Let's see what we can get going here. I like that song on faith, amen, and really that's what this whole thing's about. I have watched older folks, some that have been in church their whole life, and you will watch some who have strong faith. They'll go through something horrible, something just that, I mean, It could even be life-ending, life-shattering, whatever it is, but still they have peace. They still have joy and all that. It's always tied to their faith. Then sometimes you'll watch other people, man, and their entire life is filled with worry and fear, and their life is miserable. They're on edge all the time. They're explosive. They're angry. contributing factor to both is the level of faith in their life. And, you know, the health concerns, the life events could be exactly the same. But the contentment and the peace and all that is completely tied to the amount of faith that they have. So to say, people, I think I'll do as many faith building exercises as I can. Prayer, Bible reading, faithfulness church, all that type of stuff. And man, I tell you what, that'd be a good New Year's resolution for you this year, wouldn't it? And some preachers say, well, you ought not even talk about New Year's resolution, just live for God all the time, all that type of stuff. But fooey on that. I'm gonna give you some resolutions this morning, and it's not gonna be my normal type of preaching. I may not even get loud, get wild. I'm gonna use some secular statistics in three of the five points. I'm gonna probably give you statistics so that the secular society can prove that what we do in our faith is what makes us strong and who we are. Amen. So I'm going to give you some of that. But Philippians 3 and 12 just says this. This is just a jump off point. I'm topical this morning. Not as though I had already attained. This is the Apostle Paul saying, I know. Everybody thinks I'm the greatest Christian on the planet. Probably was. He said, but I ain't attained. I've not made it. I don't care what the GPS said. You have not. What's it always say, Carl? And I'm like, thank you, dear. Every time we pull in, the GPS says, you have arrived. And I'm like, glory to God. Y'all ain't no fun at all this morning, man. It said, either we're already perfect. Now we know that's a King James word, you know, mature, complete, but perfect's a good word right there. Let's not mess with our English, amen? I know some of us think we're perfect, but let's get real, as Christians, none of us are. We've not made it to the full maturity level of being a Christian. And he said, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things behind me and reaching forth under those things which are before. He's saying, man, I ain't made it yet, but I'll tell you what, I'm gonna quit talking about all this and all. And I know in the text, contextually, he's probably talking about the good things that have happened. We're going to quit talking about all the revivals and all the big things of yesteryear. We're going to look forward to something new. Or how about this? I'm going to quit talking about all the bad things that happened to me in 2024 and over the past years, and I'm going to look forward and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That's what he said. That's what we ought to do this morning, amen. We ought to look forward and decide, we're going to do some things different than we did last year and in the past, and we're going to see something different, amen. One man said, you keep doing what you've been doing, you're going to keep getting what you've been getting. You're going to have to do something different in life if you want some changes and you want things to get better. So I'm going to give you a generalized overall message of a goal for real resolutions, real resolutions. I said the other day a certain percentage of people, but I'll give it to you like, yes, I looked up my stats. and updated some of them. I've read that 77% of America identifies as Christians. Now we know that probably 30, 40% of that is Catholics, amen, but so you'd say 40% or so of America probably professes to be evangelical Christians, if you want to use that term. I don't like it, but we can. 40% of the nation, and if we're counting Catholics, 77% of the nation Yet, when you look up the top 10 New Year's resolutions for 2024. Number one, what I say the other day, I was right. Commit to daily exercise. Number two, prioritize mental health. Number three, strengthen personal relationships. Number four, focus on financial wellness. Number five, eat healthier and cook more. Number six, develop a new skill or hobby. Number seven, read more books. Number eight, practice gratitude daily. Number nine, volunteer and give back. And number 10, cultivate a growth mindset. Now some of those are commendable, if you will, worldly yet commendable, and some of them you could probably tie to spiritual things, but multiple ones were more vain, if you will, talking about appearance, talking about body, talking about health, all that. Health's a good thing, the body's your temple, but you understand what I'm saying. But not a single resolution could have been tied in a nation where 77% say they're Christian, and we know 40% probably believe similar to us, Protestantism, if you will, although we're not Protestants. I don't want to be confusing. But in a nation that claims to love God so much, in God we trust on our monetary instruments. We claim to love God so much, but not a single thing that we're saying we're going to do each year has anything at all to do with our spiritual well-being or God, if you will. I believe the statistic I quoted the other day, I said 98, but when I read it, it's 92. 