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

Well, the title of the sermon this morning is, New Man Habits in the New Year. New Man Habits in the New Year, and of course this is a great chapter in God's Word, and the verses I just kind of want to springboard off of. The whole chapter is really good actually concerning this topic, but let's look at verse number 22. It says, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man. Now that word conversation means the lifestyle, the way that you used to live your life, and so as Christians we're supposed to put that off and get rid of that, try our best to put off that former life that we used to live as Christians, and it says which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and New Year resolutions are a big thing with people, and the world, everybody, I mean even Christians of course probably have resolutions or things that they would like to change about themselves, and I think that that's important that we reflect on where we're at in our lives, but most people, they look at carnal things, and there's nothing wrong with that. Things that they want to improve upon in their lives, there's nothing wrong with that, but spiritual things are also important. Look at what it says in verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and so the spirit of your mind is talking about that new man that you received, the new creature that you are in Christ Jesus, the new man, it says that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So that new man is once you're born again, that new man is the spirit that is made alive in you in Christ, and so as Christians, what I would like to say is that we need to put on new man habits in the new year, and maybe we haven't, maybe some things are out of balance. Maybe some things need to be worked on in our spiritual life, and like I said, everybody likes to make New Year resolutions, and again, I think that's great. I think that we should have goals, and it shouldn't just be in the new year. If you see yourself faltering in things, you should probably fix those things immediately and not try to just wait for one time of the year to do those things, but since it is the new year, people like to have new things, new habits that they want to do, and most people are trying to cease from bad habits in their lives, and they want positive things to happen because of ceasing from those bad habits, but in reality, the statistics show that most people give up on their New Year's resolutions pretty quickly. So I was just looking up what the top resolutions are for 2023, and I just kind of looked at USA Today online, and it said number one is to exercise more, and basically I look at that as be more active. People want to be more active in 2023, and there's nothing wrong with that, but that's the number one thing. People want to exercise more, and most people get their gym memberships in January or they get them in December as some kind of a package deal, and quite quickly, they tend to drop off of those things and realize that they're in debt up to their eyeballs because they never go to the gym after maybe a few months or whatever, but number two is to eat healthier. So that would be like eating more quality foods. 7-Eleven chicken wings are probably not the best food for you to get, or the taqueros or whatever, the taquitos, or ... Look, 7-Eleven food is just not good for you. All this quick food, it's convenient, especially if you're a construction worker or you're just really a person that's just on the go, you got a half hour lunch, you're on an island, you're on Swan Island, you've got no place else to go except for fast food places. I mean, it's tough, but a lot of people want to eat healthier, and I think that's good to eat healthy, balanced food, so number three is to lose weight, and obviously America has a weight problem, and that's the number three, and I would think, well, laziness and gluttony kind of lead to those issues. Number four, save more. People have spending issues in this world, and Christians probably are no stranger to that either. You know, we probably spend on things that we probably could cut back on some stuff. You know, that Starbucks coffee adds up. If it's five bucks, every single time you go to get one, and sometimes you're getting a couple a day when you're really tired, I mean, 10 bucks a day, just do the math, 365 times 10. I mean, it's a lot of money, folks, and so we could spend less. I mean, we have a lot of luxuries in our lives, and if you want to save more, you just have to spend less, and number five is spend more time with family and friends, and when I think of that, I think prioritizing your time would, you know, because we always say, well, we don't have time, but really, it's about prioritizing your time that really would help you to spend more time with your family and friends, and you know, selfishness. It's probably to do with selfishness because people like to have their me time. You know, it's like when the day's been long, the week's been hard, you just kind of want time to yourself sometimes, and that stops you from spending more time with your family and friends, but these things aren't necessarily wrong. These things are carnal things to a certain extent, but there's, again, nothing wrong with these resolutions here. Number six, USA Today top resolutions for 2023 is spend less time on social media, and Lord knows we need that, but think about where we're at in 2023, you know, in 1923, this was not a resolution, but in 2023, there's so many social media sites to choose from, and you know, when you get a smartphone, some of those things are just pre-programmed into your phone, so all you have to do is just like push a little button, and then you get your brain fed all these, you know, news things, and whatever you like, those preferences come up in those news feeds, so whether that's Facebook or Twitter or whatever, like for some reason, whenever I click on Twitter, like these cat videos come up, and I'm like, I don't even really like cats that much. These like cute cat videos come up all the time, like, how is this like, why am I, is it because I talked about cats in a sermon, like I just don't know, the worm, you know what I'm talking about, but I don't understand why the cat videos come up, but like, you know, you know what I'm saying, like they feed an algorithm in your mind, and then like when you get on there, it's feeding something that your mind wants, and your mind goes after, so that's why we get so hooked on social media, it's just like YouTube has an algorithm. If you watch certain kinds of clips, those clips will be right in your face as soon as you open up that app. And so, there's nothing wrong with social media in and of itself, but what it does is it wastes a lot of your time, and it's idleness, because really, what is it accomplishing in your life? I mean, obviously you can learn from videos, and I learn from videos, you can learn kind of about what's going on in the world, but really, most of the news we get is bad news, or fake news, you know, we're getting a lot of fake news, there's a lot of censorship, so the real news isn't really getting out there as much, and even on Twitter where they say that they're not censoring people, I mean, they just now allowed Alex Jones to have his platform back, which took forever, and I'm not saying that even he has a lot of great stuff to put out there, because a lot of his stuff, you know, is pretty, I mean, he's hanging out with Andrew Tate, folks, like, that guy is wicked as hell. And Alex Jones is a fake Christian, he's not a real Christian, if he's talking about aliens being real, I mean, come on, man, that's pretty weird. But Alex Jones has been right about some things, but maybe there's, he's being fed some truths, I don't know, I mean, but I don't think