Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / January 1, 2017 | New Years Day - More Like Jesus

Transcript

January 1, 2017 | New Years Day - More Like Jesus · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Happy New Year.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it's great to see you here.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: One of the neat things about last week and this week is we squeeze together uh Mulvane people and College Avenue people into the same building.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: So look around this morning, and when you leave, you might see some strange face, faces you don't usually see, but it may be because they uh generally go to the other building.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Joe and I are up here, we're gonna have a good time.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: We've we uh you've heard already about New Year's resolutions this morning, not always in a positive way, because well, you know, uh if you've made them, you've probably um broken them.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so as a result, some of us uh have stopped making them, like Calvin said to Hobbes, resolutions me, just what are you implying?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I need to change.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, buddy, as far as I'm concerned, I'm perfect the way I am.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, nobody thinks that, but you know, you may have stopped making them, you may be at the point where you just sort of hope, you know, that 2017 is a better year than 2016.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I look out and I see some people who I know 2016's been a hard year.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: You've lost a loved one.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: You uh it's it's been a hard year for a number of reasons.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: But we want to uh, Joe and I want to talk to you this morning uh about resolutions.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and the fact of the matter is that you do make them, whether or not you do in New Year's or not.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know some of you guys have resolved you're not gonna forget your wife's birthday this year.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's a resolution.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Or you've resolved that you're gonna go see your son, you know, in a sports sporting events more often, or you're gonna have more of a family dinner time this year, something.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we all resolve things, and in fact, Joe, the Bible tells us, you know, that that it is appropriate for us to uh search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh sure glad to have you up here with me this morning.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't know Joe yet, Joe and Becca and their little girl Olivia uh joined us, it was just less than two months ago, isn't it?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, in the middle of November, we arrived from Phoenix, Arizona.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bad timing.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Although It was actually 10 degrees warmer here in Topeka, Kansas on Christmas than it was in Phoenix, believe it or not.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's great to have you.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: How old is Olivia?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: She's a year and a half old.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Year and a half.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's great to have you here.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Funny thing was, you know, so I asked Joe if he would help me with sort of a goalslash resolution message this morning, and he writes back, and what was it you told me?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was really kind of kind of funny.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I confess that I'm a little bit of a goals nerd.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I do set goals pretty much every year, but you know, actually last year was one of the first years in a long time where I didn't set any goals, and maybe it's because it was our first new year with a baby.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: There might be some correlation there.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Changes, baby changes everything.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so this was a good reminder.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I want to I want to just have us talk about that for those of you that are willing to consider doing something again that maybe you haven't done in a while, or willing to do it maybe in a little bit different way.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've entitled this message More Like Jesus in 2017.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by that is that we find in a key verse in the Gospels, the last verse of Luke chapter 2, that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: And while this is written at the time he was 12 years old, the imperfect aspect of the verb uh makes one translation translate, and Jesus kept increasing basically his whole life in these four ways.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Wisdom, we'll call intellectual, uh, stature we'll call physical, favor with God, spiritual, favor with man would be social.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: This used to be the theme verse of um of Youth for Christ, because it wanted to focus on growing teens, helping teens increase and grow in these four ways.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, uh a member of our church, Rochelle, is she here in this service or I didn't ask about last service.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Rochelle Walsh, I had a nice article in the paper this last week, I think it was on Wednesday.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: She was interviewed, she's a life coach, social work, and so forth, about goals and resolutions.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a good article as I just summarize some of her key points in there as she was interviewed.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Make these things realistic.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: As we go through, make sure they're realistic, write them down.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: She mentions only 3% of people write down their goals.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: No wonder they all get broken by the end of January.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you may want to start a sheet with my Luke 252 goals for 2017.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Joe and I have both done this already.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tell a friend your goals so they can, you know, hold you somewhat accountable.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Make a plan, for instance, if you're planning to read through the Bible this year, read a certain number of books, that that you say, okay, by the end of January, I'll have gotten this far.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Then break it down into smaller pieces, review it daily, and reward yourself if you went.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, just wanted to uh pump that article a little.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Rochelle did a really good job.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh she's a TBCer.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So so let's let's talk about these.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Joe, I'm gonna take the first one if that's okay.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds great.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh by the way, you hit the ground right.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I I I was a little nervous about asking you because you've been so busy.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Tell tell us what I mean.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: You had not just one but two events as last week, didn't you?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got back from Christmas in Phoenix on Wednesday night, and then Thursday night we had uh Young Married's bowling.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: We had a great time, good turnout, and it was great to get to know the young married couples in the church and have some fun bowling.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Did you break a hundred?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I did, actually.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: That was an absolute.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not talk about that.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And did you do something then again last night?