If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter 12.
Thank you, Brian.
What a blessing.
It may sound like a sci-fi movie for some of us, but in three days, we're going to bust
into 2025.
Wow.
So let's do it right.
Let's not waste the opportunity.
Because in one way, January 1st is just another day on the calendar.
However, in another way, it is a very special day because it's an opportunity to start afresh.
So I want to give you a challenge today.
I assure you that I challenge myself as well in more ways than I'll mention this morning.
Before me, the Apostle Paul challenged us.
And it's the basis of much of what I have to say.
In Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse 1, it says,
I want us to look at this passage for just a few moments.
It says,
I want us to look at this passage for just a few moments, and then I want to try to apply it to us.
Any of what I'm going to say about what should happen to us at the beginning of a new year
will only come by the mercy of God.
Grace is often described as not getting what you deserve,
and mercy is getting what you do not deserve.
And none of us deserves to have the opportunity in Christ.
But because Christ went to the cross, all of us have the opportunity to come to Christ.
Christ made the sacrifice that ends all of death sacrifices.
The whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament was just looking prophetically to the need of a Savior
to come who would be the ultimate sacrifice.
Christ does not need us to die for him.
He wants us to live for him, and that's why the Apostle Paul says that we're to be living sacrifices.
We are to present ourselves to him holy.
Holy means that we are to be set apart, set apart for his purposes.
Now, how can we be set apart for his purposes
if we can't find anything in our life that points to how we actually serve the Lord?
If that's the case, it ought to be an eye-opener.
Now, I'll be honest with you.
I'm kind of strange and different
because I don't call this hour that we have together on Sunday morning a service.
I don't like that because in reality,
I believe that it can somewhat confuse us along the way.
We're not serving the Lord by sitting or standing here.
We serve him out there.
We serve him in other capacities through this church.
We're here to worship him,
and that's why I call this a worship hour and not a service hour
because if we don't already have one,
we need to find a way to serve the Lord in a gospel-oriented way.
And just standing and singing his praises is not really service.
Just seeking his face in prayer is not really service.
That's worship.
It's putting him in the proper place.
When this passage speaks of an acceptable one to God,
it also speaks of one being presentable.
So let's make ourselves presentable.
I have always lived away from family all my life.
My dad was in the Air Force, and we traveled,
and my grandparents were always away.
We lived close to one of my grandparents at one time
and 800 miles from the other.
Dad retired.
We moved to South Carolina.
I still had one 800 miles away.
When my grandparents passed, we married and moved around.
We lived close to one set of parents and 500 miles from another,
and then we moved here, and we were 500 miles from them,
and then we moved back there, and then we were 500.
All this stuff always had distance.
And then I left a daughter in Mississippi,
so I'm 500 miles from her.
And so I've always been away from family
and always spent a lot of times vacationing, visiting family.
It's just part of it.
It's what you do.
And when I was a kid, right before you got to where you were going
on these long journeys, you had to get presentable.
And we didn't pull over the side of the road to do it.
We were reckless in those days.
We had a station wagon just laid in the back.
And if something happened, well, it's in the Lord's hands.
Whatever, forget a seat belt.
Who cares, you know?
My brothers would have thrown me in the way,
and I would have been the airbag, I promise you.
But anyway, and my mother, to make us presentable,
would give us spit baths.
And so I'm not talking about getting a spit bath this morning.
I'm talking about being presentable before the Lord.
So how are we presentable before the Lord?
Well, we live for Him.
We live for Him when people's looking.
We live for Him when people are not looking.
We do what pleases Him.
We say what pleases Him.
We think about what pleases Him.
We ponder on what pleases Him.
That's how we worship Him in an ongoing way,
and that's how we prepare for corporate worship together as a family.
We set our lives apart for His purposes,
and we live to please Him.
And then Paul takes the next step in verse 2
and says that we are not to act like the world.
Folks, the world's going nuts.
And I'll tell you why.
They need Jesus.
People need the Lord.
They don't know who they are.
They don't even know what they are, quite honestly.
And they don't know what they believe.