92% failure rate on New Year's resolutions. And I say it because we're probably doing it in the flesh, amen? Some are going to decide they're going to the gym. That's probably going to last two months. Some of you are going to decide you're going to eat healthy. That's probably going to last just a month or two, amen? Maybe just a couple of days until somebody invites you to come out to eat. That's how it works for me, amen? Soon as something's free, that's when I break it, all right? If I'm paying for it and I'm done and I'm at home, amen, I'll eat perfect. I'll eat two eggs in the morning and deer steak at night. I am a man of habit. I don't need anything different. I'll eat that same exact thing every single day. But if you say, Sparks, I'm going to pay for you to go to Olive Garden, I'm thinking, what did we eat the other day, me and Johnny? What was that? Steak gorgonzola, amen? Medium rare steak, laid on some Alfredo noodles, amen. With a hint of blue cheese on it, brother Bubba. I'm cheating, amen. My resolve, Miss Dee Dee, is not that strong. a resolution. I'm doing it in the flesh, amen? But if you have something you want to do for God, you've got the Holy Ghost of God living in you that's going to help you, amen? It's going to be a little bit better, amen? And there's some things you ought to want to do for the Lord, amen? So New Year's a perfect time to make an attempt to reset and do some things differently in your life. So I want to just give you a couple this morning, and we'll head to the house, amen? Remind you of a couple of these. We're jumping around topically this morning. But really, really, I mean, it's a brand new year. It's a brand new year. And many of you probably do think about, what am I going to do different this year? What resolution can I have? What can I do different, amen? I've actually been successful in some things that I chose to do on New Year's in my life, and it's helped me, amen? But I want to give you some God things this morning. that I truly wish folks in our church would decide to do this year better than they did last year. differently than they have in the past. Y'all think y'all could agree with that? Yeah, okay. All right, Father, help us this morning. God, I pray this very practical message. God, I pray you'd use it and some folks would just get some commitment down inside of them this morning and say, you know what, I am gonna do that. I am gonna try to be a better Christian this year, God. I'm gonna try to do something different this year and it's gonna be all about you, Father. God, I pray some people walk out of here with that in their heart. Father, we love you in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. These are real simple. This ain't ground shattering, Hannah. This ain't nothing that your chin's just going to hit the floor and you're going to be like, oh my goodness, I never thought of that. Number one, why don't you read God's word more this year? I've fought with this church, not fought, because most of you has agreed, since I've been here, 10 years. Every year, Bible reading plan. Every couple messages, read your Bible. Every message is probably mentioned, read your Bible. That's the only way you're ever going to be successful or be anything as a Christian is if you read the book, amen? It's the only thing that makes sense to claim that you're a Christian is to read the document, the breath of God that he gave you, inspired and preserved for all time. It's the only thing that makes sense, amen. So why don't you decide this year, I'm going to read it even more than I already am. 1 Timothy 4 and 13, till I come. Christ, give attendance to reading. Exhortation to doctrine, but give attendance, Blake, to reading. Why can't we increase that this year than we did last year? I know a tremendous amount of people's already reading it. And I'm thankful for our church. I believe that is where the power comes from, Bible reading and prayer. And that is part of what goes on with our church, amen. I'm thankful for all the people that read their Bible. But I can probably guarantee you that out of the big list that I had back here, 30 or 40, a bunch of you has already fallen off and got behind. A bunch of you has already read less than you committed to reading just a couple months ago. Am I right? Was that September, I think? And already faltered, amen? Why can't we decide right now, you know what? I'm not only going to do what I said I'd do, and I'm not only going to get caught up, but I'm going to do more than I said I'd do. I'm going to do more than I did last year, amen? It's a great day for everybody to say, I'll read my Bible. It's a great day for everybody to say, maybe I'll start the Bible plan tonight if I didn't start it. It's a great day to say, I'll download the application, start the devotions tonight. It's a great day to say, I'll start that one year plan. I'll pick up where I left off on that old plan and I'll finish that thing and I'll finish my commitment that I made, amen, and I'll read my Bible. It's a good day for some of you that read their Bible and you're faithful and you do it every year to