Starting Small - Part 4 -Making It Stick

good morning to everyone and welcome to the well here at sts a great to see so many people here today we are wrapping up a series called starting small so if you're just kind of tuning in today or just showing up after a long time away for the summer make sure that you go online after this message not during the message after the message make sure you go online to SCSA dot church and get caught up on the first three parts because what we're talking is about something that every single one of us needs to make sure that we pay attention to and that is we're talking about our systems or habits in life and what we talked about from every single week from the start of this series to today is that ultimately your success in life will not be based on the goals that you set or the vision that you have or your intentions or what it is that you aspire to attain what's gonna altom utley determine your success in every aspect of life is going to be the systems that you have in place to achieve it here's our key thought that we're looking at every week here successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally so ultimately the people who are successful are not the ones who occasionally do certain things we're all good at that we all know what it's like to set a goal a health goal and we're gonna exercise and we're gonna eat right and we're gonna avoid whatever it may be and we kind of do it every now and then but we don't find the success the successful people are the ones who make it a habit successful people do consistently what other people only do occasionally do you find me any aspect of life find me any area of life you tell me like I said health-wise ultimately your success with your physical health it's not going to be based so much on your goals that you set because it's we based on whether you choose french fries or apple slices with that extra value meal whatever it may be it's gonna be true is gonna be based on whether you choose to watch another episode or to turn it off and go downstairs and work out or go to the gym and workout relationally you want relational success it's not about your desire or your wish the relational success is within people who have the right systems in place the system something very small something has turned the phone off and put it down if someone's gonna be successful relationally and then someone who doesn't have that system in place might have struggles relationally any aspect of life career financial your retirement goals is not a matter of your goals as much as a matter of your habits and the systems you have in place and the same is true spiritually every one of us got the same spiritual goals but ultimately the ones will find success spiritually are the ones who know how to translate the big goals into small steps and small habits because like we said in the beginning is you will not rise to the level of your goals you will fall to the level of your systems you will not rise to the level of your goals you will ultimately fall for the level of your systems so then we talked about how to set those goals I'm sorry how to set those systems how to establish them and I asked this question over two weeks okay one to start one to stop and that is this based on who you want to be what one habit do you need to start or stop and I think there's a two separate question you should answer them both but I did want to put them up there on the screen the students were taking too much space based on who you want to be what one habit do you need to start and what one habit do you need to stop we talked about how every decision is a small step toward something every action is a small step in the direction of something so based on starting point as always we talked about in the first week who before do not I want to read the Bible not I want to pray more not I want to exercise those are steps along the way but we're starting with who I want to be a man of God okay what one happened do I need to start and stop in order to become man of God so I would say in order to become man of God I need to stop skipping church on Sundays I need to start going to bed at 10 o'clock on Saturday nights small habit step towards man of God you say I want to have healing and my relationships I want my relationships that may be broken I want to invest in this relationship or I want to heal this broken relationship then I say a small step what ain't is stopped doing is talking to whoever while the TV is on I need to stop that habit or what I need to learn how to do it turn the TV off turn the phone off and go undivided attention based on who you want to be what one habit you need to start and you need to stop you have a career goal you want to get to a certain spot by age 25 by age 30 well maybe a good habit to stop is turn off the Facebook and maybe open up a real book okay and that might be something that you can do to step towards who it is that you want to be because every decision is a step towards something that's kind of where we've gone over the past two weeks now today the question I want to answer so many people are thinking this and if you're not thinking this and you this may be your first go-around but if you try to start good habits in the past you should you should anticipate where I'm going with this topic here today because it's really easy to start habits it's like the person who says I'm really good at quitting smoking I've done there many times okay it's really easy to make that new year's resolution it's really easy to go to the gym in January it's really easy to eat healthy when we have this momentum and we're all doing it together what I want to talk about today is how do I make it last can I make it stick how do I turn the short-term changes which were all really good at and I know some people in this room have made great changes or started great changes over the past three weeks how do I make it stick and make it turn into long term because we all know what it's like to start something and fail to start a habit then run out of gas we all know what it's like saying I'm gonna read the Bible this year and I'm gonna read through the entire Bible and you know we've gone strong through Genesis Exodus we're doing good and then we kind of hit the end of Exodus kind of tabernacle we kind of lose a little steam