Alright well we’re there in 1 Peter 2. And as we mentioned this morning, we are starting a brand new series. And it’s always good to be in church when you start a series. Hopefully that will encourage you to be faithful over the next several weeks as we go through this series and you can learn with us about this subject. And we’re starting a series called “Peculiar People”.
I want you to notice in 1 Peter 2:9, you find this phrase of “peculiar people”, sometimes you see it called “peculiar treasure” and you see these phrases throughout scripture as we go through this series. But 1 Peter 2:9 is probably the most famous passage where you find this phrase and notice what he says, “But ye are a chosen generation” talking about God’s people and it’s really the New Testament Believers he is referring to. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation” and he says this “A peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. And that word “peculiar”, the definition of that word means uncommon or unusual, being distinctive in nature or character from others.
God says that he had a desire to have a people that are peculiar (not necessarily strange or odd or weird but uncommon and unusual, not normal or not the norm, different from what the world has out there today). Now, what I want you to understand is that peculiar does not only mean different but it also means better. That’s why in other passages we’ll look out over the next several weeks he calls them “treasure”. He says they are a treasure that is better than other treasures. And God desires for my life and your life to not only be saved but for our lives here on earth to be better.
3 John 1:1 says this “The elder to the wellbeloved Gaius whom I love in the truth”. Now this is John writing to a letter to this man, an elder named Gaius. Notice what he says to him in verse 2, he says “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth”. I want you to notice there that John says that “I wish above all things thou mayest prosper and be in health”. Sometimes as Fundamental Baptists we shy away from verses like these because of the prosperity gospel today, the gospel of Joel Osteen and the gospel of tv preachers that preach “Once you get saved that everything in your life is going to be great for you and you’ll get healthy & wealthy and please understand this, we do not believe in a prosperity gospel. The Bible doesn’t teach a prosperity gospel. But with that said, God does desire you to prosper and be healthy. Now that does not mean there won’t be difficulty in your life.
Let me say this, God desires for your life to be successful. He desires it to prosper. He desires for you to be healthy. Now that does not mean you will not have difficulty in your life. Now a great example of that is Daniel which we’re going to see in a minute. But another example is Joseph. If you study the life of Joseph, you’ll see that throughout the entire life of Joseph, that the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord made everything that Joseph did to prosper. And yet, while the Lord was with Joseph and while the Lord was prospering Joseph, Joseph had people lie about him, Joseph had people betray him and Joseph had people stab him in the back. So it’s not that the life that God wants to give you of a successful life, a prosperous life, a blessed life will not have difficulties. And that is the lie of the Prosperity Gospel. The Prosperity Gospel teaches that if you’re broke, it must be because you’re not right with God. If you’re sick, it must be because you do not have enough faith. And that’s not what the Bible teaches. But I do want you to understand this, that God does desire for your life to be better.
See, Salvation and Sanctification should make your life better. Not only is your life better because one day you will go to heaven instead of hell but on this earth God desires for you a better life. God desires for you to live what Jesus calls “the abundant life”. John 10:10 “The thief cometh not but to steal and to kill and to destroy. He said I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly”. See Jesus said I came not to just give you salvation but he also says that ye might have life (salvation) more abundantly. And a lot of times people will argue what that means to have the abundant life and I would submit to you this morning that the context of the verse and the contrast of the verse shows the opposite of the abundant Christian life is when the thief or the devil will steal from you and will kill you and will destroy you. He says “Look, Satan has an agenda for your life. He wants to steal your happiness. He wants to steal your joy. He wants to kill you. He wants to destroy your health. He wants to destroy your marriage and relationships”. This is what Satan, the god of this world, has in store for you – to steal and to kill and to destroy. But Jesus came that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly. See God desires for you to live a better life. God desires you to be a peculiar people. Not only separate (and we’ll talk about being separate), Not only sanctified (and we’ll talk about being sanctified) but better.
