Creatures Of Habit Week 1 - Self Centeredness

well Happy New Year Northview I hope you had a great holiday for those of you that are our guests today North use one Church in 13 locations and we'd love to have you come and be a part of all that God is doing just came out of an amazing Christmas season we had some of you heard this last week I wasn't here but they we had over 26,000 in attendance at all of our campuses but what's really exciting for me is that we had 303 people step across the line of faith and invite Christ into their life that's a yay God yeah yes so I'm pretty excited about that and again 2019 was a great year but I really believe God's got some incredible things in 2020 and we'd love to have you come and be a part of it well as Andy just talked about most of us are setting new year's resolutions I should at least three of you are setting New Year's resolutions and I know I ate too much over the holidays too many calories and my pants are a little snug and so I realize I've got to do something about it by the way losing weight is the number one New Year's resolution in America today and a second one is getting in shape and so I need to do that too and those are all admirable but goodness sakes if we're gonna set a new year's resolution we should set something that is life-changing it's really gonna make a significant difference in our life and so last year for those of you that have been around North you I did a series in January of 2019 I did a series called I quit and we dealt with six topics of things that can become bad habits in your life but and you need to replace those with good habits we talked about hiding cynicism making excuses complaining worry and pride and I thought you know what better time than the beginning of the year and so I thought I would do that again this year with creatures of habit is what I'm calling this one and this time the topics are going to be self centeredness line lust workaholism and anger and I would tell you guys that in all those I've struggled with all of them at one time or another in my life some of them are still a battle in my life and that's why I chose those people say how'd he come up with the topics well because I struggle with them and I figure if I do maybe some of you do as well and so that's where we're headed over the next five weeks so let me pray and we'll jump right into this father thanks for your faithfulness I thank you for all that you did at Christmas Eve and for those that stepped across the line of faith thankful for all you're doing at Northfield I'm thankful for all you're doing in churches all across America and all across central Indiana I pray specifically today for cornerstone Lutheran Church just down the street and for their pastor Luther Burnett I thank you for his friendship and the way you're using that congregation pray you'd continue to bless them god thanks lord be with us now as we get into your word we love you and pray in the name of Jesus amen so there's a story about a Navy warship that was heading through a fog one night when a distant light appeared directly in there heading the light continued to get brighter and so the captain walked to the helm of the ship to assess the situation about that time a voice came over the radio saying calling the vessel traveling 18 knots on a 220 heading you need to adjust your course 30 degrees well frustrated the captain grabbed the mic on the radio and he responded this is the vessel on the 220 heading you adjust your course 30 degrees negative captain you should adjust your course now the commander then said sir I am an admiral and the US Navy Who am I speaking with I am an ensign or in other words a private in the US Coast Guard the captain said then son I suggest you adjust your course now no sir I suggest you adjust your course immediately the commander then said son we are a US Navy warship he said well sir we are a lighthouse I think you should change course some people are pretty impressed with themselves and their own perceived importance you might say they are the captain of her own ship and yet some things in life are just bigger than you are some things in life are just bigger than I am and obviously God is one of those things and so as I just explained we're gonna start this five-week series called creatures of habit listen guys spiritual growth is the process of becoming more like Jesus and what we all need to understand I think most of you do but it's it's clear that once we step across the line of faith that's not the end of the journey that's the beginning of the journey you have just stepped in the door you've just begun the process and so you have a responsibility to grow you have a responsibility to go down the road of spiritual growth to become more like Christ to become more like Jesus but if we're unwilling to surrender an area of our life to the Lord it can turn into a bad habit and that bad habit can then turn into a spiritual stronghold in other words once you do something long enough it becomes a habit good or bad and then if you ignore it long enough a bad habit long enough it becomes a spiritual stronghold which gets a grip into your life it gets a hold onto your life and it becomes very very difficult to walk away from it becomes very difficult to let it go and that's why it's important for us to deal with these bad habits in our life each week we're going to cover an area that as I said I've struggled with and I assume that all of you have to one degree or another as well today we're gonna start with self-centeredness because