say, you know what? Why ain't I grown in nine years? I'm going to read it twice this year. You really that busy? I was sitting there trying to think of it. Retired people? I don't know who I'm talking about. There's only one of us in here, a couple. Why can't you read it twice as much? You really that busy? People with young children? When you put them to bed? Most of you probably eight or nine. I put mine to bed at one or two in the morning. I'll read my Bible three hours before my kids even get up. Say amen right there. I can't sleep. I sleep four hours a night, five hours a night. I'll sit there and read from seven to ten before I even get them up for home school. Why can't you read double? I know all of us are going to have an excuse. I know some of us may be so busy doing things in our life that we've got so many things going on that we can't do that. But I would say if we wanted to really do it and we asked God to help us do it, all of us could double the amount of time that we are in the Word of God today. Agree with me. Do y'all agree with that? I bet all of us could, amen? As newborns' babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. Hey baby, that's why you ain't growing. You need more. Do you eat the same amount now that you did when you was two? I mean, I know Brock probably eats more than me at age 16, but still. When you was 20, did you eat more than you did when you was one? Well, yeah? Well, you've been eating like a baby your whole Christian life. That's why you're struggling with faith. That's why you're struggling with all that stuff in your life. I know for a fact if you'd read the Word of God more, you'd be more committed. I know for a fact if you'd read the Word of God more, you'd have a problem with sin being around you. I know for a fact that if you'd read the Word of God more, you'd want to follow the will of God. The Bible is our guide in every step of our life. And if you don't know it, how are you going to take steps? Word is a lamp under my feet and a light in my path. The Bible's there to give you godly wisdom, amen? The entrance of thy words giveth light and giveth understanding unto the simple. Anybody want to volunteer? I'm simple, amen? You're simple. We're mostly simple, amen? There ain't no rocket scientists in the room. And we need the Word of God in our life. It giveth understanding unto the simple. I need help figuring things out in my life. It's there for life during the times of our burdens. My soul melteth for heaviness. Strengthen thou me according unto thy word. So many people go through stuff and lay the Bible down. They lay it down rather than getting back in it. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. I told my daddy, I said, you going through all this mess? I said, I know it's going to be hard. Mom's at home all the time. You don't have the same quiet times you had. Things are different. But do not quit reading that Bible on a daily basis. Then I told him I believe Bible reading the Word of God. I don't care if you think I'm mystical or not. It'll grant you health, amen? And I read him Proverbs 3 where it's health to the bones and morrow to thy bones and health to thy navel. And I said, that's loving the Word of God. And I understand you could say, well, it's practical and if you follow the Word of God, you'll do this and this and that and you'll live longer and all that. No, no, no. I believe you love the Word of God. God might give you some spiritual blessings in your life, amen? Steve got up and preached on it, amen? And dad looking at me like, I can't believe he just preached on that. I just told him that earlier that day, amen? And God used that, brother Steve. I appreciate you following the Lord on that, amen? But you better get in the Word of God to help your life, amen? I read y'all's study probably a couple of months ago. I'm going to read you parts of it again, alright? Because I felt like it was so strong that we need to hear it. That study talked about frequency of Bible reading. One day a week, those who read it one day a week, which was typically on Sunday, the study found there was some positive impact but very minimal. Maybe in behavior attitudes, reading it two days a week, maybe a little bit more noticeable than one day a week but still completely insignificant. They reported maybe a slight incense or increase in their sense of peace. Three days a week, at that level of engagement, they noticed something, maybe in their emotional well-being, but there still was not a powerful impact in their lives. But when they hit four days a week, for some reason, four days, when the people read the Bible four days a week, the study found the effects were much more significant that they had reported. Improvements in mental health, emotional stability, behavior, all of that. Their faith was increased. That's the important one, is it not? Then reading the Bible five to seven days, that is where the transformative effects take place when you read your Bible. People who read their Bible every day show the highest level improvements in all areas. They were emotionally stable. Any of y'all need that? Maybe your spouse need it, amen? With the highest level of joys, the highest level of peace, the highest level of hope, They showed great improvements in behaviors like kindness, generosity, and mental and emotional resilience. Don't we all want that? It's in the Word of God. It's in the