let me learn, for of his will he will discern. Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me. Lord of my Jesus, Lord, Lord of Jesus, Lord, this day may fullness be throughout his love, who died for me. Lord of my Jesus, let me learn, for of his will heaven the Lord, hearing his voice in every line, making his faith for saving mine. Lord, Lord of Jesus, Lord, Lord of Jesus, Lord of this day may fullness be throughout his love, who died for me. Lord of my Jesus, God is Lord, rich in glory of his own. Lord of his kingdom, sure in peace, for of his love he brings the peace. Lord, Lord of Jesus, Lord, Lord of Jesus, Lord, this day may fullness be for of his love, who died for me. Lord, of his kingdom, sure in peace, Lord, this day may fullness be for of his own. Lord, of his kingdom, sure in peace, He that being often reproved hard on his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and thou without remedy. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. For when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father, for he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance. The king by judgment, established at the land, for he that receiveth gifts overthroweth him. A man that flattered his neighbor spread at the net for his feet. In the transgression of an evil man heard a snare, but the righteous that singeth rejoice. The righteous consider it the cause of the poor, but the wicked regardeth not to know it. Scornful men bring a city into a snare, but wise men turn away wrath. If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he be rage or laugh, there is no rest. The bloodthirsty hate the upright, but the just seek his soul. A fool uttereth all his life, but a wise man keepeth him in till after him. If a ruler hearkens lies, all his servants are wicked. The poor and the deceitful man meet together, the Lord lighteneth both their eyes. The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established forever. The rod and the roof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increase them, but the righteous shall see their foe. Correct thy son, ye shall give thee rest, yea, ye shall give the lightest thy soul. For there is no vision, ye will perish, he that keepeth the law happy as he. A servant will not be corrected by words, though he understand he will not answer. Seeest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him. He that delicately bringeth up to serve it from a child shall have him become his son at the length. An angry man stirreth up strife, a furious man abounded in transgression. A man's pride shall bring him love, but honor shall uphold the humble of spirit. Who so is partner with a thief, he hath his own soul, he heareth cursing, and bewaith enough. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but who so putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved. Many seek the ruler's favor, but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord. An unjust man is an abomination to the just, and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. Let us pray. Heavenly fathers, we give you this opportunity to gather together. We pray that you bless the service, fill deacon with your spirit, preach boldly unto us, Lord. Help us to apply it to our lives, so that we can grow their body. We love you, so that your sons will be free. Amen. Amen. So, there in Proverbs 29, verse 18, the Bible says, Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law happy as he. And I just want to focus on the first half of that, where it says, Where there is no vision, the people perish. I want to preach a sermon entitled, Set Your Face Like a Flint. Set your face like a flint. And that'll make more sense at the end of the sermon, when we turn to some other passages, but what I'm preaching about tonight is planning and preparing for 2024. So, obviously, the new year is just four weeks away, and typically around this time of year, that's when you start to hear a lot of sermons about setting goals and goal setting, and I really don't want to get into all the nitty-gritty of that. If you're looking for a motivational new year's sermon, this is it, and you say, Man, it's four weeks away. Why would you preach that now? Well, here's the thing. We need to start thinking about the future now. We need to start thinking about next year now. We don't want to start thinking about setting goals and resolutions, you know, at 1159 on December 31st, you know, when it's about to be midnight and the new year's begun. We want to start thinking about those things today. We should start already having goals in mind, already thinking about how we're going to improve, and, again, I'm not going to get into real specifics. I'm just really just trying to emphasize the importance of having a vision and what it takes to accomplish it. Obviously, everyone's in different places in their life. Everyone has different things that they're going through. Everyone has different things that they should set forth to accomplish. So I'm going to keep all that really general. But my first point is this, is that if you don't have a vision for 2024, you should get one. If you haven't even begun to think about what you're going to change in the new year, what you're going to improve upon, you know, what habits you're going to develop, maybe what bad habits you're going to get rid of, you know, now is the time to start thinking about those things and just take the time to really sit down and think about those goals instead of waiting to the last week or the last day before the new year and then just trying to very quickly, you know, figure some things out and just make up some goals, some general goals. You know, if we were going to accomplish things, we have to sit down and think about them and really, you know, think soberly and ask ourselves, is this something I can actually do in the coming year? Because a lot of times this time of year, people set goals and they have these very lofty ideas, right? I know I'm kind of this way, like I'll sit down and say I'm going to do this and that and I'll have this grand vision about all these things, right? But then, you know, you get into the nitty gritty, you start getting into the daily grind of trying to accomplish that and you find out it's kind of overwhelming. So what I've learned over the years is to set reasonable goals that you can actually obtain, okay? And if you don't think about these things in advance, you know, you're probably going to fall victim to the grandiose, you know, goal setting that's out there where you're just going to have, you know, this is the year where I'm going to do X, Y, and Z and you'll end up