I'm just telling you guys hear me I do believe it is at the heart of every other area we struggle with I really do I believe that self-centeredness is at the heart of every other area we struggle with it's birthed from Pride there may be some of you that think no Steve I got to tell ya it's just not a problem for me I'm gonna push back because I think we're all born self-centered I think we're all born with selfishness we talked about this a few weeks ago if you were here what's one of the first words your kids learn is a little guy or a little girl mine did you teach that word did you say pronounce that my mama mine no where in the world did they get it where did they learn it so we start from the very beginning with this whole self-centered attitude it's a bigger problem guys than I think we really understand self-centeredness is when you are what self-centered you are at the center of your world all of your decisions all of your choices are made by what's good for you you pretty much ignore you pretty much dismiss the needs of others so that you can do what's best in your life for instance if we were to talk about crime what's at the heart of all crime self-centeredness people will break the law just so that they can achieve what they want or have what they want self-centeredness is at the heart of every sin selfishness is behind every sinful Act including line why would you lie you lie because you haven't gotten something that you want you haven't achieved something you want and you want it so badly you're willing to lie to get it because it's all about you adultery cheating fighting abuse theft rape revenge murder I mean I could go on and on and on with examples in its worst form it's referred to as narcissism which is marked by extreme selfishness or an overestimation of one's talents or importance now these people probably need more professional help because narcissism is usually considered a personality disorder but self-centeredness on the other hand is again something all of us struggle with the times do you remember you remember Jeff Foxworthy the the comic the comedian he used to do a line where he said you might be a redneck if you might be a redneck if well I'm just saying you might be self-centered if if you have a difficult time letting anyone else in the house use the remote control you might be self-centered if you know all the words to the song I did it my way you know we laugh at that but I have a friend of mine went to a funeral and at the funeral that was the song that they play I thought oh my gosh that's the epitome of what I'm talking about you might be self-centered if your favorite picture on the wall at home is a mirror you might be self-centered if you're out on a date and you say okay enough talk about me let's talk about what you think of me guys if you find any of those things apply well you might just be self-centered so again from the first day we're born in our world revolves around me myself and I which is the unholy trinity it's what the Bible calls the flesh but once Christ comes into our life that should all change seriously guys once you step across that line of faith once you surrender your heart in your life to the Lord the Bible says if any man be in Christ he is a new creation the old is gone the new has come he wants Jesus wants to transform your life he wants you to exemplify Christ he wants you to be able to pick up the characteristics and the nature of Christ in your life and the nature of Christ is that he always put the needs of other people first Paul talks about this let's kick this off in Philippians is probably one of the best definitions of it if you're reading about self-centeredness you're gonna see it all throughout the Gospels but you'll find it in in the epistles as well again Paul says do nothing words mean something when you read something don't take it for granted words mean something it says do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit do nothing out of selfish that's rather okay instead in humility value others above yourself so if you're trying to get rid of self-centeredness you've trying to get this rid of this bad habit of self-centeredness instead humility value others above yourselves not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of the others so again we're trying to replace a bad habit with the good habit and Paul's trying to help them see that self-centeredness is at the very heart of our sinful nature in fact guys the sin of self-centeredness was birth not just in Bible times the century but the sin of self-centeredness was birthed all the way back to Adam and Eve and still today still to this day we struggle with whether we're gonna follow our own independent selfish way or if we're gonna follow God's Way and when we do it our way we create a bad habit we create self-centeredness we create this me first mindset do you know what a mindset is a mindset is just that it's what you set your mind on it's what you set your thoughts on I don't want to chase a rabbit trail but I've oftentimes told you the reason I think prayer is so important in our life is because it refocuses us on God oftentimes our mind is set on our self our own wants our own desires is set on ourselves and so when we pray it changes our thought pattern it changes our focus off of us on to God which is why prayer is so powerful in our life because we want a mind set focused on him all too often it's our self for instance I could give you an numerous examples consider the person who's struggling with jealousy you know you what do