(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) ...with the thief hateth his own soul. He heareth cursing, and beraeth it not. The fear of man bringeth a snare, for whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. 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's all bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you Lord for bringing us here on this Tuesday night to sing praises to you and hear your word be preached. Lord, we ask you to please fill Pastor Jones with your Holy Spirit as he comes forward to preach the message that you laid on his heart. And Lord, we love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Right. Amen. So, short sermon for you this evening, at least that's what I had planned, because I know that you can smell the food and I know how Baptist and food are, so trust me. Just bear with me. The title of my sermon is What Do You Intend to Do? What Do You Intend to Do? This is the time of year where people start looking towards the next year and they decide to set goals and, you know, different things that they want to accomplish, you know, different things that you want to get done in this following year. And to be honest, most people that set those goals don't reach them. And so I've just got some things this evening, five questions that I want you to ask yourself that we're going to go over to kind of help you through your goals, whatever they are. And this is more on an individual basis. This isn't really a church thing. Our anniversary is at the end of February, so at that time then we'll kind of do our, you know, our year as an independent church and we'll go through some stuff at that time. But if you would look down at verse number 18, Proverbs chapter 29, verse 18, it says, Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. It's like I said, that's what this sermon is about, your vision. You say, what's the vision? Well, it's what do you intend to do? What have you pictured in your mind that you want to accomplish this next year? Right? That's what I'm talking about. You know, that's what a vision is. Something that you can, that you've imagined, you know, a goal, whatever that is. And you take that and you say, okay, I want to do that. But the question that I have for you is, are you serious? And the question I guess I should ask first pertains to the second half of the verse where it says, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. So whatever your goals are, whatever it is that you want to accomplish, make sure that you keep God and his law at the center of that thing. Because if not, you will perish. You will fail. I guarantee it. You say, well, you know, I still love God and this, and I don't think he really cares if I follow him to the T. You know what? The Bible says great peace have they that love thy law, nothing shall offend them. You know, that's what's going to bring you true peace because let's face it, a lot of goals that you set, you know, even when you try to get them done, oftentimes we fail and we don't do it. You know, are you going to let that discourage you? You're going to let that, you know, I don't know, discourage you to the point to where you don't want to come back to church. And so just listen to me, hear me out on this. I think it'll be a help to you. Turn to Luke chapter number 14, Luke chapter number 14. So while you're turning there, I'm just going to read to you a couple of famous verses out of Proverbs chapter three, which says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Right? So whatever it is that you have set forth in your heart and in your mind that you want to accomplish, you need to acknowledge him. I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's you want to get healthier, you want to build a house, you want to get a better job, whatever it is, you need to acknowledge him because the Bible says he will direct thy paths. Okay. But when you decide to neglect that and you don't do that, guess what? He's just going to be okay. You want to be hands off? Let's be hands off and see how well you do. Look, I've said this before, God's people don't get to play by the same rules that the world does. It doesn't happen. You will find yourself chastened over and over and over again until you're miserable. That's why it says, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. So there's nothing wrong with having a vision. If you don't have a vision, you will perish, especially as a Bible believing Christian. Every Christian in here needs to have a vision on how they want to become a better Christian. Right? No matter what your other goals are, you need to make sure that you're setting forth this next year to be better than you were last year. You say, I read the Bible one time, read it two times. I went soul winning X amount of times. Take that and go more, do more and never stop. Because when you stop, you will perish. I promise you that. So you're there in Luke chapter number 14. The first question that I have for you is whatever you intend to do, have you counted the cost to reach your goals? Have you counted the cost to reach your goals? Luke chapter 14, look at verse 28. It says, for which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it. So you say, okay, I want to get into better shape this next year. Well, my question is, have you sought, you know, counsel? Have you looked at your schedule? Have you looked at your finances? Have you prioritize things in your life to be able to get that done? Have you done some research? Have you talked with anybody? Have you gone forth and seen what works and what doesn't work? What's actually feasible, right? Because a lot of people, you know, there's maybe way, way out of shape. And then they see this dude on a magazine or they get this exercise