failing. And we don't want to fail. You know, there's an interesting thing that they've discovered in neuroscience is that when you set out to do something and then you fail at it, it makes it even harder to go back and finish it. That's why we don't want to leave things undone in our lives because our mind has already learned, oh, this is too hard, I failed last time. It becomes even harder, okay? For example, if you want to set out to learn a foreign language, if you kind of get into it and then quit, the next time you try to go out and do that again, it's going to be even harder for you to do because your mind is already working against you, okay? So my point is, you know, take the time now. Take the weeks leading up to the new year. Set aside some time throughout the week and maybe really think about what it is you need to improve upon in the coming year, okay? And, you know, obviously there's some real generic things that people could come up with, but that's not the point of this sermon, you know, the specific goals. I don't know what it is that everybody needs to set out to do in 2024, but if we sit down and think about it, you know, you probably could come up with some things and you could probably ask yourself, is this reasonable? Could I actually accomplish this? So we need to have a vision. Have a vision for 2024. Now, when it comes to having a vision for 2024, my recommendation is that you put God first. When it comes to goal setting, you know, it's fine to have, you know, goals that maybe aren't associated with living for the Lord, that type of a thing, but you should have those goals. There should be spiritual goals that you want to accomplish in the coming year, and those things should come first. And we should have a vision and allow God to begin to lead us in that vision. Look at Proverbs chapter number three, if you go back to Proverbs chapter number three. You know, this kind of brings us into the topic of, you know, God's will for our lives. And I know this is a topic, you know, sometimes people struggle with, you know, what is it that God wants me to do? But here's the thing, if you would sit down and make some goals and determine what it is you're going to do on a daily basis, you know, God would begin to just lead you in that goal towards, or excuse me, he would begin to lead you in the way in which he would have you to go, right? But if you don't make God a priority, if you don't make having, you know, Godly goals a priority in 2024, then, you know, there's a good chance you're not going to end up doing those things that God would have you to do, obviously. Proverbs chapter number three, look at verse five, it says, So this is great promise that if we'll acknowledge God in all of our ways, then God will direct our paths. And we won't even have to worry about whether or not we're doing the things that God wants us to do if we're heading in the direction that God wants us to head in, right? If we're acknowledging God in all of our ways, meaning when we sit down to make some goals for 2024, you know, we need to acknowledge God. Obviously, there's a lot of just not necessarily sinful things, but just kind of carnal things that people think of, right? They're going to lose debt. They're going to lose weight. They're going to get in better shape. They're going to develop some godly hat or excuse me, some health habit or whatever it is, some fiscal habit. And those things are fine and good, but those aren't necessarily, you know, things that are, you know, that's not necessarily acknowledging God, right? I mean, think about it. The world does that all the time. They have all kinds of different systems to accomplish those goals. They're not Christians. They're not thinking about God. We as God's people, you know, by all means, make those goals if we need to. But we as God's people, we need to put God first. We need to acknowledge him in all of our ways. So when it comes to having a vision for 2024, you know, acknowledge God in 2024. And when you sit down to make some goals, make some spiritual goals for yourself. And then at the end of 2024, you'll be able to look back and say, God directed me. God led me. God, he directed my path. That is the promise in Proverbs chapter three. That if we will acknowledge God, he shall direct our paths. But one comes before the other, doesn't it? Go to Psalm. Actually, just go to Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11. No, you know what? Go to Psalm 119. Why not? I got to burn the clock a little bit here. I only got three pages. So go to Psalm 119. It's a very long chapter. Okay. So go to Psalm 119 verse 33. Okay. I considered having Brother Gabriel read this one tonight, but I passed on it. Psalm 119. Man, that was a long service, but it doesn't feel like the deacon said much. It's like, yeah, because we read Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Look at verse 33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law, yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. So when it comes to God directing our paths, again, you can see how he has to acknowledge God in this. He says, teach me the way of thy statutes, and I will keep it unto the end. God will direct. God will guide. But he's going to keep it unto the end. He's going to acknowledge God in all of his ways. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law. Again, that's the idea of acknowledging God. I'm going to keep God's law. I'm going to, you know, acknowledge him in all of my ways. I'm not going to lean into my own understanding. I'm going to ask God for understanding, and I will keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Meaning, it's going to be the most important thing. Like, it's going to be the priority of my life. My whole heart is going to be focused on the things of God. Incline thine heart unto my testimonies, and not to covetousness. Go to verse 105. 105. It's a long chapter. You might have to turn a page, right? 