you think is dominating their mind what do you think is dominating their thought process well it's themselves it's like I'm looking at what you have that I don't have and I want it but if I truly regarded the other person if I truly regarded you is more important than myself I would be happy for you I would be happy for that person rather than fret over what I don't have or then what about the person that has let's say anger issues do you think they're looking out for that person's best interest when they're angry at them no they're not even thinking about that person they're thinking about themselves their focuses on themselves because things didn't go the way they wanted them to go things didn't happen the way they thought they should happen they could care less what their words are what their actions do to that other person all they can think about is their own perceived injustice and then how many husbands and how many wives have damaged or crushed the spirit of their spouse by hurtful cutting remarks you know guys if I'm being honest there are times that I have said things to Sandy there's not times I've said things to my wife that are hurtful that crushed her spirit do you think that I was thinking about her when I said that obviously not I was thinking about myself I was thinking about it perceived injustice I was thinking about something that didn't go the way that I thought it should go and so I said something that crushed her I said something that hurt her and we all can be guilty of that at times when we allow self-centeredness to control us when we allow self-centeredness to drive us or what about the guy involved in pornography do you think he really cares about the woman he's lusting after of course not again the focus is on himself the focus is on his own selfish desires and if married do you think he's given any thought to how that pornography is gonna hurt his wife certainly not he's only thinking about his own self-gratification friends again the list could go on and on and on bitterness look what they did to me unforgiveness you have no idea how they've wronged me greed I've got to have that I don't care who I have to hurt or what I have to do to get it gossip who cares what damage I do to them or to their reputation friends self-centeredness not only hurts others but I promise you it hurts our Heavenly Father as well but we don't care and we're not going to admit this but we don't care because it's what I want and besides we serve a forgiving God don't we so he'll forgive me for this attitude he'll forgive me for for this self-centeredness in my life we often talk about how we want to please God and yet look at all the things that we get involved with that we know breaks the heart of our Heavenly Father and yet we continue to practice it friends I think self-centeredness has a greater grip on our thoughts I think it has a greater grip on our choices and on our relationships than we could ever begin to imagine Jesus in fact tries to expose the seriousness of it in the lives of his disciples they've been now traveling what to set this up the disciples have now been traveling with Jesus for a year or two and they're learning from him he's trying to teach them he's he's spending a lot of time teaching them trying to train them trying to help them to understand what the good news what the gospel really is what it really means to be a follower of Christ but they're still having a hard time with this concept of putting other people first now you would think wouldn't you that Jesus could simply say guys this me first mindset that you have is wrong and it needs to stop and you'd think at that point the disciples would have said okay we'll stop it we won't think about ourselves first we'll think about other people because that's what you told us to do and yet they don't and yet we don't either we pick up the Word of God and it's very very clear in Scripture how self-centeredness is dangerous and how its destructive in our lives and how we need to get rid of it and yet we don't we just continue to move forward saying we're believers that we love God with all of our heart and yet still looking to our own wants and needs first let me just give an example of what Jesus taught his disciples as he was traveling along we start in mark chapter eight and it says he then began to teach them that the Son of Man Jesus the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders the chief priests and the teachers of the law and that he must be killed and after three days rise again he spoke plainly about this that's important again words matter he spoke plainly about this he was very clear there was no question about what do you think he means by that they knew what he meant he spoke plainly about it and Peter then takes him aside and began to rebuke him he tells them that he's going to lay down his life as an act of selfless servanthood as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind Peter hears this as do the other disciples and the people that are gathered there and he's like bro and he takes Jesus off to this off to the side and he rebukes him he's like you got to quit talking like that you got to quit saying those kinds of things because you see Peter as well as the other disciples they had dreamed of Jesus overpowering the Roman government and setting up their own rule that's what they thought was gonna happen they thought Jesus was kind of when he talked about establishing his kingdom he thought they were going to overthrow the Roman government and set up a power and that they