program and they don't know that that guy is on testosterone replacement therapy or all these hormones and say, well, I want to get ripped like that. Well, first of all, that's vanity. Okay. But second of all, you know, is that really attainable for you? Not everybody was born with the genes to look like a lot of these people that are ripped. All right. A lot of guys, they get this idea in their head that, you know, this next year, man, I'm going to lose all this weight. I'm going to get strong. I'm going to get, get ripped. That's great. Nothing wrong with trying to get healthy. Nothing wrong with exercising and, you know, eating healthy. In fact, we should all do that, especially Baptist, especially after tonight, especially after the holidays. But have you counted the cost? Can you afford the time? Do you have a family? You see, when you get a family, you know, and you got kids and, you know, you're working full time, it could be a challenge. It could be a big challenge. It could be very difficult to do that. So like I said, have you counted the cost? You know, I remember when I was growing up, we had these neighbors that lived across the street from us and they're like, oh, we're going to build this storage shed. We're going to start the storage business. They built like, I don't know, maybe it was like eight or nine different stalls. They framed them. They put the roof on there and it stopped right there. And it sat that way for years. For years. I think I moved out and joined the military and came home one time and somebody bought the property and just completely leveled it because the guy just never, he never sat down and counted the cost, whether or not he could actually finish the job. And so, like I said, this is wisdom that you need to apply to your life. Take your goals and ask yourself, have you counted the cost? Can you actually do it? Is it attainable or not? If not, then be honest with yourself. Look at verse 29. Says less happily after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it. All that behold it began to mock him saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. And I'll tell you, growing up, looking at that storage shed every day on my way to school, I was always laughing at them. These guys are dumb. They're not as rich as they thought. You know, I was always, I always had something to say about it. Always all my friends did like, man, what are they going to do with that? They should just demolish it or give it to somebody who can actually, you know, afford to finish it. But what Jesus is teaching here is true. And by the way, minimize this, flapping your lips. A lot of people want to talk, right? It's easy to talk. Well, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do this. But they never sit down and actually count the cost and actually figure out whether or not they can do that. Because you see, what happens is when they do count the cost and they realize, oh, maybe I don't have enough to finish it. Maybe I don't really have that much time or whatever it is. You know what? Then all of a sudden that becomes a discouragement to them. You see what I'm saying? So let's say you do sit down and you count the cost. You say, okay, I can't get it done. What are you going to do? You're just going to quit? Why don't you take that issue? Okay, I want to get healthy. I don't have enough time. Well, why don't you make time, figure out a way to do it, right? Or maybe just, you know, figure out whatever it is. You know, you want to build a house, but you don't have enough money. You don't have the credit. You know, then that becomes your goal. Okay, you don't just stick with the thing that, you know, you think you're going to do even though you can't, you know, afford to afford to do it. You see what I'm saying? If you can't get your goal done because of an obstacle, then you need to make that obstacle your new goal and then move forward. Okay, look at verse 31. It says, or what king going to make war against another king, sit if not down first and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 men to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000 or else while the other is yet a great way off. He sendeth an ambassador in desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. So Jesus said, hey, look, the kings of the earth, when they want to do battle, a lot of times they will go out and they'll assess the other armies. They'll assess the resources and see whether or not they can get the job done. You know, when you're reading through Daniel and you see the Medes and the Persians take over the Babylonian empire, you can tell they did that. You can tell that they spent some time researching and counting the cost whether or not they were able to strike and take over that nation. You know, and we need to do the same thing. Look, sports teams do it all the time. I remember when Kayden was doing wrestling, there was always these people that had, like, they would just come around and video on little kids. They're not perverts. They're just trying to, you know, they're just that much into it, trying to find out other kids' weaknesses. So when, you know, when it's their team's time, they, you know, they can show all their kids, oh, here's what this kid does, he makes mistakes, or here's this guy who's really good, you know, but he always, you know, sprawls too early or whatever it is. Right, football teams do that too. They get really bad about that. They send their scouts, look, this guy from work one time, he invited me, you know, you got to come see my son's game. You know, this son's like nine years old, just little munchkins playing football, right? And there's, like, people there with cameras and they're walking around. They have nothing to do with either team. They're