In Daniel 1, notice what Nebuchadnezzar says about Daniel and his friends. Daniel 1:19 “And the king communed with them and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Therefore stood they before the king and in all matters of wisdom and in understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm…”. When Jesus said I’ve come to give them life and more abundantly, this would be like what Nebuchadnezzar would say of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar would look at Daniel and Mishael and at his friends and would say “these guys have life just like everyone else but their life is 10 times better”. It’s the abundant life. And the question I have for you as we finish up the last Sunday of the year, could you honestly say that others looking from the outside in to your life would say that your marriage is 10 times better than the marriages of the world. Your parenting is 10 times better than the parenting of the world. Your health is 10 times better than the health of the world. Your finances, your planning, your life, the way you’re living is 10 times better, could people say that or would you say that? And if you say no then here’s the thing, why not? God has a plan for your life and things that he wants you to accomplish.
God would tell Jeremiah, I know the thoughts that I have toward you. I think good thoughts toward you. I have expectations for you. In Psalms 37:4 the Bible says “Delight thyself in the law of the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart”. Psalms 21:2 he says “God has given him his heart’s desire”. I want you to notice that phrase “his heart’s desire”. I want to be real clear at this moment of the sermon and make sure you understand the Bible says “the desires of thine heart” or “his heart’s desire”. What is being referred to is “God given desires”. Desires that God has placed in your heart. These are not your personal desires of the heart or your personal dreams that you would like but the things that God has placed there in your heart. In Jeremiah 17:9 the Bible says “The heart is deceitful about all things and desperately wicked, who can know it.”. So look, it’s not the desires of your heart or the things that you’ve decided that you want to do. Because if God gave you the desires that you want in your natural flesh then it would destroy you. Why? Because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it. Because your heart will deceive you in to thinking that there are certain things that will bring happiness and joy to your life. Your heart will deceive you in to thinking that money, alcohol, drugs, fornication, etc…. will bring happiness and all they are going to do is destroy your life because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it. So when God tells you that he wants to give you the desires of your heart, when you got saved God placed some things in your heart & in your mind. Here’s the exciting part of that, God wants to give that to you.
I want you to notice the wording in these verses. Psalm 145:19 “He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him.” Isn’t that exciting that God says there are some desires you have that are not sinful or wicked, some God given desires and he says he will fulfill the desires of them that fear him. Psalms 20:4 “Grant thee according to thy own heart and fulfill thy own counsel”. Notice what Psalm 21:2 says “Thou hast given him his heart’s desire and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.”. The exciting thing is that God has placed some desires in your heart. God desires to give you those desires. Psalms 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart”. Now notice, these are desires that are pleasing to God. How do you get God to give you the desires of thine heart? When you delight thyself also in the Lord. It’s not covetous desires. It’s not lustful desires. It’s not sinful desires. They’re God given desires that God has placed there that God wants to grant, that God wants to give you. So the question is this, why are so many of us not living that life.
We’re living the life where the Devil is stealing and killing and destroying. Look there are some things in your heart that God has placed there, that God would like you to have and do and there’s nothing wrong there. God wants you to have a happy marriage. God wants you to have godly children. God wants you to be in good health. God wants to take care of you financially. And the Bible talks about these things. Yet so many Christians today are not living that abundant Christian life when God says that he wants to give it to us. But God will give it to you as you work toward it. This morning what I’d like to do is give you 5 steps for achieving the God given desires of your heart. I want to speak to you on how you can achieve the God given desires of your heart. I don’t want you to live a defeated Christian life. You say, “Well God saved me”. But he also promised you an abundant Christian life. He also promised that you could live a life that is 10 times better than what the world offers you. 10 times better than what the devil offered you. 10 times better than what your flesh offered you. And I want to give you just practical steps on how to get the God given desires of your heart.
Step 1 – Discern the current state of your life. This may be the most difficult step to take. When I say discern, the word discern means to perceive by sight or some other sense or intellect, to perceive/recognize/apprehend, to distinguish mentally. The first step to getting the God given desires of your heart is that you must take some time to look at and understand the current state of your life. What we’re saying is that you must take some time to take some inventory of your life. I want you to notice that Nehemiah had a God given desire, something that God had placed in his life and wanted him to accomplish. It says in Nehemiah 2:11, “So I came to Jerusalem”. If you remember Nehemiah was a cupbearer and he’s been given permission by the king to go back to Jerusalem. And notice what he says “So I came to Jerusalem and was there 3 days and I arose in the night, and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart.”. That’s a God given desire. God had placed a desire. God had placed a burden. God had placed a desire in his heart to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. And here we see Nehemiah with this God given desire. He says, I didn’t tell anybody what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me save the beast I rode upon.