And it's very common for even self-professed Christians
to claim part of God's Word,
especially in the polarizing atmosphere that we're in the world today.
I want you to listen to what I'm about to say.
They claim, self-professed Christians claim part of God's Word,
but they distance themselves from other parts of God's Word.
They claim the parts they like.
And when they don't like what it says,
they dismiss that as not as important as the other
or even not important or even bias.
And if we spend our time taking in that nonsense,
which is what it is,
we will conform to the pattern of this world.
We'll just look like the world.
We won't look set apart for the Lord's purposes
because we won't be set apart for the Lord's purposes.
Like a cow to the slaughter,
we'll just follow the tail in front of us
as we march toward our demise.
And so I just want to say as the New Year is upon us,
let's be better than that.
I mean, let's do better than that.
Let's allow the Holy Spirit to transform our minds
and allow the temptations that we face
to merely be tests,
that helping us to sharpen our skills
and living for the Lord.
In school, I always hated getting ready for tests.
I hated it.
It'll ruin an afternoon trying to get ready for a test.
I mean, it will.
But in that preparation,
I learned at least some of the material.
I got it, you know,
at least enough to remember it
to get it on a sheet of paper
and then I could forget it again.
That was what happened to me too often.
Don't let the difficult times in life,
the tempting times that often lead to compromise,
go wasted.
Learn from them.
Prepare for them.
And when those opportunities come to say no,
say no to what's wrong.
Say yes to what's in Christ
and be stronger at it.
Listen, every time you tell the devil no
to a temptation,
I don't mean directly talk to him,
I just mean walk away from the temptation
and don't do it.
But every time you do that,
you get stronger for the next one.
Now, he comes back,
I spent a whole quarter talking about
how he'll resist the devil
and he'll flee from you,
but he'll come back.
But instead of him getting a stronghold
or a foothold on you,
you can get stable grounding yourself
and walk out of that.
Now, some of us need to hear this morning
that a new year is a great time
for us to be reminded
that we can walk out of the messes
that we put ourselves in.
We can walk out of the habits
that we've developed in our lives.
It's time to stop it.
It's time to resist it
and let him flee from us
and move forward
from this day forward.
And so on that basis,
I want to challenge you
with seven challenges.
I know that scares you to death.
Just hold on.
You're all right.
New Year's not for three days.
We got time.
I want to challenge you
for 2025 with seven challenges.
For some people,
they need to heed all seven.
Others of us,
maybe only one.
But all of us can do something
in the 2025 challenge.
First one is this.
Commit totally.
Totally.
And what I mean by that is
surrender your life to Christ.
The greatest fear I have in ministry
is that there are some
that hear me again and again and again,
week after week,
and never commit their life
to the Lord Jesus.
They've never truly surrendered
to the Lord.
They've never asked the Lord
to forgive them of their sins.
They've never asked the Lord
to wash them clean.
In reality,
even though they may be
a member of a church
and may hold position in a church,
they've never surrendered their life
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They've never become a Christian.
And I want to be clear.
You can come to church every Sunday
and you can die and go to hell.
Your attendance here is appreciated.
But it is not an eternal security
by any means.
The only hope you have
is in the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the new life
that he has given to us
when we surrender our lives to him.
And now's the time.
There's no need for you
to continue to put off
making a decision
to follow the Lord Jesus.
I want you to nail that down.
There is a common fallacy
that if we align ourselves
with a church
and if we align ourselves
with the beliefs of a church
and we sign in
to some kind of confession
or we complete some class
that somehow we're covered.
And I've had people tell me
again and again
that they've done such as that
in churches
but no one has ever
asked them personally
if they've ever surrendered
their life to Christ.
And so I'm telling you
if you're here this morning
and you've never given
your heart and life
to the Lord Jesus Christ
go no further.
Don't leave this room.
As soon as we close
if you're watching online
call me.
Let's get it down.
Don't wait until 2025.
Walk into 2025
a born again believer in Christ
assured of your walk with Him.
Commit totally.
Second thing is
step forward.
And this speaks of
a larger pool of people
no pun intended.
The first step
to Jesus' public ministry
was that He went
to John the Baptist
and got baptized.