just scouting it out. Like, I mean, like they're NFL or something, you know? And I'm just listening to these guys talk and they're like, oh, yeah, we're going to roast these guys, you know, we're going to completely smoke them and stuff. And I'm just thinking to myself, how stupid is that, just over some football game with little kids? But you know, it is a wise decision. If you want to win, you do need to count the cost. You do need to assess whether or not you can actually get the job done, right? Isn't that what fighters do, right? They assess their opponents. Try to find some weakness and see if you can actually beat them, right? What's the same thing with you and your goals? You need to assess whether or not you have enough to do it and whether or not you are able to overcome any obstacles that may come your way. And then verse 33 says, so likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. What Jesus is saying there is, hey, look, you know, there's a cost to following me. I don't say there's a cost to getting saved. I said there's a cost of following him. You're going to lose friends. You're going to lose family. You're going to lose time. But don't think you won't get all of that stuff back in a better way, right? So he's saying, hey, you know, whatever it is you decide to do, just realize it's going to come with a cost. You want to get in better shape. It's going to cost you time. It's going to cost you money. You want to build a house. It's going to cost you time and money. Whatever it is, it's probably going to cost you time and money, right? But what I'm trying to say is ask yourself, have you counted the cost? Are you willing to suffer a little bit of loss, a little bit of pain, you know, to get your goals accomplished? All right, so number one is have you counted the cost? Number two, turn to Proverbs chapter 11, Proverbs chapter 11. So point number one or question number one is whatever you intend to do, have you counted the cost? Number two, number two, whatever it is that you've intended to do, have you sought counsel for your goals? Have you sought counsel for your goals? Why are you turning to Proverbs 11 and read Proverbs 15, 22? It says without counsel, purposes are disappointed, but in the multitude of counselors, they are established. So remember that, without counsel, purposes are disappointed, right? So have you purposed something in your heart to do? If you don't seek counsel to do that, you're probably going to be disappointed. Just think about that. Whatever it is that you've got on your mind this year to do. If you don't seek counsel to get that done, you will get disappointed. It's just a fact of life. Look, when I decided I wanted to become a pastor, I sought counsel over that. I counted the cost. And I'm going to tell the story at the end because that story includes all five of these questions. Now pertaining to your goals that are outside of church, okay, you want to get better at your job. You don't necessarily have to look for somebody who's saved to teach you how to do your job better, okay? It's okay to go, because look, there's people, there are heathen people out there that are very wise in their craft, okay? And you have goals to get better at your job, you know, it's okay to read some other books. Now I read a book called How to, what is it, How to Win and Influence People. This is written by somebody who's not saved. Well, it's a good book. It's by somebody who is very successful in that area of life, you know, there's a lot of wisdom in that book. I read another book about leadership, I forgot the title right now, but it was written by an admiral, you know, who had a lot of success in the naval operations and stuff. And that taught me a lot, you know, so some, all I'm trying to say is that some people in the world have a lot of wisdom, and it's okay to get some of that. Now obviously, if they're perverted, you know, it is just really bad, you know, look somewhere else, okay? We don't want to get you into bad counsel, but the question or the point that I'm trying to make is if you don't have any counsel, you're going to be disappointed. Because think about it, more than likely with whatever your goal is, you probably haven't done it before, otherwise it wouldn't be a goal, right? And so it might be wise for you to go seek somebody who maybe has done that, has that success and pick their brain, right? That's humility also, by the way. You know, I love it when people are like, oh, I'm going to do this, like, have you ever done that before? Have you ever built a house before? Have you ever started a business before? No, but I'm just amazing and I could just do it. You're just running your mouth and you're going to get disappointed. If you've never started a business before and you're just going to up and do it, look, I've tried that, okay? It doesn't work too well. It doesn't work too well. I was disappointed because I didn't seek as much counsel as I should have, all right? You're there in Proverbs 11, look at verse 14, where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. So there's nothing wrong with seeking multitudes of counselors to achieve your goals, right? You want to be a better Christian, you know, find somebody who's on fire doing a good job and start hanging around them, you know, because it might just rub off on you. You want to start a business, find somebody else who's done that and pick their brain, talk to them, you know, but don't just stop there. Talk to multiple people because we all learn at different rates and everybody like that has something to offer. You see what I'm saying? You know, there's nothing wrong with a multitude of counselors. The Bible says that that is actually safe, that there is safety when you do that. Turn to Proverbs