Let me say this, often I determine how serious people are about the God given desires in their heart when people keep it silent in prayer. When people make a decision and within 2 minutes they’re telling everybody “I’m going to do this and this and this…”. I’m thinking, Ya I doubt it. Because what I’ve found is that people who talk the most do the least. And the people who make a decision and take time to pray about it. Or people who come to their Pastor or Pastor’s wife and ask them if they can pray about this decision in their life. Will you take some time to think about this with me. And this is what Nehemiah is saying “I didn’t go around bragging to everyone that I’m going to build a wall. Isn’t that great”. It says “I arose in the night, and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart.” What did Nehemiah do? What was the first thing that he did with this God given desire? I want you to notice that he took inventory of the current situation. Verse 13 “And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port,” and don’t miss this “and viewed the walls of Jerusalem”. He said I took some time to perceive. He said I took some time to discern. I took some time to recognize. He said God gave me a desire to rebuild the walls but before I could, I had to discern the current state of the walls. He said “and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.”
So we see Nehemiah with his God given desire to rebuild the wall. So what does he do? He takes inventory of the current situation. And then what? He’s brutally honest with himself and others. This is the hardest part, verse 16. “And the rulers knew not whither I went or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, not to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them,”. So he gathers them together after he’s taken some time to take some inventory of his life. He gathers them together and says “Ye see the distress that we are in. How Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”. And here’s what I want you to notice. Nehemiah does not sugar coat it. Nehemiah does not minimize it. Nehemiah didn’t try to shift the blame or like we learned in Ezekiel “Our fathers ate sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge”. He didn’t say that. He said “Look, ye see the distress that we are in”. He took inventory and he was brutally honest with himself and with others.
Here’s all I want you to understand, in 2019 if you want to live the abundant Christian Life, if you want to achieve the desires that God has placed inside your heart, if you want to live the life that God has called you to live then the first step is that you take some time and be brutally honest with yourself. And take some inventory of the major areas of your life. You say, what are the major areas of my life? Here are 5 major areas that I’ve identified in your life and in my life.
Area 1: Your life spiritually. You ought to take some inventory of your life spiritually. Are you right with God? Are you backslidden? Has there ever been a time in your life when you were more right with God, when you were doing more, when you were accomplishing more and look, you’ve got to be honest with yourself because a lot of these things are sins of the heart that no one can see but you. Only you know if you are bitter toward your spouse. Only you know if you are bitter toward your Pastor or your Pastor’s wife. Only you and your little clique of friends know if you’ve been given to the sin of gossip and the sin of slander. Only you know those things. And you’ve got to be honest with yourself and identify and discern your life spiritually.
Area 2: Your life physically. Ask yourself, am I physically living the life that God has desired for me? Is this what God has desired for me physically? Is my health right? Have I given myself to the sin of gluttony? And let me say this, just because you’re thin doesn’t mean you’re healthy. “I’m thin so I can drink 3 cokes every day?”. I don’t think so. You say, “Pastor, now you’re stepping on our toes. I like the part about the desires of the heart”. Ya, let me tell you how you get the desires of your heart. Be brutally honest with yourself. You quit making excuses. You quit ignoring it. Nehemiah realized that if he was going to rebuild the walls then he needed to know the current state of the wall. If I’m going to get my life healthy then I need to know the current state of my health.
Area 3: Your life emotionally. Bitterness, depression, discouragement, anger, hatred
Area 4: Your life relationally. Some of you need to have a talk before the year begins in the next 48 hours. Some of you need to set down with your wife or with your husband and have a real frank talk and say “Ye see the distress that we are in. Ye see the distress that our marriage is in.”. Some of you need to have a real frank talk about the relationship with your children and identify “Ye see the distress that our children are in”. We’ve made some mistakes. We’ve made some wrong choices. And we’re not going to ignore it anymore. We’re not going to turn a blind eye to it anymore. We’re going to discern it. We’re going to perceive it and be brutally honest.
Area 5: Your life financially. I’m just telling you that if you want to live the abundant Christian Life then step 1 is to discern your current state. And ask yourself, “How am I doing spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationally, financially?”.