That was His first step.
Baptism is
a Christian act
that is a physical representation
of what God does
in us spiritually
when He saves us.
He cleanses us
and the old is gone
and the new has come.
So why did Jesus do that?
Why was He baptized?
Jesus never sinned.
Jesus didn't need salvation.
He was not born in sin
like the rest of us.
Why did He need to publicly
acknowledge that?
Why?
He was baptized
by John the Baptist
and submitted Himself to that
to identify with us
because Jesus relates to sinners.
He also did it
as an example for us.
And then He closes out
His ministry
by telling us
in the Great Commission
His final words
to baptize folks
that come to Him
in the name of the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In other words,
baptism is the bookends
of Christ's ministry.
And He does it
as an example for us
in the beginning
and He commissions us
to do it in the end.
And if you're a child of God
and you've never been baptized
as a believer,
well, something happened
to me as a kid
or something happened
to me earlier
and then I gave my life
to Christ.
What that means
is your baptism
is out of order, okay?
And it's void.
You got wet
but you didn't have
Christian baptism
if you were not a believer.
And so,
if you've given your heart
and life
to the Lord Jesus Christ
and you've never been baptized
as a believer,
then do that.
let's get that done
because I promise you
it can serve
as a hindrance
to you
when you miss
the first step
of obedience
in a relationship
with the Lord Jesus.
So I encourage you
if you've never done that,
let's work on that.
Let's get that done
soon.
Third challenge is this.
Join in.
If you're not a member
of Pickens First Baptist Church,
I encourage you
to follow the Lord's lead.
I don't want you
to do anything
except follow the Lord's lead
but when God leads you here,
don't delay
because delayed obedience
is disobedience.
If you feel like God
is leading you to do that
and we haven't talked about it,
let's talk.
I'd love to know more
of where you are
in your journey
and the good news is
I'm available.
I'm available this week,
I promise.
Call or text me.
My number is on
the front of the bulletin.
Let me know.
I can't think of a better way
to begin a year
than by committing
to follow God
in a new church home.
And if that's what
God's leading you to do,
then let's get it done.
Fourth thing is this.
Way deeper.
If you're a member
of Pickens First Baptist Church
and you're not a part
of a small group,
you need to be.
January 1 or more specifically
January 5th
is a great time to start.
And we'll be happy
to guide you
and help you find
what class works for you.
On Sunday mornings
we have life groups.
That's recently a name change
that some of us
have a hard time getting through.
I understand that.
But these are Bible study
driven classes
that encourage you
to share life together.
And that's why
they're called such.
The priorities of these classes
are fellowship,
prayer,
Bible study,
ministry,
and outreach.
We no longer call them
Sunday school
because they don't just
happen on Sunday.
We fellowship
beyond Sunday.
We pray for each other
beyond Sunday.
We minister
and do outreach
all week long.
And we ought to live life together
as the Church of Acts did.
Life groups.
On Sundays
and Wednesday evenings
and Tuesday mornings
we have D groups
or discipleship groups.
These groups study
a particular subject
for a particular time.
And we try to meet
felt needs
through the Word of God
through these groups.
It's a good thing.
But I will tell you
life groups
on Sunday morning
are a key part
of knowing
what Pickens First Baptist Church
is all about
and making us
better at it.
It'll benefit
each one of you
all of us
as well.
And so I encourage you
as you begin 2025
if you've not found
that place
then find it.
Jeff will be
in the foyer
right afterwards.
He'll be happy
to give you
some information
that'll guide you
to classes
that are available.
And you can try us out.
Stick your head in one.
If that don't meet
your flavor
try another.
Okay?
Find your place.
You'll be much more
better.
You'll get a greater
sense
of what Pickens First Baptist
is really all about
when you join your lives
with others.
fifth challenge.
Fifth challenge is this.
Dose daily.
Take your daily dose.
Every one of us
needs a daily time
with the Lord.
You can call it
a quiet time.
You can call it
a devotion.
You can call it
whatever you want to.
But we need time
to seek God's face
in prayer.
To read God's word
and ask God
to show us
how it applies
to our lives.
