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

All right. Amen. Well, we're there in 2 Timothy chapter number 4. And of course, tonight we are finishing up this series. We've been going through a series the last several weeks called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Christians. And we've been playing off of this well-known industry book called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And we've been taking those habits and looking at them through the lens of scripture. And I've been reading to you from the book, little excerpts. But we've definitely been delving into the scripture. And of course, we're learning about how to be effective. And we want to be effective in our Christian lives. We want to be effective spouses, and parents, and effective in ministry. We want to accomplish. The definition of effective is adequate to accomplish a purpose producing the intended or expected results. We've been learning these habits, these seven habits, that will help you become an effective Christian. If you remember, we introduced, and this is the last sermon, so I'll just kind of review it real quickly. But we began with a sermon called Inside Out. And we learned about the fact that real change, true change in our lives begins from the inside out. You and I have this idea that if we can change the exterior, then our lives will get better. If I can get my wife to change, or if I can get my husband to change, or if I can get my kids to change, or if I can get my boss to change. But the truth is this, that lasting change happens from the inside out. We begin to change in the inside, and that influence helps the outside. Then we looked at these habits. The first habit was to be proactive, to put energy, and effort, and initiative into our lives. Then we talked about beginning with the end in mind. And that is really living a life of purpose. We talked about putting first things first. That's talking about living a life with priorities. We talked about thinking win-win, and that's living a life that doesn't take advantage of others, is not afraid of other's successes. But we are here to try to help others, esteem others better than ourselves. On Wednesday, I preached a sermon called Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. And I give you six thoughts in regards to conflict resolution and being able to communicate properly. This morning, we talked about synergy, and we talked about the church having synergy. And of course, synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Tonight, we are finishing with habit number seven. And for those of you that have read the book, you know that habit seven is this. Sharpen the saw. Sharpen the saw. So I want to introduce this. And we're there in Second Timothy 4. We're going to jump into verse number nine here in a minute. But I want to introduce this by just reading a little excerpt from the book, a little story, to kind of set this up for us. The chapter is introduced this way. It says, suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree. What are you doing, you ask? Can't you see? Comes the impatient reply. I'm sawing down this tree. You look exhausted, you exclaim. How long have you been at it? Over five hours, he returns. And I'm beat. This is hard work. Well, why don't you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen the saw, you inquire. I'm sure it would go a lot faster. I don't have time to sharpen the saw, the man says emphatically. I'm too busy sawing. Habit seven is taking time to sharpen the saw. It surrounds the other habits on the seven-habit paradigm because it is the habit that makes all the others possible. So when we're talking about sharpening the saw, we're talking about working on yourself. We're talking about working on and making and bettering yourself. Now, you're there in 2 Timothy chapter 4. I want you to notice verse number 9. And I want you to understand the context of 2 Timothy. This is the last letter the apostle Paul wrote. He's in prison. He ends his letter with talking about the day of his departure being at hand. But I want you to notice what he says in verse 9. He's speaking to Timothy, and he says this. He says, do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. So he's asking Timothy to come to me. He says, I want you to come and visit me. Notice verse 10. He says, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed unto Thessalonica, Cretans to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. He's saying, I want Timothy to come because other people have left me. They've left in bad ways, where they've forsaken me, or they left in good ways, where I sent them to go do ministry. Look at verse 11. He says, only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he has proffered for me for the ministry. So he's making these requests. And he's saying, I want you to bring these people. And I'm here by myself. I want you to take all diligence to come to me. And then he asks for certain things. Notice in verse 12, he says, Antikius have I sent to Ephesus. Notice verse 13. There's three things in 2 Timothy 4.13 that the apostle Paul asks for. And I think they're very interesting. He says, the cloak, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with me. He said, I left my cloak in Troas, Timothy. And when you come to visit me, I want you to bring it with me. Now, a cloak is like a cape with a hood that in these days would be used as an overcoat. We actually talked about this not too long ago. But it would be the equivalent of like if I were to put on a trench coat. Tonight I'm wearing a suit coat. But if it was cold outside, if it was snowing outside, I might put on an overcoat over this coat. And that's what he's referring to. He says, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee. The first thing he asks for is for this cloak. Then he makes a second request. He says, and the books. He said, also, I left my books. Bring those with you as well. And then he makes a third request. He says, but especially the parchments. He said, I want you to bring my cloak. He said, I want you to bring my books. But he said, I especially, the most important thing I want you to bring is the parchments. Now, what is it that the Apostle Paul is asking for here? And I want you to notice, he asked for three different things. And they cover kind of three different areas in his life. The first thing he asked for is the cloak, which was something for himself physically. He was in prison, and I'm sure it was cold there at night. And he said, hey, I need you to bring something for me physically. He asked for this cloak that he might be able to cover himself. Then he says, I want you to bring the books. He asked for something intellectually. And he wanted reading material. He's sitting there in prison. He said, bring my