- What does it mean to pre-decide? Well, we understand that
as followers of Jesus, our decisions are incredibly, indescribably important. We know that the direction of our life is determined by the
quality of our decisions. We make our decisions and
our decisions make us. The problem is many of us, we're not very good decision makers. So what we're doing, instead of waiting for
a moment in the future when faced with a situation that we know we're likely to face, instead of waiting for that moment and that time in the future
to try to decide then, we're gonna decide now,
we're gonna pre-decide. And we have a little statement
we've been looking at for a few weeks and the
statement goes like this. When faced with such and such scenario and you in your own life
will be able to determine what that is. When faced with this in the future, I have pre-decided to take this very specific action, an incredibly powerful tool
that can impact your life. And we are making six pre-decisions and spending one week
talking about all of them. Last week, we know that the devil attacks and we're gonna be ready for his attacks. This week, we're gonna
pre-decide to be consistent. Next week, we're gonna
talk about being devoted. Then, we're gonna be talk
about pre-deciding a life of radical generosity. We're gonna pre-decide when
so many people are faithless, we're gonna be faithful. And we're gonna pre-decide just like Jesus who said it is finished, that we are a finisher. What I need is I need a
little bit of help today, because I don't want to
be doing this by myself. I need all of our campuses ad even those of you online, you can type it in the comment section, let's talk about what we are
pre-deciding that we will be. What are you? You are ready. Say it with me. - [Congregation] You are consistent. You are devoted. You are generous. You are faithful. You are a finisher. - What we're doing today
is we're pre-deciding and here's the key. It's not on your own, but
it is with God's help. I am consistent. Would
you just say that with me? Would you say, with God's help. - [Congregation] With God's help. - I am consistent. - I am consistent.
- You can type that in the comment section if you want. One more time. It's not on our own, it's with God's help, I am consistent. Why does consistency matter? Because successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally. We know this is true. Successful people do over
and over and over again what other people do every now and then. Because we are not what we repeatedly do, we are what we do consistently. It's not what we do occasionally that makes the difference. It's what we do consistently. And so, what I wanna do
today is I wanna show you in scripture why consistency matters and show you how to
grow in your consistency in a way that would honor God. If you're ready to say, I'm ready. Are you ready? - [Congregation] I am ready. - We're gonna look at a Bible character from the Old Testament, who was maybe one of the most consistent
spiritual leaders of all time. This guy was ridiculous. His name is Daniel. And he was consistent morally. He was consistent relationally. He was completely consistent spiritually. He was consistent in his leadership. And to give you a little
background on the story, it's really interesting. Around 605 BC, this was about 18 years after the evil Babylonians
destroyed Jerusalem. And the Babylonian, they came in there and the government abducted
a lot of young boys. They did three deportations where they took all these people, but they specifically picked the best and the brightest young boys, often around the age of 12, with the goal of indoctrinating them. So, we're gonna feed you our type of food. We're gonna teach you our education. We're gonna teach you our values. So, that the best of the
best can become part of us and maybe future leaders. And that was kind of like
a slam on the enemies and also a way to build up leaders. And so, Daniel stood out. The king, his name was King Darius, he noticed that this young kid, Daniel, displayed unusual consistency. Consistency is contagious. It's attractive. It builds great leaders. And so King Darius said, "Hey, this a kid who's got it. I want to raise him up to promote him." Well, some of the Babylonian leaders said, "We don't want this guy. We don't want him get getting our spot." So, they decided to dig
up some dirt on Daniel and try to get him canceled. So, they went into his life. They looked at his, they talked to maybe his old girlfriends. He trashed on this guy. They looked at his old social media post. Let's see what he tweeted seven years ago. They tried to find fault in his character. And oddly enough, Daniel 6:4 says this, "They couldn't find anything
