What wonderful words. I can go in, not, look folks, not because of who I am. It's Pastor Monty and I'm just such a good person. That's going to get you nowhere but a devil's hell. Do you know what's going to get you to heaven? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Belief on Him. It is all by grace and not by your works. Boy, that message is a hard message for some people to hear because they're very prideful about their goodness and their religiosity. If you really read your Bible carefully, and by the way, if you were at least the least amount self-observant, you would understand that you are nothing. and he is everything. Salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Christ. Take your Bible with me this morning and turn to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. Faithful listeners might be a little nervous right now because you think I missed a whole section of Galatians. I did not. I will be returning to the end of chapter five and into the first part of chapter six, but I wanted to give a message about New Year's. New Year's is one of my favorite times. I have certain times of year that are my favorites. I love Thanksgiving for all of the obvious reasons. 200 and none of your business pounds worth of obvious reasons. I love Thanksgiving, but I love New Year's because it is a time for us to reflect and to think and listen carefully to improve ourselves. Now, Immediately when I say that, this message makes some people nervous because they are satisfied with who they are and what they are. I am not satisfied with myself in the least little way. This week, in preparation for this message, I came across an interesting article. The article said this, that the most emotionally damaging and devastating thing that you can do at New Year's time is to make a resolution or a decision to improve. The author, who is beyond crazy in my mind, and who is seeking to gain the pleasure of those who like to wallow in their own stupidity and mediocrity, The author was simply pandering to an audience to simply say this, well, if you make a decision, or if you exercise introspection, that means looking into yourself a little bit, if you do that during New Year's, the author was arguing that ultimately you'll see some bad things. How many know that when you look inside, you see bad things? Both of my hands are in the air. And you know what? The truth is you will. But then the author went on to argue this, that you should not, on any level, seek self-improvement. Because the argument of the article was this, that if you try to make a decision to be better, you will only fail. And when you fail, you will become discouraged. And when you become discouraged, it will damage your psyche, and if your guy especially, wound your ego. And so the author's contention, this is crazy talk, ladies and gentlemen, but very, by the way, very appealing. to people who want to sit around on their couch doing nothing but eating Cheeto chips and drinking Diet Pop and playing video games. This is very, very appealing to that crowd, okay? It is very appealing to that crowd that says, it's okay, Pastor Monty, I'm fat and I'm going to just embrace it. You'll embrace it all the way to a heart attack. You'll embrace it all the way to the hospital. I was reading another article. I get fired up when I read. I was reading another article that talked about the new queen of fat that they put in charge of fat people in San Francisco. Unbelievable. What is her mission? To go into the schools and tell everybody that obesity is okay. What a horrible message. But Pastor Monty, we just want people to feel good. I don't. Do you know what I need? I need in my life over and over and over again a good dose of feeling bad. Because frankly, if I were to follow the first article that I mentioned, if I were to follow that, I would never try. I would put forth no effort. I would never examine myself and say, hey, I can do some things that are better. Rather than try to do better, try to be better, try to improve, I would simply sit back and just wallow and embrace my personal failure and mediocrity. And I would spend the rest of my life defending that and saying there was no need to try. By the way, what a failure attitude. What a failure attitude to say, well, you know, Pastor Ma, if you make a decision, you're just gonna fail. Now let me ask you an honest question, and I'll answer along with you. How many of you have ever made a New Year's resolution or a decision, if you will, and then by about January 2nd, 3rd, 4th, I know, you know, you were inconsistent with the decision you made. How many? Okay, I have, I've done that. Well, I see Pastor Monty, that just proves her point. She was right, you shouldn't even try because you're just gonna fail. No, no, the answer is not against trying, and the answer is not in failing. The answer, ladies and gentlemen, is consistency over time. I invite your attention with me, please, to Galatians chapter six, verse number nine. We read this a moment ago in our scripture reading. The Bible says, and let us not be weary in well-doing. I'm going to break this verse down. I'm unpacking it for you this morning. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Now I want to serve notice on you. Listen carefully to my entire soliloquy for the next few moments. I am comfortable in my skin. I am comfortable in my skin. You go, but Pastor Mighty, what does that mean? I know God made me unique. Really different. Like, kind of odd. And I'm comfortable with that. Let me tell you, I'm comfortable with my personality. I'm comfortable with my calling. I'm comfortable in my own skin expressing myself the way that I am. I will not Alter how I am, who I am, as far as who I am am. I'm not gonna change that. Pastor Monty, you know, we wish you would do this. We wish you'd do that. We wish you would tone this down, and we wish you would, you know, you know what? Trying to please you is exhausting. It's exhausting. I'm not doing it, okay? I'm not doing it. I'm not a people pleaser anyway. I'm not doing that, okay? I'm comfortable in my own skin. And I know that makes some people very uncomfortable. People who are timid, they're shy, they're afraid. I don't care what people might think. I'm comfortable in my own skin. But you know what? I am not comfortable with my own skin. I'm comfortable in my own skin, but I'm not comfortable with my own skin. When I look at my life and I look at myself and I take a moment for introspection, I realize how far I have to go. Pastor, what is the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal is to be conformed as a Christian, is to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. I've not arrived. I'm not comfortable with my failures. I am not comfortable. A few weeks ago we studied the works of the flesh, which are obvious, they're manifest, given to us in Galatians 5. I'm not comfortable with that in my life, and yet I have flesh just like you have flesh. I'm not comfortable with my failure. I'm not comfortable with my inconsistency. And I'm not comfortable with my personal lack of self-discipline. I'm not comfortable. You say, Pastor Monty, are you like self-discipline? In some areas, yes. Yes, in many areas, to be quite frank with you. And when I look at myself, though I'm comfortable with who I am, I'm comfortable in my own skin, I am not comfortable with my own skin, that is, with my flesh. And when I'm uncomfortable about it, it can lead to one of two things. It can either lead to promoting me toward biblical change in the power of the Spirit of God, or, It can cause me to just give up and embrace myself and never change. I will tell you that the Bible is a book of change from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible comes with a message. Number one, you are not who you ought to be. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You are a dirty, rotten, low-down, good-for-nothing, stinking sinner. Bible says so, and that's true of me especially. The Bible says so. You are not who you ought to be, but you can become something different. That is the entire message of salvation. My redemption, my being bought back from the slave market of sin, the message of redemption is that God has saved me spiritually, not so that I can simply embrace my carnality or embrace my failure, but that over time, in the process of sanctification, I can be changed. There's not a person in this room who cannot be changed ultimately through the grace of God into the image of Christ. You see, the Holy Spirit does not lead you to discouragement and mediocrity. The Bible does not lead you to some inflated sense of self-acceptance. The Bible lays bare who I am. And then the Bible says this is who you can become, as in the power of the Spirit of God, you follow Christ. How in the world can I rise above mediocrity? It begins really when we refuse to allow ourselves, in the words of scripture, to allow, we refuse to allow ourselves to become weary in well-doing. Again, look at verse number nine. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. The elements of that verse present to us a pathway for success in personal self-transformation. Let me unpack this for you this morning. First of all, I want to point out that we need to assess the danger. We need to assess the danger. The danger is found in verse number nine where it warns us about the potential of weariness. Weariness. I need to, every once in a while, step back from my life and assess the danger and recognize that there is a danger that in the busyness of my life, I could become weary of it. Now, the word weary there is not physical weariness, okay? When you do something super athletic and you throw yourself at it with every bone and sinew and your heart beating very, very fast and sweat pouring off your brow, At the end of that, you're exhausted physically. That's not the word there. The word weariness there, in our Greek New Testament, actually talks about becoming disheartened or complacent. It's basically when I adopt a mentality that says, well, I'm just tired of this. And Paul warns that there is a danger in becoming weary or becoming tired because it is a mental thing, not a physical thing. In other words, why I fail in making decisions and sticking to them is not physical, it is mental. Every failure that I have in keeping my own aspirations for myself, it doesn't stem from a physical inability to do so. I am physically capable. Pastor Monte, people that have