would have they loved it that's why there had left everything to follow Jesus they thought they would have a place of power and authority so this idea that Jesus would suffer and be killed it just did not fit into their plans listen at this point of time I just don't think Peter really cared about the lost condition of mankind Peter's not thinking about oh my gosh we've got to reach these people they're far from God they're like sheep without a shepherd and we just need to read that that's not at all in Peters mind Peters thinking about himself now I know it sounds like I'm judging Peter and some of you may say well that's not fair but I'm just telling you what Jesus said look at it the next verse Jesus just said but when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples he rebuked Peter and he said get behind me Satan whoa how would you like Jesus to call you the devil that's pretty harsh get behind me Satan he said you do not listen you do not have in mind the concerns of God you don't have your mind set on the things of God Peter but merely human concerns your minds are set on your own selfishness Peter your minds are set on your own wants and desires Peter you don't have your mind set on the things of God that's a strong rebuke but he think I think he wants Peter as well as you and me to understand that self-centeredness is birthed from Satan himself why would he call him Satan because guys he's trying to make this clear when you and I continue forward in self-centeredness we are promoting the devil's agenda that's some of your like Oh Steve that come on that's that's a little strong isn't it no I don't think it is at all if you've ever been around north you long you've heard me give the comparison before that that Jesus wants us to put him on the throne of our life and we want to put ourselves on the throne of our life I've had people try to correct me and they'll say well no Jesus wants us to put him on the throne of our life but Satan wants us to put him on the throne of her life not true Satan's not trying to get you to be a Satan worshipper say he's not trying to get you to put him on the throne of your life he's trying to get you to put you on the throne of your life because he knows if he can cause you to be self-centered if he can cause you to be self focused you will further his agenda he doesn't need to worry about God or what you're gonna do for the kingdom of God because he knows as long as you're self-centered you will keep moving against the purposes and plans of God after Eva Bewkes Peter he calls everyone else over so that he can talked about it so so in other words he's he said this to Peter and he's like okay guys everybody gather around I need to share this with the rest of you so verse 34 then he called the crowds to him along with his disciples and he said whoever wants to be my disciple this is a big deal whoever wants to be my disciple don't you want to be Christ's disciple I do more than anything else in the world my desire is to be a disciple of Christ and I hope if you're a believer that's your heart's desire as well well he says whoever wants to be my disciple they must doesn't say you should consider he said you must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me for whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it he says if you really want to live God's plan for your life then you've got to get rid of the selfish ambition you've got to get rid of this self-centeredness you will only find true satisfaction if you give up yourself centeredness for the sake of the gospel for the sake of a good news last fall if you were here we talked in our spiritual growth campaign it was called go pro and in go pro we talked about living life on mission that God intended for us to live life on mission that life was intended to be an adventure exciting and we said that basically what that what does that mean that meant that God has a mission for mankind and he gave it to Jesus and so Jesus came to this earth as that babe and then he grew into a man he had an earthly ministry karat fulfilling the mission of the gospel then he dies and rises from the grave and goes back to the Father but when he leaves what does he do the last instructions he gives us is that he hands the mission he hands the mission off to you and to me and so now it is our responsibility now it is our obligation we call it the Great Commission you and I if you're a believer you have an obligation to fulfill the Great Commission to go for him that's why he's given every one of us gifts and talents so that we have the abilities to fulfill and to carry out the mission of the church to carry out the mission that God has given us you cannot effectively live life on mission unless you have a God first a God mindset mentality Jesus is saying Peter your entire world revolves around you you have completely missed the point you can't even recognize the importance of this redemptive plan because you have mirrors on the inside of your glasses now again before we throw stones at Peter I think if we're honest all of us has struggled this struggle with this at times I still battle with it today as I'm sure many of you or most of you do and yet you would have thought by now that the disciples would get it but Jesus continues to deal with their self-centeredness so here we are I just read to you in chapter 8 Jesus has to explain to them again what it really means to get rid of self-centeredness and so now they're on their way we get to chapter 9 just a few verses later and it says they came to Capernaum