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was trying to get a hold of you and you're Yeah, right.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Last night we had our New Year's Eve party for all young adults, and great turnout again.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Had a couple fires in the backyard and party hats and counted down to 2017.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So had a great time.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: What have you got?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Have you got anything coming up for the young adults?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: We do, yeah.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, this week we're going to see the Topeka Roadrunners hockey game on Friday night.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are a young adult, uh come.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: It'd be great to have you.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then in a couple weekends, the 15th of January, we're doing uh ministry introduction meetings where you can learn about what we're planning for the young adult ministry, hear our heart for young adult ministry, and then I want to get your input as well as to what you'd like to see.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let me talk about uh the first goal, which I'm calling mental or intellectual, though, of course, wisdom is more than that in the Bible.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, wisdom is regarded as something really rare.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Book of Proverbs says that it's the prime thing, and one of the key verses in Proverbs, uh, we're we're told that it's like uh it's something that you ought to sacrifice everything to get, which lets us know that you'll never go, you'll never run into a person that you consider wise or even highly intelligent and say to them, How did you become this way?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: and have them reply to you, God, I don't know.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just woke up one day and it happened.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't happen that way.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's rare.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: You have to pursue wisdom, you have to pursue learning, or you'll never get it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: And in the New Testament, uh, some some years back, Charles Ryrie, who edited the Ryrie Study Balk, came in.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: And the verse he preached on was this one in Matthew 22: love the Lord your God with our heart, soul, mind.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And he pointed out that where oftentimes Christians fall down is on loving the Lord with your mind, not realizing the mind is maybe the greatest gift God gave Adam and Eve, and that we need to use our mind and that we need to improve it every year and increase and grow in this area.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um and and obviously that's that's less common today than it was 50 or 100 years ago.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh one out of four Americans did not read a book this last year.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, haven't read a book since they graduated from high school.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um I I I didn't mention this last service, but I'm reminded of when Adlai Stevenson, before her time, ran for president.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: He had been a college professor, senator from Illinois, and he was stumping, and and he was really smart, and he was giving gave a stump speech, and somebody yelled out, uh, Adlai, all thinking Americans will vote for you, and he replied, That's not enough.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: I need a majority.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because as you know, uh uh people speak before they think, but well, you need to read before you before you think and think before you speak.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I've come up with some goals, and and some of them are very close to my personal goals in this area.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if you were going to title Intellectual Goals underneath your My Loop 252 goals for 2017, um you might want, I would encourage you to say, I'll read one book, a something.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: The average typical American read five books last year.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Either regul most most read regular books, uh, some read e-books, but the average typical American was five books.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Half of Americans read less than five, half read more.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So why not why not jump that up a little bit?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh set a goal to read one book every certain amount of for me it's I have to I need to read a book a week, but I read quickly.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and one theological or deep book every two weeks.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um so so set a goal because reading really is the mother of learning.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's and it's really critical that you read and that you read to your children.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you have children that you read to your children, nothing educates your children quicker or helps them develop a curiosity taste for learning as much as reading to your children as well.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So uh read a book, and I try to vary, I encourage you to vary.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: If I just read the books that are, you know, I like the best, they would be either fantasy or westerns.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: But so that's why I I set my goal to read a biography of some kind each month, a history book like American Revolution once every couple months.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I encourage you to do that.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Second, take a class.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: There are classes you can take online, which you heard about from Abe uh last week.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh take the perspectives class, maybe the most educational, submissions, but it's a whole world perspectives class that's starting up soon.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Pick a Bible book to know.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Joe's gonna mention, he's picked a Bible book he's gonna really focus on this year.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: You can, if you focus on one Bible book this year, by the end of the year, you will know that book as well as any seminary grad, I promise you.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so maybe pick a join a study, or we have a book club at TBC.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Or ask her, ask someone to mentor you, and after they get to know you in a meeting or to say, where do you think I can most grow intellectually, or so forth.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: So those are some suggestions, Joe.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, anything you want to add to that?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love you to take the next one.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll definitely take the next topic.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was encouraged uh several years ago to read biographies of Christians, famous Christians in the past, uh, different missionaries, and so that's something I'd like to do a little bit more of to get inspired that way.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: So well, tell us about uh growing in stature or physical goals.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so physical goals, uh, you know, this category, probably more than any of the four, uh, it's really important for me to remember and for all of us to remember that it's our this is Hans and Franz.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll get to them in a second.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: The goal These are your heroes, right?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're my heroes, yeah.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, uh the the goal is uh important, but even the purpose of your goal is is more important.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um are we doing things for the glory of God or our our own glory?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think Hans and Franz were you know maybe a little bit unfortunately about their own glory.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but the Bible says, 1 Corinthians 10 31 that whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, do it all for his glory.