We all need
a plan
to do that.
I promise you
it'd be better
for you
to know
what you're
going to do
tomorrow morning
when you study
God's word
instead of just
cracking it open
and hoping you
fall to a spot.
Easy to miss it
without a plan.
And
the ones we promote
around here
will take you
through the Bible
in a year.
It's a blessing
to do that.
I encourage you
to do that
but I want you
to hear me.
Please don't get
bogged down
and discouraged
about the first
of February
when you get
in Leviticus
and can't handle it.
Okay?
Let me tell you
what the devil's
scheme is.
All right?
He'll get you
mixed up
in something like that
and you'll be
studying what you do
when you get boils
for your sins
and all that stuff
and you'll forego
the rest of the year.
And some of you
I ain't gonna point you
out just cause
I don't know
who you are
but some of you
stopped about February
when you hit
Leviticus 4
and said I can't
take much more
of this
and never got
back in God's
word daily
for the rest
of the year.
Don't you see
the victory
that the evil
one got?
Don't do that.
Let's wade
through this thing
together.
You know?
I got a four
part series
on Leviticus
that I preached
before that says
don't stop now
you know
because there is
applicable truth
there too
but it can be
challenging
at times.
And so
to encourage
that
we
I don't want
you to get
bogged down
I don't want
you to get
discouraged.
if it's not
best for you
to try to cover
the whole Bible
in a year
then don't cover
the whole Bible
in a year.
I just want
you to hear
from God
every day
from his word.
And the ones
we promote
around here
will get you
through the
Bible in a year
and reading
the Bible
through
will give
you a much
better
more thorough
understanding
of the whole
counsel of
God's word.
There is strength
there.
However be clear
it's really not
about consuming
more than you
can digest
so you can
boast about it.
We're not
going to give
out medals
at the end
of the year
okay.
Or to feel
good about
how many times
you read
the Bible
through.
I was in
a church
one time
when they
they said
you know
we normally
list everybody
who reads
the Bible
through in
the bulletin
on the last
Sunday of the
year or the
first Sunday
of the year.
And I said
well we're not
going to do
that.
And if that's
why you read
the Bible
through you read
it through
for the
wrong reason
you ought
to have
applied some
of it.
I may not
have said
all that
but I
felt it.
I felt it.
If you
don't apply
what you
read in your
life you
can know
it like the
back of your
hand.
And you can
still die
without Christ.
That impression
was left on me
when I was about
ten years old.
I was riding
my bicycle
in the neighborhood
and some little
punk was staying
with a relative
that was invading
our neighborhood
and he built
a ramp over
a ditch
and we were
jumping it
and I was
doing better
than him.
I want to
clarify that.
And somehow
I think
we started
talking about
church or the
Bible or
something.
I hope it was
my evangelistic
outreach but I
don't remember.
And he said
well I've read
the Bible through
twice.
He's about ten
years old.
And I said
well it really
ain't about
reading it all
the way through.
It's about
applying it to
your life.
Or something
like that.
Whatever a ten
year old would
say like that.
Because I
didn't see any
fruit in that
old boy's life
playing with him
in that yard
that day to
show that he
had read any
of it.
And I
didn't believe
him anyway.
So the best
thing for us to
do is to
commit to pray
and read and
apply God's
word and have
a plan to do
it.
Even if you
have to alter
it along the
way.
And if you
want such a
plan, man we
got a bunch of
them.
And I
apologize about
so many options
quite honestly
because I don't
want it to get
confusing and I'll
be happy to guide
you through that.
I always share
what I'm doing
with my people
and I've done
two very good
ones for almost
20 years.
stuck to them.
I'm trying a new
one this year.
Probably the
strongest option
that we offer at
the church for a
lot of reasons is
the one the ladies
are doing and
they're celebrating
it this Saturday
called the Bible
Recap.
And the strength
of the Bible
Recap is it
takes you through
scripture chronologically.
And the strength
of it is that it
has a great podcast
where a lady will
guide you through
what you read that
day or what you
supposed to read
that day.
And there's also a
commentary that only
gives a one page
summary of the
four or five
chapters a day that
you've read.