and that we lose a little bit here and then we love it a kiss and the book is closed and I don't know people who have read from Genesis Exodus start of Leviticus 15 times in their life okay never gotten past that we all and that's more discouraging like you were actually better off having never started versus starting and being like na na na na I can't do that I fail well know what it's like I won't say about a diet or exercise good we all know what that one's like we all know what it's like to say you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna stop procrastinating I'm like no more Netflix like no more like I'm gonna stop the procrastinating I'm gonna stop it and then we end up okay going even deeper in the binge watching even more we all know what it's like to say I'm never gonna do this again I'm never even losing my temper with this again I'm always gonna be patient right here I'm never gonna go online to those sites again we know what it's like to make that promise and say we're never going to and then when we lose steam we end up feeling like a loser I'm a failure never gonna be any good I was actually better off before I even tried because though if I'm in a ditch okay and I start climbing my way and I can do it and I can do I can do it and then I get run out of gas and I fall down and someone says okay try again been there done that and that's the verse that we looked at a couple weeks I'll show it again Romans 7:15 Saint Paul if you feel that way Saint Paul says I know how you feel you're not alone we're all in the same boat but what I am doing i do not understand for what i will to do that i do not practice but what i hate that i do i got you i know what it's like I promise I'm never gonna lose my temper with my kids and I lost my temper with my kids I promise I'm never gonna do that impure stuff I did the impure stuff I promised that I'm never gonna break this or I'm always going to and I've done it so we're all the same boat right here question for today how do we turn short-term changes into long-term lifestyle what we're going to do is we're going to look at one of if not the most number one habit changing organizations in history there's one organization out there which you know but maybe didn't come to your mind right away that has helped more people change their habits long-term than anyone else they currently help 2.1 million people per year to change a set of habits and to start a new lifestyle and they've been copied by hundreds of other organizations and that is welcome to Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous you've heard of it before some may have attended one of the meetings before this is no shame group no judgement group right here Alcoholics Anonymous has been around for years and like I said they helped to point 1 million people per year and that's just the official Alcoholics Anonymous there's spin-offs into every other area so there's like a a style meetings for those who are addicted to gambling those are addicted to pornography those are wives like eating disorders okay or whatever it may be but the principles are all the same and I would say if there is such a thing as a proven methodology to help people change I would say the folks at AAA they cornered the market on this thing now here's the amazing thing about Alcoholics Anonymous those who have attended may know if you did you don't need to nod your head or anything just kind of like agree in your heart the strange thing about Alcoholics Anonymous it was developed as a program developed by people with no scientific background what so like there's no one in there who's who who developed it based on their their understanding of genetics and and and certain genes that lead to addiction there's no there's no psychiatrist or psychologist who developed the program it really doesn't address any of those kind of biochemical issues that lead a lot of people to addiction and if you've ever attended a meeting you would be shocked if you've known who's attended you would be shocked at how unimpressive the meetings are like I remember the first time I heard about these meetings I thought there's gonna be something I thought is gonna be like experts and and professors and whatnot you know what Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is there's no teacher there's no expert there's no curriculum there's no structure there's just a group of people sitting around sharing there's a facilitator who kind of asked questions and in each week people share but that's pretty much it so why are they so successful how they help so many people but not just change in the short-term but change in the long run well I believe they understood the key to change and I believe it's it's found in the scriptures it well and I believe that there's two key components a short-term component in a long-term component you need to have a short-term and a long-term plan you need to have a short-term and a long-term plan in order to finally achieve success and I believe it's this I believe you need a short-term plan I need a long-term belief we need a short-term plan and a long-term belief do you need to have a vision in a long term of where you want to get to I need to have a plan in the short term of the first step to get there you need to be able to think at both levels you need to be able to see ten years down the line twenty years down the line you need to always hold on to that twenty years down the line but then you also need to be able to see right here in front of me right now and how this stuff translates to that Alcoholics Anonymous was started sort of in a semi Christian manner okay they are got Christian roots but they would never like officially Christian but the program is 100 percent Christian in its understanding even though they could change some of the terms like Oh like they're the ones who came up with like higher power kind of a thing so they're one of the fundamental beliefs and to be successful Alcoholics Anonymous you have to believe that there is a God out there who is more powerful than you and someone out there who's on your side who has a vision okay but again they don't say gods and get in trouble with that so they say a higher power a higher being whatever that may be okay but we know who that higher power is it's God so don't get don't don't don't don't get