105. Look again. It says at verse 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. When we sit down and we set goals for 2024, if we'll put God first, if we'll acknowledge him in all our ways, if we'll go to his testimonies, if we'll go to his law and keep it with all of our heart, God will guide us. God will lead us. And it's his word that is going to guide us. It's his word that is going to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, okay? And again, this is a great verse that shows us that God's leading is something that is done one step at a time, right? If the word is a lamp unto my feet, God doesn't shine the light way down the path and say, end up here. God shines the light right here at our feet and shows us where the next step is. And that's a good principle when it comes to goal setting. I'll get into that here in a minute. Go back to Proverbs, chapter number 11. We're going to be in Proverbs two more times. So go back to Proverbs. We're going to be back in Psalms a little bit later. It's probably too late. But they're right next to each other, so it shouldn't matter too much. Look at Proverbs 11, verse five. The Bible says the righteousness of the perfect shall direct his ways, right? So in Proverbs three, the Bible says that if we acknowledge God in all our ways, he shall direct our paths, okay? And the Bible says in Proverbs 11 that the righteousness of the perfect. So what is the righteousness of the perfect? Obviously, it's the Lord. You know, if we're acknowledging God, we're keeping his commandments, we're walking in his law, we're walking in the light of his word, you know, that is our righteousness, okay? The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way. Putting God first, making God a priority. When you sit down to have this vision, right, for the 2024, and if you don't have one, that's the first point, get one. You know, if you haven't thought about anything that you're going to do in 2024, you need to do that. You need to do that. Because, you know, you only hit at what you aim, right? If we have no goals, we have no ambition, no endeavor, nothing we're trying to accomplish, then, you know, you've already accomplished that, right? You know, congratulations. You know, you haven't changed anything, okay? Well, that's what I set out to do in 2024. You know, I don't set any goals, therefore I'm never disappointed, right? You know, they say aim high, I say don't aim at all. You know, you never miss, okay? We also don't accomplish anything. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, okay? So get a vision. Have a vision. Make God the priority in that vision this year. I'm not saying don't have any goals, other goals. I'm saying make God, acknowledge him in all your ways, and throughout the year, you'll find yourself being led of God as you're acknowledging him and as you're walking in the light of his word. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, okay? That's the great thing about living for God. That's the great thing about making God a priority. Wherever I end up, that's where God wanted me. As long as day by day, I am walking in the light of his word that he sets at my feet, if it's a light unto my feet, unto my path, and if I'm acknowledging God day by day and not leaning unto my own understanding, I know I'm going to end up wherever God wants me. You know, that's a great peace, isn't it? You know, there's nothing, at least for me sometimes, there's nothing more unsettling than wondering if I'm where God wants me to be. Am I doing what God would have me to do? You know, that's an unsettling feeling. We want to be grounded, right? And, you know, this is something I've been thinking about lately, too, and I've expressed to my wife is that, you know, in order to be able to begin to look out on the horizon of our life and begin to set goals and to think about our life in long terms, we first have to make sure we're firmly planted where we are. You know, if we're on the shifting sand of uncertainty, you know, by not making God a priority, by not, you know, acknowledging God in all the ways, you know, we're sitting here just kind of toss to and fro. How can you even begin to think about what's out there? You couldn't even reach that goal, right? We have to start at our feet. We have to start where we are, establish ourselves, and then we can begin to look out under the horizon. But it's the righteous, not the perfect that shall direct his way. Acknowledge God, you can have that peace. So again, he's saying here, you know, if we acknowledge God in all our ways, if we incline our heart into his testimonies, if his word becomes that lamp unto our feet, then, you know, we can begin to plan for 2024 by planning day by day. That's the thing about goal setting. Look, there's a whole books that are written on this topic, okay, about how to accomplish goals, how to achieve those things. I'm not going to go into it, but obviously the way to accomplish a goal is a little bit at a time, right? And you accomplish goals, you know, one little piece at a time, day by day is how we accomplish something. Daily planning leads to long-term accomplishments, right? Daily planning. And here's the thing, day by day is all you can control. You know, if we have some grand vision, there's something we want to achieve in 2024, and we just think it's going to happen somewhere along the line, it's not going to happen at all. But if we sit down now, this month, in the coming weeks, and think about what it is that we want to plan, or what we want to accomplish, then we can begin to plan, well, what's it going to take day by day to accomplish that? What are you going to have to do day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out, for the next 12 months in order to accomplish that goal by the end of next year? What's it going to take? Well, I don't know. Well, we've got to figure that out, you know? If we haven't sat down and have this vision, you know, that's going to perish. It's not going to happen, okay? Look at Proverbs 27, Proverbs chapter number 27. How do you accomplish a goal in 2024? One day at a time. You know, and that's what really brings it home for us, isn't it? That's when the rubber starts to really meet the road. You know, people, you know, obviously a big spiritual goal we should have is Bible reading, okay? And that's when I'll talk about, I might preach about that specifically towards the beginning of the year, but, you know, that's just a good example in this sermon anyway. You know, people might sit down and say, I'm going to read the Bible X amount of times, okay? Well, how many, how long is that going to take you day by day? I'm going to read the Bible every month. I'm going to read the whole Bible every 30 days. That's, hey, if you could pull that off, great. But if you think you're going to accomplish that reading for a half hour or an hour or an hour and a half, it's not going to happen. You're going to be getting into that, you know, two to three hour range or more potentially. You know, or maybe you're going to do a combination of Bible reading and listening to audio. You know, that's something someone might be able to accomplish, but it's going to take a lot of time, isn't it? So we can have this big grandiose idea of what we're going to accomplish. But then if we don't sit down and actually think about what it's