Put First Things First

Hello, and welcome to the Salt Church Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this week's message. Join us as we explore God's Word providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you are about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning worship experience. If you would like to learn more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.

org. We hope that you are encouraged by today's message. But the phrase actually that truly came to me was plate tectonics. And I was like, okay, I haven't thought about those since eighth grade. I haven't really thought about the ground, you know, at all since ever.

But when I went home, I started to do some research. And I feel like it wasn't just for me because 2018 didn't just suck just for me. And I know that it really was a place of hurting and a lot of loss occurred and a lot of pain occurred in 2018 for a lot of people in this room. And so I started doing some research. And so apparently plate tectonics is this theory where there's this hot lava and craziness and chaos occurring deep below the surface, which then causes these plates to shift.

And I felt like 2018 was that internal shifting and a lot of chaos happened for people and a lot of loss and a lot of pain and a lot of tears were cried in 2018. But the cool thing was that it created this continental drift in our lives where our foundations were going to be laid solid. And so, but when I started doing some even more research, there's two things that happen even still today with plate tectonics, if that's the metaphor. So, you know, it's not new year, new me. It's same time.

I'm also like, you know, samesies. I don't like change in 2019. My life is still continuing on. So, therefore, these plates are still moving and adjusting in my life. And I feel like as a body, two things can happen with the tears that we cried in 2018.

Either the plates run together and one goes underneath the other and it creates a trench. So it's called subduction. And sometimes those trenches go really, really deep. And then other times the plates run together and it's called uplift and that creates mountains. So what are you doing with the tears that you cried in 2018?

Are you creating an uplift? Are you creating a spiritual mountain for yourself? Are you believing in faith that God's going to carry you through? Are you changing? Are you pressing in?

Or are you creating a trench with the tears that you cried in 2018? So that's my prayer. And I know that we're about to enter into this period of fasting. And gosh, guys, I'm really believing for breakthrough for this church in 2019. We're going to experience this continental drift and we're going to get settled.

And we're going to become a new body. And also through this period, I'm also believing that the Holy Spirit is going to really pour out and he's going to give some words to other people too. And I also just want to welcome other people if they're feeling like they have a word from the Holy Spirit that's going to benefit the body. If they'll just step out in faith and be nervous for a little bit too. I love you guys.

Wow. Yeah, our dream team was praying really hard today that God's presence would just fall in his place. And he is here today, guys. Just words of prophecy, words of wisdom. We're a full gospel church.

We believe in all those things, you know. And we invite, you know, the body to benefit the body of Christ. That's what it's all about so that we can be equipped and to go out into the world and be who Christ has called us to be. Amen. So those tears that you shed in 2018, hallelujah, God's going to use them to do amazing things.

A firm foundation. How does the Holy Spirit move when we're singing about firm foundations? And she comes up and shares about that, you know. Amen. Let's just sing that one more time.

I will build my trust. I will build my trust. I know I do this a lot because I believe that church is a place we should celebrate Jesus. But just give them more and more hand clap of praise. Hallelujah.

We just thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Won't you connect with somebody in here? Give somebody a high five. Hug them real quick.

Introduce yourself as we transition to the next part of the service. I'm starting a new series today called Uphill Habits. And before I get into Uphill Habits, if you're a guest with us today, I'm so thrilled you're with us. I'd love to meet you after church. There is a connection card in the bifold.

And I would love for you to fill that out. We're not going to harass you or anything. We just want to send you something, let you know. And just let you know we appreciate you being here. We also have a gift at the Welcome Center if you want to drop those off there.

Or you can put them in the offering bucket or in the box in the back of the church. So we have different options depending on who you are and your personality. But I would love to meet you. And we're so excited you're here with us today. But our new series, Uphill Habits, I love this series because it's, you know, God was speaking to me about habits.

And coming into the new year, like I said, it seems like yesterday was the beginning of the year. And some of you have gotten to this side of the year. And you're like, man, I didn't accomplish a lot of the goals. And there's some habits I need to get rid of. And we're always thinking about habits.

