Father, again, we thank You for Your love and Your care for us. Thank You now for this time together. We would ask, Lord, that as we go through and consider these things, that Your Spirit would guide and direct in our understanding, that as we look into Your Word, that He would enlighten our eyes. And, Father, then You would give us grace to be doers of Your Word and not hearers only. We do ask, Lord, that though the topic at hand is not a clear passage in the Scripture as we consider the responsibility that we have in our Christian walk that you'd give us grace to be found faithful. Thank you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay, we are looking at staying firm in the pursuit of spiritual maturity. In the last few weeks, we've looked at staying firm in suffering, staying firm in the power of Christ, staying firm in knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, things like that. And seeing as we're looking at a new year, I figured let's go on to staying firm in the pursuit of spiritual maturity. Now, The word pursuit seems to indicate something. You're chasing after. Very often when it comes to our Christian walk, I don't know that we're always pursuing. Okay? I think we have desires. I think that God is working. But whether or not we're really thinking pursuit, I'm not sure that that's one of the words that we would normally think about. So tonight as we consider New Year's resolutions, what are they? Well, the word resolution is a noun. It's a firm decision to do or not to do something. She kept her resolution not to see Anne anymore. Anne's a real troublemaker anyway. Okay? The second definition is the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter. The peaceful resolution of all disputes. That's how it's used. So that's the word. It's a decision to do or not to do something. So when we think about the concept of New Year's resolutions, is there anything wrong with them? This year, I'm going to read through the Bible 15 times. Is that something wrong with that resolution? Boy, you guys are just downers. How many can I read the Bible through this year? That leaves me three months to goof off. If you read the Bible at 15 chapters a day, you'll be done in approximately 72 days. which gives you another 18 days to goof off in every quarter. Now, the problem is, is reading the Bible 15 chapters a day, four is hard enough for some. Okay, what types of New Year's resolutions are usually made? Well, first of all, we have the concept of physical. I'm gonna lose weight. I'm gonna get back into the gym. I'm gonna eat healthier. Okay, that's one possibility. Another one is financial. I'm gonna pay off credit card debt. I'm gonna become financially independent. Wouldn't that be nice? I'm gonna pay off the mortgage or the car loan. Those are all nice. Another one is in the area of relationships. Let me find my page here. Here's some of the top 10 resolutions. I actually have the top 50, but let's go with the top 10. Spend more time with family and friends. fits right under that relational one. Fit in fitness, getting to the gym. Tame the bulge, gonna eat healthier. Quit smoking, don't have that problem. Hopefully none of you do, and if you do, don't feel as though I'm looking at that like the United States government does. I just haven't appreciated the way they've taken care of that whole problem. Not that I don't mind going into a restaurant and not smelling that stuff, but, you know, just, oh well. Number five, enjoy life more. Number six, quit drinking. Hopefully not talking about water. Number seven, get out of debt. Number eight, learn something new. Number nine, help others. And number 10, get organized, talking about our garages, mostly. Another list, lose weight, get organized, spend less, save more, enjoy life to the fullest, stay fit and healthy, learn something exciting, quit smoking, help others in their dreams, fall in love, and spend more time with the family. Here's the problem with most resolutions. The percent of Americans who usually make New Year's resolutions are about 45%. I don't know what's wrong with their other 55. But that's what they say. Percent of Americans who infrequently make New Year's resolutions? 17%. Not sure if that's included in the 45 or not, but I'm assuming not. Percent of Americans who absolutely never make New Year's resolutions? 38%. Any idea why people would never make one? Yeah. And why do you never make any? I don't care about it. I wouldn't follow through if I did. Thank you for your honesty. I was thinking one reason might be they've tried so many times in the past that they've just given up. It's kind of like, it's not going to work, so why bother? So percent of people who are successful in achieving their resolutions? Yes. 2%. It's 8%. So, less than 10. Percent who have infrequent success, 49%. So, about 50% are successful some of the times. I am usually successful at mine until I'm not. So, the percent who never succeed and fail on their resolutions each year, 24%. Online. Can't be wrong. Yeah, it's on the internet. It's true. Actually, I looked up four or five pages, and this is the only one that gave percentages. And who knows if they know what they're talking about. But type of resolutions, self-improvement or education-related resolutions, 47%. Weight-related resolutions, only 38%, which means that 62% of people don't think they're fat, or else they're not. No, I think it's they don't think, oh, they don't want to try. OK. Money-related resolutions, 34%. Relationship-related resolutions, 31%. Age, success rates. Percent of people in their 20s who achieve their resolutions each year. Anybody in their 20s here? OK, so we don't even want to know about them, do we? They actually succeed about 39% of the time. People over 50 who achieve their New Year's resolutions. 