censorship should be a thing, necessarily, but, you know, we're just being fed a left-right paradigm, constantly bombarded with it, to where it's like, I don't even care about politics so much, but then I find myself interested in them. Why is that? Well, because, you know, I'm a Christian, and my tendency is to be conservative because I'm a Christian, and so conservative politics are more up my alley. But then, when I realize what a fake Ted Cruz is, Ted Cruz is a phony, you know? When Uganda, the Ugandan president said that he was gonna make being a queer the death penalty or whatever, he's the first one trumpeting LGBTQ rights, and saying how evil it is, and all this other stuff, and it's like, because he's got a queer kid. And then he's on all these Forbes, you know, YouTube pages, like, it's just like we get fed this, like, they're yelling at these Democrats and telling them, you're bad for doing this and censoring, but in reality, he wants to censor people too. It's just fake, folks, and I'm not saying I don't spend any time on social media, but I really have tried really hard to cut back on the garbage, because really what we're being fed is what we are being fed because of our likes and dislikes, so it can lead to a lot of idleness and time wasting. So number seven, reduce stress on the job. And you know, a lot of the stress on the job is our self-induced stress. I remember when I would wake up at the time that I knew that I had a certain amount of time to get ready and get out the door and be on time, and I was always stressing out that I would meet this, like, certain criteria to get to work exactly on the, you know, and the long time was like, you know, 15, 20 minutes early for me, but I would get in through this, if I didn't get in through this certain window or there was an accident, then I was in deep trouble and I was just stressing. I just thought, why don't I just get up earlier, then I can relax, get ready, and there's no traffic going to work, and then that just cut all my stress out. It really did. And then I had time to just read the Bible for a long time, and I'd got the best parking spot at work, you know, and those are de-stressers, you know, just that simple action caused me to stop stressing at work so much. You know, and there's ways to cut back on stress. How about don't be a workaholic, you know? Your family wants to spend time with you, and if you're single, then just disregard what I'm saying, but you don't also want to start something that is going to carry on into a family life, because if you're a workaholic now, you're probably going to be a workaholic when you are with a family, and that's not going to work really well, because if you're working so much that you never spend time with your family, then you're working too much, and that stress of stressing about your job is going to be stressful at home because your wife's always going to be mad at you because you're never at home, and your kids don't know you because you never spend time with them because you're always at work. And when you never rest, then you are stressed because, and you don't even realize why you're stressed, you're stressed because you're working too much, and it causes your life to be a wreck, and stress on the job is tough. Number eight, reduce spending on living expenses, and again, buying stuff you don't need, and this is another bombardment that we get. If you click through your phone, and if you're just going, scrolling through Google News or just anything, anything that you talk about, your phone is going to pick up, and then if you're talking about buying a new car, guess what, that car ad's going to come through. If you're like, I was thinking about buying the new Kia, whatever, and then lo and behold, that picture of that car's going to come up, and it's going to be on sale. And you're like, well, how'd that happen? Because your phone is listening to what you're talking about, and then they send an ad to target you, and then they're trying to get you to buy stuff that you don't really need. You don't have to get a new car every two years, you really don't. Drive it till the wheels fall off. Drive it till the engine goes kaput, or take care of your vehicles, but these are the top eight resolutions for people in general. But what is missing here? What's missing? Anything spiritual. Obviously, we can look at this and say, hey, we can learn some stuff from these top eight things that the world, that USA Today said that the world is concerned about, but what's missing? Well, figure out who God is and what he requires of me. That should probably be really the number one thing, but people don't even realize that they need that. The unsaved, they should be thinking about, hey, who is God? What am I here for? And what does he require of me? Well, he wants you to get saved and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that you can go to heaven. He doesn't want you to go to hell. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And if you are saved, how about this? Get closer to God than you were yesterday or last year. How about be more spiritual than you were last year? How about do more work for God than you did last year? How about know your Bible better than you did last year? How about pray more than you did last year? These are good resolutions for the spiritual man, for the Christian. Learn to share the gospel. If you've never shared the gospel before, how about learning to share the gospel? That's a good goal for 2024. How about being better at sharing the gospel? Learning how to do it better because maybe you already know how to do it, but when you get to go soul-winning with other people, they're going to teach you other techniques that you might not have thought about before. And you know, iron sharpens iron. And so we can start to lack in our areas of soul-winning and maybe going with a different partner from time to time can help us get better. Go to church more. Hey, go to church more in 2024 than you did last year. And so those are some good spiritual goals to hit in 2024. And so when it comes to making and breaking habits, people will say, you can make or break a habit in 21 days. But when I looked that term up yesterday, it said that that's a myth. And then there's all these things saying, well, that's a myth. It's actually this. It's actually 66 days or it's 21 days or the 2190 rule. You do it for 21 days, but then once you started that habit, then you've got to continue on for 90 days. Then it becomes a habit or whatever. But in reality, if you stop doing anything, it stops being a habit, doesn't it? So you have to continue doing things in order for them to stay a habit. People that go to church three times a week or once a week and they stop doing it, well, guess what? Going to church quit being a habit for them. And you know what? When people quit smoking and they quit smoking for seven years and then they pick a cigarette back up and start smoking again, guess what? They started smoking again. They picked up the bad habit again. So all that work went out the door. And the Bible talks about being perfect as a goal. And you're like, well, Pastor Thompson, that's impossible. We can't be perfect. Well, perfect as in Jesus Christ was perfect, as in spotless, as in blameless. We personally can't do that. Jesus made us spotless. Jesus made us blameless. Jesus made us to where when God looks at us, God the Father looks at us, He sees us without sin because of the blood of Christ. But we ourselves cannot be perfect like Jesus was perfect. What the Bible talks about as being perfect means being complete. It's not sinless. It's not walking on water. It just means to be the total package, to be a complete Christian. So that's what the Bible expects of us. That's what God wants for us. And you're like, well, I'll never be that. Well, that's because you have that attitude. If you have the attitude that you're never going to be perfect, you're never going to be complete as a Christian, then you're never going to be because you already have set yourself back. As a man, think of it in his heart, so is he. Because if that's your attitude, that you're always just going to have that negative attitude about you're never going to be perfect, well, then you're right. You never will be. Because if you never have that goal to be more spiritual as a Christian, to be a spiritual Christian, then you're not going to be. But that's not what God wants for you. Go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Romans chapter 12, verse 1. What does God expect from us as Christians? It says in Romans chapter 12, verse 1, I beseech you brethren, or excuse me, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. So in the New Testament, we don't bring animal sacrifices, we bring ourselves as a living sacrifice. We're to serve the Lord, right? Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And so it's not unreasonable for us to serve God. He wants us to serve Him, it's reasonable to serve Him, and that we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice. So whatever God requires us to do, we should be willing to do. And be not conformed to this world. See that list of eight things, that's what the world is wanting in 2023. That's what's important to them. But we're not supposed to be conformed to the world, it says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What is that? Well, it's talking about the new man. We're supposed to, instead of thinking about those worldly things, we're supposed to put in the things that God wants into our mind. And how do we do that? Well, the Bible's gonna be the key to doing that. Renew in your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How do we know what God wants from us? Well, we renew our mind through the Bible, and we prove what is that good. So we prove through the Bible. Well, the Bible tells us what's good, doesn't it? And the Bible tells us what's evil. What's wicked. What's sinful. And it says, and prove that what is good and acceptable. What is acceptable? Well, God's the one that tells us that. And what is perfect. See that word perfect? And will of God. So again, we can be perfect in the way that it's meant for us to be perfect. So are we gonna be sinless? No. But when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have Jesus Christ that pleads to God the Father for us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1.9. So when we mess up, we can go to God and make it right with Him. And the best thing to do is immediately after you screw up, go right to God and confess your sins and plead for mercy. Because if God has to bring it to your attention, and you just say, well, I'll just sweep this under the rug and just forget about this, God's not gonna forget about it. He's gonna punish you if you're one of His children. He's gonna chasten you. Look at Philippians chapter 3 verse 12. Philippians chapter 3 verse 12. Is it possible to be a perfect Christian? Well, I would say that it is. The apostle Paul says that it is. Philippians chapter 3 verse number 12. And this is the goal. It should be the goal of every Christian that next year we should be better than we were last year. We should be trying to get better. Now we're not gonna be perfect, though, in every single way. We're always gonna be lacking in some area, but when we see ourselves needing to be shored up, that's when we need to shore ourselves up. Because we are gonna slip and falter in areas of our life, but we do need to be cognitive of the things that we're slipping in. And sometimes people tell us. Sometimes your spouse tells you, and you're like, hey, maybe I need to fix that if my spouse sees it. Other people probably see it, too. Philippians 3 verse 12 says, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also I am apprehended of Christ. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, this is really important. It says, forgetting those things which are behind, quit beating yourself up over the things you've already done wrong, and leave that behind, and reaching forth under the things which are before. That's what New Year's all about. Leave all that stuff behind. Leave 2023 behind, and focus on what you're gonna do for 2024. Leave your past Christian life behind. What we did last year doesn't matter. What you do tomorrow doesn't have to be what you did today. We can be better tomorrow than we were today. Leave those things behind. Confess those things to God. Confess those sins to God, and just move forward. That's why Paul said, this one thing I do. Because Paul understands this very clearly, that he is a carnal man. He says, I'm carnal. You know, people are like, well, you can't be a carnal Christian. Well, Paul said, I'm carnal. How about that? Don't sit there and think that Paul walked on water. Paul was one of the greatest Christians that ever walked the face of the earth, but he still said he was carnal, because we all are, in some way, shape, or form. It says, verse 14, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That should be our goal, that we're constantly pressing forward. We're constantly moving forward. We're not living in the guilt. We're not living in the past. We're not beating ourselves up over what we did yesterday. We're leaving that behind. Every day is a new day for us. Morning by morning, new mercies we see. That's why he says, take up your cross daily and follow after me, because yesterday doesn't matter anymore. Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow you can pick up your cross and follow after Jesus Christ and pray and read your Bible and go soul winning and go to church or whatever. Whatever spiritual things you lacked yesterday, then fix it tomorrow. Don't dwell on your failures. Just get better. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, what's the next section say? As many as be perfect. So can people be perfect as a Christian? Yeah. Be thus minded. So let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. So you can attain being perfect, and by that I mean being the complete Christian, being a mature Christian, being a Christian that's spiritual. Be thus minded, and if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. So if you're otherwise minded, God's going to let you know, hey, you're lacking here, you're messing up here, and you'll realize that. He's going to reveal that into you, and then when he does that, don't ignore it. Fix it. Get better. Move on. Nevertheless, where into we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. So that's a really important set of scriptures there because Paul's saying, let it go, man. Let that old stuff go, and let's move forward in newness for the next day. So every year, I kind of preach a maintenance sermon on our spiritual lives, and I kind of have the same four things that I think that will help us to stay spiritual and to help us in our daily lives, and these are usually the things that will keep us balanced and keep us spiritual as a Christian. Now, I'm sure there's other things that I could put in, but I think that these are the four main things, and can anybody, can any man in here tell me what those four things are before I preach these? Yeah. Someone was paying attention. Yeah. That's exactly right. That's the same four points I always preach. You're like, you're not telling me you're going to do that again. Why would I change? Why would I change that? Is there something else? Is there something else I should be preaching about? Well, we need to hear this stuff every year, so if you're lacking in that area, you can fix it. That's why I preach it. We need to hear these things again, because we need to be perfect in these areas. Not that you're walking on