books so that I can read. And then he asked for something spiritual. Because he says, but especially. He says, especially the parchments. And a parchment would be a piece of skin, a piece of leather that you would write scripture upon. I want you to notice the books were separate than the parchment. He said, I want you to bring my books intellectually, something for me to read. But then I want you to bring something for me spiritually. I want you to bring the parchments. And here we see the Apostle Paul, while in prison, trying to care for himself, asking, hey, I need certain things to be able to care for myself. And he asked for these three major areas in his life. He asked for himself for something physical, his cloak, for something for his mind intellectually, his books, and something for his spirit, the parchments. And I want you to notice that these are the three major areas in life. If you think about it, the major areas in your life are your physical life, your intellectual or emotional self, your mind, and then, of course, your soul, your spirit, the spiritual aspect about you. When we talk about sharpening the saw, when we talk about working on yourself, we ought to work in these areas of our lives. Let me just read to you another excerpt here by way of introduction, then we'll jump into the sermon. When referring to sharpening the saw, he says this. He says, no one else can do it for us. We must do it for ourselves. This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life, investment in ourselves, and the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute. We are instruments of our own performance. And to be effective, we need to recognize the importance of taking time regularly to sharpen the saw. So habit number seven is this. You must sharpen the saw. And when we're talking about the saw, the saw is you. You are your own. Do you realize that the only tool you have to live this life is you? The only body you're going to get till the rapture is the body you're sitting in right now. The only mind you have intellectually is the mind that God has given you. You've got your spirit. And in life, if you want to be effective, you've got to sharpen that saw. You've got to work on that tool. You've got to make that tool better. So I want to give you three thoughts tonight in regards to sharpening the saw. Number one, we must sharpen the saw physically. We must sharpen the saw physically. Now, you're there in 2 Timothy chapter four. And of course, we read there that Paul asked for himself something physical. He says, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring it with me. You're there in 2 Timothy chapter four. Flip back to 1 Timothy chapter four and verse number seven. 1 Timothy chapter four and verse number seven. When we're talking about sharpening the saw physically, what can you do? And there's lots of things that can be said about this. And obviously, I could preach a whole sermon on just this one. Each one of these points, we could preach an entire sermon. I'm not going to do that, obviously, but I want to give you some thoughts in regards to sharpening the saw physically. First of all, you can do that through exercise. And the Bible, I want you to notice, the Bible does not speak negatively about exercise. It doesn't speak too positive about it either, but it doesn't speak negative about it. It's interesting. Notice 1 Timothy chapter four and verse seven. The Bible says this, but refuse profane and old wise fables. He says, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. Now, he's telling Timothy that you want to put your effort, you want to put your energy in exercising yourself unto godliness. He's talking about his spiritual life, and we're going to talk about that later in the sermon. But then he says this in verse eight. He says, for. Now, the word for means because. He says, here's why you want to focus on exercising thyself rather unto godliness. He says, for bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now isn't about which is to come. Now, I want you to notice what he said. He says, look, it's more important for you to exercise yourself in godliness than it is for you to exercise yourself physically. He says, for bodily exercise profiteth little. So I want you to understand that God does not want you to devote your life to becoming some body builder. God does not want you to devote your life to just where physical exercise and health, it's all you're about, and it's all you're interested in, and it's all you're doing. But the Bible does say that, and I want you to notice it says, but godliness is profitable unto all things. He says, focus on godliness, because that'll help you in everything. But he says this, bodily exercise profiteth little. And I want you to notice, he doesn't say bodily exercise profiteth nothing. He says, look, this shouldn't be the major focus of your life. But he says, this should be a focus in your life, because there is some profit. He says, there's a little bit of profit in exercising your body. Go to the book of Proverbs if you would. Keep your place there in 2 and 1 Timothy. We're going to come back to it and go to the book of Proverbs. And while you go there, let me just read to you from this, an excerpt here from the book. If you open up your Bible right in the center, you're more than likely upon the book of Psalms. Right after Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs. Go to Proverbs chapter number 24, and I'll read to you here from the book. He says this, the physical dimension involves caring effectively for our physical body, eating the right kinds of food, getting sufficient rest and relaxation, and exercising on a regular basis. Exercise is one of those activities that most of us don't do consistently, because it isn't urgent. And because we don't do it, sooner or later, we find ourselves dealing with the health problems and crisis that comes as a natural result of our neglect. Most of us think we don't have enough time to exercise. What distorted paradigm? We don't have enough time. We don't have time not to. We're talking about three to six hours a week, or a minimum of 30 minutes a day every other day. That hardly seems an inordinate amount of time, considering the tremendous benefit in terms of the impact on the other 162, 165 hours of the week. And the point is this, in your life, you need to develop a routine of just regular exercise, because it's an investment into your own body in your old age. Look, you need to watch out for your body. You need to avoid. And when we're talking about exercise, and I want you to understand this, we're not talking about becoming a bodybuilder. We're not talking about just becoming just infatuated with the way you look, and how big your muscles are, how toned you are, whatever. But we are talking about