going to take day by day to do that, you know, on January 1st, we're going to set out to do and go, I can't do this. And you're going to do what everybody does on January 2nd. Well, I already missed. So I'll just try again next year, right? Isn't that what people do with their goals? They make it like the first 30 days of January and then, you know, and then they just pay for the gym membership for the other 11 months and never darken the door. They just sign the contract for a year and they go for the first 30 days of January because they had these big ideas, but they never stopped to think, what's it actually going to take? You know, and we stopped at the benefit of stopping to take the time and stopping and go, OK, what is it actually going to take? What that does is it shifts our perspective to what can I actually do? How much time do I actually have during the day? How much time do I have in the morning? Do I have 15 minutes? Hey, look, everybody's got 15 minutes to read their Bible. I don't care how busy you are. Everyone's got that. You don't believe me? OK, go on your phone and look at your screen time. Then get back to me. You got 15 minutes somewhere in your day. OK, you know, you got 15 minutes. That's going to get you the Bible once a year. Well, what about 30 minutes? Well, there's twice. You want to read it four times. It's going to take about an hour. OK, but the point is, if we until we sit down and actually look at a schedule, get out a calendar, do some time blocking and figure out what is actually available to us in terms of time. You know, we have no idea what we can even begin to accomplish, and we can sit there and and tell ourselves and everybody else what all these great things that we're going to do in 2024. But if you don't have a vision, you know, that goal is going to perish in 2024. It's never even to get off the ground. Day by day is how you accomplish things. Day by day is all you can control. Look at Proverbs 27, verse one, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. You don't even know what's going to happen on the morrow. Like, you know, all we can be guaranteed of is today. And even that has its surprises, doesn't it? I mean, how many times have you gotten the end of the day sometimes and gone, well, I didn't expect that to happen. You know, I didn't see that coming. You know, your day, you thought, oh, it's just another typical day. And then at the end of the night, you're laying there wide eyed, staring at the ceiling like that is not what I thought was going to happen today. What an odd day. You know, that was a very eventful day. OK, so, you know, we the point is, you know, you can't even predict from day to day what's going to happen. How can we sit here and just say, well, in 2024, you know, by this time next year, X, Y and Z is going to happen. Well, that's beyond your control, even if you did sit down and do all the planning and figured out what you can actually accomplish. You still aren't guaranteed that it's going to go that way. OK, that doesn't mean don't plan by all means plan. But understand, it takes more than just planning to accomplish these things. I mean, that's my next point. I'll get into that in a minute. Go to Matthew chapter number six, Matthew chapter number six. I'll begin reading in verse 31. It says, take no thought. Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or with all should we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth what things you have need of. Excuse me, knoweth what that you have need of all these things. Verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God. OK, so when you're sitting down and worrying about what it is you're going to get or what it is you're going to do. And, you know, specifically food and raiment here, he's saying, don't even worry about that stuff. The most important thing you could could be concerned about is seeking first the kingdom of God. So that goes back to my first point or my earlier point is that put God first. Put God first and the rest will kind of take care of itself. OK, so he's saying, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take, therefore, no thought of the morrow. Now, Jesus isn't saying, hey, just play it fast and loose in life, right? Obviously, the carefulness there is talking about not worrying, taking no thought as in, you know, you know, just wrenching your hands and grinding your teeth and worrying about what's going to be on the morrow, how your provision is going to be met. OK, how you're going to have the food and raiment. Obviously, he's saying, if you seek first the kingdom of God, God will take care of your needs. OK, put God first. But the principle that I'm trying to get out of this is that day by day is all you can control anyway. So you have when you sit down to plan and have that vision for 2024, what can you do day by day? How is that going to play out in your daily routine, in your daily life to accomplish that goal? Look at verse 34. Take, therefore, no thought of the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. I mean, I don't know how many times those words have rung in my ears. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. You know, we've got enough on our plate to say grace over from day to day. You know, we we not don't heap a bunch of, you know, unrealistic goals on top of that. OK, sit down and consider what's already on your schedule. Sit down and figure out what are your responsibilities you know you're going to have day by day. Where can you fit your goals in in 2024? And again, if you're saying, what goals? Well, back to my first point. You've got to have the vision. Take the time to figure it out. If you would go over to go over to Second Corinthians, chapter number eight. I'll quickly move through here into my next or to my last point. There's one point in between this one and my last one. OK, I'm not saying we're almost done here, although it should be a bit of a shorter one. The Bible says in James chapter four, Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Right. So the warning is to those that would say we're going to today and tomorrow, we're going to go there and continue a year. Right. It's this, you know, we're just going to go and a year from now, this is what's going to happen. And just being self-assured of that. OK. He's saying, whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. And what what James is saying here is that you might not even be here a year from now. You know, I hate it. Of course, no one wants you to think that. And we pray that that would not be true of anyone in the room. But that's reality. Who knows? A year from now, we might not be here. We