water again, but we're the complete Christian, and it's going to become very clear really quickly just how well we are doing in these things as we go to these verses. Turn to Daniel chapter six. The first thing that we should do to try to become perfect and that we should walk in the new man in the new year is perfection in prayer. This one is probably the one that we fail in the most, I would say. This is probably the one that most people have a really hard time meeting the standard here that some of the great men of God in the Bible have met. I'm not saying that if you don't do this that you're a dirty rotten no good and you're just totally unspiritual. I'm just saying that these are standards to attain to. These are good standards. Daniel chapter six verse 10, the Bible says, now when Daniel knew, because there was a law that was basically made that nobody was allowed to pray for 30 days. And Daniel, the prophet, they knew that Daniel prayed. They were trying to get Daniel killed and thrown to the lion's den. So Daniel 6, 10 says, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being opened in the chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four time. And this is just something that he's doing because he's not just taking off the mask because he wants to show everybody how wrong the government is or something. He's praying like he always did before. And so what does that tell you that he always gets on his knees every day, three times a day, and he does this three times a day. So Daniel is a very spiritual man, isn't he? And even though the government told him, even though there's a decree, a law written that no man is to pray for the next 30 days, Daniel does it anyway. So this is civil disobedience because God is the highest power that there is in the land. He's higher than any government. He's higher than any king. He's higher than any president. He's higher than any military general. He's higher than everything. And Daniel said, you know what, I'm going to just do what I always have done. And what was he doing? Praying three times a day on his knees. And what would you call it when it says as he did a four time, you know, we were talking about new habits for the new man. Well, what would that be when he did it a four time? That's called a habit. His habit was what? To get on his knees and pray three times a day. Now I would just submit to you this, that that is the standard to meet. And so let me ask you this, you don't have to, don't raise your hand. Don't say it out loud. Are you getting on your knees three times a day and praying to God and thanking him for the great things that he does for you? Are you getting on your knees three times a day? Are you getting on your knees one time a day? Are you praying one time a day? Are you praying above just praying for your meal every day? Are you praying for your meals at all? Because this is what I'm saying, so if you want to be spiritual in the new year, maybe you need to just be a little more spiritual in your prayer life. Maybe that's where you're out of balance. Maybe that's where you're lacking. And I just want to challenge you this morning, I'm not trying to beat you up, I'm just saying if you're out of balance, maybe fill that tire up. Because you know what it's like? And I like this picture because me and, we were all going up to Seattle the other day and all of a sudden the tire sensor goes off. And we're like on our way up to Seattle, car full of people, and then we're like, well maybe we should put some air in it. And I was like, maybe we should go to Les Schwab. And when we got there, the tire was like halfway to being low. And if we would have continued to go up there on that low tire, we would have been sitting on the side of the road waiting for AAA to pick us up someplace, we were out of balance. We were out of, when one tire is completely out of balance, or out of air, you're not going anywhere. And so it can throw off your whole trip, it can throw off the way that you're going. I mean think about if a ship's navigational systems are not working. If one part of your navigational system isn't working, you're going to be off course. And so if our life as a Christian is out of balance, then we're going to get off course too. When you get to the storm, because it's not if you get to a storm, it's when you get to a storm, your whole life is going to be off balance. And if you're off balance in all of this stuff, you're going to be lost, my friends. You're going to be lost in that storm and not know because you're like, well, how do you even pray? If you never pray, how are you going to call upon, obviously you're going to figure it out real quickly when your life is crashing down around you, you're going to get on your knees and pray, but maybe you shouldn't have waited until your life is in a calamity to get on your knees and pray. So Daniel's habit, as he did a fourth time, was to get on his knees and pray three times a day. And then these men assembled and found Daniel praying, making supplication before his God. Why did they do that? Because their intent was to try to get him killed because they made that law intentionally to get him killed. And they knew that he was a man of God. They knew that when they went to look for Daniel in that specific spot, he was going to be doing exactly what he did before every single day, and that's what they used to convict him. That's what they did to convict him of breaking the law that they made. Now, if someone wanted to convict you of the same thing, would they find you praying in that place? That's a good question to ask, isn't it? Turn to Daniel chapter 10, Daniel chapter 10. Now, maybe this 21-day thing has something to it, I don't know, because Daniel was a man of prayer. Look at verse 11, and he said unto me, this is Michael talking to him, Michael the archangel, he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. How many days was that? Twenty-one days. So Daniel's praying for 21 days, for what? To set his heart to understanding. He chastened himself before his God, so he was probably fasting, I'm not sure if he's fasting the whole time, but it sounds to me like he's making that habit, he's like, I'm going to make or break this habit in 21 days, right? So I was just trying to show you biblically that it might be true, but he is praying for 21 straight days. When was the last time you prayed for 21 straight days? For someone to get saved? For something that's going wrong in your life to get fixed? Or that you fasted for those things? These are things that are important for us to understand, if you're not getting the answers that you want, maybe you should chasten yourself a little bit before God, and maybe you should take a little time to pray for those things, maybe pray for them for 21 straight days. But you notice how it said from the first day that you set your heart to understand, your words were heard. It's not like God isn't hearing you, but the Prince of Persia withstood him, and he's not talking about a literal man, he's talking about a devil that probably ruled over that empire at the time, is trying to hinder those prayers from going forward. Now turn to Psalm chapter 55, while you're turning there, I'm just going to read that last verse in Daniel chapter 10 verse 14, it says, Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days. And just one more thing I want to say about that, is Daniel was revealed a lot of Bible prophecy, and the fact that he was a man of prayer, and the fact that he was a man of God that was given to prayer, why did God choose Daniel to be that man? Well maybe because he was a man of prayer, maybe because he knew how much Daniel prayed, there's like a whole section in Daniel where he's just praying and making supplication for his people and the wickedness that they've committed, and he's praying for 21 straight