And so and she does
a good job with it
from what I've read
of it.
There are a lot of
ladies doing that in
this church.
Last year at this
time we had about
160 ladies sign up
to do that.
So so there's a lot
of people involved
in that and joining
in with somebody and
doing that is always
helpful.
It goes a long way
toward walking with
the Lord in a
winsome way.
And I fully support
it and I thank God
for it and I don't
do it for two reasons.
I'll tell you.
One is the podcast
is very feminine.
It's for ladies.
And I listened to it
a few times and I
just I just I enjoyed
it.
What she said was
good but but it's
just it's designed for
women listeners.
OK.
If you don't know the
difference we can talk
about that afterwards.
But anyway.
The other reason is
this is me.
I don't want to wait
to the last quarter of
the year to read New
Testament.
I need some New
Testament throughout
the throughout the year.
I need it every day.
OK.
I need New Testament
every day.
So I alternate among
plans that give me
Old Testament and New
Testament every day.
And there are now
three that I that I
look to.
One of them is our
PFBC Bible bookmark.
They are available on
the offering box.
There's an offering box
at this right here.
There's one out there.
There's two of them in
the foyer as well.
And what this what
these you get a new one
every quarter if you pick
it up.
It's available every
quarter.
And and it'll take you
through the Old Testament
once.
It'll take you to the New
Testament twice.
And he does a good job
with putting New Testament
passages that are relevant
to the Old Testament
passages that you read.
I read a book by Wayne
Cordero who's charismatic
pastor in Hawaii.
Bad place to minister.
And Wayne wrote a book
called The Divine
Mentor.
I don't agree with Wayne
on everything that he
believes but the book was
excellent in motivating you
to read God's word.
And I've taken snippets from
that book for years to
encourage people to read
God's word.
And it did a number on me.
I was with several pastors
in Tennessee mountains for
a treat and it was good.
And The Divine Mentor by
Wayne Cordero.
And he had a Bible reading
plan in there.
He sold these bookmarks.
And we just got them
customized and made for our
church.
And so I came in with that.
I've seen Sunday school
classes designed around this
because he also in there
tells you how to apply it
to your life and how to
work through it every day
and all that kind of stuff.
So it's a great study.
And they're available
in those areas.
And then the one I just
I'm finishing up is
the Macheney
or Machane
Robert Machane
Bible reading plan.
It's probably the old
classic.
Machane died at 29 years old
in 1843.
But in that short time
that he lived he wrote
numerous books
and he came up with this
plan.
And there's copies of this.
It gives you daily
and it kind of explains
his philosophy with that
on this front page.
And those are available
if you go out
this door to my right
and to your left.
They're on that table
between those two doors.
And Machane is probably
the most
used Bible reading plan
to read the Bible through
that's out there.
It's probably the most popular
because it's been around
the longest.
And so anyway
he does a good job
with that.
This year
I'm doing something
different
because I wanted
to read
first I wanted
and I was going to
design it myself
if I needed to
I wanted to read
the Old Testament
chronologically
and I wanted to read
the New Testament
chronologically
and I wanted some
old and new
both each day.
Okay.
So I was going to do that
and then as I got to
reading about that
and thinking through that
I realized
that if you read
the New Testament
chronologically
you're going to read
the same thing
for several days
in a row
because the Gospels
sometimes cover
the same passage.
You know
the synoptics
I mean
the harmony
of the Gospels
is that some
stories are in there
four times
and so you're going
to read the same
thing over and over again.
So there's a plan
called the
Five Day Bible
Reading Program.
Okay.