tripped up by that one but they emphasize the fact you are not alone someone is on your side someone very powerful believes in you and he's on your side he's gonna help you so you are not alone to emphasize that every single week but then in the short term they force people this is where their genius to dig deeper into the true cause of their bad habit and to reprogram the way that they think to be able to overcome the habit I know that sounds complex imma break it down real easy right now okay st. Paul says something similar in Romans chapter 10 verse 10 he kind of says there's two components all right to this whole Christian thing he says with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation our Christian faith is based on faith and works okay with the heart one believes with the mouth one speaks you need to have both if you have faith without works no good if you got worked about faith no good you have a long-term vision but no short-term plan no good you got the best short-term plan but no long-term vision no good we need both of them working together okay the faith and the works the belief in the plan the long term in the short term in order to find success so what I want to do today the time that we have remaining I want to look at both and I want to talk about we talked a lot about the short-term okay the last couple weeks so I'm gonna I'm not really gonna get too much into that but just kind of an overarching principle about the short-term to keep in mind that I think is the key to finding success then we'll talk about long-term as well let's start with the short-term you want to find success in the short-term you have to make sure that your plan of new habit or or stopping an old hat stopping a bad habit or starting a new you must make sure that you keep this in mind the key is to identify new paths to same rewards you must identify new paths to same rewards did you know that most alcoholics their desire is not to be intoxicated that is not their desire and in fact they hate being intoxicated that's not the true need that's not what they're looking for what they're looking for may be companionship an alcohol kind of facilitates that what they're looking for is stress relief because they have a high-stress jobs or whatever it may be and they kind of built this habit that when I'm stressed I do that or maybe they're looking for just an emotional release okay they have you know pent up emotions and alcohol facilitates the process of releasing those emotions so what they did is they found a way to give those same rewards without or by a new pattern or by a new routine for example okay we talked about the habit loop okay over the past couple weeks and the habit loop goes cue or trigger routine reward trigger routine reward trigger routine reward so the trigger in this example right here is there's a guy who's stressed out okay fought with his wife boss gave him a hard time whenever it may be and all of a sudden he's stressed that's the trigger and he has established the habit over the course of many years kind of unbeknownst to him subconsciously that when I'm stressed I grab a drink and then the reward is I'm not stressed so the true what he's really looking for is not the drink but the stress relief so what Alcoholics Anonymous does is they help you to see that pattern and say when you're stressed that's the cue give a call to a friend go for a jog play a little golf have some Ben and Jerry's maybe they've related some companions helped me through many stressful days when you're stressed find a new path to get to distressed there's more than one path to get to that reward if you're going to be successful you must identify the underlying need and find a new way to feed it as opposed to just hoping that it doesn't exist anymore I'll give you a practical example and it's a ridiculously nonsensical example but it's my example ok several years back I had a bad habit of biting my cheeks and even any cheek fighters in the room here today any chief fighters okay some cheek biters okay there's nothing wrong with being a chief biter is nothing wrong with it like there's nothing wrong and no one says anything is wrong but I remember one time I went to the dentist and the dentist look into my mouth and you know how like first the lady comes okay and then she does stuff and then the other guy comes and like he liked this stuff and they like communicate like some kind of code or whatever it may be so I'm like kind of a competitive person so I always want to be like you know like you know no tartar no like I'm trying to like get the best report so she does the thing and then she asked me do you bite your cheeks and I was like yeah look okay and she didn't say nothing about it and then the the man comes in and you know the report in the x-rays and whatever it is and she goes to him oh yeah he's a chief biter I want to be no cheek biter and my mama didn't raise it cheek biter I got better than that okay and no one told me is anything wrong but that's what I decided I'm not going down like a cheek biter you know what I mean like I'm gonna fight for my dignity so then I tried to come up with a way to break the habit now for those who aren't cheek biters it's something that happens subconscious you don't even know it okay so it's not easy to fix so what I said is first thing as you were tried the willpower approach I'm just gonna stop biting my cheeks how long you think that worked for nothing okay because your subconscious you don't even realize that you're doing it until you go to do it and anybody that it's too late there's okay you know what I'm gonna have gum in my mouth at all times because when I'm chewing gum I can't chew my cheek at the same time to chew my gum which is like that worked okay but it's that kind of a short-sighted way to approach it because like I mean how much gum can one chew and like yeah we're on a budget like which one put kids in college one day so no I mean like and then I came up with an even dumber approach which is every time I find myself biting my cheek I'm gonna pinch myself okay to like hurt myself and caused myself pain but I'm like this is stupid like why am i hurting myself like this is the dumbest one of them all and then I read the book by Charles Duhigg that I told you guys about called the power of habit and they'd have talked about