living a life where your body is going to be able to do what God has called you to do. And here's the point. The Bible says bodily exercise profit is little. There's not a lot of profit in exercising to the point where you should make it the major thing in your life. But I will say this. If God calls you to walk around the walls of Jericho seven times, you ought to be healthy enough to do it. If God wants you to go walk down the streets of Sacramento preaching the gospel, knocking on doors, you ought to be able to do it. And there is something about just sharpening the saw and taking some time to exercise. I realize that there are some people in our church, you have extremely active jobs. And your job is like an eight-hour exercise routine. And look, if that's you, then I get it, then God bless you. I'm not saying you need to come home and get on the treadmill. But the truth is this, that for most of us, we live sedentary lifestyles. And the point is to avoid the sedentary lifestyle. Back when societies were more of an agricultural society, regular exercise was probably not something that was needed, but we live in a very sedentary culture. We live in a culture that spends a lot of time seated. I know for my job, as a pastor of a church, I spend a lot of time just in front of a computer writing sermons, studying for a sermon, writing notes, and creating content for series and things like that. And I know if I don't, on purpose, get up and just walk around or get on the treadmill or get on the elliptical or whatever, I'm going to end up just living a very sedentary lifestyle. Today, millions of people will sit and watch athletic people play a football game when going out and playing a football game for themselves would be more profitable for their health. And the truth is this, that you need to give some time and you need to give some energy towards regular exercise. Now, I want you to notice that the Bible talks positively about exercise. Proverbs 24, are you there? Look at verse 5. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number 5, notice what the Bible says. It says, a wise man. Now, we're going to look at several verses here from the book of Proverbs. And the book of Proverbs talks a lot about being a wise man, being wise and learning and having understanding. But I want you to notice Proverbs 24, 5 says this, a wise man is strong. Yea, a man of knowledge, notice, increase its strength. The Bible says that a wise person, a wise man, will increase in strength, that a wise man will be strong. And again, I don't believe that this is talking about just spending hours in front of a mirror at the gym, just ah. That's vanity. But the truth is this, you got to get enough exercise. You got to get your heartbeat beating fast enough, 30 minutes a day, every other day, or whatever. So that you can live a long life. You say, why would I want to live a long life? So you can serve God. You say, you know, Pastor Jimenez, do you want to live a healthy life? You know, the reason I want to live a healthy life, because I'm 34 years old, I'd like to be 70 and still preaching. I'd like to be 70 and still soul winning. I'd like to be 70 like my dad and still going on mission trips and still going to the Philippines and still going to Mexico and still preaching the gospel. Hey, here's what I'm telling you. You need to give some time. You say, well, I'm just too busy. You're not busy enough. You need to make time to make sure you get some exercise. You need to make an investment in your life and sharpen that saw. And it's not just wise men. The Bible says this for ladies as well. Go to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31, this is of course the famous virtuous woman proverb, Proverbs 31, the great proverb on the virtuous woman. And notice what the Bible says about the virtuous woman. Proverbs 31 in verse 17, the Bible says this, she girdeth, the word gird or girdeth means to surround or to encircle, like putting a belt on that goes around you. It says she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. Notice she's not a weakling. She gets up because she works hard every day and she's strong and she's fit and she's in shape. And here's what I'm telling you. You need to give some time. You need to give some time to exercise. You need to give some time in your life to exercising. Go to the book of Mark, if you would, in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark. And I would say this. Look, you say I'm really busy. You know what, the truth is I'm busy too. And I get it. I get it that we have busy lifestyles and we have busy schedules and we always have things going on. And generally speaking, I'm not really for a lot of multitasking. I don't really think that we were created to do a lot of multitasking. And especially when you are needing to focus on something, you need to just focus on that. And if you're supposed to be working, give your focus to work and things like that. But when it comes to exercise, there are a lot of ways that you can multitask. My wife is very consistent with health and exercise and she's always just being a great example to me. Something I've tried to do is I try to combine things with exercise. So for example, something that I'll do is I'll take the dog on a walk, do a 30 minute, 40 minute, 45 minute walk or whatever. I'll take the dog on a walk and then that'll also be my prayer time. So I'll get 30 minutes in a prayer for the day while I walk the dog, while I walk myself. I just killed three birds with one stone. And sometimes I'll even, I try not to during the summer because it's hot, but sometimes I'll even take the baby with me. And now I've taken the baby so my wife has 30 minutes away from the baby. I've walked the dog, I've walked myself, I spent time praying. I mean, I don't know how I could have gotten more effectiveness out of those 30 minutes than doing that right there. So what I'm telling you is this, you need to just take the time, look, where there's a will, there's a way. And you can sit there and make every excuse and say, well, I don't have the time and I don't have the time and I don't have the ability. And you can go ahead and say that, but one day you're gonna be 50 and your body's gonna be falling apart and you're gonna wish, you know, or you're gonna be 60 and your body's gonna be falling apart and you're gonna be 70 and your body's gonna be falling apart. Look, God wants you to live a healthy lifestyle. So one of those things you should do is you should focus on exercise. And again, I'm not talking about an overly focused on it, spending hours at the gym. I'm talking about spending some time going, getting on the treadmill, walk around the park, you know, doing whatever you need to do to get your heartbeat going to get some exercise. The second thing you ought to