14%. 14% succeed. The length of the resolutions. This one surprised me. I thought two weeks. was going to be the standard. But resolutions maintained through the first week, 75% of the people do that. Through the two weeks, or actually past two weeks, 71%. But when you get to a month, it drops down to 64%. And when you get to six months, it drops down to 46%. So obviously, our resolution, our resoluteness to resolve is not as resolute as we'd like it to be. And we'll get into some of the other information here in a little bit here. So the types are usually physical, financial, relational. Number two on your outline here, are there any resolutions that we should think about, should be making in the spiritual realm? And the first two that came to my mind, and I've thought of another one since then, number one would be reading through the Bible. This ought to be one of those things that is a regular practice. It's not something you necessarily need to make a resolution to do, but maybe you've gotten away from it, and maybe that's one of those things you ought to think about doing. Why would you read through the Bible? Because sometimes we have some timers. Okay? We don't always remember it all. We need to be reminded. In fact, think about the Psalms. The Psalms were songs reminding them of who God is, what He's like, what He's done, how we handled the whole thing. So there's the constant need for a reminder. How about memorized scripture? Let's not say we did, huh? Let's let the Awana kids worry about that one. The third one that I thought about after that was talk to someone about the Lord. See, if I don't make a resolution or if I don't decide that I'm going to do it, let's get away from the concept of resolution. If I don't decide that I'm going to do it, guess what's going to happen? If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time, huh? So it is one of those things where, hmm, these are at least three areas that maybe in the spiritual realm we ought to be thinking about the concept of resolutions. Why don't we make those spiritual resolutions? Well, letter A, the pastor said, just do it. And I don't disagree with that. When you recognize that maybe you haven't been reading the scripture like you should be, well then, repent. Just do it. Get back to doing it. Okay? You don't need a resolution. You decide you're gonna do it, you do it. Well, that in essence is a resolution. You don't have to wait until New Year's, okay? You can at any time. And of course, another reason is, letter B there, we're lazy. When it comes to working, We'll pick on Jeff tonight. He's got a nice piece of land out there in the middle of no place in Freeburg, and he's got a tractor, and he's got a pond, and he's got a front loader on that tractor, he's got a tiller on that tractor, he's got various other attachments for that tractor. I don't see Jeff as being lazy when it comes to work. That wasn't me. Mine laughs. I don't see Jeff as being lazy. I think of Dave working on cars. At one point, he had approximately eight cars that he was working on in his driveway. I think he still has four, so. But he's very busy about the work that he's doing. Mike around here at the church, as well as bus driving. I don't see any of us, Chuck, jumping up on roofs or whatever. I don't see us being lazy when it comes to work. But when it comes to the spiritual realm, how motivated are we? Do we struggle with a little bit of that spiritual laziness? And to be honest with you, yeah. Why? Well, notice I have here, this is the very reason why we should consider measurable, adjustable goals, because we're lazy. First of all, here's some of the excuses we use. We don't have time. The problem with that excuse is we almost always have time for what we want to do. I can always find three hours for a good movie. Three hours on the lawn, That may have to wait until my next day off, okay? Can't memorize. I love that one. Like the above, we remember what's important to us. It comes down to priorities. If it's important to us, we'll remember it. If it's not that important, why wouldn't it be important? Again, it comes back to us spiritually being a little lazy. Okay? Now, please understand something. I know my tendency is to point out problems, talk about the problems. I'm really looking at, here's some things that we might do to correct those problems. I'm not just trying to make you feel bad. And plus, if you're doing everything right, you don't have to feel bad about it, do you? Number four, what responsibilities do we have when it comes to spiritual growth? Well, let's look at the scripture for just a moment. Let's start in Philippians chapter two, which by the way, if you're around Sunday night, we're going to be doing this very verse. And I don't know about you, but having a message for 45 minutes on one verse, I'm still going, can I do that? We'll see. But Philippians 2, verse 12, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Question, does that put any responsibility on you for how you spiritually mature? Oh, yeah. Now, is it totally on you? No, because it's God who works in you both