to criticize or condemn." How crazy is that? They said of Daniel, "He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy." Those are powerful qualities. What was he? He was faithful. He was always responsible. He was completely trustworthy. What do you need to have
to have those qualities? You need to have consistency. And so, these enemies
who didn't want Daniel getting their job said, "Okay, the only way we can get this guy is he's so devoted to God,
we're just gonna attack that." And so, these guys went
to the king and said, "Hey, king, we got an idea for you. You are the man. You're the goat. You're the best and you
look good in no shoes. So, we think you should issue a decree that if anyone pays any
praise to any God besides you in the next 30 days, then we
throw him in the lion's den." And the king looked on and goes, "Oh, well, thank you. I am the goat and I do
look good in these shoes. And your suggestion is good. Let's make a decree that anyone who prays in the next 30 days to any God besides me, will be thrown in the lion's den." And what do you think Daniel, who was faithful and consistent to God, did in that situation? Daniel 6:10 answers that question and watch the consistency in
his relationship with God. Scripture says this, "When Daniel learned that
the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with the windows open towards Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just like he had always done, giving thanks to his God." Daniel did what he always did. He consistently pursued the heart of God. And so, the leaders found out that he had disobeyed the king's orders. And so they said, you have to throw him in the lions den and the king wasn't happy about it, but he stood by his word and
he threw Daniel into a pit with hungry lions. Game over. Do not pass. Do not collect $200. This is over. But what happened is God sent an angel and the angel closed
the mouths of the lion. Now, that's cocky. And here's what happened
to Daniel verse 23, "When Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him." Why? "Because he had trusted in his God." Question, when did Daniel
learn to trust God? And the answer is he didn't
learn in the lion's den. He learned in his prayer closet, (congregation chattering) His faith wasn't built in the battle. His faith was built when
he was on his knees. He had consistently sought
after the heart of God, three times a day, day after day, week after week, month after month. He consistently sought God. Why is it that some of us are inconsistent with our relationship with God? It's because Daniel prayed consistently and we pray occasionally. It's not what we do occasionally
that makes the difference. It's what we do consistently. So, how do we grow in our consistency? If we wanna be an
encouragement to our spouse, but every time he walks in
the door, we pick him apart. How do we grow in our consistency? And I wanna give you a game plan today with three important thoughts. And we're going to pre-decide
that we are consistent. Three big thoughts would be this. The first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna start with the why. Everybody start with the why. - [Congregation] Why. - [Craig] Second thing we're gonna do is we're going to plan to fail. Everybody say plan to fail. - [Congregation] Plan to fail. - [Craig] Third thing we're gonna do is we're going to fall
in love with the process. Everybody say fall in
love with the process. - [Congregation] Fall in
love with the process. - What are we gonna do, all together now? This is no fun without you
at all of our churches. What are we gonna do? We're going to start with
the why, plan to fail, and fall in love with the process. Let's start the top. Number one, if we wanna
grow in consistency, we're pre-deciding that we are consistent, we're gonna start with the why. Answer the question. Why did Daniel pray consistently? And I'll tell you, it was
never about an outward show. It wasn't like the
Pharisees where he went, "Look how spiritual I am. I'm praying on the street corners. Long prayers. So, you'll
think I'm spiritual." Daniel went to his closet privately, knelt down three times a day because he was devoted to his God. That's why he did it. He was devoted to his God. He pre-decided that three times a day he connects with the heart of God. It was born out of devotion. And this is the very reason why so many new year's resolutions fail. Let me tell you why. Because they're the result
of desire, not devotion. Oh, come on. Somebody I'm preaching good right now, you're being kind of quiet. It's the result of desire, not devotion. There's a big, big, big difference. If you just have a desire,
you might not have a why, but a why pulls out the devotion. If you don't have a compelling why, you're not likely to succeed. And the reason why I know most