chapter 19. Proverbs chapter 19. That's why it's a good idea to show up to soul-winning because there's a multitude of counselors when you do that, that can help you, that can coach you, that can guide you into becoming a better soul-winner, all right? Now while you're turning to Proverbs 19, I'm just going to read to you the statement out of Job. I love this part here when God picks up talking here in verse, I'm sorry, chapter 30 verse 1. This is what God says to Job. He says, Then the Lord answered Job out of the world when it said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee and answer thou me. The reason why I brought that up is because God's saying, hey, look, why are you sitting here listening to somebody who darkens counsel with words without knowledge? Here's an example of that. Somebody who isn't married trying to give advice to somebody who's married. That's ridiculous, right? So you say, I want to be a better husband. I want to be a better wife, whatever it is. You know, don't be going to somebody who's been divorced or somebody who's single and getting their advice because you're going to get disappointed. See what I'm saying? So go find counsel to achieve your purposes, but avoid foolish counsel, right? You need to have some discernment. You need to kind of be like, okay, is this somebody who's really had success in this area that I'm trying to have success in? If so, it's probably going to benefit you. If not, you will be disappointed greatly. And that's why God says, hey, you're going to have to answer me now. You think about that. I want to be a great Christian, but I'm just going to sit home and watch YouTube all the time. I'm not saying you can't benefit from that, but you're not going to benefit the same way as you would being actually at church, talking with God's people, hearing the preaching live, right? Because iron sharpened with iron, the Bible says. So you're there in Proverbs 19, look at verse 21. There are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. And you know what? All these little bits of advice, all this little bit of counsel that I'm giving you, it's all come from the Bible. There's really nothing new under the sun. The best counsel that I've ever gotten on leadership, I can find that in the Bible. The best counsel I've ever found on marriage, I can find that in the Bible. You see what I'm saying? It's the counsel of the Lord that's going to stand. That's why I said the Christian, first and foremost, you need to make sure that God's at the center of whatever it is you're doing. You need to acknowledge him in all your ways, all your ways, whatever it is you're going to decide to do. Acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. So turn to Proverbs chapter 21. So number one was, have you counted the cost? Question number two is, have you sought counsel for your goals? Question number three is, have you purposed in your heart to work hard to obtain your goals? Have you purposed in your heart to work hard to obtain your goals? Don't overlook that question, that's very important. You know how it went like this earlier? Because a lot of people like to run their mouths. I want to be a pastor, I want to be an evangelist, I want to be a deacon, right? They're just running their mouths. They've never purposed in their heart to actually work hard. I want to start a business. They've been saying that for 20 years. Why don't you shut your mouth and just show us, just do it. Decide right now in your heart that you're going to take your goals and work hard to accomplish them. I'm sick and tired of listening to people all over the place that say, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, and then they never do it. God's people shouldn't be like that because the world looks on them, oh, there's somebody who doesn't really care. There's somebody who's just lazy. There's somebody who just likes to talk and run their mouth. Talk is cheap. It's action that counts. It's what you purposed in your heart that's going to count in the end. I want to be a better Christian, but your priorities are stuck out in the world. Good luck with that. I want to start a business, but you can't put the bottle of booze down. Hey, good luck with that. I want to be a better husband. I want to be a better father. I want to be a better wife, but you can't put that remote control down. Yeah, good luck with that. Proverbs chapter 21, look at verse 5. It says, the thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness, but of everyone that is hasty only to want. People that are hasty to run their gums, right? Think of somebody that you know that's always running that jaw. It's just cranking that thing left and right. I'm going to do this, man. I'm going to do that. What are they always doing every single year? Just talking about their wants. That's it. Last year I wanted to start a business. This year I want to be a deacon. Next year I want to be an evangelist. When does it stop? It's because they've never purposed in their heart to actually get something done. The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness. One thing I've learned about being in customer service and going to people's houses is these people that are rich, they are diligent. They are diligent in what they do. For example, the other day I was in some lady's house, big old house, nicely, I was working on a couple of things. She just wanted her oven door cleaned, so they sent me out there to clean the oven door, no problem. She's doing a pretty easy job, right? It's not like it's broke or anything, she's just like, I'm just real OCD. I was like, now that's OCD, right? But as I'm doing that, I'm talking to her about some things like in-home care, and she's like, oh, I used to be a nurse, in-home care. Next thing