days. And even in the end, he didn't understand everything, because some of those things were sealed up for the latter days, but he still gave him a lot of prophecy, didn't he? And maybe God will help you understand things, maybe there's something in the Bible you're lacking and you're like, I just don't understand, I can't wrap my mind around this, and there are things in the Bible that are going to do that to you, but maybe if you pray that God will help you understand his law, help you understand the Bible, he'll help you with that passage. Maybe it's not the first time you go through the Bible. Maybe it's going to take a while, but chewing on scripture and meditating on them, those things sometimes should go and be coupled with prayer. Psalm chapter 55 verse 17 says, evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. So this is, of course, a psalm of David, evening and morning and noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. So is this what you're doing right now? Because if it's not, then we have room to improve. The new man can get better in the new year if we improve in the area of prayer. And maybe it's going to take you a while to get to where David and Daniel are. You know, I'm no David, I'm no Daniel, and maybe you aren't either, but we could do this if we set our mind to it. We could do this if you set an alarm to it. We could do this if you put forth some effort and ask God to help you. And maybe this could be one of your new year's resolutions. Hey, save more money, and hey God, more importantly, help me to pray. His disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray like John does with his disciples or whatever. So number two, a way to perfect the new man in the new year, is in Bible reading. Turn to Joshua chapter 1 verse 8. Because you know, Daniel's custom was to pray three times a day. David's, the way what he did was three times a day, and in the Bible it tells us to read the Bible. How often? Look at what Joshua 1-8 says. Joshua 1-8 says, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. So how often are we supposed to read the Bible? Day and night. Is that every day? Well, yeah, it is. So is that seven days a week? Yeah. Is that every day? Yes. Is that every night? Yes. So thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. So if it shall not depart out of thy mouth, you're supposed to meditate therein day and night. So not just read it, but think about what it means. Think about what it says. Observe to do according to all that is written therein. So do what it says, for then thou shalt make thy ways prosperous. You want to be prosperous in your life? Read the Bible every day. Read the Bible every night. And then thou shalt have good success. You know what the key to your success in the Christian life is? Is knowing the Bible. Reading the Bible every day. Reading the Bible every night. Commit yourself to that. Because if this isn't your standard, isn't that what God's saying to do? Every day, every night. And so, but is that what you're doing though? And again, don't answer out loud. Don't raise your hand. But if that's not what you're doing, maybe your new man, this is what your new man needs in the new year. To commit yourself unto reading the Bible every day and every night. And you're like, well pastor, I messed up. I didn't do it this specific day, this last year, or whatever. What did I say earlier? Let those things go that are behind you. Go forward unto the things that are before you. Forget about last year. Forget about yesterday. Focus on what you're going to do tomorrow. Focus on what you're going to do next year. Take those things one day at a time. Because that's how we live our lives. You sleep, you wake up, it's a new day. So if you want to be successful and prosperous, then do what God says and read the Bible every day and every night. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. Well how much of the Bible do we need to know? Well every word I would say. Every word of God is pure. Look at 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 says, all scripture, is that everything from Genesis to Revelation? Yeah. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. So to know what the teachings of the Bible are. For reproof, to correct us when we're wrong. For correction, so reproof tells us when we're wrong, but correction, corrects us when we're wrong and for instruction in righteousness to tell us what the right thing to do is. How to live right. How to have a good marriage. How to raise your children right. The things that God instructs us to do, anything that's righteous, it's in the Bible for you to know. That the man of God may be perfect. See how it says be perfect? Be complete. Do you need Bible reading to be complete? Yes. How many? How much of the Bible? All scripture is given by inspiration of God. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And that word, thoroughly furnished, that means that you've got everything that you need in the Bible to get all this instruction, reproof, correction, doctrine. But also that it can furnish you unto all the good works that you need to do. So that word, thoroughly furnished, I think of like a, you know, if you rented a house and it came with all the couch, the lamps, everything that you needed, that'd be nice, right? You could just throw all your stuff in the trash, just everything's already there. You wouldn't have to just haul everything in the U-Haul and move. I hate moving. So this is like, it would be a dream come true, that everything you have is just, you have all this nice new furniture, all the drawers are filled with silverware, pictures are already on the wall, everything's all nice, it's truly furnished. But that's what the Bible's like. It's truly furnished. It has everything you need in here, every creature comfort, every comfort of scripture for when people pass away, when people die, you know, everything that we need to know how to get someone saved, how salvation occurs, every doctrine, you know, and it kicks us in the pants and tells us where we're wrong, and it encourages us to do right, it instructs us, and that's why we need it, it helps us to be perfect. So how's your Bible reading doing? You know what you can do to fix it? Start the challenge tomorrow. If you're like on the fence, I don't know, it seems so hard, well do something hard! Maybe your prayer time is great, maybe you are like Daniel and David, and you're just on your knees every single day, and you're praying to God, and you're not lacking in that area, well are you lacking in Bible reading? Start the challenge tomorrow! And just start reading the Bible, and then on day number 30 when you're done, then keep reading. And start that habit. And it says to read day and night, so yeah, break it up! And then after that, it'll seem easy if you're just on a one year plan, if you have the New Testament done in 30 days and then all you have left to do is the Old Testament and it'll seem really easy when you're doing like 15 minutes a day, versus one hour a day or whatever it takes you. Depends on how fast you read. But that's another reason to do it, hey, we're trying to give you some opportunities here. We try to give you an opportunity to do these things, and you know, in our bulletin you saw the sowing times. We try to give opportunities to go sowing, at least once a week, but you could go more if you wanted to. So that brings me to point number three, that we can put on the new man unto perfection in sowing, in sowing, so turn to Acts chapter 17. So if you read the Bible day and night, is that going to become a habit? If you read it every single day, that becomes a habit, doesn't it? If you're on your knees three times a day, every single day, that's a habit, isn't it? Good habits, those are good habits, those are good spiritual habits to have. Number