physical handicaps, they're the exception to the rule. I would say not. I would say not. Gary, I'm talking to you back there. You know this, Gary Toombs. You are one of the greatest inspirations to me of any human being. Gary is wheelchair bound. He is far more faithful at Planet Fatness than I am. He is there on a very, very regular basis. He is every excuse in the world. Yeah, I know. I know. And he doesn't take the excuses. He doesn't live for the excuses. When I see Gary, I am personally challenged with the fact that I have no right to ever make an excuse or to become weary, but it's all in your brain. It's a mental thing. That's why the word is used, weariness, to describe a mental, not a physical state of mind. What are some symptoms of weariness? Because we can all become weary mentally. What are some symptoms? Well, symptom number one is giving up the battle of self-improvement. And he argued, Pastor Monty, I've tried that before, and it just doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for you because you won't work it. You need to look yourself in the eye. You need to face the fact that you're lazy. I'm talking to me. I am talking to me. But you need to face the fact that you're lazy. You need to face the fact that you give into your flesh constantly. You need to face the fact that you are not determined and personally self-disciplined. And frankly, you may need to face the fact that your life is not really controlled by the Spirit of God, because the Spirit of God will never cement an individual into mediocrity. Pastor Marty, this is some hard teaching. Yeah, it is. It is. I'm not here to make you feel good. I'm here to tell you the truth. I am here to tell me the truth. See, I need this. I need a dose of this every day of my life. My grandparents and my mom called it a dose of reality. Anyone ever have a mom and dad who gave you a dose of reality? Amen if you did. I need a hardcore dose of reality, and I need to assess this danger. I could, another symptom of weariness is this, a discouragement that graduates to cynicism. I'll be honest with you, some of you are there. Some of you are there. Now, a very wise man, Dr. Arlen Horton, who founded Pensacola Christian College, Dr. Arlen Horton made this statement. It's a great statement. He said, as a Christian, you're allowed to be disappointed. You cannot indulge the luxury of discouragement. Pastor, you ever disappointed? Yeah, I get disappointed a lot. Disappointed in people, disappointed in myself. I get disappointed a lot. But I'm not allowed to become discouraged. Because to become discouraged will mean that I am disheartened. Precisely the word that the Bible warns us against, being weary and well-doing. I become disheartened. And when I become discouraged and disheartened, that very easily graduates to a cynicism, listen carefully, a cynicism about myself and a cynicism about other people. And one of the worst ways you can live is cynical. As a pastor, I'm exposed, I suppose, to far more negativity than the average person. I have my own life issues and family and all that in the background, just like you do. But then I have, on top of that, hundreds of people that I deal with their negativity. I know some things that I will never say, never gonna say it, never gonna say it, until I write my book. The title of my book is For All Have Sinned. No names changed to protect anyone. Just kidding, folks, I would never do that. Your secret is safe with me because I don't have a good memory. But you're exposed to an awful lot of negativity and disappointment and you could turn cynical. Cynicism is the poison of the soul. Cynicism is the poison of the soul. I need to be careful of this weariness because discouragement can quickly graduate to cynicism. Cynicism is the rationality behind our discouragement and it's dangerous. Another symptom is this, frustration with a lack of progress. And so I yield to my inconsistencies. Pastor Monty, I just get so, I'm just, I'm done. Done. Not gonna try anymore. That's the problem. Pastor Monty, every time I try, I just fail. That's a reality. The problem is not in the failing. The problem is in the giving up. when you learned how to ride a bike for the first time. And by the way, shame on your parents if they gave you training wheels. Shame. That is not the old-fashioned way. Blood, broken digits, skinned knees. That is old-fashioned Bible way to ride a bike. My dad put me on a little huffy. Do you all remember those huffies with the banana seats? I had the little flag on the back of it. We lived up on a hill. There was a nice concrete sidewalk that led from our top of the hill, we were the corner house, all the way down. Good steep hill. I remember getting this beautiful little bike with the banana seats, it was orange. I remember getting this, I was so excited, finally I'm gonna ride a bike! I don't know what, five, six, seven, I don't remember the age. And my dad gave me a few hints. He said, get on the bike. And I got on the bike. I'm holding its handlebars. Remember those tassels they had? That's kind of girly, but they had these tassels. Holding these handlebars, and I'm smiling, and I'm ready to go. And dad's telling me what to do. He said, now here's what you need to do. He