new year's resolutions fail is because you waited
until January 1st to do it. That's just stupid. You don't really have a why. If you got a real why, you're not gonna wait until, hey, I'm gonna start eating good. So for the next two weeks, (grumbling) I'm eating everything. January 1st. Oh, look a salad. Okay, that's stupid. You're not a player. You're gonna go back to chocolate cakes, chocolate ice cream, chocolate
Cocoa Puffs for breakfast in about three days. 'Cause your why's not compelling enough. If you have a real why, you're not waiting until
January 1st, right? If your doctor tells you in October, "Hey, you need to quit
smoking or you're gonna die." Oh, okay. I'll wait until January 1st
to stop smoking cigarettes. No. You got a strong why, which
compels you to start now. If you wanna grow in consistency,
you start with the why. Where do you wanna be more consistent? Where do you wanna grow? Somebody might say, "Well,
I wanna be closer to God." Thank God for that. You might say, "I wanna
have a better marriage." Great. I wanna have financial stability. I wanna quit this bad habit. I'm gonna say why? Why? What is your why? If you say, "Well, I
wanna be closer to God. Well, this is the right thing to do. That's what church people do, right?" No, your why might be because I'm sick and dang tired
of the devil distracting me. I believe I'm created by God for His glory and I wanna serve Him wholeheartedly
with everything in me. So, generations to come
would know His grace and His goodness. That why drives devotion, right? (congregation clapping) I wanna have a better marriage. Why? 'Cause my spouse is a jerk. Sick of him. Pray for him. Pray for my spouse. But no, no, no, no. Because my why is I wanna honor God, with the vows that I said before Him. And I wanna show my children a godly example of what marriage can be and leave a spiritual
legacy for my grandchildren. That we are people of faith and
we have a marriage of faith. What's your why? What your why? Well, I wanna have financial stability. Why? So I can buy a purse. So I can get them shoes. I can go on a vacation. No, no, no, no, no. What's your why? Because I am sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Because I'm not gonna
worry if I pay this bill, I can't pay that bill. I wanna be financially free, so I can be generous and make a difference in the lives of other people. What your why? The why moves it from desire to devotion. You might say, "Well, I
wanna quit this bad habit." Why? "'Cause it's expensive. 'Cause
it's bad for my health." No, no, no, no, no. This has been maybe something
that's been in my family for generations and this
generational curse stops with me. (congregation chattering) That's a why. That's a real why. That's a why. I'm not talking about willpower. I'm talking about why power. Come on, somebody. This brings out devotion. This is when the king says you can't pray. No, I got my why. I need my God three times a day. I seek God in prayer. Because I promise you, when you wanna be consistent, you're gonna have som
obstacle, some resistance, something that's hard. You're gonna be a lack
of support from friends. And you're gonna say, "I don't feel like it today. I don't wanna do it today." But listen, when you know your why, you will find a way. We're talking about why power, why power. (congregation clapping) And there is a why that Amy and I pray consistently. We didn't before, 'cause we didn't have a why. My why then was well, you're a pastor, so you're probably supposed to. Well, I've been a pastor
long enough to know that the devil don't take a day off. And so, I better be seeking
God together with my bride every single day. What I know is that everything that we do depends on the spirit of
God, the presence of God, the power of God. Our marriage needs the
grace and work of God. We need leadership for our kids. I need wisdom to lead the church. Why would I ever not seek God with my bride? So when the why becomes
when your values are clear, your decisions are easier. If you wanna become more
consistent, define your why. You start with the why. Daniel knew his why. His faith wasn't built in the lion's den. It was built in the prayer closet. You start with the why. The second thing and this sounds really counterintuitive, but I promise you, this is important, is you plan to fail. You actually plan to not be perfect. Think about this. Daniel prayed three times
before, we read that, just like he did before. Here's a question. Do you think he ever missed
one of his daily prayer times? Do you think he ever did? Don't sit there and like he's perfect. He's a person. Of course, he did. Don't over spiritualize this guy. I guarantee you, he missed
some of his three prayer times. I promise you, promise you, promise you, promise you. How do I know? Because he's a human being that