this loop so I said okay you know what I'm gonna try it so the first thing I wanted to do is I wanted to kind of address the queue issue and the queue for me and figure out what it was the it's when I think okay there's two things I do when I think it's bite my cheek and also stick out my tongue sometimes like you don't to me like I kind of do like that okay the other the other thing I noticed I do is I stare so sometimes I'll be in like the Panera the Starbucks and I'll be staring at someone and it's very uncomfortable okay but that's what I do I stare kind of so it's when I'm like thinking about something or deep in focus so what I did is I took an index card just a blank index card and I put it in my pocket and I felt it okay cuz I could feel cuz I don't like anything in my pocket look I'd like to be lightweight at all times ready to run at any point in time you never know I'm a dog or cat or whatever is gonna maybe so put an index card in my pocket and that helped me to be aware so like there was always something reminding me okay that was really good for a little bit and then any time I found myself thinking the thing then I would put the gum in my mouth and that like worked for a little bit but what was I missing in the process I hadn't addressed the reward issue though I was finding kind of mixed results and then I read this about changing the reward and you know what I did I gave myself a great reward every time I didn't bite my cheek you know what I did I took that index card out at a new index card every day and I put the date on it and every time I thought about it and didn't bite my cheeks and shoot a piece of gum you know what I did check mark and that check mark now that's a reward I like looking at the end of the day and being like yeah check mark you know what I mean something about the check mark again maybe it's kind of like this self competitive that I'm kind of em there's something very gratifying like it feels good to bite the cheek that's a little bit of reward but oh man oh man at the end of the day having like 15 check marks that's a much greater reward and after that it was just a matter of time and then the thing went away no more nothing to maybe because what did I do Irie program the loop-the-loop was think or focus or concentrate chief bite feel good I'm always gonna have this cue because I need to think and I want to feel rewarded and feels satisfied I just needed to find a new path so instead of stress bite reward it was stress check more I'm sorry stress gum check mark and believe me for those who are the the list and the planners ain't nothing like a check mark okay to really satisfy one when when he is struggling Saint Paul kind of says the same thing in a slightly different way st. Paul says no temptation 1st Corinthians 10:13 no temptation has overtaken you except such as common to man but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it so listen carefully discover what is the underlying need behind your bad habits or your reason for not doing the good habits and if it is a legitimate need if it is a legitimate need God will make a way for you to get it if it's a legitimate need God will give you an alternative way he will provide an alternative way for you to be able to fulfill it you drink because you're lonely and drinking the buddies the bar the hangout this is why you drink it's not the drink no one likes to be intoxicated for in and of itself because because in what you do you're killing yourself and you're killing your brain cells and you're probably gonna end up making do things that you regret no one enjoys that but you enjoy the companionship you enjoy the camaraderie so maybe if the true issue is loneliness there's a new way to fulfill it and the way to fulfill it is join the group here at us si si we got groups going on all the time volunteer some of your time go serving the community like there's different ways to fulfill the goal but you got to discover what the underlying need is you mess around with your boyfriend or your girlfriend because you don't feel loved so you have this desire to feel loved and that makes you feel loved so you do that not because you want to do that because you come to me and they hate doing that and you know that you're poisoning your relationship then you're don't you hope is gonna be marriage but you have this need to be loved and I say to you alternative way discover the love of God discover the love of God that is there 24 hours a day seven days a week that doesn't need a boy or a girl or whatever it may be you overeat because you're stressed every one of us has done that overeat because we're stressed if we can identify it's stress that's causing it then the alternative route go for a run okay join a gym all right read a book go easy at work stop being so stressed out about work you yell at the kids because you feel disrespected this is your habit you feel disrespected you yell to get respect back my advice new path to the same reward humble yourself even under your own kids and they will truly respect you for life you yell at them they will give you respect for a minute you humble yourself they respect you for the rest of your life don't settle for just the surface don't sell for the surface there's always an underlying reason those who are successful in life I owe I truly believe the number one quality for successful is self-aware people those who are self-aware no limit to what God will do in their life those who walk in deception no limits what the devil will do in their life because you don't see the underlying reason behind it King Solomon said it this way in proverbs chapter 20 verse 5 he said the purpose and a man's heart is like deep water the purpose in a man's heart is like deep water but a man of understanding will draw it out we all got stuff inside we all do things for reasons that we don't acknowledge right on the surface we all have things where we deceive ourselves we pull the wool over our own eyes the one who's going to be successful is the one who's gonna dig deeper and say why is it that I lose my temper why is that I keep this bad habit why do things that I don't want to do and oftentimes you'll discover that there is an unmet need inside which I'm trying to meet in the wrong way but when we identify it we can find a new path to the same reward so that's the