Word of God. According to the study, people engaged at least four days or more had significant behavioral changes, improved emotional health, reporting 60% improvement in their mental well-being. They had stronger relationships, and they grew spiritually. That's what reading the word of God, could you commit maybe? Jot that one down. I'm going to read my Bible more this year than I did last year. Amen. Some of you that might not already be in it, but I promise it will help you. Some of you may be aggressive and say, you know, I'm going to read my Bible twice this year instead of once. Just do more. Do more. Secondly, give more. We'll scoot through this one, Luke 6 and 38. Give, and it shall be given unto you. My goodness, it shall. Shall is usually a Bible promise, ain't it? Shall. So give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, press down, shake them together, and run it over. Shall men give into your bosom? For with the same measure that you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again. You don't give nothing, ain't nobody gonna give to you. You give, people gonna give to you. That's just what it says. Don't mean it's gonna make you rich, but you'll be taken care of, I believe that. And God will make sure a man to honor his word. He said you give, and it shall be given unto you. That's a promise, y'all. Why not make a commitment in 2025 to give more than you did? And I know, listen, and I'm not always talking about money with this, but listen, we gave a lot, and I know it was probably, it was two years now, but we really spent it all last year and did all this stuff, amen? and all that God's done. And listen, we gave a lot. I know we just did faith promise, and many of you is probably at a higher level of giving than you've ever been. And I believe you're going to see the benefits of that. You're going to see what God has done. You've already took a monumental step to give more, amen? But I'm telling you, that's where the blessings come in at, amen? 1 Corinthians 16, now concerning the collection of the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, Sunday, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. How many people have you seen their tithe and their giving decrease, yet they got the same job or even a better job? That sure don't line up with that verse right there. And I ain't after your money if you don't want to give fully on you. I don't care it's your life. We don't need it. We're God's church, man. We got faith. We follow God, amen? God's going to supply. But I'm trying to supply your life with blessings by trying to get you to honor the Word of God. Why not make a commitment if you don't tithe that you're going to give your 10% this year? Why not? Why not make a commitment if you already tithe and don't do faith promise or don't give more that you're going to give in offerings this year? Faith Promise was tremendous, amen, and Carla's been posting the results of that in her weekly letter to the church, amen, that we're putting together. The remodel was amazingly tremendous, amen, and it was great. Didn't y'all go broke? Anybody suffering so bad they wish they'd never gave to that? We want to do it again, amen. Don't we want the basement to look just like this? Beautiful Sunday school rooms. Don't we want the front to have an overhang and an asphalt drive-thru so when it's raining like this, you women won't melt? Amen. All us men too lazy walk out there and get y'all with umbrellas. We want to pull up right there, amen. Blake had a quote on that, 50, 60 grand. Amen. Bless the Lord. Bless the house of God. But I'm also talking about giving yourself, giving your time, giving your talent. Some of you could get up in the choir, but you just haven't. Some of you could practice a solo and come to us and see if you could sing it, but some of you haven't. Some of you could volunteer to be an aide in a class and help and learn, amen, but some of you haven't. Some of you could easily go door knocking, amen, when the men go, but some of you haven't. Some of you could easily come to men's prayer, but some of you haven't, amen. Some of you could easily go to the shelter. These men went and preached. Delbert Ann Bullen had five men profess Christ just the other day. That's life changing for people to go and experience that and see that. You could. Won't you make a resolution this year, a real resolution? that you're gonna give more time, talent, and tithes to God, amen? You're gonna read your Bible more, you're gonna give more. How about, thirdly, make church a priority? God likes to humble people. So I like going around, these guys growing these big churches, I just laugh at them and I say, ha ha! And they'll be like, I'm running 300 or 400 on Sunday morning. I'll be like, okay, tell me what you're running midweek. 