said, I'm going to push you gently. Liar. So I'm going to push you gently. And he said, all you have to do is stay upright. Oh, that's it? Yeah, and then he said, once you feel comfortable, pedal, but just stay upright. Ah, this is easy. Anybody can do this. Seated on my bike, big smile on my face. Dad said, okay, one, two, three, boom! And he pushed me. How far did you go? Not 15 feet. Tipped over, bruised, scratched up, because I was wearing shorts. Spasmodic, this is not good. No, it was very, very good. I had to try over and over. How many times did you fall? Countless times. I had to try over and over and over and over again, and finally, maybe it took me longer than it took you. Finally, it dawned on me, this is how to balance, this is how to ride a bike. But gaining that skill, listen congregation, gaining that skill required failure after failure after failure after failure. you will never move ahead in life if you don't try because of a fear of failure. I need to assess the danger. Chronic weariness can actually be manifest in withdrawal from many aspects of life. It is a heart that rejects all challenges and refuses to move forward. In its worst cases, it is an individual who defends the status quo. If I need to assess the danger, I secondly need to act against it. I need to maintain my enthusiasm. Look at verse number nine again. Let us not be weary, that's the danger. But there's a three-letter word, let us not be weary. Not. Now, the opposite of weariness, and remember, weariness is a mental state. The opposite of weariness, the polar opposite, is enthusiasm. So if I am to obey what Paul says in verse number nine, not only am I to be on alert and assess the danger of mental weariness, but I am to resist it in the word not. And the best resistance to weariness is to consistently practice its polar opposite, which is enthusiasm. That means in contradiction to the dumb article. Dumb. Dumb. I can't believe how dumb that article was. Just plain old garden variety, box of rocks, stupid. In contradiction to the dumb article I read, I am to maintain an enthusiastic positivity about all of the possibilities of life. And by the way, this message, in many ways, is a life and death message. The incidents of teenagers and young adults committing suicide is on the rise. Just a reality in the world in which we live. Pastor Mati, why is that? It begins in the brain, and it's a matter of mental weariness. And let me be very clear about this. When a person goes into that state of mind, they are an individual who needs our compassion and our help. But they need to change that way of thinking, which is weariness, discouragement, discontentment. And they need to change that to an enthusiasm for living. They need to quit thinking negatively. And by the way, you don't want to, you say, Pastor Mindy, do you have New Year's resolutions? Yeah. You know what one of my resolutions is? to stop my negative thinking. Pastor Money, I won't succeed 100%, but you know what? I'm gonna be positive Pollyanna until it makes you sick this year. That's gonna mean keep your negativity away from me. I'm not interested in hearing it. Go talk to Satan about it. I'm not interested in hearing about it. I want to cleanse my thinking from my native, natural, I've written down a list of things I'm going to work on this year. I want to cleanse my natural thinking from negativity to positivity. By the way, a lot of you could use a good dose of what I'm saying right now. And you say, why? Because if you get into a negative frame of mind, you're one step away from weariness. And if you go into weariness, as some young people have, this is not just for old people. If you go into weariness, as some young people have, it is very tempting to become cynical, as I spoke of a moment ago, and then discouraged with all life, and then to say, why does this even matter? and all of a sudden your tunnel vision in negativity does not have a light at the end of the tunnel, it is absolute darkness, and there are some people in this state of mind that will take their own lives. Ladies and gentlemen, hear me. The Bible teaches that if I maintain a positive enthusiasm about possibilities, that God will carry me through. that I will know his help and his grace and his strength. But it means a focusing of my thinking on things that are positive and things that are possible. Pastor Monty, I've heard all this stuff before and it just doesn't work out for me. Do you know why? Do you know why? Because you, sir, And you, ma'am, who are all cynical about everything I'm saying and are resisting everything I'm saying, you have determined that your personal failure is the end of the road. I'm going to let you know something. With the decisions that I am making for 2025, I will not be 100% consistent. It is a guarantee. Then why do it? Because I think I'll get just a little bit better. Why do it? Because I think I see a need. I am not this morning, and you know me as your preacher, I am not preaching perfectionism because I would be a hypocrite to stand here and preach perfectionism. What I am instructing you on is this, that while there will be bumps in the road in 2025, and while there will be things you'll be a little bit discouraged about, not