I know I've already started doing some things around my house. Every year in January, it's just automatically you want to do some new things, right? I want to organize my life a little better. I want to do better at this and less at this. But we all have habits.

We all have habits. And someone once said this. Some people give credit to Aristotle. We are what we repeatedly do. We are what we repeatedly do.

Let me say it like this. We form our habits and then our habits form us. We form our habits and then our habits form us. So we have these habits in our lives that whether they just kind of happen automatically or over a period of time or something we're intentional about, those habits that we have in our life actually form who we are. It makes us who we are.

Habits have the ability to change us or to make us a different person, whether it's good habits or whether it's bad habits. And the thesis of this, kind of pulling you back to this, here's what I want to say. Just this one statement here. Most people have uphill hopes and downhill habits. Most people have uphill hopes.

You have a lot of hope, but hope won't exactly get you there by itself. Hope isn't a strategy. Hope is a good start, but hope isn't a strategy. And we have these uphill hopes, but we have these downhill habits. And I want to teach you some things that will help bring some life change to you to help you have a better year, have a great year this year by looking at some habits.

So we're calling this uphill habits, because these types of... The habits that God shares with us and that we want to institute in our lives aren't necessarily easy. There's a lot of easy habits that we pick up that aren't necessarily, that are downhill and easy and bring us to places that we may not want to be. But anything worthwhile takes a little work, right? Anything worthwhile takes work.

It's challenging, it takes effort, you have to be deliberate, you have to be intentional about it. I got my kid, Max, a Nintendo Switch for Christmas. And I'm telling you, I've wasted so much time playing video games in the last couple of weeks, you know, since Christmas. Because we were playing, you know, we got these games and he wants me to help and we're doing like the double, the Mario Odyssey game, you know, where one person plays Cappy and the other one plays Mario. And we're just having a great time and I'm looking down, I'm like, I've been playing this for two hours and I haven't done this in years, you know?

I'm like, I need to really get away from this because I've wasted a lot of time, but it was fun. And the interesting thing about Max, and if you have kids, you've seen it too, and some of you are big kids, so you probably have dealt with it when you're playing games, you get aggravated. Oh, this is so hard, this is so hard. He gets to these levels. Why is it so hard?

I don't like it hard. Why does it have to be hard? I don't want to play anymore. And it gave me an opportunity to share with my seven-year-old son that not everything comes easy in life and the best things are harder to get because if it was easy, it wouldn't be a good game. If it was easy, you wouldn't feel like you really earned something.

And he kind of looked at me and a lot of times I don't think things get through to him and he just kind of goes on. But I think he really started to take that in. You're right, Dad, you know? And that's a lesson for all of us, you know? Things are hard, but the best things are going to require some effort.

I remember my mother telling me one time when she came in, she was an administrative nurse and had to work with a lot of different people. And she came in one time when I was young. I think I was about 12 years old. She sat across the table from me and she just looked like she had a bad day at work. How many of you have been there?

You came home and you're just like, uh, and she looked over at me. She says, Leon, all you have to do is work hard and do what you're supposed to do and you can be successful. Just work hard because there's a lot of people out there that don't and they don't care and they want something given to them without any effort. But if you put in the effort, if you put in the intentionality, you can be successful. And let that be a message for you.

You can be successful. You can be successful in these things that you put for your new year. You can actually win this new year. 2019 can be the best year for you. You just got to have hope.

And with that hope, be intentional. And because we have the uphill habits are the best habits. And here's the good news. God can help you with them. God's with you and he can help you.

And we're going to talk about four of those habits over the next four weeks. So I want you to be with me. Stay with me through this four-week series. Because I believe that if you take some of these things, and I'm telling you it's not going to be easy. But if you apply some of these habits, these God habits that he gives us, you could have a completely different year than you had last year.

So let's get rid of the excuses today, first and foremost, okay? I posted something on social media not long ago about what's your New Year's resolution. And there were several people that posted, I don't do New Year's resolutions because I never can fulfill any of those New Year's resolutions. So I don't even try because I only disappoint myself. But for most of you, you want some New Year's resolutions.