70. And I said, so do we. Amen. We got the same size church. I bet your offerings are similar to mine too, buddy. Although you got that 300 fluff on Sunday morning, you only got about 70 cord. But every time I brag about that, it seems like y'all start slipping on me. I get prideful and start telling everybody we run 70 Sunday morning, 70 Sunday school, 70 Sunday night, 70 midweek, and then I come in midweek and there's 30 of y'all. Don't y'all make me look silly, man. Come on now. Commit this year you're going to be at every service. Commit this year you're going to be faithful. Commit this year that it's a priority, that it's important. The Bible says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a matter of some is, but exhorting one another. I need the exhortation. I need the encouragement. I promise you it'd help your life if you get here every service. The fact of the matter is, you can't grow in one service. Most churches couldn't myself. I try to be as beefy as I can. But we're all milky on Sunday morning. That's when lost people show up. That's when visitors show up. And most of us are pretty milky on a Sunday morning. Sunday night we'll do expository and get into the meat where you can't even avoid it because I'm not leaving out a verse if I'm doing expository. And we'll preach on everything under the sun, man. And you go through and you follow what God's got for you, amen, by going straight through the Bible. And then on a midweek, we've been doing doctrine where you learn the core doctrines of your salvation. And we're getting ready to go in the Holy Spirit, amen. I can't cover all that in 45 minutes on a Sunday morning. Therefore, if that's all you can do, then you are milk. Hebrews 5 and 12, for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and become such as have need of milk and not strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. He's obeyed. So if a preacher has to get up and preach some watered down, a little milkier stuff, can't get in the deep things of God because you sit there with that confused look on your face, amen? Because you ain't never been reading your Bible, you ain't been studying, you ain't been coming faithful to all the other classes. Y'all know all this stuff works together. If I preach on propitiation on Thursday, and I cover Galatians and how they were saved by grace through faith and not of words, and then I start preaching on redemption on a Sunday morning out of the book of Exodus, you know I'm going to be hitting everything I've done taught. And if you's here for every service, you're going to catch on to all of it a whole lot better, amen. And learn a whole lot more. I'm really just upset about the bragging part. Every time I brag, y'all start laying out. Everybody come back, please, amen. For my own prideful reasons. Statistics. It's a statistic day. All my illustrations are statistics, except the last one. When you are faithful. Now, I want to use the word secular, Blake. Secular statistics. When you're faithful to church, this is what different secular statistics said, you will have an improvement in mental health. Depression and anxiety are reduced. A study published by National Institute of Health, that's not a Christian organization, found that individuals who regularly attend church are significantly less likely to experience depression and anxiety. Regular churchgoers report feeling greater emotional well-being with one study showing 25 to 30 percent lower risk of depression in regular church attendees. They also have a higher level of satisfaction in life. Gallup poll. We use that in banking. That's not Christian. They said religiously active individuals who attend church regularly report a 20% higher level of life satisfaction compared to those that are not. How about number two, stronger relationships, marital satisfaction. Couples who attend church together report higher levels of marital satisfaction and stability. According to the research from Family Studies, not a Christian organization, 47% of married couples who attend church regularly say they are very happy in their marriages compared to only 27. That's a full 50% decrease. 27% of those who do not attend church. Parent-child relationships change as well. Regular church attendance is linked to stronger family bonds. A study by the Journal of Marriage and Family, secular institution, found that children who grew up in a religiously active household have 30% higher levels of positive emotional connection with their parents compared to children in non-religious households. The world is telling you that being faithful to church is tremendous for your life. Increase life longevity. Number three, higher life expectancies for those that go to church. Amen. Churchgoers have a 25% to 30% lower risk of dying over a 15-year period compared to non-attendees. The sense of community and emotional support and stress reduction provided by church is thought to contribute to this. We know some more spiritual reasons that would contribute, but you understand that. Number five, spiritual and personal growth. That's common sense. 50 to 70% greater sense of purpose in life. You don't feel a purpose in life? It's because you ain't faithful to church. Be faithful to church and God will make Him your purpose in life. Stronger faith, consistent involvement in activities such as worship, Bible study, and fellowship contribute to deeper spiritual growth. Barna Group, which is a Christian one, found that people who attend church weekly, I think it is, 50% more likely to feel deep connection to their faith and more equipped to face life's challenges. You want to be faithful this morning? Better financial stability, wow, Lifeway Research, they're Christians, showed 47% of church members regularly tithe or donate 10% of their income compared to only 2% of the general population. That habit of giving gives levels of financial stability to their life. Ain't that amazing? That most of those were secular statistics that tell you that being faithful, not