to do and to will of His good pleasure, right? It's Him that has the heart of the King in His hand, and He turns it with or soever He will, but you do have a responsibility. And that's the only point I'm trying to make here. Or how about number two there? excuse me, put off Ephesians 4, 22-24. In Ephesians we see another thing where we're supposed to be involved. It says in verse 22, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness." So what's our responsibility there? There's actually a threefold responsibility. We're going to put off We're gonna be renewed in the spirit of our mind. This would be the same thing as Romans 12.2, and don't be conformed to the image of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you might prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. And the third part is, put on. So you're recognizing there's something in you, in your behavior, that this doesn't honor God. How do you recognize that? Well, James 1 tells us that we're to count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that trials produces patience. Well, then later on in the chapter it says, wherefore putting away all that remains of wickedness. The trial, your response, shows you where I've grown and what still needs to be worked on. So I'm going to lay aside all that remains of wickedness, the things that I saw that I know aren't pleasing to God. Um, guy cuts in front of me in traffic and I say happy birthday. My response tells me, ah, that wasn't very honoring to God. That's something that needs to be put off. Now, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna be renewed in my thinking. Okay, God's in control of all things. He's the one that could have not put that person there, but that person's there. So therefore, God is testing my faith. Am I going to trust him in this situation, or am I gonna, as my own little sovereign, get upset because it didn't work my way? Well, I'm gonna choose to trust Him. Now, I may not have done it this past test, but the next one, I probably ought to be looking for it, huh? Have you ever noticed how that test comes around over and over and over again? God's still testing. Proving your faith is real, purifying what you got there. Okay, so there's a second thing that we ought to be involved in. Or how about let her see the spiritual mindset? Walking in the Spirit, Galatians 5.16 says, if you walk in the Spirit, you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. And Galatians 5.25, let me see here, says, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Colossians 3.16 says we're supposed to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. Ephesians 5.18 says we are to not be drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit. And the way it's written in the Greek is keep on being filled or be being filled if you will. Colossians 3 verses 1-4 it says, let me read it to you here. We've got a conditional statement here that says, if you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. What does it mean to be raised with Christ? Born again, Romans chapter 6, you died with Him, you've been buried with Him, you've been raised again. So if you've been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. So we have the concept of setting our mind on things above. The other side of the page for y'all, 1 Thessalonians 5, I think it's 18, says, in everything, give thanks. So we see another responsibility that we have. I've been listening to some CDs that pastors passed on to me and then I give them back and he gives me another set and that kind of thing. When you think about the concept of complaining, do you know what complaining basically says? Paul put that man up there and said, complaining is against God. Yeah, you're basically telling God that you're not treating me the way you ought to. I mean, since he's in control of everything, if something doesn't go your way... You know how bad that makes us all feel? Larry, what am I supposed to tell him? Get over it. Well, yeah. Yeah, without murmuring and disputing. So in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Guy pulls in front of you in traffic again. You're gonna say happy birthday because you're giving him a present of letting him go before you, right? Right. Excuse me. And of course, if we look carefully, we're going to find over and over and over again, all kinds of command form situations where we actually have a responsibility when it comes to our spiritual growth. Now, basically at this point, number five is P, well, it's supposed to be P-D-C-A. I had plan, act, check, and adjust. It's actually plan, do, check, and adjust. I did change the do on the outline, but not on the PACA. If we're going to make resolutions, if we're going to be successful, if we're actually going to follow through, then here's a little plan for you. Number one, letter A I mean, plan. When you're looking at New Year's resolutions, you have to create goals that are specific and measurable. For example, I'm going to read 60 books by November. Okay. That's 11 months from now. How many books do I have to read a month? Approximately five and a half. How many of you like to read? Did you just say that's all? I said five and a half books, she goes, that's all? Apparently she didn't say that's all, but that's what it looked like. You all like to read? Five and a half books a month, is that a problem? Children's books. Hey, that's one way of getting the 60. Well, yeah, you could do 60 