Step 1: Discern the current state of your life
Step 2: Develop a Vision for what your life could be
Develop a vision for what your life could be. See, Nehemiah didn’t just come to the people with bad news. Nehemiah 2:17, “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste and the gates thereof are burned with fire”. He didn’t just say, “Let me tell you about how terrible things are and how bad things were in 2018”. Then he says “Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach”. See some of you need to say that “Financially I’ve been a mess but we can build it up. Physically I’ve been a mess but we can make that better. Relationally we’ve been a mess but let’s work on it.”. Let’s live and get the God given desires of our lives.
Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”. You say, “Pastor, step 1 was to discern our current state. Step 2 is to develop a vision for how life could be. You say “How do I do that?”. Here’s how you do it. You do it by dreaming. You develop a vision and you dream. What would my marriage look like if it was pleasing to God? What would my parenting look like if I was doing everything that God called me to do. What would my finances look like if I was following all of the biblical principles in regards to finances? What would my health look like? Just take some time and dream. You get a vision and you get a dream. Some of you need to take some time and dream for your kids. Don’t just look at your kids and think of them as a burden that you always have to take care of. Take some time and look at your children. Every once in a while, my wife and I will just take some time at night and dream about our kids and who they’ll be and what they’ll do as adults. Not how much money they’ll make or what career they’ll have. But we talk about who they’ll be. That they’ll be men and women of God that love the Lord. We dream about one day being able to have a relationship with our adult children and getting to see their grandkids and say “You go on a date night and we’ll take the kids”. Here’s all I’m saying, you ought to dream a little bit. You ought to dream about what life could be if you didn’t allow Satan to kill and to steal and to destroy. And let me say this, if you’re going to dream, dream big. If you’re going to get a vision, get a big vision.
Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think”. Here’s the thing, I can ask for a lot. I can think of a lot. But God says I am able to do exceeding abundantly above all. I love the word abundantly as it reminds me of the abundant Christian life. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us”.
Step 1: Discern your current state in life and be brutally honest with yourself
Step 2: Develop a Vision of what life could be (of what an abundant Christian life, of what an abundant Christian husband, of what an abundant Christian wife, of what an abundant Christian teenager looks like).
Step 3: Derive effective goals from your vision
See, get a vision, get a dream. But then derive some goals from that vision. You say “I’m not really into goals”. Well look, the only reason why you wouldn’t be into goals is if you’re arrived. You say, well how dare you say that. Well look, I didn’t say that. Paul did. Now look, Paul was probably one of the most successful Christians the world has ever known. And in his career which was ministry, he was the most successful at it. It was given unto him a ministry of reconciliation and dispersing the gospel and he did a good job at it. I mean if you are saved here this morning, you are saved because the Apostle Paul took the gospel to the Gentiles. Because Paul the Apostle started local New Testament Churches throughout the Mediterranean and throughout the Gentile world. Because the Apostle Paul not only got people saved but got them connected in church, got people baptized, got them growing, got them discipled. The Apostle Paul who is going to be one of the greatest, mightiest Christians when we get to heaven that the world has ever known. He said this in Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.”. You know what he said? He said I hadn’t arrived. There are still some things that I could work on. And if you sit there and say “Well I don’t need any goals. Ok, so you’ve apprehended?”. There’s nothing that you need to work on? There’s nothing that you need to get better at? Why don’t we just worship you today? Please understand this. The context is because had not found himself to have apprehended, because he had things that he still needed to work on and things he still needed to do, for that reason “But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”. Notice verse 14 “I press toward the mark.”. What’s the mark? It’s a target. What’s a target? It’s a goal. Paul said that since he hadn’t apprehended, he was living his life pressing toward a goal, a mark, desire of the heart. Not a fleshly desire. Why? For the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.
Please, I’m trying to help you out. You want to live the abundant Christian life? You want 2019 to be the greatest year of your life? Press toward the mark. Have a mark. Have a target. Have something that you are living for and trying to accomplish. As a Pastor I see this so much. Where people are just living their lives aimlessly. They get up and they go to work and they eat and they go back to bed. Day after day. They get up, go to work, watch a lot of tv, eat then sleep. It’s like, what are you doing with your life? What are you trying to accomplish? I’m asking you, what are you trying to accomplish with your life right now. And if you can’t answer that question, there’s a problem. You’re not going to live the abundant Christian life. And you’re not going to fulfill the desires that God has placed in your heart. So, discern your current state, develop a vision for what life could be and derive some effective goals from that vision.