just, I'm talking faithful, will change your life, change your life. Half of us probably deal with depression or anxiety or some form of it. Am I right? Half of us probably. General statistics, 50% of the American population is on some type of medication for those subjects. Anxiety, depression, whatever it is, I'm not against medication. But I'm telling you, I just read secular statistics that said there's something just as good as a drug, amen? There's something probably better than a drug, and it's getting as close to God as you can, amen? It's getting faithful to the house of God and faithful to the things of God, and He'll do things inside of you that the pharmaceutical industry cannot do, amen? I know we need them sometimes. You know I ain't preaching against certain things like that, but I'm telling you, doing the things of God's gonna help you better than the things of this world is. Amen. Fourthly, we'll be done a little early this morning. Pray more. You all knew that was coming. Bible reading and prayer. That's what a real church is. Bible reading, prayer and faithfulness. That's us. We want to be faithful every one of us to every service. We all want to read our Bible and we all want a prayer life. I promise you we do that stuff. We won't be fighting the devil inside the church as much as everybody else is. Because we all love God and we'll want to do what God wants. Be careful for nothing. What's that word in your King James mean? Be careful. Don't be full of care about anything. Don't be anxious about anything. Don't have anxiety over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication. Pray. My goodness, I didn't even realize that three out of the four points thus far is talking about decreasing your anxiety through secular statistics pretty much. I mean, being faithful to church, reading the Word of God, and praying more all decrease that. You could say, well, here's my secular resolution. I don't want to struggle with anxiety this year. I just gave you three spiritual resolutions that'll help you solve that. If we're supposed to pray about everything, I mean everything, child rearing, marriage, workplace, salvation of others, daily decisions, and all those things. I mean, do you really think you ought to pray more than eight minutes a day? That's the average prayer life of a Christian. That's probably inflated pretty good too. You lust and have not, you kill, desire to have, cannot attain, you fight and war, yet you have not because ye hast not. I'm asking God specific things for things going on in our life right now. It'd be a real good time for you to start asking God to do some things in your life. Prayer is probably the most powerful thing we got, y'all, and we don't even use it. It slips under the radar. It's undetectable. I can't look at you. I mean, there's certain things we can tell, but it's hard for me to look at you and know if you prayed at all yesterday. If you said a single prayer yesterday, I can't look at you and know that. Now I can look at the fruits of your life and different things and tie some things together and all that stuff. That's why it's so hard, it goes under the radar. Can you imagine that? I mean, that's tough, man. These churches with wicked carnal deacons and different guys trying to control everybody and do crazy stuff, amen? Halftime, them dudes are so unspiritual, they probably don't pray at all. Especially if they're acting like diatrophies. John 3, amen? Third John. Second John. My bad, Jeff. Sorry. Third John's a woman, ain't it? You don't know either, that's why you're just grinning. We got a lot of reasons to pray, y'all. We ought to pray. No matter what the reason is. Can I give you a couple secular studies real quick? This doesn't really tell me where they're from. I'm sure some of them's Christian, but if you pray, you'll have a deeper connection with God. You have a strengthened relationship. You know that prayer is communicating with God and consistent prayer will build that real, that intimate relationship that you and God are supposed to have. And it will give you that divine guidance. Y'all have heard me say over and over, don't come tell me the Holy Ghost let you do something if you ain't been in the prayer cloth and you ain't been reading your Bible. You'll develop a clear sense of the purpose of your life and the direction that God has for you if you'll start talking to him. Increase faith and trust what I said at the beginning of the message. Your life is miserable when you've got low faith. You live in fear. You worry about things and all that. I mean if you just learn to talk to God on a daily basis. That's what our prayer camps has done for a lot of our men. We learn that it's not kneeling down and praying. It's not just it's constant communion as much as you can. And man, I love, I hate bedtime because I can't go to, I mean, my sleeping's just horrible, man. I get up six times a night, it's crazy. But I absolutely love when I get to lay down and go to sleep and she finally turns the TV off. Because that's when I just start talking to God, man. Some people say, you wasn't really praying if you fell asleep. Praying fooey on you, brother. That's how I like going to sleep. I lay there and talk to God as long as I can. If I can't sleep, that's all I'll do. I'll sit there and start going through everything I want to tell him, everything I'm thinking about. I'll praise him. I'll thank