when he was in the house he asked them what were you arguing about on the road I love this but they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest you're like oh my gosh you're kidding me right Jesus just gets through explaining to them about denying yourself and taking up your cross letting go of self-centeredness and they're like mm-hmm and then they start fighting on the way there about who's gonna be greatest in the kingdom of God it's like you guys are clueless you didn't get this at all and so honestly I get a kick out of this passage because this is when Jesus asked them what they were arguing about it says they got quiet I mean they knew we got caught we're still self-centered we're still talking about our own wants and our own desires and the last time besides the last time anybody spoke up Peter got called Satan so we're not gonna say anything and so verse 35 he goes on and it says sitting down so I see Jesus a little exasperated at this point it's like okay guys come here and he sits down and he says he called the twelve and he said any one same thing he just said in Chapter eight anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all so again repeats the same thing in God's economy anyone who wants to be first must take a place of servanthood anyone that wants to be first must put must prefer others over themselves just the opposite of what our world thinks just the opposite of what our culture tries to preach and yet still they're not getting in so that's chapter eight chapter nine now we go the next chapter just a few verses later and it says then James and John the sons of Zebedee came to him teacher they said we want you to do for us whatever we ask you're like oh my gosh it's a teacher we want you to be a genie in the sky and whatever we want we want you to get it for us is that not the epitome of self-centeredness is that not what we oftentimes struggle with so so what we're in prayer and we're like Jesus this is the person I want to marry make it happen Jesus this is the house we want to buy make our bid get it Jesus this is the job that I want make sure I get favored and get it and if we don't get the house we don't get the purse and if we don't get the job we're ticked at Jesus or mad at Jesus why because it's all about me it's all about my wants it's all about my desire it's not about him it's not about him what his purpose or plan is it's all about me that's what we constantly gravitate back to so he says he says to Jesus we want you to do for us whatever we ask Jesus is like what do you want me to do for you he asked they replied let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory Jesus said you don't know what you're asking can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with Jesus is saying guys I'm about to be crucified you really want to hang on the right cross and on the left cross is that really what you're asking of me it just so much sounds the struggles they're going through are really not that unique it sounds like the same type of struggles that you and I go through today we want to be in first chair we want Jesus to make us rich we want we don't ever want to be sick you know we want him to do all these things we wanted to grant our every wish once again Jesus tries to explain to them talk about patience Jesus is not so with you instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant you want to be great then you got to learn to be a servant and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all for even the Son of man Jesus it says even me even Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many Jesus saying look guys I'm not asking you to do anything I've not already done I'm not asking you to do anything that I haven't already modeled for you I've tried to live this life so that you can see what it really means to be a servant I've tried to live this life to understand what it really means to be a believer to be a follower of God Paul tries to listen guys if we're serious about getting rid of self-centeredness in our life Paul shows us the solution I already read you the first two verses the very first scripture I read in Philippians chapter 2 I want to go back to that and I want to read the rest of it we come down to the next verse that says in your relate this is Paul in Philippians in your relationships with one another have the same mindset there it is again what your mind is set on your thoughts are set on have the same mindset as Christ Jesus he's saying look the things that the things that Christ did should be the things that we're doing we should be thinking about the same type of things that Christ thought about have the same mindset as Christ Jesus who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own it did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross therefore because of everything we just said therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father and so Jesus is saying look I have modeled for you what it means to be a servant I have humbled myself you know he is the king of kings and Lord of lords and he set aside his deity he came to this earth as a baby he set it all side to serve not to be served but to serve and he's like and one day as he stands back in the presence of God again he would be exalted the same thing is true for us as followers of Christ we're to emulate Jesus so now if you've stepped across the line of faith we need to set aside self-centeredness we need to put on a servant's heart a servant's towel we need to decide we're going to serve other people