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: So a goal such as, hey, I want to exercise more, be more in shape in order to be a witness, be uh somebody that can disciple longer term, uh, be there for my kids, uh, that's a great goal.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but maybe exercising so that I can you know post my physique on the internet and get all these likes, probably not as good of a not as godly of a goal, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the purpose is really, really important, especially with this category.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And with the physical category, uh there's a totally biblical reason to take care of ourselves physically, and that is that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's in 1 Corinthians 6.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So literally, we are housing the Holy Spirit.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's a privilege.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, not to be taken lightly.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So let's do the best we can.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we would want the temple of the Holy Spirit to be in good working order and uh and taken care of.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the reason.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you probably have you probably you must have some goals that you set to.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I yeah, you know, I'm pretty good at exercising on a regular basis.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what I do struggle with is I don't really push myself when I exercise.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'll run for you know 10 minutes or 15 minutes, but I could run, you know, a few miles, maybe thirty minutes or more.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one of my goals.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: You tend to exercise nearly every day, but you only do it as well.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right, just a little bit.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: I exercise once every month, and then I just go crazy and do it, do it all.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then melodice to scrape me up off the floor, you know, for the next week.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's that last goal that you put in there, run no less than 30 minutes at a time.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that last one's kind of mine.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um running a marathon might be where you're at.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's amazing.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've never done that.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's incredible.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's, hey, walking, getting out there, you know, maybe a half hour a day most days of the week, and that's gonna be a challenge and a stretch for you.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's awesome.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it might be actually getting more sleep.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: The the fourth item up there, maybe you're not getting a day of rest as you should.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: And God wants us to to have a refreshing time, downtime, so that you can be more energetic through the rest of the week.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that could be a goal for this year.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: I noticed one thing you didn't put down that I put down on my Luke 252 physical goals had to do with food intake.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: A certain comment about that uh and how much and diet and so forth.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that doesn't affect you at all?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I tend to eat what I I try to eat fairly well.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I had a Chris sandwich uh between services just to confess that.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I was hungry.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I might not be doing the first day of the year.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think your wife told me you need to eat more vegetable vegetables.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh take the next one as well, will you?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So in the spiritual category, uh, you know, this is probably the most important of the four categories.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus said uh to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and 1 Timothy 4.8, which is the next verse here, says physical training is of some value, so it's important.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: But even more important, uh godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and the life to come.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: So this spiritual category, oh, it's critical.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: We continue to grow uh in this area.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you notice how these things overlap.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like some people, if you could, if if you if they just lose like 30 pounds or something, all of a sudden their spiritual life blossoms.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And other people, if they just get on a Bible reading program, then then their discipl the discipline drops over into their physical as well.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're an interconnected whole, right?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: The physical affects the spiritual and vice versa, as well as the other categories.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if I grow spiritually, uh Galatians 5 talks about the fruit of the spirit, right?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: One of those fruits is self-discipline.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if I can grow in the fruits of the spirit, I'm more self-disciplined, which might help me exercise, right?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And be disciplined there.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so a lot of interconnectedness.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are some specific ways about of growing spiritually that you'd come up with?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, just meditating on God's word, I found to be so phenomenally, phenomenally uh impactful in my life.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And meditating is just considering the different words in a verse and asking questions, you know, why why is that word in that order with the other word?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: What does that word mean?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and even memorizing God's word, kind of taking it apart, chewing on it, kind of like this Lego diagram, just dissecting it a little bit.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And when you consider and chew on scripture, you find things that you might not have had God speak to you about before through that verse.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, for example, um, I've been memorizing Hebrews 12, 14, which says, make every effort to live at peace with all men and to be holy.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as I've read this verse many times in the past, I've always thought, well, if I'm holy, then, or if I'm not holy rather, others won't experience the Lord as much.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: But as I was memorizing it, meditating on it, I thought, well, that could maybe mean without me being holy, I won't experience the Lord as much.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that seemed to line up with some other scriptures like Sermon on the Mount, uh, Blessed are the pure at heart, where they will see God.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: So had I not been, you know, memorize meditating on it, I might not have ever noticed that before.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's really cool.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it helps and and meditating not only helps you understand the verse and apply it to your life, but then that works its way out in your life, the memorizing slash meditating.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, another benefit of memorizing God's word is as we hide it in our heart, it actually helps us to fight off temptation.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's Psalm 119, 11.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So God's word is a sword.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And even Jesus himself, when he was tempted in the wilderness, he used Scripture to fight off the devil.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, how much more do we need, right, to have the sword of the Spirit?