lives in a very real world. King Darius one time said, "Daniel, you gotta stay late for work." And he missed his evening prayer time. Or another time he was caught in traffic. The camel spread a stand still, right? It was nose to butt as far as I could see, I don't know, work with me on this, okay? His friends were over at the big game and somebody ordered wings,
and he stayed up too late. He got gas. He overslept the morning. I don't know. I promise you he missed one of his prayer
times somewhere along the way. Why is it that so many
of us are inconsistent? It's because we have an
all or nothing mindset. It's because if we fail one time, we think we are a failure. I fail, so forget it. And that's why we have to
remember that being consistent isn't the same as being perfect. There's such a big difference. You wanna give yourself grace to fail, because being consistent is
not the same as being perfect. Here's what we know. I was talking about
praying with your spouse and like somebody is like, "You're talking about that a lot." Well maybe it's 'cause
there's somebody here and I don't know who it is,
but you need to hear this. Maybe someone needs to hear this. When I teach on how to
pray with your spouse or how to pray with your children, I always say keep it
simple, keep it short. If you miss one day, don't miss two. Why do we do that? People criticize like,
"Why keep it simple?" Because if you make it complicated, you're not gonna do it. Why keep it short? 'Cause if you think you
gotta do it for an hour, you're not gonna do it. I'm lowering the bar. I want you to get started. Does it mean you can't pray longer? Of course not. If you start praying shorter,
you might pray longer. If I tell you to pray longer, you're not even gonna pray shorter. And then I'd tell you, if you miss a day, don't miss two. Why? Because you're gonna miss a day and you have to plan to do it. And I also take it
sometimes we miss a day, it makes me feel better because I gave you permission
to miss it too, right? Here's the thing is you
are going to mess up. Plan to allow for it. Know that a momentary failure is actually a part of the process. And here's the problem for many of you. It is the illusion of perfection that's keeping some of
you from getting started. Well, I'll never be great at that so I might as well not try. I would take it all the way
down to following Jesus. There are some of you who
are not following Jesus today because you think,
well, if I follow Jesus, then what if I mess up? I'm gonna say cuss word. I'm a give somebody the
bird or whatever it is. And the answer is you probably will, but don't let that stop you from starting. You wanna follow Jesus? I'll illustrate it this way. One of my favorite things
I've done in the last year, I've been taking some
jujitsu classes with my sons. And here's a photo of us. There's two things cool about this. Number one is I'm spending
time with my sons, sweating on each other. The second thing is that we
have Life Church rash guards, which is just cocky. And if you want one, I
can't get one for you. They were made. But that's just cocky. Just so you know, that's cocky. And what's fun about jujitsu so much the learning process is
really hard to get a belt. So, you start with a white belt and then you have a blue
belt, then a purple belt, then a brown belt, then a black belt, and you get little stripes along the way. So once you go for a while,
your instructor says, "You did good. You get a stripe." And like, you're so excited. It's like second grade. I got a gold star. I got a stripe, ha-ha. Okay, anyway, it's kind of cool. But my instructor was, when he put the first
stripe on a while back, he's a black belt, by
the way, he won worlds and so he's really, really good. He put my first stripe
on there and he said, "Which belt do you think is
the most difficult to get?" I said well obviously the black belt. And he said, "No, no, no, the most
difficult is the white belt because most people never start." Most people never start,
which I didn't for 10 years. I wanted to, but wasn't any
good and I don't wanna start. And then he said, "What is a black belt?" And I said that's someone you run from. That's what you do. Just run from them. And he said, "No, a black belt is a white belt that was consistent." (congregation chattering) A black belt is a white belt that never gave up. Do you think I've missed any lessons? (congregation chattering) I got another stupid injury. God, you're my age. I haven't been in in two months. I've missed some. And you're gonna miss some, or you're gonna eat the wrong thing, or you're gonna oversleep
and not work out, or you're gonna buy something stupid that you shouldn't have bought, while you're trying to get outta debt, or you're gonna look at