do in regards to sharpening the saw is to make sure you give yourself time to rest. Are you there in Mark chapter two? Look at verse 27. Mark chapter two and verse 27. The Bible says this, and he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man. Now, if you remember from the Old Testament, God, when he created earth, when he created the universe, the Bible says that God labored six days, and then on the seventh day, he rested. And of course, that became known as the Sabbath day. In the Old Testament, there's a doctrine of the Sabbath day. And let me just be clear, as New Testament believers, we are not under the Levitical priesthood laws. We are not required to keep the Sabbath day. We're not required to rest on the Sabbath day. But I will just say this, that though we are not required to rest on the Sabbath day, there is still a great principle there of rest. I mean, God labored six days. God, omnipotent, God, all powerful, God, who never sleeps and never gets tired, worked for six days, and then he took a day to rest. And as an example to us, and look, in your life, you ought to, I'm not telling you you need to keep the Sabbath day, but you ought to develop a routine in your life of resting. Because look, he says there, Mark 2 27, and he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. And of course, the story there, they're trying to use the Sabbath, the fact that Jesus was, you know, breaking the Sabbath by their standards, and they're trying to throw it in his face. And Jesus explained to them, you know why God hollowed the seventh day and made it holy? He did it for man, he did it for your good, he did it for your benefit, not for you to use it as some sort of a religious, you know, hammer to beat people up with. The point is this, that God even instituted the Sabbath day because it was good for man. And though we are not under that law, we can learn from that and realize that look, we need to take time to rest. Go to Mark chapter number six. Mark chapter six. And again, I'm only using the Sabbath as an example. I'm not telling you you have to take the Sabbath day off. But what I'm saying is that you need to give in your life, you need to, you know, make time in your life to have rest from time to time. Notice Mark chapter six and verse 30. Mark chapter number six and verse number 30, notice what the Bible says, and the apostles gathered themselves together into Jesus and told them all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. So the apostles just came back from a missions trip. And they're excited, you know, and they put in a lot of work, notice verse 31. And he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile, for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure, so much as to eat. Notice verse 32. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. And I want you to notice that Jesus took the time to rest. He worked hard. In fact, they said that Jesus was insane. They looked, his friends and family looked at how hard he worked and they said, this man is beside himself. He is crazy with how much work he does. But you know, Jesus would also take time to sleep. He'd take time to rest. Here he's departed into a desert place by ship privately. And look, in your life, you ought to just develop some sort of a routine, some sort of a way to take some rest, you know, to rest. And here's the truth. You know, I don't think it has to be the Sabbath day. You know, I work on the Sabbath, okay? And you know, and for me, the weekend is not a time to rest. I know for most people, the weekend might be a time to rest. For me, my busiest days are the weekend. But you know, I try to find time to rest. We've got guys that work here at the church full time and they have set days off, you know? They have a day off every week that they rest. They get one, you know, we follow the God rule. We work six days and they get one day off, all right? And you know, they get their one day each, you know? I'll be honest with you, I don't take a day off. And I've tried to take a day off in the past and it's just, it's never worked out. You know, whenever I take a day off, it's just someone's in the hospital or someone's, you know, something's happening and we gotta be there. But I will tell you this, I do take time to rest. You know, I might take a morning off, I might take an afternoon off during the week. We might take some time to rest. But I take time to rest, look, and in your life, you need to, you can't see life as a marathon, okay? You should see life as a series of sprints where you're just kinda going at it for six days and then you take some time to rest. And then you take some time to recover. You take some time to recoup. Then you go at it for six more days and then you take some time to recover. You take some time to rest. Go back to 2 Timothy chapter four. While you go there, let me read to you from 3 John 1, you don't have to turn there. You go to 2 Timothy chapter four. I'll go to 3 John 1, two. The Bible says this, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers. So look, when it comes to sharpening the saw, you need to give some attention to your physical self. You should exercise. You should rest. I'm not gonna preach about it tonight, but you should watch what you eat. All those things are things that we should try to do. But there's a second thing you oughta do and you oughta sharpen yourself intellectually. You oughta sharpen yourself intellectually. I want you to notice that the apostle Paul here in 2 Timothy chapter four, he says, the cloak that I left in Troas with Carpus, when thou comest bring it with thee, he says, and the books, but especially the parchments. And I want you to notice that he makes a difference here between scripture, the parchments. We know that the parchments are the scripture because of the fact that scripture was written in parchments for the most part during the first century. And because of the fact that he says, look, especially, this is more important, the parchments. But I want you to notice, he asked for books and he asked for parchments. Why did he ask for books? Well, because Paul was a very well-read, very knowledgeable person. You say, how do you know that? Let me prove it to you. Look at Acts, Acts chapter 17, Acts chapter 17, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts chapter 17. Paul was well-read and very knowledgeable. Acts chapter 17, look at verse 28, Acts 17 and verse 28. The Bible says, for in him, now, just to give you the context, this is Paul preaching on Mars Hill. So remember, he goes to Athens and Athens is like the base of philosophy at this time in the first century. And he is preaching at Mars Hill, which is where all the philosophers and all the deep thinkers get together to talk, to conversate. And Paul has been given an opportunity