humble ourselves because one day when I stand in God's presence then I'll be exalted one day there's going to be gifts and treasures that are going to come my way because of my faithfulness to God here on this earth you say well guys that's a long time away let me tell you something guys the years we spend on this side of heaven if we were to draw it out on a map which show up like a dot compared to Eternity that just goes on a line that just goes on and on and on and on forever this is this these years are almost insignificant when we think about eternity and so in these years he wants us to exemplify him to learn to be a servant of all why because that draws people to a relationship with Christ we're loving them into the kingdom we're serving them into the kingdom of God and one day you will be honored for it one day you will be blessed for it being a disciple of Christ let me just say it as clearly as I can being a disciple of Christ is not about you it's about him and he wants us to reach them in fact let me just say it this way if you're a Christian and life is still all about you something will not be healthy in your relationship with God you're gonna you're always gonna think you know you say well like I come to church all the time and I you know and I give and I serve every once in a while but something's just not right as long as self-centeredness is an issue for your life it will keep you from that full surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and that's what he's looking for that's what he wants from you and that's what he wants from me because life will still be about you you have not discovered what it means to be a disciple of Christ if you're serious about breaking the habit of self-centeredness then you need to replace it with God centered or with the God first mentality so the first thing we need to do I believe is to reassess who's in charge of my life who is in charge of my who's the boss of my life is it me or is it God if Christ is in charge of your life then you need to determine that you need to decide that the scripture says I'm no longer my own I have been bought with the price I am no longer my own I've been bought with the price and so therefore I need to be Christ centered instead of self-centered therefore my devotion belongs to him he wants us to live lives listen guys he wants us to live lives where our dreams our hopes our goals our thoughts and everything that comes through our own devising is fully surrendered to him in short we have to learn to put others first and there's no better place to start I believe that in our own home than our own family to look for ways to serve those that you love the most it's easy isn't it I mean if there's any place that's gonna be easier to learn that it's a home it's easier to love my my spouse to serve my spouse because I love her it's easier to serve my kids because I love them and so we start to learn servanthood in our home but it should spread outside the walls of our home moms and dads can I just say can I just encourage you to look for opportunities to serve that includes your kids in other words start your kids from a very young age in serving opportunities whether you're going to a soup kitchen whether you're serving the next-door neighbour whether you're going to a nursing home whatever you're doing find opportunities to take your kids into a place of service so that they grow up and that becomes their DNA that becomes their value system but it just becomes second nature for them it's like well you know we grew up serving we grew up helping the neighbors we grew up going to nursing homes or the food or the soup kitchen whatever it just was a part of who our family was and then what will happen is that because that's a part of their nature it's easy for them then to pass it on to their kids and so then it just continues to spread so moms and dads be intentional with this if you could decide you're going to do this look for ways to serve your co-workers look for ways to serve your neighbors I don't know if you're like me a lot of times I'm going in and my mind's not all my coworkers my mind is on me my minds on what I've got to get done so we have to be intentional about it so whatever you need to do to remind yourself put something in your pocket and every time you reach in your pocket it makes you think about it I have something on your phone that's a reminder that just says you know what I'm gonna fire ways to serve my co-workers this week I'm gonna find a way to serve my neighbor I'm going into 2020 so as I go into this new year I've got three neighbors that I care about so those three neighbors I'm gonna find a way to serve them I'm not sure what it'll be but I'm gonna find a way that's the kind of intentionality that you need if you're gonna break a bad habit of self-centeredness listen you didn't become self-centered overnight and so you're not gonna walk away from it overnight it's got to be something that you put intention ality to had a guy come up to me last night after the service and he just said you know Steve you talked about forgiveness I you know and that that unforgiveness was self-centered and he said but I can't forget oh but you can't he goes no I can't forget and I said but you can are you a believer yes when you accepted Christ he broke sins hold on your life you have the power now to say no to sin and so you may be struggling with unforgiveness because of self-centeredness but you can walk away from it it may take a while and you may have to every day lay it down and find a way