You want some new habits. You want some things that you want to accomplish. So I want us today just to get rid of the excuses, saying that you can't do it this year. And I've tried every year, and I'm hopeless because it never really works out. Get rid of all of that stuff today.

Can you do that with me? Can I get a good amen on that? Let's just get rid of all of that devil-speaking stuff over your life. And let's just put it to the side. And we're going to have the best 2019 ever.

Amen? Amen. So there are three things you're going to need as we start this journey on habits. But the first one is, if you're following your notes, you need hope for the future. You need hope for the future.

Because some of you are beyond hope. Some of you have just given up. You've done the same old song and dance year after year, and you just can't do it anymore. And you don't even want to hear this message because you think it's going to be worthless for you. Well, you know, Jesus, there's a story in the Bible in John 4.

10, and there's this woman. She was a Samaritan woman by the well. We call it the woman by the well. Many of you are familiar with that story. And I looked at this passage a little bit different this past couple of weeks when I was studying it.

And when you look at this in context, Jesus has sent his disciples to the town to get some food. And he walks up to a well. He's thirsty, and he sees a woman drawing water, and he asks for a drink of water. Now, what you know about this woman is that she was a Samaritan woman. And her immediate answer was, what are you asking me to do this for?

You know you're not supposed to have any business with me because she was a Samaritan woman, and Jews had no business being around any Samaritan people in general. In fact, they would make long ways around, long paths around the cities where Samaritans lived to avoid them. Why? Because Samaritans were interbred with these Assyrians and different people of that time. And the Jewish people had to stay clean, so they had to stay away from them.

So they would go on long trips around these cities. They would put extra hours in just to avoid the Samaritans. And Jesus is here talking to a Samaritan woman. Not only is she a Samaritan, but she's a woman. And in that day, men didn't just talk to women.

So in this respect, this woman looked at him and said, You're really too good for me. You shouldn't be talking to me. Why are you having any kind of business with me? And his response was this. He says, If you only knew, if you knew, the gift God has for you, and who you were speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.

If you knew. I love how the message paraphrase puts it. If you only knew the generosity of God, then you wouldn't be asking, I wouldn't be asking you for water. You would be asking me for a water. You would be asking me for a new kind of water, a water that never runs dry, a water that fulfills.

If you only knew who I was, if you only knew what God was capable of doing in your life, if you only knew, and that's the issue. So many people don't know. Perhaps you're somebody that doesn't know if you only knew the generosity that God could pour on your life, if you only knew that he could restore your marriage. You're having difficulties, and you don't know which ends up. God can restore that.

If you only knew that he could bring your finances together, that he could just make dollar bills appear out of thin air. We have testimonies of that today. Someone shared a testimony just Christmas, how God just blessed them and has provided for them, and they just can't, they're just overwhelmed with the generosity of God. If we only knew. Woman, if you only knew that I could restore you, that I could save you, that I could heal you of your disease, if you only knew the generosity of God, I wouldn't be asking water from you.

I wouldn't be asking obedience from you. You would be willing to put it in. You would be willing to obey me. You would be willing to do what I ask you to do. If you only knew what heaven is capable of doing, if you only knew what heaven is capable of doing, if you only knew what heaven is capable of doing, if you only knew what heaven is capable of doing, if you only knew what heaven is capable of doing, if you only knew what heaven is capable of doing, if you only knew what heaven is capable of doing, If You Only Knew, and perhaps that's what God is telling you today.

If You Only Knew, and the stories in this room over the past year, over the past two years, over the past three years of this very young church, if we could hear some of the stories, if I could open up the stage today, you already heard some, and there's more to come, you would learn about the generosity that God has poured out on people who love, that they really have experienced the love of God, because if you only knew. My point today is, open up your hearts to the King, and listen, and see what he has to say. These uphill habits, they may be hard, you may be without hope, but you need hope for the future. Jeremiah 29 11 says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future. Many of you have heard that, and the context of that verse is Israel's in exile.