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I have a harder time doing these things like memorizing than I used to.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they don't stick as quickly as they do.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, when do you do this?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how do you do it?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: When do you do this?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I can identify with that.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm finding as I'm getting a little bit older, it's a little bit harder to memorize, but I still want to do it, right?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um I found that actually in my car, um, as I'm driving to work, I can pop in uh MP3 or you know, CD.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's kind of old-fashioned now.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you could pop this in, listen to Bible on audio, and play a verse, repeat it, get that down, then play the next verse, repeat that.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I found I've been able to memorize whole sections of scripture that way.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's really neat.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you have a long commute, maybe you drive to Lawrence or or even farther, you might be able to memorize quite a bit.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Anything besides memorizing, meditating?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you know, just reading large sections of God's word is really helpful because it is a story of redemption.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: It all fits together.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh God's God's work.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's helpful.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um I actually had a visiting pastor a couple decades ago, right after I became a Christian, challenge me, uh, challenge the whole congregation on something he called the sweet hour of prayer.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what he was proposing is that we actually spend an hour each day in God's Word and communicating with Him in prayer.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was a new Christian at the time and I thought, this guy is out of his mind.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: An hour a day.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I thought he was crazy.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I found myself maybe a year or two later, actually starting to do that a little bit.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I, you know, I think we have the time.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of us uh have more time than we might think we have.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: I can easily uh spend 30 minutes, for example, on Facebook.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's so easy.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't it's like where'd the time go, right?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: But to spend an extra 30 minutes in God's Word, for some reason that's just more challenging.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: But it's so much more beneficial, right?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Godliness has value for this life and the life to come.
• 20:34
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's critical.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's review some of the possible goals uh or resolutions that you may want to set in this area.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe pick a verse and meditate on it, like Hebrews, was that 1214?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: 1214, yeah.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's a cool verse.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: And memorize a hunk of scripture.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you were telling me that you're thinking about what is your goal for this year?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to say that in front of God and everybody?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've I've had this goal for a while, so I haven't exactly met it, but I'm trying to memorize Ephesians.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to maybe memorize half of it this year as a goal, and then stretch goal.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's ask the whole thing.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: During the year how far are you in Ephesians 1 through 3?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're stuck.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: You're stuck.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's a reason why I didn't tell anybody my goal.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Read through, I'll read through the New Testament.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you read 15 minutes a day, you read a million words a year.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: 15 minutes.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: So so it's it would be possible.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Keep weekly family prayer time.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now you'd when we were talking, you'd mention that to me.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is uh this is related to that.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: We definitely try to do that, yeah.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I have a goal, pray every day for a certain number of minutes, and uh it's not 60.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but anyway, you know, just uh set a goal and determine you're gonna do it is helpful.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: So spiritual goal.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh let me take this last one, and you can help out with this.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: This is social.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is uh got in favor of God and man.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you might think, oh, that's easy.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Here I am in church, but you know, the times have changed.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Changed a little bit.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: In the last 20 years, because of technology, because of the uh age we live in, uh, you know, people are commenting on the fact that the social bonds, even in American culture, have frayed a little bit.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: In 2000, uh uh the hottest book was Bowling Alone.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Robert Putnam.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now he pointed out more people actually bowl by far than bowled 20 years ago, but the number of people actually bowling together or bowling in leagues has dropped by uh one-third, catastrophically.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And same with Lions Club, same with attendance and volunteering in church, same with all of things.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: People tend to just cocoon more, to stay home more, comfortable with their computer.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and a book that's more recent, Alone Together, written just five years ago by Sherry Turkle, why we expect more from technology, right, and less from each other.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we do expect a lot from technology, don't we?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: But we expect less from each other.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a need, there's a need, and the Bible points this out that there is a need for us to determine to get out of our comfort sphere.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you're one of those people that's fine, just you and the computer, this is something you need to set a goal on.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: You need to force yourself not to give up the meeting together as a manner of some as.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: And we all know people we love and know, good Christians, who've just decided they won't go to church anymore.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: You ask them why not?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: They say, Well, I can I can look at it online.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and of course you can.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: But it's really important that you spend time together.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Let us encourage one another.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh let me just give some options for social goals, Joel.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Join some sort of a group.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned grief share because when you've lost a loved one, this is when you feel least like getting out of your dark bedroom, right?