That's out here
if you go out
the door
to my left
or to
yeah
to my left
and to your right
if you go out
that well
not to your right
but anyway
that's not
that's not true
for everybody
in the room
is it
but anyway
if you go out
the door
to my left
it's on that
table
okay
and it's got
this little
design
of a Bible
it's got
that little
design
up top
okay
and what I
like about
this is
it takes you
through the
Old Testament
chronologically
and it gives
you New Testament
passage
every day
and you read
a different
gospel
every quarter
so
the New Testament
is not
chronological
but it gives
you
it spreads
the gospels
out
throughout
the year
and I like
Jesus
throughout
the year
and so
so I'm
trying that
now
let me tell
you what's
controversial
about this
is
it's a
five day
reading plan
okay
and I
believe
y'all spend
time in
God's word
seven days
a week
I do
and I
don't think
this ought
to count
as your
time with
the Lord
okay
I think
you should
have done
it before
you got
here
or do
it before
you go
to bed
or whenever
you do
it
okay
so
I kind
of thought
well should
I promote
that
you know
am I going
to give
my day
off
you know
how do
we handle
that
well let me
tell you
how life
works
sometimes
days off
comes
whether you
like it
or not
the other
day I
was putting
right along
I had a
busy morning
started early
and I got
about 11
o'clock
and realized
wait a minute
I ain't read
God's word
today I need
to sit
out a minute
I was taking
care of good
things for good
people early
on but I
I hadn't
taken that
time to do
that and so
I sat down
to do that
but the
reality is
sometimes things
come up along
the way and
I'll tell you
what my plan
is my plan
is to read
this these
passages in
five days
and then to
read something
else on Saturday
and Sunday
that's my plan
there'll be days
when I might
skip the New
Testament passage
and save it
for Saturday
for instance
or did you know
that there's a
proverb for every
day there's a
chapter of
Proverbs for
every day of
the month
there's 31
chapters of
Proverbs
there's no
more than
31 days
in a month
so you always
have a
Proverb
a chapter of
Proverbs for
the day
as well
you have
five Psalms
for the day
and I can
tell you how
to work that
out but it
ain't gonna
make much
sense up
here
but you
can have
you can
read five
Psalms a
day and so
you've always
got that
okay
and so
five day
reading plan
is something
I'm trying
okay and I
made you some
copies if you
want to try
that along
with me
regardless
the 2025
challenge
is to have
a plan
to pray
and read
the word
of God
and apply
it every
day
it is a
life changer
and we all
need it
and it's
worth
the effort
the next
challenge is
give generously
and please
don't misunderstand
my plea
when I say
this
because I
stand here
today
very thankful
for your
generosity
during 2024
as year
ends
we stand
strong
now having
said that
you still have
an opportunity
to give
in person
until noon
on Tuesday
and online
until midnight
that day
you can give
this year
and our
Lottie Moon
goal is moving
right along
but it's still
outstanding
so there's
opportunity
to give
for the glory
of God
we need
to meet
all that
however
when I
say give
generously
I'm not
talking about
for church
purposes
I'm talking
about
to the Lord
through the
church
on a personal
level
trust
your
tithe
to the Lord
trust it
to the Lord
and I realize
for some
that is a
giant step
and a huge
challenge
for 2025
and I get
that
and if it
is for you
I encourage
you to
take that
challenge
when you
stop trying
to run
your own
finances
and you
obediently
follow God's
plan
there will
be times
when you
will not
be able
to do
the math
trust me
on this
you'll not
be able
to do
the math
and understand
how God
has blessed
you the way
he has
but he
chooses to
do that
God works
in obedience
he does
and the
tithe
can be
one of
the toughest
for some
but I
encourage you
to give
generously
one last
challenge
serve
faithfully
there's an old
adage in the
church life
that says
80% of the
work in the
church is done
by 20%
of the people
and 80%
of the people
do little
to nothing
I added that
last part
but anyway
when you
serve the
church
in the
church
for the
right
reasons
you serve
the Lord
and as
God has
blessed our
church with
growth
the need
for volunteers
to take
their turn
has grown
quite honestly