I know, she gets on the phone, she's printing stuff out, asking me all these questions. She gives me these forms, these phone numbers, these pictures of people that I needed to go see. And I'm like, whoa. I'm like, man, then I just realized, this is somebody who's diligent, you know what I mean? I mean, she's not, I don't think she's saved, but she's diligent, and that's why she has that plenteous house and all these things, because she has spent her life being diligent, getting things done, writing things down, and actually accomplishing them, not just doing this. See, all I did was just mention something, and she was just like, bam, I'm going to help you out. And she did. I was like, wow, thank you. And I thought, man, I can learn something from this. You know that? Thank you for the reminder there, you know what I mean? And so can you. We need to be like that in everything that we do. You need to write stuff down, and you need to be serious and purpose in your heart to get it done. And you should feel bad when you don't. You should feel real bad. You should be kicking yourself, because you know why? That's what's going to bring you the goods. That's what's going to bring you success, is to purpose in your gut to get stuff done. No more talking. No more running your mouth. No more, oh, I wish I could lose weight, or I wish I could do that. No, you do it. You be diligent. That's the key. Being diligent, not running your mouth. All right. I don't know why I'm getting so angry. Turn to James chapter, I'm sorry, turn to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. So question number one. Have you counted the cost? Have you actually sat down? Have you actually thought about what you're going to do and whether or not you can get it done? Number two, have you sought counsel? Have you read a book? Have you talked to somebody? Have you sought counsel? Number three, have you purposed in your heart to work hard? Have you purposed in your heart when an obstacle comes up that you're going to be like, okay, let's go, let's do this, or I'm going to hop over this thing, I'm going to get through this. Have you made that purpose in your heart? Because if you haven't, you will be disappointed and you will fail. Question number four. Have you considered the fact that you must face the unknown? More than likely, whatever your goals are is going to make you get out of your comfort zone. It's going to take you to a place that might not seem comfortable. Genesis chapter 12, look at verse number one. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. Did you know that Abraham had to get out of his comfort zone in order to get these blessings? It couldn't have been easy for him to want to go away from his family and from his kind, his people, right? But God said, no, you got to do that. I mean, think about that. People that want to get involved in our kind of churches. A lot of times, you know, they, they, they watch us on YouTube and they're, oh, I'm going to come in there and do this, you know, and then they show up and all of a sudden reality hits and like, uh oh, I don't, I'm out, I'm outside my comfort zone. Like, hey, you're going to come soul winning on Sunday. You're going to come soul winning on Saturday, Thursday. I'm not comfortable doing that. What's funny because you just purposed in your heart. You said, you said you wanted to be a soul winner. You said you wanted to be on fire for God, right? It's going to take you where you may not be comfortable and you have to be okay with that mental. You have to be okay with that in your heart. It's part of working hard, realizing that whatever it is that you've purposed, whatever it is that you intend to do, it may take you into a place that's not comfortable, right? You're not going to get in better shape by just doing five pushups a day, right? I mean, right guys, you guys are working out, you know this, right? You have to push yourself to levels that make you uncomfortable. It's the same thing spiritually. That New Testament challenge will put you outside of your comfort zone because here's what's going to happen. You're going to wake up at six or seven, whatever you wake up, you're going to go like, man, I'm tired. But you know what? I get off at four or five o'clock. I'll just do it then. You're going to come home. All this stuff's going to happen. Someone's going to come knocking on your door and his name's Murphy and we'll talk about him in a minute. And he's always full of bad news, right? And then guess what? It's going to be 10 o'clock and you're going to be like, man, I told everybody I was going to do this. Ah, it's just one day. Next thing you know, you're six days behind and you've been running that mouth all month long about how you're going to do it. You're going to get your name on that plaque, but it's too late. So look, I'm saying it's going to put you outside of your comfort zone, right? But the more you get out there, right? The more it's not going to be uncomfortable anymore. It's going to be familiar. It's going to be okay. You're going to be able to do that, right? So let's move on. Did I have you go? Oh, go to James chapter four, James chapter four, James chapter four. So I said, number one, I asked, have you, have you counted the cost? Number two, I asked, have you sought counsel? And number three, have you purposed in your heart to work hard? Number four, have you considered the fact that you must face the unknown? You need to get out of your comfort zone more than likely if you're going to accomplish your goals. And number five, question number five, have you thought about what you will do when Murphy's law shows up? Have you thought about what you're going to do when Murphy's law shows up? You say, who's Murphy? I learned about him in the