might not even be on this earth. We might be in heaven. We might have passed on. Nobody knows. That's the warning that he's giving in James. But he's the problem isn't saying today or tomorrow. Right. The problem is, is that when we just assume that a year from now, this is the way things are going to play out. Right. All we can control is what happens day by day. For you ought to say it, the Lord will. We shall live and do this or that. So if God, you know, God willing, you know, this is what will happen a year from now. And notice there that that's the right priority, isn't it? That sounds like a guy because he says for you ought to say if the Lord will. That sounds like a guy who's doing what I said in the beginning to put God first. If the Lord will, if this is pleasing to God, if this is something that God will allow me to do, we shall live and do this or that. OK, so a person is going to step in, you know, and say, hey, this is what we're going to be doing a year from now. The Lord willing, it sounds to me like they've already got God as the priority. They've already made, you know, seeking first the kingdom of God, the number one thing in their life. When they said, hey, we got goals for the next year, the Lord willing. That sounds like somebody who's going to put God first, doesn't it? But you know, but now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And that, again, speaks to my first point. If you know that there's something you ought to be improving in your life in 2024 and you don't do it, it's sin. If we know there's some spiritual habit that has fallen by the wayside in this last year and, you know, we know we need to fix it. You know, don't even wait till New Year's. You know, start tomorrow. But if you know to do that and you don't do it in 2024, you know, that's wicked to sit there and think, well, you know, I know I need to be reading my Bible. I know I need to be going to pray. I know I need to be more consistent out soul winning. I need to be more consistent in church. You know, whatever it is, whatever, you know, those are just the generic ones that we preachers always turn to. Right. But ironically, those are the ones that people seem to struggle with the most. Maybe that's why we're always ringing that bell. But if there's something you need to change in 2024, then do it. OK, because it's a good thing if you're saying like this guy, if the Lord will, this is what we're going to do. That sounds like that guy knows that, you know, God's the priority. If you know that God's the priority in your life, there's something you need to change. Not doing it is sin. You didn't say therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not. It's a shame. That's too bad. You know, that's his loss. No, it says to him it is sin. It's just a sin like any other sin. So let me just move on to my next point here. Annual planning should be based on daily actions. That's kind of what I've already been saying. You're going to sit down and have a vision for 2024. Be realistic about it. Look at your daily, weekly schedule and figure out what can you actually accomplish in the coming year. It should be based on daily actions. Godly goals are accomplished through godly habits. What's a habit you can develop on a daily basis that next year is going to get you to where you want to be, Lord willing? Right. And let me just say this, too, because this is one that I think people really struggle with and what causes people to get discouraged. It goes back to what I said earlier about when we start something and don't finish it, it makes it harder the next time to do it. Right. For example, Bible reading. If we started out last year with a plan to read our Bible and then three or four months or whatever into it, we fell off and we haven't been reading it. We haven't been on plan or it's just been hit and miss. Don't go back at the beginning of this year and start in Genesis. Okay. Because it's going to be like you're going to be your brain's going to be telling you, you tried this last year and it didn't work. Right. That's you know, you're going to have to overcome that in your own mind. That's just the way our brains work. Okay. And if you think about it in your own life, you could probably think of examples of that. Where you start out to do something, it didn't work out, and then you went back to do it again and just seemed so overwhelming from the onset. You just said, you know what? Forget about it. Well, the same thing will happen in Bible reading because Bible reading isn't always a tiptoe through the tulips, folks. Obviously, the Bible reading is a very precious thing. It's a very spiritual thing. It's a very important thing. You know, sometimes there are some passages, let's just be honest, that are kind of hard to get through. Some mornings we're a little more tired than, you know, and the temptation is just, you know, I got other things where we get busy or run late or whatever. You know, the one day leads to the next. Next thing you know, a week, a month's gone by and we haven't read it. You know, Bible reading can be difficult. So if you've dropped that, if you dropped off last year, don't go back and start all over again. Go back to where you left off. You know, hopefully you kept track of it, you know, or get a good idea. Say, I know at least I read these books, which is another good case for tracking your Bible reading. You know, you should be, that's why we have those charts back there, those checkboxes so people can keep track of that stuff. Or maybe you scratch it off in the front of your Bible, whatever, however you do it. Go back. How far did I get in 2023? You know, maybe everyone in the room would say, I finished, I read it, I accomplished my goal. Well, then maybe it's time to try to do a little bit more this year. Or maybe you'd say, hey, I only have time to repeat myself. Then great, then do that. But you won't know unless you set out to have a vision and actually plan day by day. Start small, start where you left off last year. You say, well, I've never read it, I've never even tried. Well, try reading it one time, just once. You know, and sometimes people say, no, I'm going to read it, you know, this crazy amount of times. You know, or I'm going to, I'm going to go soul winning, you know, X amount of times a week and they haven't been doing it at all. Start small, right? Slowly build up these things. The Bible says in Isaiah that precept must be upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. That's how you grow in the Christian life, is you make small steps and you make small, progressive steps. OK, one upon the other. And begin with the end in