something you shouldn't look at. Or you're gonna be reading
the Bible every day on you version Bible app. You're gonna miss a day and
you're gonna lose your streak. Oh, oh, and I did hear a rumor that if you reset the date on your phone to a previous date and read
the Bible on that date, your streak may come back. But I don't know if that's true and I've probably never
done that at least twice. I cannot confirm or deny if that's true. But oh, you're not gonna be perfect. You're not gonna be perfect. Don't confuse being
consistent with being perfect. Here's what we're gonna do is
we're gonna start with a why, we're gonna plan to fail. And here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna fall in love with the process. We're gonna fall in love with the process. Daniel wasn't praying
'cause it was a duty. He just loved time with God. He loved the intimacy. Here's what I know about him
because I know his character. He wasn't saying, "Hey, if I'm all this stuff, I'm gonna get promoted." He was just consistently living his life in a way that honored God. And here's the mistake
that so many of us make is we obsess about the goal. I gotta get a blue belt. I gotta lose 20 pounds. I've gotta pay off both credit cards. I've gotta read through the whole Bible, whatever it is, whatever your goal. And then, we're inconsistent. And we feel like that we don't succeed until we hit the goal. And the goal is so far
out there in the future, and the path is often more difficult, and the road is often windy. And that's why we don't
obsess about the goal, we fall in love with the process. And that's why when I roll with my boys, my win isn't the next belt. That may be two years away. My win is when I show back up. 'Cause if you haven't notice, I'm 54 years old and I'm rolling with
22 year old brown belts and I get sore. And I'm showing back up. What I know is if I'm
consistent, I will make progress. And here's what's so important
about whatever your goal is is you're not successful when you achieve the goal in the future. You're successful when
you honor God today. That's when you're successful. So, here's what we're gonna do is we're gonna decide. Before we face that
decision, we pre-decide. With God's help, I am consistent. Everybody say with God's help. - [Congregation] With God's help. - I am consistent. - [Congregation] I am consistent. - With God's help. And here's the key is it's with God's help. Meaning you can't be
consistent on your own. Paul said, "I don't
even understand myself." He asked the question later in the text, "Who can deliver me from
this body of inconsistency this body of death?" And he said, "Praise be to Jesus Christ." He is the one who can empower us to live a life that honors God. We pre-decide with God's help, whatever it is for you. With God's help, I
don't drink soft drinks. With God's help, I walk
three times a week. With God's help and I don't need his help, but I'm gonna put $50 extra month of paying off my credit card debt. With God's help, I'm gonna read
God's word every single day. I am a devoted follower of Christ. We're pre-deciding. So our decisions aren't
made in the future, but we're deciding today what
we're gonna do before God. What do we do? We pre-decide. So my question to you is this, where is God calling you to be consistent? In what area of your life. Take just a moment and be open. You might even if you want to
close your eyes and just say, God, where do you want
me to be consistent? Where could I honor you
more, be more faithful? Show me God, maybe in your giving, maybe in your prayer
time, maybe in your words, maybe in your attitude, maybe in the time that you go to bed, maybe in what you look at
or what you don't look at, maybe in the way you treat
the people around you. God, where do you want
me to be consistent? Let 'em speak to you,
because he will speak to you. And he'll show you the values that matter to him and
should matter to you. And when your values are clear, your decisions are easier. So what do you do? You pre-decide. I'm consistent. Three times a day, Daniel
said, "I seek the Lord." That's not gonna happen by accident. It's a decision I made ahead of time. And you start with the why. And you know you're not
perfect, so you plan to fail. And you fall in love with the process. And the great news is
you're not successful when you achieve the goal in the future. But congratulations before
God you are successful when you honor Him today. So with God's help, may you honor Him in consistency in the area that brings Him glory and makes you more