military. I'll just read you this definition here. Murphy's law is the supposed law of nature expressed in various humorous, popular sayings to the effect that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. When I was in the military, we had this, this big old painting in the barracks and it was, it was a, it was a skeleton and he had camo on and a rucksack and it was just basically a dead guy, but his name was Murphy and it had all these different statements. We used to have to memorize them and it was like, you know, if you go on a ruck march, you know, and it's going to be 20 miles and you need four gallons of water and you bring three, you know, you're going to need that fourth one, you know, stuff like that, right? It's true. If you go out, you know, let's say you, let's say you're driving back from Vancouver, Washington here and you get to Pendleton, you're about to go up that pass and you're like, I got a quarter of a tank left, I think I can make it. By the time you get to the top of that hill, man, there's going to be a traffic jam the last five hours and you're going to run out of gas, I promise you, every single time. You know, Murphy's law is basically just a way to kind of help you realize this fact. You need to think things through, you need to take your goals and you need to say, okay, what could go wrong? I'm going to make this journey, now what could go wrong? Because more than likely it is going to go wrong, but if you've already thought about it and you've already made preparations for it, you're going to be that much more ahead. And not only that, you're not going to get as discouraged when these roadblocks come up. Murphy hits me every day at work. You know what? I'm not at my spiritual height at work, and I can probably say that about every guy in here, right? But in fact, most of my chasing comes from work. It comes from a screw that just won't go back in the same way it came out. I have not figured it out yet, right? It's Murphy, he's come to get me every single time here. So real quick, you're there in James chapter four, look at verse 13. This brings up my next little bit of advice here, is be cautious about boasting for tomorrow because you never know what could really happen. You say, oh, I've got this, I'm going to do this stuff, I'm going to purpose this. You know what? Maybe God's got some different plans, right? Look at verse 13, go to now you that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appear for a little time and then vanish away for that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that verse 16, but now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and do with it, not to him at a sin. So you see what he's saying there in verse 16, but now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. You know, it's even when you say, you know, I'm going to do this business and no one's going to stop unless it's God's business, right? Because you don't know what if you get in a wreck, what if something happens? Then what? Then you'll then, then we look like an idiot, right? That's what pride does to you and eventually it's just going to cause you to fall, right? So you have these goals. You need to stay humble. You need to acknowledge him in all your ways and by doing that, right? By doing that, verse 15, for that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. So if God wills, I'll lose weight. If God wills, I'll do this. I'll build that house. I'll build that business. I'll build that better marriage. I'll build that better family. If the Lord will, right? That's the attitude that we have to have. We can't play by the same rules as the world. Like I said, at the beginning of this sermon, you know, they can go out there and some of them, you know, I'm going to build this business and they do it. But we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't mimic them because we're the children of God and he's got different standards and different expectations for us. So just real quick in review here. So question number one is have you counted the cost? Have you actually sat down and honestly assessed whether or not you can actually get these goals done? And number two, have you sought counsel? Have you talked to anybody? Have you read a book? Have you studied the subject? Do you know who to go to when you get stuck and you need help? And number three, have you purposed in your heart to work hard? And I said, number four, have you considered the fact that you must face the unknown? Have you considered that you will have to get outside of your comfort zone more than likely to attain to your goals? And number five, have you thought about what you will do when Murphy's law shows up? Have you made preparations for obstacles that are going to come up? Now I'm just going to end on this story here about how I became a pastor. So it was, you know, probably 2002. Some of you know the story, some of you may not. You know, we were, we were sitting in a Nazarene church and you know, they're showing multiple Bible verses up on the screen. I just remember thinking like, I don't like this. I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it, but I don't like it. And I remember watching the guy preaching, used to be a Baptist, you know, he actually knew the right gospel too. And I just remember thinking like, man, someday I'm going to have to just get up there and do this thing. And I hate public speaking. Now I don't really care, but, but back then I hated it. And I remember thinking, I have this desire now to be a pastor, but I also have a great fear, you know, and as time went on, I would mention it to certain pastors, oh, wait till you're about 50 years old, you know, wait till you're about, you know, 45, 50 years old and then start training for it because people