to serve and then the next day lay it down again find a way to serve you've got to continue to do it because again you didn't get there overnight you're not gonna get out of it overnight you know for many many years forever the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years you'll hear people I've always heard people say I just don't understand what life's all about I just don't understand my purpose in life I don't know why I'm here I don't understand what it's all about and I would say the reason people have struggled with that is because they start at the wrong point they start with themselves and if you start with yourselves it'll never make sense if you really want to understand the purpose of life you have to start with God and once you start with God then everything will begin to make sense God never intended for us to have a self-centered mindset but instead a god-centered mindset I mean imagine guys what our world would be like if everyone was focused on God conflicts would disappear strife would be banned anger would be dealt with pornography would no longer destroy homes and jealousy would cease to exist think about how your work environment would be changed backstabbing and gossiping would become a thing of the past office politics would be non-existent then just think how the church environment would change no one would leave churches because they're hurt or offended it would be a place where everyone thought about his brother or sisters first and I would tell you it'd be a place where everyone focused on God they had a God mindset I'm just telling you the unchurched would come in by the droves to be a part of a place like that self sacrifice a place where everybody denied themselves and thought about one another and thought about God the unchurched would want to be a part of a place like that friends you may not be able to completely change your church you may not be able to completely change your place of employment or your family or even your marriage by yourself it takes - even in a marriage you not only do you have to let go of self-centeredness so does your spouse but at the same time you can start by getting rid of the self-centeredness in your own life if you do that I think you'll be surprised at the impact that it'll have on institutions or the impact it will have on your own family so I challenge you in 2020 to be intentional about having that God first mindset and I know that some of your gonna argue and say Steve that's not easy it's yeah you can talk about this but that's a hard thing to do and I'd say I agree it is a hard thing to do but once we put God first and once we start to empty ourselves of our own selfish ambition then there will be room for God to breathe into us His Holy Spirit who will fill us with his love so that we can listen so that we will wake up and understand what it really means to be a disciple of Christ so that's what we're going to do self-centeredness is the is the bottom of all this this is where everything else comes out of and that's why I started with this one but we're gonna look at five common and yet bad habits over the next several weeks that when you ignore these bad habits when you shrug your shoulders and think it's not that big of a deal they're gonna become strongholds when they become strongholds you'll be like this guy that was saying to me last night I don't know how to let go of this it's just too hard it becomes a stronghold one of the best ways to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good habit in order to do that you've got to have some spiritual disciplines you've got to have some spiritual practices which is why we created the growth plan if you were here 18 months ago we introduced to you the growth plan the growth plan is a 90-day study it's a 90-day discipleship tool that we came up with to create spiritual habits and I'm just telling you guys listen to me on this as your pastor my greatest desire is win in 2020 I was I was praying through the auditorium this morning before services started and just praying that God would bring a move of his spirit in this place and that 2020 would be a year that we all say I'm gonna grow I'm tired of just attending church I want to go forward in my spiritual journey I want to move them I want to move my spiritual life down the road and become closer to Christ wherever you find yourself that's my prayer for every one of you but in order for that to happen you have to take the initiative you know you you you can't guys listen to me you you have to have some spiritual rhythms in your life if you don't have spiritual rhythms in our life you won't grow it's like you can't you you can't take your Bible and stick it under your pillow at night and when you go to sleep by osmosis it all just jumps in your head it just doesn't work that way in the same way if you want to lose weight it's not gonna happen if you don't take some steps if you want to get in shape it's not gonna happen if you don't take some steps you've got to be disciplined enough you've got to take the initiative so that you can have what you want to achieve well if you want to be all that Christ wants you to be if you want to experience what he has for you you've got to be willing to say okay I've got to get some spiritual rhythms in my life so that I can grow in my walk with him so we came up with this growth plan and I know some of you would say well you know Steve I did this before and you know it didn't work for me or or I didn't like it or whatever and if you were here 18 months ago you heard