three, perfection in sowing. Acts chapter 17, the Bible says, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, look at these next four words, as his manner was. That word, manner, can mean other things, but it can mean way, custom, but it can also mean habit. It can mean all those things, but it can mean habit. It says, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. But his way was, when he would go into a new town, what would he do? He'd go into the synagogue, and he would try to preach the Gospel to the Jews that were already there. Anybody that was already kind of, you know, because of what? They had a basis in the Bible, they already believed the Scriptures, so it's kind of like us going to Catholics or whatever. But the people that would get saved, you know, there would be the remnant of the children of Israel, but there would also be Gentiles that might have believed going to that synagogue or whatever, that they were already kind of following things, they already had a basis in the Bible. So this was Paul's manner. So that means what? His habit was to go soul winning, and obviously we know that Paul, that's kind of what his life was. You know, God chose him for a reason because soul winning was just a habit for him in his daily life. And in verse 3 it says, opening alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. This is Paul's habit. He's preaching the Gospel to people, and he's not just reasoning with his own logic, he's reasoning with them out of the Scriptures. So you see how Bible reading is good for you to be able to understand how to preach the Gospel unto people. If Paul didn't know the Bible, then how is he going to preach the Gospel to people? See it's important for us to have all these things in our spiritual life so that we can use the Bible as an offensive weapon to, you know, use that sword of the Spirit to bring people to Christ. So it's a spiritual weapon for us, but it says that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ, and some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. So it sounds like he's getting a bunch of people saved by this process. This is what we call soul winning. This is what we call evangelism. This Paul has this manner. What is this manner? It's his habit to go soul winning on a regular basis, and that's how he started all these churches. That's how he turned the world upside down is by soul winning. And so let's also turn to Acts chapter 5 verse 42. Acts chapter 5 verse 42. So you're like, well that was back then. It doesn't work like that anymore, Pastor Thompson. I would disagree with that because the Bible gives us the standards and tells us how we're supposed to get people saved. There's power in the Gospel. There's power in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that still is the same amount of power today as there was back then. The power was in the Scriptures. The power wasn't necessarily, obviously God used the apostles and did great miracles to springboard the Gospel going forward, but the Scriptures are what we're supposed to use to convince people of salvation. Acts 5 verse 42 says, and daily in the temple and in every house they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. People are like, why do you go door to door? You're like Jehovah's Witnesses. Well I guess you're going to accuse the apostles in the book of Acts of being Jehovah's Witnesses then because they're daily in the temple and in every house. They're going door to door, aren't they? They cease not. They didn't stop to preach Jesus Christ. So we don't even expect you to go every single day, but that's what they were doing in the early church. Every day they're going out. So I would say this, go as much as you feel like you can. Sometimes there's going to be seasons where you do less, but there will be seasons when you do more. We're kind of getting to that. It's been unusually warm this year, even though you guys have got the heat cranking in here, but it's been unusually warm. There's still insects outside of my house. When I go home sometimes I'm like, why is there bugs out here? They should all be dead, but it's been like in the 50s. I'm sure that this is the calm before the storm or whatever, but it's been kind of nice actually except for the bugs. But anyway, there's times in the Northwest when soul wanting is a little tougher, when it's raining all the time and stuff like that. But there should be a schedule that you keep where you're going soul wanting. And obviously I don't want people in our church to pressure people to the point where they don't want to come to church. So if you're doing that, please stop. Ask somebody if they want to go. That's fine. But if new people come here, please don't just pressure them to go soul wanting every time they come here. Let them do it in due season. Let them do it when they get comfortable doing it. Because let me just ask this, Brother Bill, when's the first time you went soul wanting? 2016, 2015. So it was when you started coming to our church? Brother Alex? Okay. Brandon? Well, you probably before you came to this church. But most people, they got a hold of this preach, the type of preaching that we preach. But there was a time when you didn't go soul wanting. And I'm sure that, I'm just saying this, and this is kind of a pause in the sermon a little bit, but just let people ... I'm not saying don't say, let's go soul wanting. Let's encourage people. But let's not pressure people to the point where they feel like every time they come to our church that someone's going to jump on them and go, come on, let's go soul wanting. Because that can make people think that they have pressure to perform or they can't come to our church. Does that make sense? So we should just realize that, yeah, maybe ask them once, but just back off and let them come to that conclusion on their own. Let me preach about it and let them come to that conclusion, because they will. People will just start going soul wanting and let them do it on their own, because that's what I found that most of the time, when we first started this church, not everybody went soul wanting, but eventually people just started coming and started getting trained, and then more soul owners came, more people came to our church. So anyway, sorry about that. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5. That was just a little pause. And if you've been doing that, I'm not mad at you, I know that your heart's in the right place. I just, I don't want people to feel pressure to come to our church, that they're always going to be like, you know. But that's a good thing. It is a good thing to disciple people, and so I appreciate that. So anyway, Ephesians 5.15, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. So as people that, you know, when you start older, you know, it's time to redeem the time. We have guys in our church that are like, hey, I want to go so many more because I wasted a lot of my years in my youth not going. But with that, I also want to say, don't try to, you know, we can get into a place where we're lifting ourselves up and thinking, well, why is nobody else going so many as much as me? Don't get in that mentality. My belief is that if someone's going on a weekly basis, you know, and obviously if you're sick or something's going on, you have ailments, I understand that. But you know, that if someone's going once a week, I think they're right with God. So, and again, people can, you can go every day and I'm cool with that. I like that. But there's times of people's seasons in life, but you know, and you're going to get opportunities to go at this church, not only just locally, but we have a lot of out of town soul winning. We have soul winning events that we do in other cities, sometimes other countries, and there's other churches that we're, you know, affiliated with, I