books in the Bible by November and wouldn't even be pressing yourself at that point. On average, you're reading four chapters a day. But the gentleman that wrote this as his goal, he was serious. Apparently, he doesn't have a job or that's his job, one or the other. Another one that he had was, I want to run a half marathon by March. All 13 miles you mean, or start... It'll take you three months to run the 13.1 miles. He's still no help. I think what he's saying here is I'm going to prepare myself and then in March I'm going to run that 13.1 miles at one time in one day. He also had, I want to run a full marathon by November. So he not only wanted to have a half marathon in March, he was going to continue to prepare where The goals keep on getting harder, and so he wanted to do a full marathon by November. Now notice, these goals are specific, and they're measurable. Specific in the sense he knows exactly what he wants to do by March. And measurable in the sense that March is coming, he's either gonna go out and fall on his face, or he's gonna run 13.1 miles. Now, he may run 12.2. Still measurable, isn't it? He didn't succeed in the final goal. The specific goal was 13.1. Maybe he only makes it 12.2 when he throws his knee out or something. But it's still immeasurable. I succeeded. I didn't succeed. Number two. We have to be realistic in expectations of your time or ability so that you can measure progress. When I think of reading 60 books between now and November, realistically speaking with my time and abilities, Yeah, maybe 30. I'd like to do 12. If I did 12, I think I'd be doing good. That's a little bit more realistic for me. So letter A there, set short-term, intermediate, and longer-term goals so that you have successes. So basically, if I'm looking at reading 12 books by November, March, at the end of March, I'm gonna wanna have at least three, maybe a little bit more than three, read. This is not one of those things where we wait until October, kinda like, oh man, now I gotta read 12 books. No, short-term goal, so I'm looking at each month, I'm trying to at least kick off one book, maybe a little bit more. And I'm gonna, a mid-term goal, well, by June, I oughta have six and a half done, right? And then by November, I have my other four and a half, well, five and a half done. And then letter B, take things one step at a time. And what I mean by this is, again, if you're not planning it out and seeing that, okay, each day I'm gonna have to read so many chapters. Pastor gives me these life leadership things that it's got four CDs and a book. And basically, I look at the book, it's kind of like, how many chapters? Well, there's only 10 chapters. Okay, if I read one chapter a day, guess how many days it's going to take? Faith knew that one right off the bat. It's going to take 10. Now, am I going to read one chapter a day? Probably not. So I'm going to give myself two weeks to read it. And then, of course, I'm gonna have to measure it. Okay, I'm three days in, I've read one chapter. Oop, that only leaves me two days to mess with, huh? So I need to get back on it. That's what I mean by take things one step at a time. You need to be measuring and knowing what you gotta do. Number three, set goals knowing your limitations and don't let setbacks derail your momentum. Recognize weaknesses. Allow for momentary lapses. One of the things I've learned with the diet that I've been on off and on for a few years now, and there's a scientific reason for it, is you have to give yourself a cheat day once in a while. If you don't give yourself a cheat day, you can eat clean and good for seven days in a row, and then all of a sudden, your body gets used to it. and you won't see progress when it comes to losing weight. So you give yourself a cheat day and your body goes, whoa, and then you get back on your diet. Now here's the problem. You don't want to keep a whole package of Oreo cookies around to eat a couple on your cheat day. And then I'm just going to wait until the next cheat day. Yes. Isn't that horrible? I like Oreo cookies. So for me, I don't want to keep a package of Oreo cookies around. The other day, we're keeping two of the Calvary kids there over at the Urbana Conference here in St. Louis. And I noticed there's two pieces of apple pie, homemade apple pie. My wife's homemade apple pie. She makes a good apple pie, good crust. And there's two pieces left. I said, they come home at about 10.30 and I go, guys need anything to eat? No, we ate at the conference, that's good. I go, how about apple pie? And they go, well, yeah, I could eat some apple pie. Dish those puppies out. Why? Don't need them in the house. Boys come over for Bible study the other night. Alex and Daniel were the only ones that made it. And I said, hey guys, would you do me a favor? And they said, what's that? I go, see this bag of candy? They said, yeah. I say, please take it. Thanks. You don't have to eat any. They're in my house. I have to eat them. That's at least the way I feel. Four of yours are cheat days. We ate some of them. It's time to get rid of the rest. But again, recognize weaknesses. Allow for momentary lapses. It's not as though you're gonna eat perfectly on a diet. You have to have that cheat day, but if you like Oreo cookies, go out and buy one of those little six-pack packages. Don't buy the 32-pack. because then you may give in to all 32. No, I haven't done that. I'm just letting you know. Letter B, if needed, adjust