Now, I recently made a video on how to set up effective goals and I don’t want to re-preach that as I’m sure many of you already saw that. But I want to quickly give you 4 tips for establishing effective goals. When we’re talking about effective goals, here are 4 steps that you must have.
Number 1: Make it specific.
Look, this is if you actually want to accomplish the goal. Because most people only want to talk about they’re going to do. Because when you tell people what you’re going to do, it doesn’t matter whether you actually do it. You get the credibility from people right then and there. So when you tell people “This year, I’m going to read through the Bible cover to cover 30 times.”. People are like “Oh wow, he must be the most spiritual guy I know.”. It doesn’t matter if you actually read it 30 times. This is why Nehemiah kept his mouth shut. This is why Nehemiah planned silently, prayed silently. But if you actually want to accomplish something and not just tell people that you’re going to accomplish it then make it specific. Don’t go in to the New Year(I like to use the example of weight loss because it’s something that we can all relate to),… Let me just tell you, don’t go in to the New Year saying “I’m going to lose weight”. Let me just tell you that you’re going to fail. You will fail. Because that’s not specific. Make it specific. Well how many pounds do you want to lose in 2019. “Well Pastor I don’t want to talk about that. That’s brutal”. I know, that’s step 1. “That would actually require me to get on a scale.”. I Know. “That would make me uncomfortable”. I know. But if you want to live the abundant Christian life then that’s what you’ll do. So how many pounds do you want to lose in 2019. Make it specific.
Number 2: Make it time sensitive.
Not only that, make it time sensitive. You say you want to lose 20 pounds next year but by when? This is why you didn’t lose 20 pounds last year. There is something about making your goal time sensitive and setting a deadline that is effective. For example, I will lose 7 pounds in the first quarter. Or I will lose 15 pounds in the first quarter. See make it specific but make it time sensitive. Give yourself a deadline. Give yourself something to press toward.
Number 3: Make it measurable.
You need to be able to measure. If you’re going to lose weight, you have to get on the scale and track that thing. You need to be able to ask yourself. Am I winning? Am I on track? Am I going to be able to accomplish this?
Number 4: Write it down.
And I would say this, write it down. There is something powerful about it being written down. Think about this, God gave us his Words in a book. And if I were you I would put it in a place where you regularly see it. That way when you see it, you’re reminded. It will keep you concentrated. It will keep you purposeful as you press toward the mark.
But look, develop some effective goals from that vision. Dream a little. But don’t just dream. Make some effective goals. Make it specific. Make it time sensitive. Make it measurable. Write it down.
Remember,
Step 1 – discern the current state of your life.
Step 2 – Develop a vision for what your life could be.
Step 3 – Derive some effective goals.
Step 4 – Devise a plan for achieving your goals.
Devise a plan for achieving your goals. Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way…”. The word devise means to plan, to contrive, to elaborate, to imagine, to suppose. “A man’s heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps.”. Here’s what the verse is telling you, when you devise, God will direct. Here’s another way of saying it. When you plan, God will prosper. When you plan, God will prosper. See, we’re all waiting on God prospering us. God’s waiting on us to plan. God wants you to take that vision and turn it into an effective goal and then devise a plan to reach that goal. See, it’s not enough to go in to 2019 saying “I’m going to get a better job. I’m going to move to a good church. A Pastor friend often tells me that when people tell him they’re going to move to a good church, he responds “When”. Well you need to make it specific. Which church? Well one day I’m going to move to one of the New IFB Churches. You’ll never move anywhere. Make it specific. Make it time sensitive. Measure it. Write it down. And make a plan. You say “How do I make a plan?”. Let me give you 2 steps for making a plan. 2 steps for making a plan to achieve your goals. Number 1: Write down everything that you need to do to achieve your goals. Write down everything that you need to do to achieve your goals. And then put everything you need to do in order of sequence. So everything I need to do and when to do it. I know this is real practical and you’re thinking “Why can’t you preach against the Sodomites?”. I don’t like this. But this is what you need. Write down everything you need to do to accomplish your goal then put it in an order.