him for what he's done in my life. Thank him for what he's done with my family. Thank him for everything he's given me. I'll praise him. I'll start trying to repent for sins and things and start asking for help in different areas. And man, that's the best times of my life. Talk to him. Spiritual peace and comfort, peace of mind. One of the most immediate benefits of prayer, because the verse I just read a minute ago, is a sense of peace. By praying, you release anxieties, this man said, fears, and burdens to God, which often lead to feelings of relief and calm. You recognize that God's bigger than any challenge you face. He'll give you comfort in difficult times. There'll be a personal transformation in your life if your prayer life changes. That's how we can tell some of you ain't got no peace. That when somebody lives in fear all the time and they're worried and they're stressing, you know they ain't got no good prayer life. Because that is the direct answer in the Bible in that verse I just read, to have peace. So you know they suffer at praying. Spiritual peace, personal transformation, growth in humility, conviction and repentance when you pray. God will help you. I hope I'm making sense this morning. Increase spiritual discernment, a clarity in your decision-making. You spend time in prayer, you develop this stronger sense of what God wants you to do in your life because you're talking to him. You understand scripture. There'll be a cultivation. I like this one. There'll be a cultivation of gratitude and praise. Thankfulness, prayer helps you focus on God's goodness and blessings when he's not a genie in the sky. For those of you that know, prayer ain't just asking for things, it's talking to God, worshiping him, thanking him for who he is, talking to him about how good he's been to you, all that, and those that pray regularly express gratitude in their prayers, and you develop that heart of thankfulness in your life, and there's a positive, joyful outlook on your life. If you're negative all the time, you don't pray! Worship and praise. Through prayer, you engage in worship. Offering praise to God for His greatness, love, and mercy. If you sit in this church and you don't ever praise, you probably don't pray very well either. I know there's little ailments, shyness, and all that stuff. But more than likely, if you ain't praising God at all, you probably don't pray much either. And graciousness and forgiveness. Healing relationships, release of bitterness. Bitterness is a primary problem in most people. And if you're carrying bitterness and had it your whole life, you don't pray. How can you? If I regard iniquity in my heart, it will not hear me. It's hard to pray and talk to God when you know you hate somebody's guts because you got that sin in you. That's why your prayers are just, thank you God for this food, help me go to sleep tonight, thank you God, thank you for what you did today, forgive me my sins, all of them. You just figure out which ones I sinned, I ain't even gonna think about it because I think I'm perfect. And God help me, amen. That's why that's your whole prayer life. Because you got bitterness, you got issues in your life, you're never gonna be a good prayer warrior. You're never gonna have that peace. You gotta fix it up. Could you pray more this year? Could you read your Bible more this year? Could you give more this year? Could you be more faithful this year? Could you be more compassionate this year? Compassion. Mark 12 and 31. And the second is like namely this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than We watched some Christian show last night about all this legalism and stuff. And the guy was a grace preacher and they got mad at him. It was old Assemblies of God or Church of God, something, you know, Pentecostal stuff. You got to have the hair bun and nobody wants to see your elbows, amen. No open-toed shoes, all that stuff. No makeup, all that stuff. And in the beginning of it, he was just preaching that legalism, preaching that legalism. There was absolutely no love whatsoever. They get focused on all them rules and all them laws. But Christ said, Love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater. That's Jesus summing up. He summed up the Ten Commandments in two, amen? That's four of them right there put together. I believe it's either four and six, some say five. Let's just say five about man, five about God towards man. Man towards man, the other five. He's summing up the ones towards man right there in one thing. Love thy neighbor more than thyself. As thyself. This year, why don't you have compassion and forgiveness and grace and mercy towards other people? Most families got at least one person in there meaning a snake to everybody else. A lot of, a lot of, a lot of families Got people in them that'll be so compassionate and act like they love everybody in the world, even people that's done them wrong. But then the people that love them more than anything, they're snappy, mean, rude, and have no love towards them in their life. Anybody know somebody like that? There's usually one in every family. More compassion in that marriage would be real good. Sir, don't you demean her. Don't you treat her like a slave. Don't you treat her like that. God gave her to you, man. Show her compassion. Man, don't you show contempt towards him. Try to make him look stupid. Talk down to him. God gave you that