short term piece of it we said short-term plan long-term belief short-term plan long-term belief sure term I need steps long term I need faith okay faith and works working together let's jump now to the long term peace a long term faith you know that you can have the best strategy you can know the best steps you've now the best idea and plans on a piece of paper but as the psalmist says unless the Lord builds the house it's builders labor in vain unless the Lord builds the house it's builders labor in vain so all your plans and all your efforts if God is not part of it if faith isn't a piece of it there's only gonna be a short term but not anything long term you must have faith in order to achieve anything long term and I say that and you say but father Anthony that's not my gift I don't have the gift of faith I struggle with faith that's not like my mom she was good at faith or not like you you stand up there you have a very strong faith I have very little faith and my answer always to people say that I say you know you don't need a lot of faith you just need faith in the right thing and in fact Jesus spoke about how much faith you need to do big things let's say like you were trying to I don't know what's on your to-do list let's say move a mountain how much quantity can you quantify the amount of faith you need to move a mountain Jesus did Matthew 17:20 assuredly I say to you if you have faith as a saint with me as a mustard seed I never had a mustard plant or a mustard tree but the mustard seed that I know is very small if you have faith as a say it again faith as a mustard seed you will say to this mountain you have faith as a mustard seed you will say to this mountain you mountain Everest Kilimanjaro whatever your name is you move from here to there and it will move nothing will be impossible for you let me say that a slightly different way you must believe that mountain size results come from mustard side sees that's tongue twister you must believe they're mountain sized results come from mustard sized seas seeds what the things as on the screen mustard sized seeds you must be Eve God wants to do big things in your life and the path to get there is usually very small true story several years back I was speaking with like a middle school kid during your I kid maybe six seventh eighth grade something like that and the kid good kid great kid I should say fantastic kid but the kid had like a bad habit that he couldn't shake and he was like really really really trying to shake it cuz like he was a good kid like a really good kid like a church kid like good kid and we're gonna pray about this so he prayed we're gonna fast he fasted Bible he Bible biking Church he everything that he needed like everything that you need to do and he took the Bible at its word and the scripture said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me he took it at its word and he said we are more than conquerors through him who loved us and he took him at his word but he couldn't get past this struggle he kept falling and he came to me is his father Anthony I did everything you told me I did everything the Bible said where's the victory in Christ middle school kid and I'll be honest I know what to say to the kid you know why I didn't know what say to the kid because if I'm honest I'm honest I actually I agree I can totally relate and so can you if you're honest you can relate to but God didn't you promise me and if I did and where is the victory and where is the conquer and where is the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions all the powers like where is it where's the peace that surpasses all understanding where's the joy that no one can take from me like where is it and I was struggling with this you know how God answered this prayer for me hit me like a ton of bricks one day I was watching the World's Strongest Man anyone seen the world Strongest Man competition don't one has watched the world strong come on and more people watch the real strongest man maybe like that because I was watching world's strongest maybe you had never seen world strongest man you do not know what you're missing okay these are feats of incredible strength like these people like forget marvel and all that nonsense and the decent like that's but the people who have the the capes and stuff like that these are real human beings who like the competition is like a race pulling an airplane like that's what it is like you're gonna run he's like 50 yards pulling an airplane who could ever can pull that airplane across the 50 yard mark faster would win not playing like a wagon not not not up not pulling like a bicycle pulling an airplane one of them are though the one I remember this particular day was there free the fridge lift okay have you seen the fridge lift competition they basically tie a refrigerator to their back and then they race okay so you know people race they got a refrigerator on their back and they run like this with a refrigerator on their back he's incredible stuff fascinating stuff anyway sorry to deviate a little bit but somewhere between the fridge lift and the plane pull they did like a know what it's called like a special or like a like meet one of the competitors kind of a thing to get to know him and like you know his fun side or whatever it was and they were doing it on the greatest of all the world strongest men competitors Magnus ver Magnusson you guys know Magnus ver Magnusson okay very good that's right now everyone's coming out that's right I like it I like it I like it everyone knows mag news barry magazine if magnus very magazine was stood up on the stage man i would be worried about the stage okay he's a tank and they were doing this piece on him about his mother and his father and whatever it was and it hit me as I was watching it they showed pictures of Magnus ver Magnusson the guy who pulls airplanes and carries refrigerators on his back they showed pictures of him as he was a kid you know what I discovered he was a scrawny little kid he was kind of a puny little guy when he was in physics crate like he didn't come out the womb like you know what I'm saying like thank God for his mom's sake RINO I'm saying like look he didn't come out pulling airplanes you know what I mean like he came out like a puny little guy like the rest of us and when he was in middle school