goals to deal with weaknesses. And again, for me, I'm just not gonna keep Oreo cookies around. or candy, or apple pie, or I think we still do have a package of cookies that someone gave us, but they're not the ones I like. So it's okay. We can keep those around all the time. It's all right. Letter B, do. Put the plan into action. And again, whether it be reading some extra books, watching less TV, whatever the case is, whatever it is you're going to make a resolution or a decision to be involved in, or you're going to read the Bible, well then, put the plan into action. The other day, I think it was Eddie Tutwiler had posted something, a 52-week Bible reading plan. And this was used with permission, downloaded off the internet, bing-bang-bong, there it is. Every day for 52 weeks, and let me see, week 1, Sunday, Romans 1 and 2. Two chapters! Monday, Genesis 1-3. Three chapters. Uh-oh, it's getting harder. Joshua 1-5. Oh, Psalm 1-2. Job 1-2. Isaiah 1-6 on Friday. And then Saturday, Matthew 1-2. It runs you around the Bible, so you're not reading the same thing. I mean, have you ever started in Matthew, and you get through Mark, and you get through Luke? It's all the same stories. It's kind of like, I've got to read something. Well, this is one of those things where if you've got a low attention span like me, this one, you're in a different place every day. And we have four reading plans out there like that. This was a different one, and that's the only reason why I brought it too. But that is, again, one of those things where you're not in, especially if you're going through the book of Leviticus. I only have to read seven chapters in Leviticus today. You know, that, pfft. Okay, I failed my goals, my resolutions. They're all gone. Yes, Jeff? And again, yeah, they had one of those too. I just didn't download it. I downloaded this one. But so it is one of those things where, okay, now put it into action. Now, what if you miss a day? Yeah, either, okay, I missed a day and you move on, or you try and catch up. The problem comes when I've missed three or four days. Now all of a sudden catching up looks daunting, doesn't it? Well, You've got the plan, put it into action. That's the whole point here. You have to actually do something. Letter C, you gotta check your plan. Have measuring points to check progress. This is one of those things where it's very easy to measure your progress because you check off the little box. Oh, I missed a day. You know, it's only two chapters. I think I can do that plus today's reading or whatever. And okay, it takes 55 weeks instead of 52. You're still doing it, but you're checking it. Have measuring points to check progress. Number two, if you are not making goals, analyze why not. That's number one. Why am I not making goals? Well, I get up in the morning and I've got to quickly take a shower and get to work. I mean, I get my cup of coffee and I'm out the door. Okay, if you're on a diet resolution, that's a bad thing. Okay, you should eat breakfast. But I get up and I'm boom, I'm going. Well, then is there a better time to read? Maybe the morning isn't the time for you. I know when my boys were getting up at four and five o'clock and sometimes three and four o'clock to go to work, because they had to get a truck loaded by eight o'clock, morning probably wasn't the best time for them to do their reading. but they would do it either during coffee break or at night before they go to bed. At night before I go to bed, man, I hit the pillow and... Okay, well then don't do it at night before you go to bed. Whole point being is analyze why you're failing. Number two, if you have not been doing what you should, get back to it. Again, this is a decision that you have made and you have seen a need to do something. And if you haven't been doing it, Well then, get back to doing it. Or you have to reanalyze, why'd you make the decision? Oh, because Pastor Al was talking. No, no, no, no. These are decisions that you're making. Number three, if you realize that you set your goals too high, then adjust. I would like to be able to run a half marathon by March. Can I tell you something? That one's gonna be too high for me. Let's do a 5K by March. That's only three months. Yes. And again, if you go back to the statistics that I gave earlier, most people get beyond two weeks without a problem. Well, it's only another week, and you've, in essence, established the foundation for a habit, for developing a new habit. Now, it may actually take a little bit longer than that, depending on how consistent you are, but if you're consistent 21 days in a row, you have established the foundation for a new habit, okay? So if you realize that you've set your goals too high, then adjust. I want to lose 150 pounds by next December. I should start adjusting right away. Because what's a legitimate goal when it comes to losing weight? Two pounds a week. That's all. If you're losing three and five and eight pounds a week, you are not eating enough, you'll lose muscle, and yes, you'll burn some fat, but you'll lose muscle, and before you know it, your skin's hanging off you. So you wanna keep the muscle up, lose the fat, and your body can only adjust to about two pounds a week. Now, maybe the first week, if you've got a lot of weight to lose, you'll lose a little bit more than that, but it should slow down. So if I can only lose about two pounds a week, there's 52 weeks in a year, how many pounds can I