to preach to these people, these very well-educated, deep-thinking type people. Notice, and there's lots in this sermon that we could look at. I'm not gonna take the time to develop it, but notice he says in verse 28, he says, for in him, and he's talking about God, in him, we live and move and have our being. Then notice what he says. He says, as certain also of your own poets have said. Now, he's talking to a bunch of Athenian philosopher, Gentile, unsaved people, and then he quotes to them one of their own poets. He says, as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are all his offspring, for as much then as we are the offspring of God, we are not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. And I want you to notice, here we have Paul on Mars Hill, and he quotes to these philosophers one of their own prophets. And you know, why does he do that? I believe he does that because he's a very well-read man. And he's well-read, he's knowledgeable. That's why he asked for the books when he's in prison. He said, bring me something to read. Go back to the book of Proverbs, if you would. Proverbs chapter number one. Again, if you open your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely following the book of Psalms. Right after Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter one. Let me read to you an excerpt here from the book. He says this, most of our mental development and study discipline comes through formal education. But as soon as we leave the external discipline of school, many of us let our minds atrophy. We don't do any more serious reading. We don't explore new subjects in any real depth, outside our action field. We don't think analytically. We don't write, at least not critically, or in a way that tests our ability to express ourselves in distilled, clear, and concise language. Instead, we spend our time watching TV. And you know, what he's talking about is the fact that you need to make an effort to sharpen the saw intellectually. If you sit there, and the only time that you really studied or learned something was when you were in school 30 years ago, look, your mind is a muscle that needs to be exercised. And the truth is this, if you are not exercising it, it's going to atrophy, it's going to weaken, it's going to become weak, and look, you're just gonna become dumb. And in your life, you need to make effort to sharpen the saw. And one of the best ways to do that is to read. Now, you're there in Proverbs chapter one. Remember, in Proverbs, we learned about the wise man increases strength, right? The wise man, he exercises his body. The virtuous woman, she exercises her body. But notice what else the wise man does, Proverbs one and verse five. A wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel. Notice, go to Proverbs chapter nine and verse number nine. Proverbs chapter nine and verse number nine. The Bible says this, give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. Look, a wise person will not only exercise their body and make sure their body is physically fit enough to be able to serve God and live for God. Look, don't you wanna be able to see your grandkids? Don't you wanna be able to see your great grandkids? Don't you wanna be able to invest into their lives and invest into that generation? Well, you better get some exercise so you can live a good life. You better start eating healthy. And again, I'm not talking about becoming some health nut, but you gotta live your life in a way where you're sharpening the saw physically, but you also gotta live your life in a way where you're sharpening your mind, where you're investing into your mind. Let me read to you from an excerpt here that he wrote in regards to that. He says, that's why it is so valuable to read broadly and to expose yourself to great minds. There's no better way to inform and expand your mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature. You can get into the best minds that are now or that have ever been in the world. I highly recommend starting with a goal of a book a month, then a book every two weeks, then a book a week. The person who doesn't read is no better off than the person who can't read. And the truth is this. Look, we live in the most, as far as being educated with the ability to read, the timeframe and history that we live in, everyone knows how to read. There was a time on this earth when you only learn how to read if you were well-educated, if you were a male that was well-educated, but today everybody knows how to read. But the truth is this. If we don't take time to read, we're not gonna be any better than those who can't read, than those who are illiterate. And look, you gotta take the time to read. And look, you say, are you talking about the Bible? Yes, I'm talking about the Bible. We're gonna talk about that here in a minute, but I'm talking about just other books. Look, do you realize that you only know what you know? And there's no other way. If you live a life that has no other input coming into your mind, you're not learning anything, you're not getting any new knowledge, you're not grasping anything, then how are you going, do you really? You say, well, I graduated high school, I got my high school diploma. Okay, so at 18 years old, that was just everything you needed to know for the rest of your life. I mean, you're just gonna be a 65-year-old man, but you've got the education of an 18-year-old, and hopefully you went to a school that actually educated you. Or, well, I went to college. Okay, a 22-year-old? I mean, you have a lot of life ahead of you. You know, you gotta spend time reading good quality books, reading and learning and increasing, why? Because a wise man will increase in learning. You gotta read, and look, you gotta develop a love for reading in your children. You say, how do I develop a love of reading in my children? You know how you do it? By you read. You know how your kids will do what you do? Good or bad, they'll do what you do. You sit there and smoke, you can tell your kids all day long, don't smoke kids, but if they see you smoking, chances are, statistically it's proven, they're gonna grow up to smoke. You can say, if you're an alcoholic, and tell your kids, don't drink alcohol, but if they watch you drink, statistically speaking, they're gonna grow up to drink. And you know what, if you're well-educated and you're reading, and your kids see you read, you know, they will begin to develop that habit. They will begin to develop that love for reading. You gotta read. And look, when you think about it, how did God communicate his truth to us? Through a book. He gave us a book that he expects us to read. And then we see the Apostle Paul reading other books, quoting other poets. So you oughta exercise your mind through reading. This year, my wife, we're really