man. God gave you to that man to be a help me. We got to have compassion towards our children. You all know that. Teenagers, you're in there too. You don't get out of it. Quit being so stinking rude every time you talk. What is wrong with you? Why do you hate life? I don't know of a perfect family, y'all. But we've got to try to treat each other with some compassion. And more compassion would be good between our church members too, wouldn't it? Make sure, make sure you love each other. Make sure when somebody's sick, and I've never been the greatest at all this stuff. Y'all want to know what my mama said to me 10 years ago? When I ain't picking on my mama, she'll tell you it's the truth, she'll blame it on me, which I take all the blame. You know what she said to me? I remember standing in your classroom or Miss Debbie's classroom down there at school. I said, well, I'm going to pastor this church. And it wasn't congratulations, it wasn't praise God, amen, it was I hope you get some compassion. Never been my highlight, my spotlight quality. We've got to have love for each other. When somebody's going through something, show them some love. God might let you go through it. That's how this Christian thing works. God might let you go through it just to show you that you need to have some compassion so you'll start having it for other people. Amen right there. We need to love each other. Quit being so self-centered. Compassion. She's getting ready to sing. I just gave y'all five things that you might want to commit to. But Jesus said the greatest would probably be love. Read your Bible more. Pray more. Be faithful more. Give more. Why don't we love more? Why don't we make what the church is built upon the family. And man, that's going to fall on you. You're the leader of that family. You're the spiritual leader. If there ain't love in there, you better find some way to figure it out. You got a mean old bitty wife. I mean, she's meaner than a snake. You better find a way to get her. And it probably ain't going to work going in there strong-arming her. Same man right there. You didn't let her do it 40 years. You better find a way for there to be love in that hole. Ladies, you're the picture of the Holy Ghost in there. What's the Holy Ghost's name? What did Jesus send? A comforter. A comforter. Love. You're the love. You're that example. The man's a picture of God the Father in that home. The authority, the leader, he's got to have love too. God loves us more than anything in the world. But that woman's that Holy Ghost. We've got to have love in our homes. That'll build you a church right there. Families love each other, stay together, raise their children upright in the love of Christ. Children all grow up to love God and want to marry somebody else that loves God. Most important thing in your life, young people, I've always said, I've always given you the legal side of it. I've always said you ain't allowed by the Bible, you ain't allowed to date lost people, amen, right there. You better know their testimony. You better know what they believe. You better know they believe right, amen. And the Bible literally says that, that's the legal side of it, right? That's the side that says you ain't supposed to do that. But could I tell you, you ought to want somebody that just loves God. Just loves God. We've got to have the love of God. I'm going to tell you, the stuff going on in my family right now, I've never been one to express as much love. That's just who me and my daddy's always been. That's just who he is. But going through this stuff and not knowing what the outcome's going to be, not knowing what's going to happen, man, it's made me more compassionate, honey. And dad too, dad's like, I mean, we all used to, we all talk harsh and big and all that stuff. Now we start talking to each other. Now you can see my dad's face just changed. He's like, we're family. We got to love each other. But we ought not have to go through pure hell to have those feelings, amen? I shouldn't have to watch bad things happen in my life to decide to love people more and love the people that love me more. Compassion. What he's going through has shown me to love my parents a whole lot more. I don't know how long I have them. It's shown me to love my family a whole lot more, because that's my family. Show me love my church people more and when they're going through sickness and some of their families go through love them more because it ain't fun. I don't know where you're at this morning, but I guarantee every one of us could exercise a little bit more passion, more compassion, love for each other. So I wonder, I gave you five choices. I'd hope about everybody in here could pick one of them. I'd love to see a couple of you pick all of them. I'd love to see our whole church decide we're going to be completely faithful to everything. We're all reading our Bible more. We're definitely going to pray more. We're going to do it all. And we're going to love more. Could you make a decision this morning? Just a little commitment. Just decide. You know what? Through all these worldly resolutions, I'm going to make a real resolution this morning that's going to change my life. Could you? Father, we love you. We praise you. Thank you, Lord, for who you are. Thank you, God, for your book. Thank you for the Word. God, help us this morning. Let lives be changed. Let's people take it serious, Lord.