me say when we introduced this I said guys this is wet cement what I mean by that is we're gonna go through this thing and when we're done we need feedback and we're gonna take your feedback and we're gonna keep making improvements in fact in the last 18 months we've had several churches across the United States call us they've heard about it they called us and they said what can we do to help get copies of this and do this with our congregation we said well we just need you to be patient we're not ready to release that we're still tweaking it we're still finding ways to improve it once we do we'll make it available but right now we're just tweaking this thing so we took the suggestions we took the ideas and we have tweaked we have reshaped and we've come up with the growth plan this year that I think is the best we've ever done I love what they've done and the changes that they've made in this it's a 90 day plan the first 45 days is to guide to help you develop your own weekly rhythms what I mean by weekly rhythms things like reading the Bible praying worshiping arresting serving being in relationship all these are rhythms that are necessary for growth we all need them and some of you said ah you know how to get them started this will help you the first 45 days of this will help you get these as part of a plan in your life the next 45 days focus on what we call stretching rhythms this is an area of your life that you say man I've struggled with this area I'm doing pretty good here but this area is a struggle for me we're gonna help you with that particular area it's a stretching rhythm that will help you grow that's the second 45 days and there's just so much other stuff that we've added we've it's packed full of stories there's worship music playlists that we put in there there's a ton of creative exercises that will help you grow now guys you can start this at any time obviously I think the wisest time to start it is right now the beginning of the year start the year off so that's what I'm gonna do I'm starting mine tomorrow Monday and I guess I would challenge all of you to start with me and just say you know what I'm gonna do that too for the next 90 days now some of you say maybe sir I can't for a while that's all right you start at any time and go for 90 days but I think this is the best time to do it so I hope you'll do it with me it's it's we asked 10 bucks to cover our cost but honestly if you say I can't afford that give what you can afford I can't afford anything will you use it yes take it I really don't care I just want to get this into your hands I just want to see this help you to grow spiritually some of you say Steve I'm not good at I'm just not very disciplined then get a buddy get a get somebody that that will do this with you maybe you meet once a week and talk about what you studied that week whatever the somebody to hold you accountable then when you get to the end of this thing there's a place a website you can go and talk about your experiences and that will help us again to know ideas and things we can do but it'll also help motivate other people in some of the encouraging things for instance here's a story from Jeff that he shared with us about the growth plan listen to this hi I'm Jeff this is my wife Alyssa we go to the fishers campus and we have three kids I meet with the guys group every Friday morning epping Arab red and we meet for a little Bible study standpoint and I look at a few of the guys that's kind of my trading partners and the 90-day Grossman book came out it really piqued Jeff's interesting he was really excited about it and he just thought me this is something I can just grab and do watching him go through it I saw the change in him and that's what really opened my eyes even though he had been going to this morning group with his men for years they were growing together and I watched him grow as a spiritual leader not only for these men but for our house as well that's what really drew me in and made me excited about it the big takeaway for me was when I was engaged when I was doing it I definitely felt it and when I wasn't plugged in it was like one of those kind of like slow slides so from a habbit standpoint much like everything else it's not you're not gonna form a habit in 30 60 or 90 days it's a continual effort this actually gives good structure so regardless of what walk you're on in life you can just jump into it if you're looking for something like from a devotional standpoint or don't know where to get started this is a great starting point it engaged us and it kept us going and we're definitely looking forward to the next 90 days you need to be plugged in you need to definitely get engaged with something like this the growth plan was our next what's next for you so I hope your decision is that in 2020 I want to grow I want to move forward in my spiritual journey my spiritual growth I think this is a great way to do it I hope you'll join me tomorrow and start if they run out which there's it's been a little overwhelming this weekend if they run out they're gonna take names and they'll get you one as soon as we can get that from the printer but I hope you'll join us I love you guys have a great week see you next week [Applause]

Channel: Northview Church

Views: 1,589

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

Keywords: Northview Church, Northview, Steve Poe, Carmel, Fishers, Westfield, Lafayette, Indy North, Indianapolis

Id: oFZldi1hubE

Length: 46min 54sec (2814 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 06 2020