excited about this, my wife started a new curriculum with our kids and homeschooling. And of course, she's homeschooled our kids from, that's all they've ever known. But this year, they started a new curriculum called the Robinson Curriculum. And you know, they're not paying me to say this, all right? So this is not an advertisement for them. But what I really like about the Robinson Curriculum is that they make them just read, read, read, and read, and read, and write, and write, and write. I mean, they just focus on reading. And what I love about it is that all the books that they're reading, they're all like 100 years old. And then the cool thing is that they make mom read. So instead of mom making the kids read, and my wife's an avid reader anyway, so she's just in heaven. But instead of the kids learning and moms on Facebook wasting their time, you know, they want mom to read because they know that if kids see mom reading, they're going to read. You know, we're talking about classic literature. And it's great, you know, and my wife's been reading, and I've been trying to read some of those things since I went to a public school, you know, in Hayward, California. So I missed out on all the classics, you know? I never read Oliver Twist. They literally had me, I remember in high school, they had me read a book about how Mexican street gangs formed in LA in the 1970s. That's the kind of garbage they're having you read in school today, you know? So, you know, my wife right now, she's reading through The Count of Monte Cristo, which is this book that's like as big, as long as the Bible. And she's like halfway through it. She's been reading it for a couple of weeks. And she's really, it's really interesting book. She keeps telling it to me, and I'm like, don't tell me. I want to read it myself, you know? And look, the point is this, read, read, and especially you business owners. We have a lot of business owners in our church, and look, I can't express to you how you need to be reading. You need to be reading and learning. You need to be reading in your field, in your trade. You know, as a pastor, I try to read a lot of leadership books. I try to read a lot of organizational books. I try to read books that are gonna help us be more effective. I'm doing a whole series on a book, you know, that we read in our leadership class. The point is this, you need to read and exercise your mind. You need to be like the wise man that will increase learning. He will increase learning, you know? And here's the thing, something I learned a long time ago, because I grew up in public school in the Bay Area, and they didn't really instill a lot of, you know, just a love for reading in us. But you know, when I got into the ministry, I realized if I'm gonna stand up and preach three times a week, I'm eventually gonna run out of things to say. And you know, sometimes, I was telling my wife this just today, sometimes I check in on other preachers, and new IFB and old IFB, and sometimes, you know, I'm working at the computer or whatever, and I see that their live stream comes up, and I'll just randomly check in on them. And you know, sometimes, there's certain people, I click on them randomly, just, it could be a Sunday morning, it could be a Sunday night, it could be a Wednesday night, just in the middle of the sermon, I click on it, and every time I click on it, they're just talking about the exact same thing. Just bringing up the exact same thing, the exact same story. I think to myself, don't your church people get tired of hearing you talk about the same thing? I don't wanna be that kind of preacher, where just every sermon is the same thing. You know, so I have to read. I have to fill my mind with new things, and new ideas, and new concepts, and in your life, you need to sharpen the saw of your mind. You need to read, and you need to invest in your mind spiritually. Let me give you the third one. Go to, go back to 2 Timothy, if you would, 2 Timothy chapter four. So we talked about sharpening the saw physically, we talked about sharpening the saw intellectually, and then of course, the third one is to sharpen the saw spiritually. Notice what he says, 2 Timothy 4.13, but especially the parchments. And I would say this, if you're sitting here tonight, and you're saying, yeah, pastor, I'm not gonna do any of that, I'm not gonna exercise, then, you know, just go ahead and blow up, and just be unhealthy. I'm not gonna be mad at you for that, all right? You say, I'm not gonna read. Okay, then just be ignorant. I'm not gonna be mad at you for that, but you know what I will be mad at you for? For not reading the Bible. Because especially the parchments. If there's any, if there's one area you must sharpen the saw in, is your spiritual life. If there's any area that you must give yourself to, is your spiritual walk with God. Go to 1 Timothy chapter four, and while you turn there, I'll read to you a little excerpt from the book here, in regards to the spiritual dimension. He wrote this, he says, ""Renewing the spiritual dimension ""provides leadership to your life. ""It's highly related to habit two." And if you remember, habit two was, let me begin with the end in mind. He says, the spiritual dimension is your core, your center, your commitment to your value system. He said this, ""I find renewal in daily prayerful meditation ""on the scriptures, ""because they represent my value system. ""As I read and meditate, ""I feel renewed, strengthened, ""centered, and recommitted to serve." And you know what, in your spiritual, in your life, you need to make sure that you're sharpening the saw spiritually. Are you there in 1 Timothy chapter four? Look at verse number six. 1 Timothy chapter four in verse six, the Bible says this, ""If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, ""thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ." Notice what Paul says to Timothy. He says, if you put the brethren in remembrance of these things, and he's talking about the things that I've taught you. He says this, ""Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ." Notice the words, nourished off in the words of faith. What are the words of faith? It's talking about the word of God. He says, the word of God is gonna nourish you, is gonna give you the nourishment you need, nourish up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou has attained. Look at verse 13, same chapter. He says this, till I come. He says, till I come, give attendance to reading. The word attendance means give attention to, give energy and effort to reading. And he's talking here about reading the word of God. He says, to exhortation, to doctrine. He says, neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Notice verse 15, meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them. Notice that