we have a
place for you
to serve
and if you'll
take that
guest card
even if you're
not a guest
and you're
a member
if you'll
take that
thing
and you'll
hit that
QR code
it'll send
you to a
form and
there's room
there for you
to say
whatever you
want to say
as long as
it's nice
and in that
if you've got
a question
you place that
question
and we'll
see that
if you know
who you need
to speak to
about that
our numbers
are on the
front of this
bulletin for a
purpose
you can reach
us
share with us
what God's
laying upon your
heart
how he's
leading you
do what
God's
leading you
to do
but let's
not settle
folks
none of us
let's not
settle for
where we
are
let's not
settle as
a church
with where
we are
let's not
settle as
individuals
where we
are
let's
faithfully
serve the
Lord
faithfully
serve the
Lord
that is
the 2025
challenge
to commit
totally
to give
your life
to Christ
if you've
never accepted
the Lord
Jesus Christ
I encourage
you the
moment we
stand to sing
in just a
moment you
come down
this aisle
and you
take my
hand and
you say
pastor I
need to be
saved I
need to nail
this down
let's get that
taken care of
if you've
done that
step forward
and let that
become public
through baptism
if you haven't
already
take that
step as
God leads
you
join in
if you're a
guest with
us
and God's
leading you
this church
again I'll
say I don't
think it's a
better time to
join a church
than the first of
the new year
just a
just a good
start for
everybody
I'd love to
talk to you
about that
this week
and I'm
available
I am
and then
way deeper
don't be
satisfied with
where you
are way
deeper
be a part
of a life
group
join a
discipleship
group
be a part
of those
things
way deeper
and then
get a daily
dose of
God's word
faithfully
give generously
serve
faithfully
have you
ever heard
of the
trust fall
I
participated
in one
when I was
in a
psychology
class
in high
school
psychology
was in a
portable
because the
school was
growing
and so we
were in a
portable
and we
had a
narrow
stairwell
on the
back of
it
with a
handrail
and an
awning
over the
door
there
wasn't a
whole lot
of room
there
and our
teacher was
a coach
so
because he
was a
coach
he had
us climb
on top
of that
handrail
that shaky
handrail
and trust
a bunch
of punks
to catch
us
okay
as we
held on
to the
awning
and leaned
on the
shaky
handrail
sounds like
a liability
to me
but however
they probably
won't let
you do
that now
but anyway
but each
student
was to
fall back
in
to the
cohorts
that probably
had been
cussing them
earlier that
day
and to
catch them
okay
and you
know what
everybody
that did
it was
caught
we all
survived
the thing
if you
answer the
2025
challenge
you're gonna
have to
have some
trust
but not
in a bunch
of renegades
you're gonna
have to
trust the
Lord
because the
Lord will
meet you
where you
are
I promise
you
if you
step out
of your
comfort
zone
for the
Lord
he will
be right
there
with you
and for
you
and it
is my
hope
and it
is my
prayer
that we'll
honor Christ
with all of
our lives
in 2025
let's
start
before it
even
gets here
let's
get a
head
start
let's
do it
now
with every
head bowed
and every
eye closed
I
ask you
this
morning
primarily
have
you
ever
given
your
heart
and
life
to
the
Lord
Jesus
and if
you
hadn't
I
encourage
you
to
come
I'd
love
to
guide
you
in
that
if
you
have
you
ever
publicly
acknowledged
that
through
baptism
if
you
haven't
I
encourage
you
to
come
God's
leading
you
to be
a part
of
this
church
and
you
know
that's
what
he'd
have
you
do
I
encourage
you
to
come
if
there's
parts
of
your
life
that
you
need
to
recommit
to
the
Lord
you
can
do
that
where
you'll
stand
in
just
a
moment
or
you
can
do
it
with
a
pastor
praying
for
you
I
don't
know
what
God's
telling
you
to
do
I
know
what
he
told
me
to
say
and
I
tried
to
say
it
I
encourage
just
be
obedient
not
just
in
the
next
few
moments
but
for
2025
and
you
won't
do
that
perfectly
but
by
the
grace
of
God
he'll
make
us
better
and
stronger
and
more
holy
for
his
purposes
it
is
my
prayer
that
all
of
us
will
go
into
2025
challenged
accepting
the
challenge
to
live
for
the
Lord
Jesus
to
just
be
obedient
to
follow
him
Lord
Jesus
I
love
you
thank
you
Lord
for
your
word
thank
you
Lord
for
the
challenge
of
it
I
pray
that
you
help
us
to
respond
in
obedience
in
Jesus
precious
name
Amen