mind, because it's kind of, it's all the points are basically the same thing. I get that. But, you know, sit down, get the vision. Where do you want to end up next year? What is it that you want to have accomplished in 2024? And once you know that, once you have that vision, then look at it from day to day. How realistic is it? What's it going to take? What are you going to do? Now, obviously, that's just all about planning here, right? I don't know where I had you go. I had to go second Corinthians chapter eight. OK, so my first point is just basically about having a vision to begin with. Get get some things in mind. What is it you're going to do in 2024? Be realistic about it. And, you know, begin with the end in mind. Start small and be realistic. Look at it from a day to day basis. That's all you can control anyway. Look, the planning is easy. That's the easy part, isn't it? Right. And there's another thing that they tell us in neuroscience is that sometimes if we just tell somebody we're going to do something and we get positive feedback, that's enough for us. We feel like we accomplished it. If I go to you and say, and I'm going to use this as an example, because it's so far fetched, no one would believe it anyway. But if I said to you, I said, hey, I'm going to go run a 5K. You'd be like, we know you. That's not going to happen. Right. I would never get positive feedback like that. The only, you know, encouragement would be negative anyway. They'd say, you know, you probably should probably do you some good. You're going to train to run a 5K. Maybe you should do that. Right. But I'm just using an example. Let's say I went to somebody as far fetched as it sounds, I know, and said, hey, I'm going to run a 5K this year. And they went, oh, yeah, I bet you could do that. You should. You know, I've always thought you'd make a good runner. You got you're tall, you got long legs, got a good stride. You know, you could do that. Yeah. I'll walk away from that conversation as if feeling as if I've already done it because I've already gotten the positive feedback that I wanted. I've already had somebody made me feel good just about talking about doing something. This is a very real thing. So people debate. Should you tell people? Should you not tell people? Because if we put it out there, then then people are going to follow up on us and say, you know, nobody in my experience, nobody ever follows up. And I thought you said you were going to run a 5K this year. You know, most people forget you said anything. Right. But my point is, this is that planning things and talking about we're going to do, that's the easy part, isn't it? All the planning, you know, sitting down and doing the time blocking and making sure all the you know, every every minute is accounted for. That's you know, for some of us nerds, that's almost fun. Like we get a lot out of that. Right. I know. OK, I'm not alone. Right. We like to see the calendar, you know, symmetrically laid out. OK. We want to make Monday through Friday looks this way. The weekends look like that. Everything's color coded. OK. But, you know, that's great. That's important. That would maybe help some people. Some people are here going, what are you talking about? Well, you know, maybe you could take maybe a goal for you is to get better at time management in 2024. Come see me. OK. But, you know, but the planning is the easy part, isn't it? We could plan all day. We can sit here and tell ourselves all the things we're going to do and and lay out a schedule and say, yeah, I'm going to do this tomorrow. You know, tomorrow's when I start. Tomorrow is where it all begins. Right. Four more weeks until January 1st. That's when I'm going to start. New Year's is four weeks away. Just, you know, I got it all laid out. I got plans. I'm going to start next month. Right. That's easy. The hard part is performing. Plans must be performed. If you're going to accomplish the vision 2024, you got to do it right. You got you're going to have to actually put, you know, the rubber on the road and make some room here. Make some progress. Look at Second Corinthians, chapter eight, verse 10. He says, And herein I give my advice, for this is as expedient for you who have begun before not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. I'm not going to take the time to explain all the context here, but it's in regards to giving. The Corinthian church was going to, you know, send a gift by the hand of Paul, and he's saying there that it is expedient for you. You know, it's needful. It's expedient for you. And then he's going to tell us about the you there, these people. You who have begun before, who have already begun to set out to accomplish this offering, have already begun to take out the collection. So on and so forth. Right. These people sat down and said, we have a goal. We're going to do this thing. We're going to take up a collection of the saints. And when Paul comes, there's going to be not anything wanting. Next time he comes through town, you know, we're going to have this done and accomplished. Right. People who have begun before, meaning they've already started, not only to do, meaning they're doing it, but also to be forward a year ago. He's saying a year ago, you set out to do this. You've already begun doing it. Okay. Look at verse 11. Now, therefore, perform the doing of it. Right. He said, I'm glad you started. I know I'm glad a year ago you set out to do this thing. You were forward to do it and you've begun to do it and you are doing it. But perform it. Don't stop. Don't quit. Don't give up on it. That as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also of that which you have. He said, I'm glad you're willing to do it. I'm glad you are doing it. Perform it. Perform these things. Don't quit. Look, if you take the next four weeks and you make your calendar, you set up your goals and you're realistic about it, and you figure out how much time you have to accomplish this or how many calories you're going to have to restrict yourself or, you know, what exercise routine is you're going to have to do or, you know, how many minutes you have to pray or to read or what soul winning times you can make it to a realistic, you know, whatever it is, whatever you set out to do, make sure that you perform it. Otherwise, next year, another sermon like this is going to come across the pulpit and all you're going to think about is, oh yeah, I didn't do any of that. I made a lot of, I remember Deacon got up on December 3rd last year and he preached a sermon about having goals in 2024 and planning. And boy, I did a bunch of planning. I remember those four weeks through