discouraged, we shouldn't say that because we're not supposed to be, how about disappointed about, disappointed in myself, If I try in the power of the Spirit of God, I will come through this year a better person than I go into this year. I need at times and will during this coming year to feel the sting of disappointment, but I cannot allow myself to devolve into discouragement. I'm going to maintain an enthusiastic spirit. Don't pour water on that. Ah, Pastor Monty, you know, my kids are so enthusiastic about life, but they just don't understand reality. Don't you dare pour cold water on that. Don't put out the fire. Don't even attempt to. You know, well, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, just because you're negative and embracing it. Just because you love being a critic and you're happy being a cynic, Don't bring your toxicity to me. I'm going to maintain my enthusiasm. I'm going to assess that danger. I'm going to maintain my enthusiasm. Number three, find my focus. I'm going to find my focus. Where's that found? Look at verse number nine. Let us not be weary, note the next three words, in well-doing. Now I studied out this word. The word well-doing, it's a really general term. It's very much general. In fact, in the first part of chapter six, several examples of well-doing or doing good are given. For example, I'm to restore people that are fallen. I'm not to judge them and condemn them and be negative toward them and be cynical and be critical. I'm to restore the fallen. I'm also to help people, do good to people, provide for the needy. So there's examples given. But the general term of well-doing goes beyond that. In fact, if you look at verse number 10 of chapter six, Paul says this, it's a big general statement. He says, as we have therefore opportunity, whenever the chance arises, let us do good, now notice this, unto all men. Wow. Every time I have a chance to do something good for anybody, whether they're saved or lost, whether they're baptized or Pentecostal, it makes no difference. He says, if you have an opportunity, let us do good unto all men. And then he says this, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. My focus is on my faith community, my faith family, but I'm to do good to everyone. Well, Pastor Monty, all these are very general terms. Where are the specifics? The specifics are the situations that the Holy Spirit leads you into every day. Finding my focus means this. I'm going to figure out what the Spirit of God is speaking to me about in 2025. That's how I'm gonna find my focus. Mine might be different from yours. You know, one of my resolutions is this. You'll never believe this in a million years. I, Dr. Atkins, this is so true what I'm about to say, I need to become a better time manager. I am horrible at time management, horrible at it. You say, Pastor Marty, don't you have a rigid schedule? No, rigidity of schedule means nothing to me. I have to become a better time manager. I just kind of roll with it. I kind of wake up in the morning like a puppy. You know how a puppy wakes up in the morning, a little puppy? Puppy wakes up in the morning, Wondering what exciting things are gonna happen. That's me. Puppy doesn't have a plan. Except to go out and use the bathroom if he's been housebroken. Puppy doesn't have a plan. But I need to become better at that because I realize that I could accomplish more and that that area of my life is a weakness. That's me finding my focus. That may not be yours. How do I figure this out? How do I figure out what I should decide about for 2025? Let me ask you a few questions. I'll call these diagnostic questions. Let me ask you this. What do you wish you had done in 2024? It's a good diagnostic. What do you wish? Pasquale, I'm totally satisfied with everything. You're a weirdo. You're not walking on my side of reality. What do you wish you'd done? Man, I wish I'd done this. I wish I'd done that. I wish I'd been more faithful to X, Y, and Z. That's a diagnostic question. It will help you to find your focus. Here's another good diagnostic question. What do you regret? I regret nothing about 2024. Then you, sir, are an idiot. Blooming idiot. I regret a lot about 2024. I regret not one donut, but that box of donuts. It was sure fun at the time, don't get me wrong. I regret that. What do you regret? Here's another diagnostic question. What was the happiest and most productive time of your life? What was the happiest and most productive? See, we're trying to figure out what well-doing means to us as an individual. What was the happiest and most productive time of your life? Oh, Pastor Ronnie, my heyday was back in blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, what then is different from that time until now? I might ask it this way in a diagnostic sense, what is missing now that was present in that time? You see, if I'm thinking about these things, I can kind of come to a conclusion that there are areas of well-doing that the Holy Spirit will individualize for me if I'll examine this. Let me ask you this. Here's another diagnostic question. What grips your heart? What grips your heart? Pastor, that sounds emotional. Yeah, it is. Because do you know that our emotions drive our behaviors? And when