he was a scrawny little kid like nobody could have predicted in middle school where Magnus ver Magnusson the heights he would reach in life pulling airplanes and carrying refrigerators but today he can pull an airplane in middle school he looked like that kid today he could pull an airplane why humor steroids we can give the benefit of the doubt here okay we're not making any assumptions right here okay this is back in the 90s before we knew any of that stuff okay so anyway assuming it wasn't steroids when he was in middle school can let me say it let me just say it clearly when he was in middle school could he pull an airplane no today can he pull an airplane yes why because he trained he worked out he lifted weights hopefully without the help of anabolic steroids he did something about it he had a vision of one day of course I'm assuming this I don't really know the guy but I'm saying assuming Lee had a vision one day I want to pull an airplane but I cannot pull an airplane today so I'm gonna start small and I'm gonna you know you know pull up pull a wagon okay and then maybe like you know like a like a small like a Prius like a hybrid some kind of a thing okay so he started pulling a Prius okay then eventually he worked his way up to like pulling us to Dan okay then like the minivan like so he worked his way up there Kent was a time when he could not pull an airplane no matter how much he tried just like me and you but he worked and he worked and he worked and he worked and he worked and eventually pull an airplane carry a fridge life long term vision big picture who I want to be pass the translate into small steps but you never let go knowing that if I do today and then I next day and then I next thing and then I next day but there is a glorious big huge vision a God has for my life it is verse here from Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 it says for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power that's a strange verse you are complete in him the first half I get he all fullness of Godhead that we're talking about Christ obviously but I'm complete in him but I'm not complete like the middle school kid would say but I'm not complete I have all kinds of issues I have failures you would say the same thing like I would say how this verse says how am i complete complete meaning lacking nothing got everything that I need you know why we are complete because we are complete in him not because we have the actuality and the realization but because we have the potential just like Magnus ver Magnusson was born not with the ability to pull an airplane but with the muscle tissue that if he worked out he could eventually attain this goal we are born the same way spiritually we are in Christ we have the potential the potential but the actuality requires some training requires working out but we have everything that we need inside us you got demons in your life you got serpents and scorpions and every power of the enemy and you said God you give me the authority to trample over them he says yes I give you the trip authority to trample over them and the way you're gonna get there doing it there small steps your small steps I give you the thorn and trample on serpents and scorpions and every power of the enemy but are you willing to do your part and wake up five minutes early to pray I tell you that a man whose ways are pleasing to the Lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him and I will make her enemies to be at peace with you and give you victory over all and life will be peaceful but are you willing to forgive when someone says I'm sorry because if you're not then you'll never find it I tell you I want to bless you 30 60 and 100 fold but your job is to give 10 percent that works Magnus ver Magnusson I want to carry an airplane I get up early do a push up I read one time a nice quote it said that God when he gives us God doesn't give us fruits he gives us seeds God doesn't give us fruits so if God wants you to have a tomato he didn't give you a tomato give you a tomato seed if God wants you to have a cucumber cucumber seed if God wants you to have a watermelon he doesn't put a watermelon tree in your backyard gives you a watermelon seed and says go tended go care for it go cultivate it go do small things come up with a short-term small plan and believe believe believe that if you do your part I will do my part you know there are many examples in the gospel about farming day Jesus spoke quite a bit if there's one analogy he spoke about over and over it's farming and about a man a farmer with the seed or a vineyard or whatever it may be do you know why farming is such a good example for the spiritual life because farming any farmers here in the room today any farmers know ok and he want to be farmers farmers more than any other couple ok farmers more than any other job even more than priests I would say in a lot of ways is a job that requires faith requires big faith and it requires exactly what I'm talking about a long-term vision a long-term belief and a short-term plan because what a farmer has to do is say you know what I want fruit in October so I got to start working some seeds in March and he's got to believe he's got to believe believe believe even before March he's got to believe that to get a fruit on October 1st I got to start on January 1st cultivating the soil and you would say what's the point of the soil we want the fruit no small leads to big short-term plan long-term vision any time you let go of one or the other you're gonna find yourself struggling if you forget about this and it's just cultivating soloed cultivating soil eventually gonna give up cuz this is very frustrating and discouraging cuz nothing could but have all your thinking is one never to get fruit one day I'm gonna get fruit one day I'm gonna get fruit and you don't do the work and I don't find anything we need a short-term plan any long-term belief that's why farmers are the best because that's what they that's how they live James says it this way therefore be patient James 5:7 therefore be patient watch every time he says patient therefore be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain you also be patient you be patient and believe that small things lead to big results that big changes in your life will come when you are consistent successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally when you find those small consistent habits and you stick with them it'll do big things so who knows who knows maybe a little fasting a little self-control on a Wednesday and on a Friday who knows what that might do in my battle against sexual temptation who knows who knows what a little bit of generosity but a little bit of kindness in helping others who knows well blessing that might lead to in my career who knows about what one kind word a day one kind word a day which cost you we did that series on kindness a kind word costs you nothing who knows but one kind word a day when you come home from work might do to your marriage or your children never underestimate the power of small things done consistently you say I can't I fail I can't fix this I can never reach that I'll always fail in this and what I say is believe believe believe believe and that take small steps that you Magnus ver Magnusson your scrawny kid today you're not gonna pull an airplane you can't even pull a do a pull-up but if you believe that you can get there and you were willing to put the work in the short term who knows what your future holds the guy in the Bible who I think mastered this short term long term belief short term plan the guy who mastered this in my opinion was Joseph in the Old Testament I love Joseph I'm a huge Joseph fan I know we're young adults just finished a Bible study on Joseph Joseph was the man and Joseph his most famous the story that's well he's got many famous stories but the passage in Genesis 39 where Joseph was tempted by his boss's wife okay and she tried to seduce him into doing bad stuff and that's his boss's wife and look what happens right here Genesis 39 and it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph and she said lie with me and when she said lie with me she wasn't talking about tell a bad word okay she was saying lie with me in the biblical sense but he refused and said to his master's wife look my master does not know what was with me in the house and he has committed all he has to my handsome Joseph said no lady I ain't doing that stuff with you that's crazy man the master trusted me and it would be a great story if that's what Joseph did the lady came to him and he was just like a servant in the house so and most likely by the way that master's wife didn't just come to Joseph okay she probably went to all the other servants as well and it was just Joseph's turn to Joseph kind of knew this is how the game is played and he came and said no lady but go find somebody else that would be great if that was just the story but look what happens here in verse 10 so it was he said no so it was she spoke to Joseph day by day that he did not heed her to lie with her or to be with her I can't imagine that I can't imagine that temptation like one thing you know the lady comes and she's dressed provocatively and you know lie with me okay know in the name of the Father and Son the Holy Spirit will not lie with you okay like get behind me Satan okay that's great but then day after day after day after day like come on man like come on like enough is enough but at some point just want to shut the lady up and get her off my back justice stood strong day by day by day by day compare that to what we talked about Sampson last week who went step after step after step after step to walk into sin Joseph day by day projected the sin you know why you know why he was able to do that the verse that I didn't show you is verse 9 which is the verse right before and watch this guy and his long-term belief and his vision for his life he said to the lady how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God that's a memory verse by the way in case you want to memorize a good verse alright if you're struggling with temptation you go Genesis 39 9 how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God let's read it together 1 2 3 how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God No emphasize the I it's I again with me how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God what Joseph is saying is look lady I respect you I respect your husband I don't wanna lose my job but you don't know me you don't know me God has a great plan for me you don't know me like you I understand the other people that you mess around with like I'm not like them not judging them but I'm better than them not that I'm judging them but what I'm saying is I don't mean the judgmental way Menten and they like God has a great vision for my life I want more than just to be a servant the rest of my life I want the blessing of God God has told me that I'm gonna rule over my brothers and I'm gonna have a big impact on this world I got a vision where I'm gonna be so I'm not judging you lady I'm not judging other people that you did this in with they can do it but I can't you know what we need to do or you know our problem is we don't have this vision we all have this vision we need to walk around with this vision say how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God don't you know who I am again I know it sounds arrogant when it's coming out my mouth now but it's not meant to be arrogant don't you know who I am I'm a child of the Most High God I'm someone who comes to church every Sunday and receives the body and blood of Christ inside me I'm a child of God I'm precious I'm loved he's got a great plan for me and my marriage and my kids and my kids marriage and my church and my service that God has a great plan for me so you know what with all due respect you can sin but I can because I have a vision where I want to end up on that vision translated to action verse 11 it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work and none of the men was inside the house that she'd caught him by the garment saying lie with me like now I like enough is enough like you did your best to run away but she got you now and she took your clothes like come on me like no one's gonna blame you like look what he does he left his garment in her hand and fled out and ran outside and the end for those of know the rest of the story now he ran out naked like a fool they ended up getting put in jail and he could have gotten killed because the master's wife said that she tried to do this for me of course no one's gonna believe him he's a slave the Joseph