guess you would say, that were like, of like faith, that do so many marathons in other cities, they do missions trips in other countries. And so you have a lot of opportunities and a lot of training. So I'd say maybe if you haven't gone soul winning before, and you're lacking in this area, maybe you got all the other stuff down pat, well, maybe, you know, your life is out of balance. And think about this. You know, Jesus said that the first commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul, with all of our strength. That is the first commandment. We're supposed to put God first, okay? But he said the second is like unto it. We're supposed to love our neighbor as ourself. And so Jesus said to the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation, to do the first works. If you've lost your first love, do the first works. So the first works that Jesus asked the apostles to do, when he called them, he said, come with me, and I will make you to be fishers of men. So the first works are fishing for men or getting people saved. That's the number one goal that Jesus came to do is to seek and save that which is lost. So what he left us here to do is obviously we're supposed to teach the Bible, baptize people, teach them to observe everything, all the things that Jesus commanded, get people saved, but the main thing is getting people saved. The main thing is soul winning, because that counts for eternity. That person's going to go to heaven because of what you did, and God likens that unto, he says the second is like unto it, because you're going to heaven, so the best thing you can do for somebody else is get that person to go to heaven. And that shows, that helps you to get your love for Jesus in the right spot. See when your compass is off, again, you know, if you're not soul winning, then your love grows cold towards your fellow man, but it also grows cold for God. He likens it to the same thing. He said you've lost your first love, your first love is supposed to be to God because you stopped doing the first works. And so they are closely tied together, so that's why a lot of people, they might seem like they love God, but if they're not doing the first works, if they're not trying to win people to Christ, then they are severely lacking something in their life. They're lacking something in their spiritual life, and so yeah, I will put the pressure on to people, hey, if you're not committed to doing some kind of soul winning, some kind of evangelism, then you're not right with God. You're just not. And you need to put your, maybe you're just worried about it or whatever, it's like, don't be worried about it. God is going to protect us. Even if he doesn't, nobody in our church has been killed from doing it, yet. The most we get is angry people following us around every once in a while or cussing us out. Big deal. People do that at work. I mean, good night. People do that at McDonald's or whatever. People do that everywhere. Well, you can't handle it at a door. I mean, come on. So you want to get spiritual in the new year, well, put it in your mind that I'm going to go soul winning. I'm going to learn how to share my faith with others, or I'm going to get back into soul winning because I used to go, but I've really slacked in that area, and I'm off balance, and I need to get back into it, because it just shows God where you're at with him. Because if you're not doing the first works, then it shows that you're not really loving God like you're supposed to. And I'm not saying you're not saved, I'm just saying that it shows that your love for God has grown cold. Because you've grown cold to people, you've grown cold to God. That's just the facts. So get back into a habit once a week going soul winning. Last thing is perfection in church attendance. So if you want to be living right in the new year, then get perfect in your church attendance. And let's go to the classic text for this, Hebrews chapter 10. You're like, oh, Hebrews chapter 10, you're always going to Hebrews chapter 10. Yeah, because it's the coup de grace for people that like to skip church. It's the coup de grace for people that don't like to regularly assemble with God's people. And it clearly spells out how it's a sin to not go to church. It says, and let us consider one another, verse 24, to provoke unto love and to good work. So again, it goes down to loving other people. It goes to ministering to other people. Let us consider one another. When you're not here, you can't provoke people into love and good works because you're not here. That's part of going to church. It says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. That means you're not going to church. Look what it says, as the manner of some is. What is manner? Well, it's a habit, isn't it? So the habit of some is to not go to church. It's just whenever they feel like it. As the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So we're not supposed to go to church less as we see the day approaching. What day? The day that Jesus comes back. So we don't skip church more, we go to church more as we see the day approaching. Tomorrow is going to be closer today. Every day we get closer to the appearing of Jesus Christ. So that means we should go to church more next year than we did last year. And so we try to make it real easy for people to go to church. We have three times a week that you can go to church. And look, you say, well, the Bible says you have to go to church three times a week. But it'd probably be helpful. And maybe if you went to church three times a week, it would help you in your spiritual life. The sermon that you skipped out on last week was a sermon that would have helped you get to the next level in your spiritual life. That sermon God was going to use to correct you in some way or to help encourage you in some way that you'll never know because you just weren't there. It's not me wanting you to come here. It's God wanting you to come here. If you stop looking at it like, well, pastor just always has to say something about it. No, God has something to say about it. It's not me. So I just say what God wants me to say. And look, how are you going to go soul winning if you don't go to church and get sent out? How are you going to be encouraged to read your Bible if you're not encouraged by the pastor to go to read your Bible? How are you going to be encouraged to pray more if you're not going, look, the Bible in our chapter here, look at Ephesians chapter four. Well, you don't have to look there, but it says, I'll just read it real quick. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body. So the pastor is supposed to be trying to help perfect the saints. So guess what? If you're not here for the pastor to try to help perfect you with the word of God, then what? You're not being part of this perfecting process, are you? So if you're not here, it's hard to perfect someone when they're not here. And look, I'm not talking about if you're sick or you have something come up, but you know, the manner as you know, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves as the manner of some is, look, God already knew, God knows that people are going to have this habit. It's just like, you know, the habit of people not getting baptized after they get saved. I just don't understand that. I don't understand why in the book of Acts, all 3,000 people that get saved on the day of Pentecost all get baptized. But then we have 15,000 people that get saved as a result of all the ministries that we support in our churches. And you know, it's like, I don't know, like 70 something baptisms. How's that possible? People are just less spiritual. People just aren't following what the Bible says. Oh, I was already baptized. It was a cat. You were a baby. You don't even remember it. You're mad because mommy, you know, might get upset that you