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And or a Sunday school class.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Invite someone over for supper.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: We do that less than we used to, don't we?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Do a service project, like get involved.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Doug, I saw Doug over there.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Go up and tell uh, you know, Doug Stanley you want to help him with chorecore this year.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Go to Haiti on a mission trip because then you're with two dozen other people, and boy, do you get to know them.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll have these little kids draped all over you from the orphanage.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's social.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Reconnect with an old friend.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's a resolution I made uh when I was at Los Valley about nine months ago.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: I've reconnected with some old friends.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, in 10 days, I'm about to drive several hours, and I'm looking forward to seeing a friend I haven't seen in decades who used to be a close friend.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh a social, a social goal.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're too young to have somebody you haven't seen for decades, other than a childhood buddy.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: But um any in, you know, this is where I think you perform such a function, you know, for TBC to say, hey, at this critical juncture in your lives, let's get together and do something social and spiritual.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really uh an unique season in people's lives uh where they're making decisions that affect the rest of their life.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, maybe have less responsibility, less than they'll have in the future with a marriage and kids, um, or in the case of our young marriage or some that don't have kids yet, responsibility just continues to increase in life.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: So now, when you're a young adult, hey, I can go on a mission trip probably a little bit more easily.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So make the most of this season as a young adult.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Can I ask you another question?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the problem with these goals.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's sort of like setting up the Ten Commandments or the law, you know, and and we tend to fail.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: 98% of the time, we'll tend to fail because we are, you know, weak creatures.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Can you address that at all for us?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean we've been talking a lot about different ideas for goals, and we've emphasized that you know it really uh needs to be unique to you and where you're at in your life.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: But even so, all these ideas about goals can be overwhelming.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it could feel very defeating, especially if you know you've set a goal and and haven't met it.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um it could be hard to think about, oh boy, you know, exercising more, uh eating less or losing weight or memorizing scripture, and maybe you've given up on some of those things.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you might even think, hey, I just I can't do it.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I just I can't.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's kind of a good place to be.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because Jesus says John 15, 5, apart from me, you could do nothing.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Those are Jesus' words.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm the vine, you're the branches.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Apart from me, nothing.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I know personally I can feel hopeless uh against you know trying to overcome sin, uh trying to grow spiritually, grow uh physically.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but that's when I gotta remind myself that it's not me doing it, it's Christ living through me.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Galatians 2.20 says I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: So every time you look at those goals, you cry, you say, Christ, help me with that.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, help me with that.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then sort of release him, allow him to sort of move you in that direction.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: So live through me, Jesus, right?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do it.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do it.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where you know Christ's strength comes through.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Philippians 4.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because I've been crucified with him, now he lives.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: And and let me offer another word of encouragement, because I know there are I know there are in a group this large, there are people here who are fixated on the on the regrets of last year, the things you didn't do that you resolved to do, the guilt you have, and so forth.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh the more spiritual you are, by the way, the more you'll feel that way, the more you'll think, I can't believe how I blew it this last year.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: And there I'd like to encourage you, you know, with the New Year's thought from my utmost for his highest, one of the greatest devotional books of all time, Oswald Chambers, wrote this a hundred years ago.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of the year, we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, our present enjoyment of God's grace is held back by the memory, memory of yesterday's blunders and sins.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: But, and here's what he here's his last line: leave the broken, irreversible past in his hands and step out with him into the invincible future.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'd challenge that, Joe and I would challenge you to consider doing that.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Make try to make 2017 allow Christ to make this your best year ever.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no more appropriate way to begin the new year than to turn to Christ.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's communion, it's a social act right now.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to begin 2017, close the service, and begin this year with the Lord's table, with communion with and so the men will come forward, they'll pass out the unleavened bread, the cracker, you break it off, take a bite, the drink the same way, and uh and then allow yourself to become fully, a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ in this moment.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: Lead us in prayer for the Lord's table.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, we um thank you for being with us through this last year of 2016.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um Father, we thank you that we have a new year, a clean slate, uh, especially if this last year has been a difficult one.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for new beginnings.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Father, would you give us wisdom?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Would you give us your strength, God?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: May Christ live through us this year as we uh look to grow spiritually and physically, socially, mentally.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh God, we pray that your word going forth this morning would accomplish its purpose as you promise, God.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: And now as we turn our attention to your table, we thank you for sending your son Jesus to die, to pay the penalty for our sin.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of you, Lord.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your sacrifice on the cross.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you and marvel at the resurrection.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your love for us.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you did all this out of that love in Christ's name.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.