December, I sat down, I got the calendar out, I looked at my schedule from day to day. I did all that. And then, you know, I even started out good. I got through January and February, you know, I got through Genesis and Exodus and then I got into Leviticus and I didn't do it. I didn't perform. I'd begun to do it, but I didn't perform that. That's what you're going to think of next year when a similar sermon gets preached. If you don't perform that which we have planned, okay, because planning is more pleasant than performing, isn't it? It's a lot easier. It's nice to sit there and think about what we're going to do. But if we're going to actually do it, if we're going to perform, if we're going to execute what it is that we've determined to do, you know, that's going to take willpower. That's going to mean we're going to have to do it. You know, execution requires determination. Okay. Now, if you would go to Deuteronomy chapter number eight, and this is where I'm going to get into the title of my sermon. Okay. The title of the sermon is set your face like a flint. Okay. Set your face like a flint. And this is the idea of being determined, of not allowing anything to deter you. Okay. This is the new year sermon. This is the only one I've given out this year. All right. This is your motivational 2024 sermon. I'm not going to beat this horse in the ground. Okay. So it's dead. I'm not going to beat this dead horse. That's how the saying goes. I think I just made up a whole new euphemism there. But anyway, that was a word salad. That'd make Kamala blush. Right. But the thing is, you know, if you, if you don't, you can sit down and you can make the plans and you can even figure out day to day. But what's going to actually help you get it done is being determined, not letting anything to get in your way. Plans must be performed. What's the title of the sermon? Set your face like a flint. Deuteronomy chapter eight, look at verse 15. Who, talking about the Lord, led thee, talking about Old Testament Israel, through the great and terrible wilderness. Talking about when he brought them out of Egypt and brought them through the wilderness. Wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, this is reminding them of their time in the wilderness, where there was no water. Remember how they murmured? Who brought the fourth water out of the rock of Flint. Right. So remember the rock that was split. Right. And that rock, it says here, was a rock of Flint. You know, it's a particular kind of rock. I don't know a lot about geology, so I don't know the significance of it being Flint. But it's a consistent theme in scripture. Okay. That's Deuteronomy 18. Go over to Psalm 14. Psalm 14. Look, it's great to have a vision. It's great to make plans to accomplish that vision. But it's not going to happen without determination. It's not going to happen until you set your face like a flint and say, nothing is going to stop me. So the rock is a flint there. That rock in the wilderness. Again, he refers back to this in Psalm 14, verse seven. Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, which turned the rock into a standing water. The flint into a fountain of water. So again, he's referring to that rock specifically as a flint. Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. I'm almost done. Okay. Now we know that if we've read our Bibles or we've heard preaching on it, we know that that rock is a representation of Christ. Okay. It says in verse one, moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud. So again, he's referring back to what we were just reading about in Deuteronomy and Psalm. The exodus of Israel out of Egypt and the wandering in the wilderness. They started out under the cloud, right? The Red Sea and all passed through the sea. We're all baptized under Moses in the cloud and the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual meat, the manna, right? And did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. Okay. So he's saying this is a spiritual picture of the fact that they drank of a spiritual rock. That's the application of the New Testament. You know, they drink of that physical flinty rock, we drink of Christ. That's a spiritual drink. And just as that rock was smitten, right? Remember, it was, it was, it was, Moses hit it with his staff. So he also was smitten, right? He was crucified. He was hit with the staff out of him, poured blood and water. It's a picture of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, that rock. But it's interesting that it calls it a rock of flint in both Deuteronomy 8 and Psalm 14. Go to Isaiah chapter number 50, Isaiah chapter number 50. The rock is Christ, but the rock is also specifically called flint. If you look at verse 5 of Isaiah 50, it says, The Lord hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned back. So he's talking about God spoke to me, God opened mine ear. I understood the will of God and I did not rebel. I went with it. Neither turned away back. I didn't, I didn't, was not reluctant. I did what God said. And this is prophetic of Christ and his crucifixion specifically. Verse 6, I gave my back to the smiters. Right? Christ was whipped and beaten. And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. That's something else that they did. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. They spat in his face. They pulled out his beard. And what else did they do? They mocked him and they ridiculed him. They shamed him on the cross. Come down if thou be the son of God. Save thyself and we will believe. Right? That was them mocking him. They wagged their heads at him, as it says. But again, he's saying the Lord opened mine ear, meaning Jesus knew all this was going to happen. Right? He said those things which were written of me have an end. Okay? This was the work that he was sent to do to accomplish that work. That's why on the cross he said it is finished. Jesus was not taken by surprise by any of this. Like oh, all of a sudden I didn't realize I was here to die for the sins of mankind. I didn't realize I was going to have to go through shame and mocking and cruelty and a painful death. Like he knew that was going to happen. The Lord opened his ears and he didn't turn back. Neither was he rebellious. He did not hide his face from shame and spitting. Look at verse 7. For the Lord God will help me. Therefore I shall not be confounded. I'm not going to be confused. Therefore have I what? Set my face like a flint. Okay? I know that I shall not be ashamed. So Jesus knew that, you know, that's the tie in with the rock there. Right? That flint. You know, Jesus, again, his face was set like a flint. You