respect aged men more so. And they would all say that it seemed like no matter what church I went to, that, that was the, that was the counsel that I would get. Come to find out later, they just didn't want competition. So instead of furthering the kingdom of God, they viewed me as a threat. So it wasn't until, you know, after I found all, all this stuff that it came to be. But I'll tell you a story. We're stuck in a dead end, Paul Chappellite, independent Baptist church, Port Orchard, Washington. We're, our family, we're just sick of this stuff. You know what? So one day on a whim, it was a Friday night, Kayden had a wrestling match, there was nobody for him to wrestle and Jessica and I were just like, let's just go to Verity Baptist Church. Let's just drive to Sacramento and go down there and just hear some good preaching. And just on a whim, we did that. That was Valentine's Day weekend, right? Valentine's Day weekend. Was it actually February 14th or I don't know, but it was Valentine's Day weekend, 2015. I should have gotten my dates and talked to you about this story before I decided to tell, but you get the point. I think it was 2015. Maybe it was 2000, yeah it was 2015. So Valentine's Day weekend, 2015, we go down there. We loved it. You know, it was like, man, it was just so awesome to see somebody just speak the truth like that, you know? And I'll never forget it. I looked at Jessica and said, we have to move. We have to do something. We cannot stay in the state that we're in. You know, I told Pastor Mendez, I had that desire to be a pastor, I had it for a long time. He did out his spiritual leadership class to me and showed me all the stuff that he does to train men and I was like, man, that's what I want to do. You know, if the Lord wills, you know, that's what we'll do. So we went back home and we prayed about it, talked about it as a family. We counted the cost. Here's some of the problems I ran into. You know, I worked for the government. I worked on fixing submarines, aircraft carriers. That job does not transfer to very many places, especially Sacramento. It does not transfer there. So now I've got an obstacle. I can't just move to Sacramento to train as a pastor. I have no way to get income. So I prayed about that. I started seeking ways to remedy that. Well, God led me to appliance repair. Right? So I start flipping appliances. I get enough money. I get just enough experience under my belt to where I think, okay, I think we can move there. We can buy a travel trailer. We can live in that. We'll bypass, you know, the expensive housing down there in Sacramento and we could just do that. So we're like, okay, we're going to do that. Now we have another obstacle. We've got to sell our house. So write down a million things that we have to do to get that house sold. Right? It took us two years, but we did it. Never gave up. Right? And the whole time I'm seeking counsel. And during that time I meet Pastor Thompson and Verity Baptist Vancouver shows up. God provides opportunities to preach and I'm like, man, I really don't want to leave now, you know? That's the only purpose in my heart. I'm like the Medes and the Persians, man, when I say I'm going to do something, I got to do it. Right? I made it, you know, that I just decided a long time ago, that's how it's going to be. That's how I'm going to be as a man. So as hard as it was for me to leave that church, you know, we, we did it. Then it was hard to leave Sacramento after that. It was the same problem, you know, but, you know, we finally, in 2017, we finally moved down there, you know? So we counted the cost. We were able to do it. You know, I sought counsel and I just, just went with it, you know, just went with it. We went down there, I got the training, I purposed in my heart the whole time to work hard. You know, I did all of these things. I realized we're going to have to get outside of our comfort zone. We're going to have to live in a travel trailer and a not so nice part of town, right? I'm going to have to work in a job that I'm not very good at, that I don't know much about and make mistakes and not get paid very much. But God brought us through all of that. Why? Because I acknowledged him. You know, I had a vision and I realized I'm going to be happy as long as I stay in God's will, as long as I stay following him, stay, you know, stay soul winning, stay doing all of those things. And Murphy showed up several times, but it didn't bother me, right? Because great peace have they, the love thy law, the Bible says. You know, I was able to overcome a lot of that stuff. Four years later, so last year, February, Valentine's Day weekend, the same weekend to the same day that God ordained. I mean, I love telling that story. It was just, I mean, it's not a coincidence. You know, I made those goals that that first day that I ever visited Verity Baptist Church, I was like, I'm going to move here no matter what. God will help me do this. I'm going to move here and I'm going to get sent out. And I just think it's so cool that that same weekend, you know, four years later, I was able to get ordained and sent here, you know? And so I just wanted to tell you that, share that story with you, because if you apply these things to your goals, I promise you, you'll attain them. Not without hardship, not without a little bit of discomfort, but you will attain your goals. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for, again, the wisdom that's found in your word. I just pray you bless us this coming year, Lord. I pray you make us all better than we were this last year, Lord, and that you continue to grow this church, continue to help us win souls, Lord, and please just keep us extremely zealous for you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.