thy profiting may appear to all. You know that if you give attendance to reading the word of God, you know that if you meditate upon these things, you know that if you study and learn and take the Bible and take the truth of the Bible and you meditate on them and you apply them to your life, you know that your prospering will appear to all. I've always loved that. He says that thy profiting may appear to all. And you know what's interesting? Is that you'll come to a church like Verity Baptist Church and your family members will say that you're in a cult and your family members will say that you're in a hate group and your family members will say that, you know, that you're in this terrible church and that you should go to the big mega church, rock concert, fun center down the street. But here's what's funny, you know, you'll have a good marriage while they're getting a divorce. You know, your kids will be living for God, soul winning, serving the Lord while their kids are drinking alcohol and getting drunk and getting high and fornicating. And the truth is this, when you meditate upon these things and give thyself holy to them, thy profiting will appear to all. People will look at you and they'll say, you're odd, you're weird, but you know, the truth is they'll wish they were you. And God has no respect to our persons. His word is available to all of us and you can succeed in your life. Look at verse 16, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. When you give yourself the doctrine, he's not talking about spiritual salvation here, he's saying when you give yourself, listen, listen, when you give yourself to doctrine, husband, when you give yourself unto the doctrine and continue in them, you will not only benefit yourself, you'll not only save yourself, but you'll save your wife, you'll benefit your wife, you'll benefit your children. See, the truth is this, when you get better, everyone around you gets better. When you become more effective, it starts being an influence on other people. Go to the book of Acts if you would, Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter number 17. So you need to give yourself to sharpening the saw spiritually. And you know, the biggest way of doing this is developing a devotional life. And you know, we talk a lot about this at Verity Baptist Church, but we talk a lot about it because it's needed. And I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands, but the truth is that if we had everybody raise their hand and say, hey, who read the Bible this morning? Who read the Bible yesterday morning? Who spent time in prayer, you know, Friday and Thursday? And if we all raised our hand, we might be embarrassed how many people are actually spending time in the Word. And you say, well, pastor, you know, you're not making me feel good. But look, I'd rather make you feel bad and you go home and read your Bible because I know that your profiting will appear to all. It'll help you. It'll help your marriage. It'll help your children. It'll help your health. It'll help your finances. It'll help you when you spend time in the Word. And look, you need to be spending time in the Word every day. You need to be spending time in the Word every day. Acts 17, verse 11. Notice what the Bible says. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they receive the Word with all readiness of mind and search the Scriptures daily, whether those things are so. It doesn't say search YouTube daily. It doesn't say search Twitter daily. They search the Scriptures daily. Look, and in my life and in your life, in my life and in your life, we must develop a devotional time. We must develop, and look, and if you don't have a consistent time of devotion, I'm not trying to beat up on you, but I'm telling you this, this must become your priority. Your priority must become developing a devotional time with your life. You've heard me say this before. Go back to 2 Corinthians chapter four, if you would. 2 Corinthians chapter four. But let me just give you some steps for a devotional time. Number one, you must choose a place. Just tonight, just tonight, before you leave tonight, would you just choose a place in your mind? This is where I will have my devotional time with God tomorrow. It may be your couch. It may be your dining room table. It may be on the porch. Don't pick somewhere where you're gonna fall asleep, okay? It's gonna be my bed at 8.30 in the morning. That's probably not gonna work out, okay? But choose a place, choose a location. Then use a plan. Look, I believe you oughta have a chart, and if you don't have a chart, tell us we'll get you a chart, but you oughta get a plan. And look, I'll say this, if you've never read the Bible, and again, I'm not beating up on you. I'm trying to help you. If you've never read the Bible, you've never developed a habit of daily Bible reading, that's okay, just be honest with yourself and say I haven't developed a daily habit of Bible reading. Then look, you need to start with just reading a proverb of the day. You need to spend the next 30 days reading a proverb of the day and just developing a habit of at least opening up your Bible and reading it every day. Once you've done that, then start reading one of the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, one chapter, two chapters a day, kinda develop that. Once you get one of those gospels down, then get you a chart or print a chart from Google or we'll get you a chart and start reading your Bible 15 minutes a day, you'll get through the entire Bible once a year. I mean, think about that. 15 minutes a day, you say I'm a slow reader. Okay, 30 minutes a day? To read three or four chapters every day? You'll read the entire Bible once a year. And look, imagine if you do that for five years, 10 years, 15 years, your profiting will appear to all. God will bless you. So choose a place, use a plan, and make an appointment. Make an appointment. Decide, this is when I will read. This is when I will spend time in prayer. And don't say, oh, well, I'll just get to it at some point in the day. If you don't choose a time, you will not get to it. So just choose a time. Just say, look, first thing in the morning. Or maybe you have a weird schedule, an odd schedule. I'll do it during lunchtime. I'll do it before I go to bed. Whatever, but make an appointment. And say, I will spend time with God every day. You say, why? Because it's important that you sharpen the saw of your spiritual self. It's important that you sharpen the saw of your spiritual life. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter four. And I gotta finish up. But let me just give you a few thoughts as we end here. All of these habits that we've learned over the last couple of weeks, being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking one way, and seek first to understand, then to be understood, synergize. They all are wrapped around this idea of sharpening the saw, of getting better at life. And look, you might say, I'm too busy to do all those things. And look, I realize you are busy. I realize we are busy people. But you need to realize that the best investment you can make in your life, the best investment that you can make in your marriage, the best investment that you can make in your child rearing is taking the time to sharpen the saw. We read that little story about the guy with the ax. Here's a quote from Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln once said this, "'Give me six hours to chop down a tree "'and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.'" And the truth is this, and you guys that work in construction, you know this is true, that when you try to do a job with the wrong tool, it takes twice as long. Sometimes it's just an investment in productivity to just go and get the tool you need. Or to just take the time to sharpen that ax so you can cut down that tree. And some of you are trying to live life with your blunt self. You need to take some time and sharpen the saw. You need to take some time and invest in yourself. Now, just by way of conclusion, because I don't want to preach another sermon on this, I want to give you just some concluding thoughts as we finish up the series tonight. First of all, I want you to focus on this idea, and I want you to think about this. Everything we've talked about over the last several weeks, and I hope you've heard it and applied it, I hope you've taken notes and you're attempting to digest it and live it out, but you ought to reflect these things unto others. It's not just enough for you to sharpen the saw of your life. It's not just enough for you to put first things first and be proactive and think win-win in your life, but you also ought to try to reflect these things unto others. I read this book and I got a lot out of it, and I thought, man, these are great things that I need to apply in my life, but I also want to just reflect it unto you. I want to teach it to you. I want to try to help you. And in your life, you ought to reflect these things unto others. Let me just read for you a little bit here from the book just by way of conclusion. He says this, what do we reflect to others about themselves? And how much does that reflection influence their lives? We have so much we can invest in the emotional bank accounts of other people. The more we can see people in terms of their unseen potential, the more we can use our imagination rather than our memory with our spouse, our children, our coworkers, our employees. We can refuse to label them. We can see them in a new fresh way each time we're with them. We can help them become independent, fulfilled people, capable of deeply satisfying, enriching, and productive relationships with others. Goethe taught, treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be, and he will become as he can and should be. You ought to reflect these things in the lives of others, especially your parents. You can breathe so much life into your kids, but you can also take life out of them. If you're constantly just berating your children, insulting your children, putting your kids down, don't be surprised when they grow up to be failures. But if you encourage your kids along the way, if you say, hey, God has a plan for you, God has something he wants to do with you, you are a child of God. You can do great things for God. You can reflect those thoughts and reflect those things into your life. I also want to say this. We began with this idea of inside out, but I want to end with this idea of inside out again. Because really, we began with the idea of inside out, but we spent seven sermons talking about the habits that you need to work from the inside out. Here's what the author wrote about the idea of change. He says this, change, real change, comes from the inside out. It doesn't come from hacking at the leaves of attitudes and behaviors with quick fix personality ethic techniques. It comes from striking at the root. And you know, in your life and in my life, we need to do some work in ourselves. We need to look at the negative things in our lives. We need to look at the things that are holding us back, that are holding our marriages back, that are holding our health back, that are holding our finances back, that are holding our child-rearing back. We need to look at those things and see in life, you're trying to hack at the leaves. You're looking at all these leaves and saying, this is not right. This is not how it should be. This is not how marriage should be. This is not how child-rearing should be. This is not how my finances should be. You're trying to hack at the leaves. We need to be hacking at the roots. Change comes from the inside out. And the truth is this, that it can only be done through Jesus Christ. I thought it was really interesting. This book has a quote I love. It's from Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture. He's a politician, it's interesting. There used to be a day when politicians were better than they are now. He said this. He said, the Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people. And then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. And the truth is this, you can change your legacy. You can change your life. You can change everything you don't like about your life, everything that's ineffective about your life. You can sit there and spend the rest of your life saying, if only they, if only she, if only he, if only my parents had it, or my wife had it, or my husband would, or my kids. You can sit there and blame the outside, the outside, the outside, and fail at life. Or you can die inside today to say, I must work with Christ from the inside out. This is why our heads tonight want a prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray you'd help us. Lord, I pray you'd help us to really take these thoughts that we've learned seriously in our lives. And to realize that you want us to live the abundant Christian life. You want us to live effective lives. But it's never gonna happen while we blame the outside, while we hack at the leaves. Lord, help us to turn our direction to the roots. Help us to begin from the inside out. Lord, help us to realize that you've got a perfect plan for us. But we've gotta develop some habits to become effective Christians. Lord, I pray that you would help Verity Baptist Church, especially now, especially now, as we begin to come back from this shutdown and begin to rebuild. Lord, help us to be rebuild with strength, rebuild with a strong foundation. Rebuild with Christians that are working on themselves from the inside out. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.