Look, I’m not telling you something that I don’t practice. You can ask Brother Oliver, we spent all day Friday writing down the goals we have this year, the things we need to do and then just writing things down. What do we need to do to accomplish it. What needs to be done and then we put it in order of how it needs to be done. You say, what are you creating? We’re creating checklists. On the first week of January we need to do this. On the 2nd week of January we need to do this. On the 3rd week of January we need to do this. I’m talking about things that you don’t even think about. People say “Pastor Jimenez, I came to the Red Hot Preaching Conference and it was so well organized. All of the events happened perfectly”. That didn’t just happen. We didn’t wake up and say, oh look, we have a Conference. I wasn’t even aware. No, no, months and months and months in advance we began to write down, what needs to be accomplished, who needs to be invited, when do we need to buy the tickets, when do we need to reserve the hotels, when do we need to get the catering. We made the list and put it in order. I’m just telling you that this is how successful people live their lives.
See in your life, you say “I need to save some money”. You’re never going to save some money unless you find out how much you need to save. Let me just help you. How much do you need to save and by when? And how are you going to do it? What needs to happen in your life in order for you to reach your goal? And when do you need to do it. You say you’re going to move. Ok. What needs to happen in order for that to happen? I’m just saying make a list and put it in order. I don’t care what it is. Whatever desire God has put in your heart. If it’s too late. If it’s too fix your marriage. If it’s too get out of debt. If it’s too get a better job. People say to me “I need to get a better job”. Ok, what does that mean? When? When do you need to have a better job by? Why don’t you write that down? By June of 2019 I’m going to have a better job. Ok, what do you need to do to get there? Do you need to take some classes? Do you need to read some books? Do you need to get some training? No I’m just going to talk about needing a better job. Ok then you’ll have the same losing job next year. I’m not trying to offend you. I’m trying to help you. What do you need to do? When do you need to do it? Put it in order. Make a list. Get it down.
Here’s what I promise you. If you begin to plan. If you begin to work. If you devise in your heart a plan, the Lord will direct your steps. He will help you. He will prosper you. He will guide you. When you devise, God will direct. When you plan, God will prosper. Why doesn’t God prosper you? Because you’re not planning anything. You’re not doing anything. God’s in heaven. You’re like “God bless me”. God’s like “Bless what? What are you trying to accomplish?”. What are you trying to do?
Step 1: Discern the current state of your life
Step 2: Develop a vision for what your life could be
Step 3: Derive effective goals from your vision
Step 4: Devise a plan to achieve your goals
Step 5: Discipline yourself to work your plan
Discipline yourself to work your plan. I told you that step 1 is the hardest. Step 5 is the 2nd hardest. Steps 2, 3 & 4 can be done in a day, a few days or a week. Step 1 takes a little bit of courage. Step 5 is going to take a whole lot of character. Discipline yourself to work your plan. Proverbs 14:23 “In all labour there is profit but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”. Penury means extreme poverty. I would stop talking about everything I want to do and I’d start writing everything I want to do in to a plan. In to a sequence. You say “What do I do then?”. Discipline yourself to work your plan. Look, it’s this simple. Plan your work. Work your plan. You have to discipline yourself. You have to learn to deny your flesh. Paul said it like this “But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others, I myself become a castaway”. This is where the written goals come in. Look, I’ve got a paper in my Bible in my briefcase that I look at every day that reminds me of what I’m trying to accomplish. This is what I’m trying to do in my life or accomplish. That way I don’t start doing other things. There are so many other things and distractions that you can do that aren’t necessarily bad things but might not be the best things. Nehemiah had the same thing when the enemies of the Lord said “Why don’t you have lunch with us? Why don’t you have coffee with us?”. And he said “I’m doing a great work. I can’t come down”. He said I’m focused on achieving the God given desire of my heart. So look, plan your work and work your plan.