risked everything Joseph was willing to risk it all but he said you know what I can't I cannot do this because I Know Who I am how about you do you believe that God can use a small habit and make a big change in your life do you believe that just setting the alarm clock five minutes earlier might be a game-changer in your spiritual life do you believe like I said they just turn off your phone a nine o'clock at night might be a game changer in your marriage do you believe that maybe something as simple as like what difference does it make if I go to church every Sunday versus like most Sundays do you believe that could be a game-changer for the rest of your life ask anyone who did anything great in this world anyone who did anything great will tell you how they did anything great which is one small step at a time they held on to the vision and they had the small term steps mother Teresa you did great things no I didn't I just helped one person in front of me when I was finished helping that person I just helped the next person in front of me no I didn't do anything great I was just helping one person in front of me John the Baptist jesus said about you greatest prophet all of them John about saying I didn't do anything great all I did was just say one message over and over repent for the kingdom is at hand that's all I did I just did one thing I did one thing there was one small thing not that big a deal Saint Anthony you're the greatest you're the light okay that shines all through heaven and mum people say about you and you were the greatest you're the greatest I didn't do anything I did one thing I walked into church one day and I heard the gospel being read and it said if you want to be perfect go sell what you have give to the poor and come follow me you'll have treasure in heaven that's all I did I obeyed one commandment do anything great I just did one thing was a very small thing greatness is not great things not big things greatness is small things done consistently can you believe that small things will make a big change I'll tell you this believing doesn't guarantee success in life and I'm not trying to sell you a false bill of goods right here but I will tell you this did not believe in guarantees failure believing doesn't guarantee your success but not believing 100% guarantees your failure so again throw back to you done the series about four weeks about how we can make small things into big things and my question to you is where are you trying to get to in life what's the vision what do you believe I hope that was out the front and not the back end I was hoping okay sue me what do you believe God wants to do in your life where you want to end up 5 years 10 years 20 years what's the vision what's the plan what's the belief and then once you have that we start who before do we start with always the identity what do you want God to do in your life what do you believe God wants to do in your life then you translate that and you find small steps what small steps can I take that you know what I'm not gonna get there overnight I'm not gonna pull an airplane overnight but you know what by the end of this year I'll be one step closer I might enter the next year another step closer another step closer notice step closer do you believe that God wants to do big things in your life and he will use small things to get you there I'll read this verse and then I'm done Matthew 13 58 insert your own name in here now he being God did not do many mighty works there being potentially you because of their unbelief I read this verse I will say if I want never hear a verse said about my household is this verse I never want God to look down at our church and my home of my heart and say you know what had great plans but did not do many mighty works why God why he didn't do many mighty works there they had great goals dad is their unbelief one of our core values here at St si is faith filled vision faithful vision if you remember and membership class talking about faith filled vision that we believe in a big God we don't believe in a little God we believe in a big God a big huge God who does amazing things all the time and we are going to rely on that big God to do extraordinary things in our lives one of the things we even say in our core values we are more surprised when God doesn't do a miracle than when he does put back to you is that's not just a church thing that's not we just believe in God who do big things for us as a church we believe in God do big things for us individuals and our families in our homes in our hearts I throw it out to you today say what is it you want God to do in your life there's no limits to what God will do and the life of someone who has the faith to believe and a plan to achieve let's stand up together and say your prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God amen Heavenly Father we thank you there's been oh Lord you got big plans for our lives and you didn't put you didn't create any ordinary people you in create any one just to kind of pass time in this world and each one of us Lord you've gifted and you blessed in certain ways because you have a big big big vision and I pray Lord that you would imprint that big vision on our hearts some people standing here today their vision is getting smaller and smaller every single day in every failure and every time that was a bad habit kicks in the vision gets a little smaller but I pray today Lord but you would expand our vision of what you want to do in our lives in our homes in our church in our community I pray that you would help us to see with your eyes and then I pray that you would help us to translate that big vision into small steps knowing that successful people do consistently what other people just do occasionally give us Lord the discipline and the self-control that we need to be able to take small steps day after day to achieve your vision for our lives we pray these things in the mighty name of your son prayers of all of your saints here says we pray thankfully our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one in Christ Jesus our Lord for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen

Channel: STSA Church

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Id: 0lwBzxJVDTA

Length: 51min 49sec (3109 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 25 2019