legitimately expect to lose if I could keep that consistent all year long? Only 104. Now let's be realistic. You're gonna plateau, you're gonna have to make adjustments and so on and so on and so forth. So, boy, if I was shooting for 50 pounds in a year, that might be a whole lot more realistic. So you adjust the goals there. Letter D, once you've checked what you're doing, you need to adjust. Sometimes in the concept of adjusting, you need to seek counsel. Look, one of the things the pastor has emphasized for quite a while, and when I was a little bit younger, I'm sitting there going, you're talking about this group of people. I just want everybody to do what they're supposed to do. Because if everybody does what they're supposed to do, then the group's doing it, huh? Problem, that seems to indicate that the individual can do what they're supposed to do. Let me see, we're not supposed to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, is why? What's that? Because the days are evil, there's a reason. What are we supposed to do when we get together? We're to edify and exhort. What on earth for? I mean, if I can get together with Larry once a week, I'm not sure it would end my world. I mean, why do I need edification from Larry. Earlier in the same book, he says that we should edify one another while it's called today, exhort one another while it's called today, lest the deceitfulness of sin harden our heart. There's accountability in all of that, but there's also the, I need encouragement. You need encouragement. That's why we're supposed to get together. We're not necessarily supposed to get together just so we can sing songs and listen to pastor preach. When we get together, yes, that's one of the things we're going to do, but there ought to be that accountability, if you will, where I have friends in the church that I can be honest with and I can say, This week wasn't really a good week. Or how about this year really wasn't that good of a year. Okay. Have you had years like that where it's kind of like. Faith, you're too young to have had years like that. Believe me, they get worse. There have been years when everything has been really great and then there have been other years when it's kind of like, wow, can we go back and start this one over again? I don't know that I want to start this one over again. But throughout that year, you ought to be getting together with people. semi-regularly, knowing them well enough and them knowing you well enough that you're mutually edifying one another. Why? Because sin is deceitful. It'll lie to you. And if you think you can go it alone, you're going to fall on your face. And so therefore, when it comes to adjusting, sometimes we need a little bit of input from godly counsel. Okay, let's go back to the diet. Now, we just walked from 150 pounds loss in a year down to 50 pounds. See, that's helping someone that may be just a little bit overly aggressive, overestimating his ability. bringing them back to reality and help them understand what happens when you lose weight too fast. Well, you lose muscle weight and your skin can't adjust where it stays kind of hanging there instead of you look skinny again. Yeah, you may be skinny, but whoa, have you ever seen one of those pictures? Don't want to. So godly counsel helps us when we look at adjusting. And then of course, number two there, Adjust goals to what is feasible. For the guy that wants to lose 150 pounds in a year, with some godly counsel and with some realization of his own limitations, his own weaknesses, bringing it down to 50 is still probably a pretty high number. But, if he's resolute, 50 pounds is at least a doable situation, depending on how much fat he has. So, adjust goals to what is feasible. And then, of course, number six here. What will you change so that you might become firm in your spiritual maturity? Now, again, for some of you, you're not going to make any New Year's resolutions. Okay. That's not the issue. But God is calling us to, let me see, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, right? He's called us to go and make disciples. He's called us to pursue peace, pursue righteousness, above all pursue love. Lot of commands in the Scripture. The trials that you're going through, what are they teaching you about yourself spiritually? A few years back, I was emphasizing the whole, we're nothing but a bunch of dirty rotten scum of the earth sinners. I've told most of you on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights why I was doing that. The reality is, is Christians have a tendency, they get saved, they're in the church for a while, and they have a tendency to think, we're pretty good people. Ask us and we'll tell you. And when you get saved later in life, you look at Christians and say, you're not as good as you think you are. And it's not that I sit here in judgment in the sense of, but I am, it's, look, I am a common man. And if I'm struggling in a day-to-day life, then what do I know about most people? Probably struggling in day-to-day life. And yet we all come here, we got the smiles on our faces, we've yelled at each other on the way to church, and now we have to pretend. No, we don't. We need to make decisions. We need accountability partners. We need people that are going to mutually edify us. We need to be in the Word. We need to let the Word of Christ dwell on us richly. We need to learn how to humble ourselves and draw near to Him so He'll draw