effective in this world. With God's help. - [Congregation] with God's help. - With God's help. - [Congregation] With God's help. We pre-decide. - [Congregation] We pre-decide. - To be consistent. - [Congregation] To be consistent. So Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do surgery on our hearts today and we'd be open to what you want to say. God, help us to overcome even our sin nature of inconsistency. And by the power of your spirit, when we're weak, you are strong. Help us be consistent in all we do. We decide, we pre-decide. And God I thank you in advance that there will be some people that are watching this message today, that years from now, they will recognize their
life has been changed by pre-deciding to honor you consistently in some area of their lives. At all of our churches today, if there is an area you know
you can grow in consistency, you know what that area is and
you wanna take it before God, would you just lift up
your hand right now? Just lift up your hand. All
of our churches, fantastic. Those of you online, you can just type it in
the comments section, help me be more consistent. Just type that in. And now, Father, I pray that
your spirit would empower us. That you would give us a
clear and compelling why connected to glorifying you. You gotta help us to understand that because we are fallen people, we're not gonna be perfect. But we're gonna fall in love with the process of honoring you, doing what you called us to do. And we will trust you for the results. God build our faith. That we're not successful in the future when we achieve what we hope to achieve, but God we are successful and we honor and live for you today. Empower, God, your church to
consistently show your love, consistently be full of grace, consistently be generous,
consistently confess our sins, consistently be righteous before you, consistently God be your
light in a dark world. May we honor you with consistency. Pre-deciding, this is
one way we worship you and live empowered by your spirit. As you keep praying today,
as we talk about this, I think one of the things
most of us can recognize is that we can be really inconsistent in some of the bigger what I
might call moral areas of life. We tell lies. We cheat. We hurt people. We're selfish. We can be mean. We can be cruel. We can be hateful. We can be deceitful. We can be full of pride. We can be lustful and the
list goes on and on and on. And you find yourself sometimes saying, hey, you know this God thing,
I mean if there is a God, He seems pretty good and I'd
kind of like to know Him. I kind of like to belong to Him. But if I do commit my life to
Him, I'm not gonna be perfect. And so, that illusion of perfection keeps you from surrendering to Jesus. And let me tell you right now, Jesus, the Son of God, the sinless one. God sent his son, Jesus, the only one who's ever perfect. He sent Jesus for imperfect people. That's why Jesus came. He sent Jesus for sinners. Jesus was the Lamb of
God who shed His blood, died, and God raised Him from the dead, so that your inconsistency, or the biblical term,
so that your sinfulness, so my sinfulness, could be forgiven. And here's the amazing thing. When you surrender to Jesus,
He forgives all of your sins past, present, and future. He forgives your sins and you become new. Wherever you're watching from today, there are those of you who recognize that you're not the person maybe you hoped to be and you feel guilty. You may feel ashamed. And you may think, "Well, maybe I can come to God later once I cleaned up my life." That's not how it works. You come to Him right now.
You come to Him right now. You come to Him right
now. You come as you are. Come as you are. Scripture says, "Jesus stands at the door and knocks. Anyone who hears His voice and
lets Him in, He'll come in." He's there. He's waiting
for you to say yes. When you say yes to him,
he says no to your sin. He forgives you. He makes you brand new. Wherever you're watching from today, those who say, I know
I've been inconsistent. I know I've fallen short.
I want His forgiveness. I don't just want His
forgiveness, I wanna follow Him. I wanna know Him. Today by faith, I
surrender my life to Jesus. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right
now, all over the place. Lift them up. Come on. Somebody give God some praise. As we see people at all of our churches coming to faith in Christ. Those of you watching online, just type into the comment section, I'm giving my life to Jesus, and we're gonna pray wherever you are. Just pray aloud. Pray heavenly Father. - [Congregation] Pray heavenly Father. - Forgive all of my sins. - [Congregation] Forgive all of my sins. - Jesus save me. Fill me with your spirit, so I could know you, and I serve you, and I could walk with you consistently, showing your love and making you known. Thank you for new life. I give you all of mine. In Jesus name, I pray. Would somebody celebrate
big worship, loud, the goodness of God. (congregation cheering)