something absolutely grips my heart that drives me to do better, I'm suggesting that we need to find our focus. What is our individual version of the very general term well-doing? And then, fourthly, quickly, we need to trust the process. We need to trust the process. Look, if you will. at that verse again. Let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season. Those are the words, trust the process. Now, he's going to allude to the agricultural world in that verse when he says in due season we shall faint not. But in a sense, this is a little bit of a contrast because the farmer has a general idea of when harvest is coming. But the words in due season literally mean it'll come at the right time. You may not have an idea of when it's going to come. Some of us set goals in our mind, and we attach a time frame to them, and the time frame increases the possibility of our failure. Now listen, I'm not saying don't have a plan, and I'm not saying don't have goals that lead to that plan, because you should. But for some of us, we artificially attach a time frame to a goal of self-improvement, and when it doesn't happen, we quit. And the problem is we quit sometimes immediately before it is about to start happening. It means that time is not my enemy, time is my friend. And time plus effort will equal success. And when I quit trying, there is no success to be known or to be had. Time is on my side, consistency becomes my lifeline. If I keep at something long enough, the keeping at it, the journey is its own reward. See, the process, you say, Pastor Mario, I'm going to, in 2025, become the muscle-bound hunk that lives right beneath the surface of my skin. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But you'll only do it if you put the time into it. And how many know this? That while someone can transform himself physically in a rather brief period of time. By the way, I hate those people. I hate those people, those internet influencers that say, completely transformed in 30 days. Not in my world, baby. When we put an artificial time limit on it, we don't recognize that the Bible says it will come in time and consistency when it is due. I need to be inspired, then, by the due time. I will not get there if I become weary. That means I've got to keep going. I may mess up one day, but I'm not going to mess up two consecutive days. And over time, and it will take time, and a lot of people, I'll just be honest with you, a lot of people give up and, ah, that's just gonna take too much time. Nothing worthwhile ever happened instantaneously. People who live for that hit of dopamine in the moment, they never experience something long lasting. It takes time. Pastor, I wish God would just zap me. He's not gonna do it. Do you know why? He gave you a whole book of instructions. And he says, do this, and when you get tired of it, just keep doing it. And when you're not feeling like it, just keep doing it. And when you fail, just come back to it and keep doing it. And keep heading this way, and keep heading this way, and keep heading this way. And over time, listen to me, over time I am transformed by the power of the Spirit of God into the image of Jesus Christ. but it takes time, it takes time. I need to learn to trust the process, and then I love this, lastly, I need to envision the result. Look at verse number nine. For in due season, look at the next words, we shall reap. We shall reap. If you are not weary in well-doing, you've assessed the danger, If you maintain your enthusiasm, you are not weary in well-doing. If you recognize that there is a process of change that will ultimately result in a harvest of glory in your life, that alone can keep you going. Truth of the matter is this, you're either going to in your life experience the joys of success or the regret of failure. It's true. Pastor Marty, I just, I try and then I mess up. Try again. Yeah, but you don't know, Pastor Marty, it's just too hard. You're too hard. You're too hard. Stop. Would you stop being so woke? The key to success is knowing that there is a Bible guarantee we shall reap, but there's a caveat, we shall reap if we faint not. The idea of fainting is the same idea of becoming weary. How can I know I'm gonna make it to the end? College student, you're home from the college. Oh, it was so hard. I'm going to quit. Don't you dare. Don't you dare. I've got this job, but I hate my job. It's so hard. I'm going to quit. Don't you dare. We shall reap if we faint not. The reaping does not happen in an instant. It is part of trusting the process of time. And during the process of time, I am to ultimately envision the result. Many years ago, I saw a movie that has become one of my favorite movies. It was a Disney movie back when Disney wasn't woke and ridiculous. It was a Disney movie. How many have seen the movie Iron Will? It's about dog sleds. It's about dog sleds. I loved it. It's about will. who was gonna save the family farm, because his dad had died, and he had to win this money, and the only way to win this money was to get in the Iditarod dog sled race, and begin at the Great Clock Tower of Winnipeg, and travel 1,000 miles on this tremendous race. What a great movie. If you haven't seen it, quit watching that garbage, and start watching this. I bet I've seen that movie 10 times. Pastor Monty, why so much? Because I like the idea of dog sledding. You know, this week, my wife and I traveled. Kelly and I traveled on up to Alaska to visit our son, Thomas, who's in the Air Force. Thomas had made reservations for us to go on a dog sled ride. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now, I'm not talking about me sitting my big fanny in a basket. I'm talking about Kelly got her small fanny in the basket. I'm so good at preaching when I have jet lag. It's crazy. She got in the basket. The musher stood behind her. There's handlebars like this. And then I stood on two little skis immediately behind the musher. He said, there's only two things I can tell you. He said, hang loose. Hang loose. Don't tense up. I'm a tense person. I can tense up that. He said, hang loose. I'm trying my best. Monty, hang loose. holding on like this, doing the Donald Trump dance a little bit, trying to hang loose, holding on. Those dogs, this is so exciting. If you ever have the opportunity, or if you don't have the opportunity, you should make the opportunity. He said, hang loose. And then he said, I need to ask one more thing of you. He said, remain upright. By the way, it reminded me of my dad's bicycle advice. When he gave some little call to those dogs, the whole thing just, they took off. And in the dark of the night, on this, it's quiet, it's quiet. The dogs don't bark when they're pulling. It's quiet, beautiful. And in the dark of that night, I wondered, what have I gotten myself into? for 45 minutes. By the way, I loved it after I began to hang loose a little bit. I loved it. We went up and down and around and curved. All he had to do was call, ha! The dogs turned to the left. Gee, and the dogs turned to the right. It was amazing. It was amazing. I loved every second of that. It was one of the top things. And I've dreamed about that for decades since that movie came out. I've dreamed about it for decades. I will never forget. And by the way, I remained upright the entire time. I will never forget standing behind that man. staring at the snow-covered woods of Alaska, by the way, for 45 minutes, folks. This wasn't some little two-minute carnival ride. For 45 minutes, in the dark, the quiet, and the beauty of Alaska, with the full force and energy of 10 dogs. You say, why 10? The average would be eight. They took one look at me and they added two. Fat people always have these embarrassing moments in life. I'm going on a horseback trail ride and they look at me and they're like, go get the Clydesdale. And I'll never forget for my whole life, my whole life, seeing that come to fruition. Can I tell you something? Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season, it's been decades since I had this dream, be not weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Ladies and gentlemen. Never, ever, ever give up. You find your focus, the thing God would have you to do. You find the one area, maybe two, where God would have you to change this year and you say, by the grace of God, I'm going to make a plan and I'm going to do it. And you're going to recognize that over time you're going to fail and have inconsistencies. And you're going to determine that when I fail or have an inconsistency, I'm just going to get up and try again. Because you know why? I'm going to reap. It's going to be a great harvest. It's going to be a golden harvest. It's going to be a life transformative harvest. I'm going to reap if I faint not. I am not Listen to me, and I'm done. I am not gonna let this, I'm pointing to my brain, I am not going to let this stand between me and success. I am not, and neither should you. Father, thank you for Paul's admonition to us, inspired by the Spirit of God. A simple verse, Lord, a verse that maybe some of us could make as a motto for 2025. If we're honest, Lord, some of us have become weary in well-doing. It all just feels like too much. Every person in this room Myself, especially, has at times felt very overwhelmed. But Father, right now, we're gonna lift up a promise in our hearts. We're gonna understand there's a danger in that weariness. We're going to understand, Lord, that you have a specific good for us to do. That enthusiasm is an antidote to weariness. Father, we're gonna understand that there is a process. It will take time, but in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. Spirit of God, speak to every heart. Maybe lay upon someone's heart that focus for them, that thing that you'd have them to do. Thank you, Lord, for loving us. Thank you for Christ, and thank you for the promise that He, God, which hath begun a good work in us, will perform it until the day of Christ. Blessed in the invitation, if someone needs to turn to Christ today, help them today to come in saving faith to Him, we pray in Jesus' name. Stand with me, please, everyone, standing. We're going to give a hymn of invitation. The invitation is a time when you can respond to the message you've heard. Today, maybe you'd say, Pastor, the Spirit of God spoke to my heart about something. Maybe you're here and you're not sure that you're a Christian. You don't know where you stand with God. That's the reason our