get re-baptized because some dude in a dress poured some water over your head that you don't even remember? You don't even have a picture of it? Or he dunked you in water three times? It's like, what are you talking about? Some baby baptizer dunked you under water? That doesn't count. Because there was some holy production where you wore some queer looking white outfit or something and everybody's going like this and you're walking in the water. It's like some big spectacle or something and you're letting the doves fly and just all this. Is that what Jesus did? Yeah, there was a dove like Holy Spirit, but he wasn't an actual dove, folks. He came down on Jesus like a dove. That's not when we get the Holy Spirit. That's when Jesus got the Holy Spirit that came down upon him. So anyway, we're supposed to not forsake the assembling. And if you don't come to church, you're not going to get the edification that you need. You're not going to get the perfecting you need, and you're not going to get the encouragement that you need. Because part of this is encouraging one another, exhorting one another, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. And then it says, for if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation that shall devour the adversaries. Look, it says if we sin willfully. So what is it talking about there? In the context, it's talking about not going to church, not assembling. So if you skip church on purpose because you just don't care, it is willful sin. And then, what are you looking for? Judgment. Indignation. And it's talking about indignation that it devours our enemies, but God still chastens his children. You know, and look, you're like, so you're saying that God's going to just smoke me if I don't come to church? I'm not saying it. The Bible's saying it. That's what it says. Right? And I'm not saying that he's going to literally burn you up and you're going to go to hell. Talking about, he might smoke your life though. Right? The Bible says in Psalm 92, verse 12, it says the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. So there's your fat verse. So if you go to church and you're planted in God's house, it's talking about a tree that grows really big and bushy or whatever, that it's going to be good for you to be planted in the house of the Lord. Plants don't move. Plants, when you water them, they flourish and they get big and they're healthy. But when you're outside the camp, again, when the storms of life come, and say you're a man of life, or you get out of church completely and then the storms of life come and you've lost contact with the people in your church, who are your brothers and sisters in Christ, who pray for you faithfully and encourage you and you're in fellowship, this is why God is so important, why fellowship is so important. Why not just walking out that door the minute the church services are closed, that we get to know each other, that we're friends, and that we encourage one another, we help one another out like good neighbors do, and we encourage each other to stay in the faith and just to be friends. Because when you're without, and then you come every once in a while, it's kind of like you lose touch with people. And then when you just never come, and then some crazy thing happens in your life, then it's like you're totally disconnected from your fellowship. And it's just not the same. And so I'm not saying that people shouldn't still pray for you and all that, I'm just saying that it's not the same. For the people that you look at their eyeballs every single week and you see their children grow up and you get to know them and you love those people, there is something to be said about camaraderie and about fellowship, that's why fellowship is talked about so much in the Bible, that's why the assembly is talked about so much in the Bible, that's why they had the feast in the Old Testament so everybody could get together and look at each other's faces and encourage each other and worship the Lord together. So in the new year, why don't we try to be more spiritual? And you know what, if you're new to this church, get plugged in. In the book of Nehemiah, it talks about how the people had a mind to do the work. Hey, if you want to get plugged into this church, just get involved in the work. You're like, oh, the church just wants me to work. Well, you know what, when you have some skin in the game, then it's gonna help you feel like this is my home, this is my church home. You know, when you're straightening up the pictures or vacuuming or whatever you're doing here, you're greeting, you're folding bulletins or you're taking part in some kind of ministry here at the church, that's ownership. Take ownership of this church and this building and this ministry and then you're plugged in. But if you're just an every once in a while stranger, then that's what it's gonna feel like to you. You're not gonna feel like you're part of this church until you get in and get working and get, you know, fellowshipping with the saints. I'm not saying you're an outsider, even if you still come every once in a while, I still want you to come. Don't get me wrong. I still want you to be here and if you're always gonna be a Sunday morning only or you're always gonna be a once every three months only, I still want you to come. I'm not mad at you. I'm trying to help here. These things will help us become more spiritual and, you know, God wants us to set aside those things, those sins that easily beset us, and I'm out of time here, but, you know, if you're gonna get addicted to something, this is the last scripture I'll have you turn to, 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and 15. But we need to get our bearings and stay in balance and when you're out of balance, when you're out of bearings, when you're out, your navigation's messed up, you know, when you don't know where due north is anymore, you're all turned around, you know, the best thing you can do is just be grounded in these principles and they'll help you get your bearing back. And if you're off on something, get back on something. If you're lacking in any of these areas, start getting back into them. 1 Corinthians 16, 15, I beseech you, brethren, you know the house of Stephanas is the first fruits of Achaia and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. And that's kind of where we should be. You know, if you want to get addicted to something, get yourself addicted to the ministry. And whatever, you know, I'm not saying you have to be the pastor or a deacon or something. Just get yourself addicted to the things of God, you know, instead of being addicted to alcohol or drugs or cigarettes or exercise or lifting or whatever it is that you're addicted to, hey, you know, the worldly things are okay. But don't make the worldly things more important than the spiritual things. Let's start the new year out right by putting on the new man and have 2024 be the best spiritual year of your life and, yeah, bring all those other goals in too, okay? But don't get so goal-crazy that you're only focusing on the carnal things and not focusing on anything spiritual. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the Scriptures, Lord, and I pray that, Lord, if there's anybody that's off in their spiritual life, that, Lord, they would just get their bearings back. Lord, I pray that you just help us as a church family, Lord, to stay connected to each other and, Lord, that people would feel part of this church and plugged in. And, Lord, I pray that you just help us to make people feel welcome and that our fellowship would continue to be great at this church and, Lord, all the great programs that we do have here, Lord, I pray that people get plugged in. Pray that you would just bless completely everything that's done in this new year. In your name, Jesus, we pray, amen.