Let me just say this. When it comes to working your plan, you need to focus on your high result activities. There’s the 80/20 rule which applies to every area of life. Honestly, even in churches, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. 80% of people do a whole lot of nothing. If that’s you, make a goal. Make a goal to get into the 20%. But look, in life, 20% of what you need to do will result in 80% of what needs to be accomplished. Go through your life and identify, what are the 20% of things that I can do that would result in the 80% of me achieving my goal? You need to identify the high impact activities of you life and make sure that even if you can’t do anything us, you will do those. And what I’ve found is that for the major areas of my life spiritually, physically, emotionally, financially; There are 3 things (doesn’t the Bible say a 3 fold cord is not quickly broken), there are probably 3 things you can do in every one of those areas that will mean you are 80% toward reaching your goal. I know I’m just talking in general but let me just give you an example. As a father, I’ve found that there are 3 things that would cause my kids to grow up and think that I was a great father. This is what I’ve identified in my life. I’m not saying that you need to do this in your life. I’m just saying that this is what I’ve identified in my life.
This is what I’ve found out, If I can on a regular basis:
1. Disciple my children in a Family Bible Time setting. My wife does thing in a school setting every day. But they need to hear their Father read them, teach them and instruct them in the areas of life.
2. If I can develop relationships with them. Some of you watched that Ju-Jitsu video we made with my kids. You say, “Pastor, are you really in to Ju-Jitsu?”. No, I’m just really in to activities with my kids.
3. If I can discipline them properly.
Those are my high impact activities. If I can make sure I’m discipling them, develop relationships with them and disciplining them properly,….There are lots of things you can do. But if I do those 3 things then I’ll probably be doing a better job than if I focus on other things.
I mean in marriage, there are lots of things that you can do. There are lot of things that go in to marriage.
Number 1: If I can give my wife daily, concentrated time. At our house we have what we call “Coffee Time”. I work from home so we have the ability to do this. But we have lunch together and the kids are sent off somewhere to play. And we’ll have coffee together. Just 20 minutes we’ll drink coffee and talk. We have couch time. At night we put the kids to bed and we just spend some time at night talking on the couch. Some of you husbands, your marriage would revolutionize if you would walk up to your wife and say “Would you like to sit on the couch and talk?”. And I’ve found that if I can just give my wife 20 minutes at least with a 1 on 1 conversation with an adult. You know these ladies spend 12 hours, all of their waking day with 5 little kids.
Number 2: I’ve found that if I can have a weekly date night, where I take my wife away from the children, and sometimes we have a romantic dinner at McDonalds. Just kidding. You know Olive Garden. Or sometimes we go shopping so she can get ahead on some of the things she needs to do for a Christmas Event or something. But if I can just take her away from the kids and help her….I’ve just found that there are around 20% of the things that if I do them they will yield 80% of the results.
As a Pastor, there are lots of things do. But I have to focus on my sermons. I have to focus on my Pastoral Care. I’m just trying to tell you that in your life you can probably identify 1 or 2 or 3 things and these are your high impact things. As a business owner, there are probably 3 things that if you did, then you would be alright. That doesn’t mean that’s all you do. But it means you make sure that those things get done. And when you make a plan, focus on the high impact thing. When you make a plan, focus on the things that will yield 80% of the results. Now please, don’t think I’m getting up here telling you that I’ve got it all put together because I don’t. I have not yet apprehended. There are major areas and things I want to do in 2019 which I failed at this year or that could have been better and I’m trying to get better at. You say “Pastor, why do you preach these sermons?”. Look, I realize these aren’t the most popular sermons. These are not the sermons that will get 5000 views. I’m planning on preaching a sermon about Gavin Newsome in the next week and let me just say that I know how the game is played. It will probably get 2000, 3000 views if it isn’t taken down by Youtube. This sermon won’t. But you know this sermon will change your life if you apply it. If you don’t just roll your eyes and say Pastor. If you actually go home and apply these things in your life.
Psalms 37:4 “delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart”. I’m not against the Gavin Newsome sermons. Don’t misunderstand me. But we need a balance. Verse 5, notice “Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass”. Here’s all I’m telling you. God has put some desires in your heart. Not fleshly, covetous, worldly desires. Some real, genuine, Christ-honoring, God-honoring desires in your heart. And if you don’t live those out, it will not be God’s fault. Because he wants to give them to you. He wants you to live the abundant Christian Life in 2019.
But you need to get to work so 1. Discern 2. Develop a Vision 3. Derive Some Goals 4. Devise a plan 5. Discipline yourself. Discipline yourself to work your plan. And in 12 months from now, you will be living a better life which is what God desires for you.
Let’s pray.