near to us. In order for those things to happen, There has to be, number one, the recognition of need, and number two, some decisions that are going to be made. So, what will you change so that you might become firm in your spiritual maturity? Just some things to consider as we're looking at New Year's Eve. Is that tomorrow? That's terrible. That means 2015 will be over. Okay. Anybody have any ideas as to things that they might consider telling us that they might make decisions on? Yes, sir. Good. Just let me repeat a couple things here. Bad New Year's resolutions to avoid. Read more. What's wrong with that one? Too vague. It's not specific, it's not measurable. Exercise more. Same thing. Eat healthier. Same thing. Learn to swing dance. It really is non-measurable. Well, I guess it's measurable in the sense that if you've learned it, but what steps are you taking to get there? That kind of a thing. Perfect my French, which means this guy actually knew some French, and speak Chinese better. If anybody is interested, let me quickly look for it here. Last page. If anyone is interested in learning a language for free, www, where is it? Oh, m-e-m-r-i-s-e.com, Memrise. And you want to learn Spanish and help out with the Spanish ministry? You can do it on the, it's kind of like Rosetta Stone, but it's not. Rosetta Stone costs 500 and some odd dollars, and this is free. Now, is there going to be a difference in how much it'll teach you? I'm sure there will be. But, hey, get started. Then if you want to go to Rosetta Stone, you can. Yes? And look, if you think you're too old to learn something like that, Pastor and I are taking Latin with Classical Conversations. They do their homeschooling thing here. Pastor is 67 years old, learning Latin for the first time. This isn't like, well, let's go review my Latin. No. You're not too old. You just have to decide you want to do something. And it doesn't have to be a language. Maybe you want to study history. Well, the Memrise has history, too. It has a bunch of other things. Just something for you to consider. Look, if all you're going to do is sit and wait until you die, well, then you probably ought to get on with it. But, and I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just saying, wow. Whole point being, Leon, is decision-making is part of the change process. If you don't think about it and spend a little bit of time considering, how would God want me to change so that I can glorify him? Well, I can tell you, for most of us, we probably need to read the Bible a little bit more. We ought to really consider, are there verses in Scripture that we ought to memorize? My wife is very good about every month or so, she changes the chalkboard in the kitchen. She's got a chalkboard and she writes out a Bible verse. And it's not for a wanna. It's because that's something that the Lord's working on in her heart and she wants to memorize it. I think it's above the stove. So it's something she's going to look at a lot. Well, There's an idea for you. I like to carry cards in my pocket. I'll bring them out and review them and put them back and things like that. But don't be afraid to memorize scripture just because you're old and decrepit, which I don't think applies to anyone here. But we make excuses where we're not doing something to change. At that point, well, if you're just going to sit here and wait until you die, well, I just don't know that God's pleased with that. So things to consider. Again, not asking you to make any New Year's resolutions, just saying if you're going to, there are ways of doing it and being successful. So don't be afraid to give it a shot. Yes, sir. And again, when you're making those decisions, you have to take those limitations into account. For a long time, I was going to the gym five days a week, maybe six, and walking three and a half miles at a 15 degree incline. And then my plantar fasciitis started acting up like crazy. It did not matter what I did, it just got worse and got worse and got worse to the point where I wasn't doing any cardio. Finally, about six months later, I went back to the Not the pediatrician. Podiatrist. Yeah, I don't go to pediatricians anymore. And he gave me a new set of orthotics. Great, fantastic. Didn't do a bit of good. And I finally took them out of my sneakers, because they hurt just as much as walking on concrete. Someone told me about this little $17 strap. There's two of them in a package. $17. You wrap it around your foot, and it kind of squeezes everything together. And haven't had a problem since. So I'm building back up to that 30 minutes. But I'm only doing 12 degrees now. And usually about 20 minutes, my heel says, you better cut it out. So I usually stop. I'm listening to my body. You know, I have to take into account that... I used to leg press 1,100 pounds. I think I still can. Haven't been doing it lately because I'm 55. And when I leg press 1,100 pounds, it makes me tired for two days. I don't wanna be tired for two days. I just wanna be tired enough to go to bed that night. So I have to adjust. I have to take those things into account when I'm making that decision. So I don't expect Leon's gonna be doing a half marathon by March or November, and that's okay. Okay. You're welcome. Okay. Well, at this time, we are a little early, but that's okay. We have our prayer sheet. Let's go ahead and take a little bit of time in prayer. And when you're done, you may leave quietly. See you Sunday.