know, that rock that was smitten in the wilderness was a rock of flint. It's a great picture of Christ. So maybe that's the tie in why it's called a rock of flint because that's the type of face that Jesus had. He set his face like a rock. Okay? Like if you ever, just think about, you know, some of the things they've carved into stone on Mount Rushmore or Crazy Horse. Right? It's like that countenance, that look that's on those people's faces, that's never going to change. It's set in stone. Right? And Jesus knew that he had this hard thing to accomplish. He knew that he had to go through this. That there was a will of God for him that was difficult and hard. It was laid out. It was planned, one might say. And he said in order to not be confounded, to not be confused, to not be rebellious, to not turn back, it required him to set his face like a flint and do something hard. Look, if you're going to set goals in 2024, if you're going to set out to do things and make spiritual improvements in your life, they're going to be hard. It's going to be hard. It's hard to change. Why do people write all these books about and have national bestsellers about changing behavior? Because it's hard. Why do people buy that and read it? Because it's hard. And if we're going to do it, if we're going to make changes, we have to be like Jesus and set our face like a flint. And you say, I'm not going to be confounded. I've sat down. I've planned. That was the easy part. Now I have to perform the doing of it. And it's going to be difficult. It's not going to be easy when you get into, you know, first chronicles and you're going through those nine chapters and you're reading, you know, the sixth chapter in a row of just names that you can hardly pronounce. And you're never going to, you know, you're not going to remember. But if you set out to say, I'm going to read my Bible in 2024, you know, there's going to, I'm just giving you a heads up saying you're going to come across those chapters, those hard things. You just need to say, I'm set my face like a flint. I'm going to read this. I'm not going to move my face away from the Bible until I've read this thing. My face is set like a flint. And I'm just using as an example, whatever it is you set out to do in 2024, if it's anything worth doing, it's probably going to be challenging. It's probably going to be hard. It's going to be difficult. It's not going to be anywhere near as difficult as anything that Christ went through, obviously. I'm not trying to be overly dramatic, but I'm just showing you that this is a characteristic that Jesus had. That he set out to do something hard and how he did it was setting his face like a flint, meaning he was not going to be deterred. Nothing was going to stop him, which is why he was able to say in the Garden of Gethsemane, thy will be done. Right. And I'll just read it to us. He said that he asked on more than one prayer. He prayed this prayer three times. He prayed this prayer again saying the same thing. He went again the second time and prayed, saying, Oh, Father, my father, if this cup may not pass for me, except I drink it, thy will be done. If we know Jesus prayed and asked that that cup would pass, he said, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. OK, that's something he prayed, meaning it wasn't easy what he went through. People go, oh, of course Jesus was able to do all that and everything else prophesied in Isaiah 50. He is God. The Bible says he was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus was weary. Jesus did hard things. How did he do this? How did he accomplish? That's a hard thing. That was waiting for him at the end of his life. I mean, this is something he set out to do. And then three years after his ministry, it was time to do it. It was something he was planning to do the whole time. He knew that's where that path was leading. How did he do it? He set his face like a flint. And I'm just trying to emphasize tonight that that's we're going to have to do. And just like Jesus, there's going to be times we're going to say, let this cup pass for me. You know, we're going to say, let this cup pass for me and let me, you know, get this cup. Let me get this cup. Right. Let me let me, you know, let me do something that's easy. And we're going to want to say not that. But what we have to do is say thy will be done. Look, it's God's will that we read the Bible. It's God's will that we go to church. It's God's will that we win souls. It's God's will that we pray. And it's God's will that we do a lot of things. God's got a lot of will for us. I'm just using some generality tonight to make the point that if you're going to do them, it will be hard. Therefore, you must set your face like a flint. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to begin planning our goals in the coming year. Immediately, Lord, that we begin to think about these things and that we would set aside time in the coming weeks to think about what it is that we need to improve upon. Lord, none of us has arrived. Not a single one of us could say that we've there's nothing left for us to improve upon or whatever. Maybe it's a bad habit that we need to just finally get rid of. Lord, maybe it's something that we just need to, a good thing that we just need to make even better. Lord, I pray you'd help us to do that, to begin planning. And Lord, help us to accomplish these things, to do these things regardless of any emotion, regardless of any circumstance, regardless of any excuse, Lord, that we would set our faces like a flint and do that, which is hard, so that you would be glorified and that we would be benefited in this coming year. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed tonight. Sober 389, bring them in. Artist the shepherd's voice I hear. Artist the shepherd's voice I hear. Out in the desert, dark and clear. Out in the shepherds, not a stray. Far from the shepherds, fall away. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in through the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them what we once knew Jesus. Over the shepherds, why, they'll fear the Lord, we once knew why. Over the shepherds, once to the fall, where they'll be sheltered from the cold. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in through the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them what we once knew Jesus. Out in the desert, hear them cry. Out from the mountains, wild and high. Artist the pastor speaks to thee, both thy machine and ready. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in through the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them what we once knew Jesus. .