They've been, a country has come in and enslaved them, and God's given them this promise. Many of you are enslaved today. You're under slavery, you're under bondage, and God's given you a promise today. I know the plans I have for you. I'm going to prosper you.

I'm going to prosper you. I'm going to prosper you. I'm going to prosper you. I'm going to do you a hope. I'm going to give you a future.

He wants to give you a future. And the second thing on this journey is, we need repentance from our past. Repentance. Repentance from our past. We actually need to repent.

Now, it's more than just a feeling of remorse, okay? Well, oh God, I'm on my knees, and I'm so sorry. sorry. And that's part of it. But the literal definition, the meaning of repentance in the original language is to take, to make a 180 degree turn, to change your direction and line up with what God wants you to do with God's ways.

It's changing your plans, changing your directions. You're going to have to make some decisions in your life, basically. You can't do things the way you've always done it. If you're going to go down the path of uphill habits, that's going to make your life better. You cannot go the same direction you're going.

If you're familiar with substance abuse counseling and organizations and things, there's this, there's this, my life in five chapters story that's often shared within these, these places. And here's how it goes. My life in five chapters. Chapter one, I went for a walk. I fell in a deep hole and it took me a long time to get out.

Chapter two, I went for a walk and I fell in the same deep hole and it took me a long time to get out. Chapter three, I went for a walk and I saw a hole. I got a little too close and I slipped in and it took me a long time to get out. Chapter four, I went for a walk and I saw the hole and I decided to walk around the hole. And in chapter five, I went down another street.

And some of you need to go down another street. You need to avoid the hole altogether. And God wants to take us down another street. So we need to turn, make a 180 degree turn, line up with God and go the direction he wants you to go. Paul talks about this in Philippians 3.

1. He says, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken a hold of it. I'm still working guys. I'm not perfect. That's what he says.

But one thing I do, I forgetting what is behind me because the past is the past. I can't do anything about that. I've messed up. It's done. The past is the past.

Put those things behind me and straining toward what's ahead. I'm focused on what's ahead. I'm making a new path. I'm making a new change. I'm pressing on toward the goal to win the prize, which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

So I've changed my path. I'm focused on Jesus. I'm focused on the things of God. I'm forgetting about what, uh, forget about it. You know, like joy from friends.

If any of your nineties people, you know, forget about it, forget, you know, or, or, or the Italians or whatever, you know, forget about it. If you're Italian in here, you know about that. Is that, is that a rumor again? I mean, does it forget about it kind of thing? Cause he's, yeah, it's all true.

Okay. Forget about it. We need to forget about the past, forget about the past and move forward and aim, uh, change your path and your life can be much different. That's it. Your life can be much different.

It's not going to be the same. And then we're going to develop uphill habits. We're going to develop developing your uphill habits. It's hard, but it's doable. And God's going to help you.

Romans 12, two in the message. I love it. How it says, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out, readily recognize what he wants for you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity.

That's what the culture does. And we continually are drawn back to those things, pressing us down, conforming us to their ideas and bringing us to immature states. God brings the best out of you. He wants the best for you. He wants you to be the best.

You develops well-formed maturity in you. And most start from the outside. Well, I need to fix this. I need to do this. I need to do this better.

And maybe the inside will change. But what he's saying here, it starts from the inside. It's about a change on the inside. It's a spiritual change. And that's where I want to start with, with number one, the habit.

Habit one this week is focus on what I do first. You need to focus on what you do first. Focus on what I do first. If you're taking notes, pin that in, write that down. This is a habit you need to create.

Focus on what you do first this year. And I'm going to look at a biblical first. And you can always tell a person or about a person by what they put first in their lives. I can look at a person. I can see what they put first in their lives.

And I can tell you where that path's going or more than likely what they're like. So it's important for us to put the right things first. It's important for that. So number one, I want us to do this. First of all, put God first.

Put God first. If God is not first in your life, if you can hit the screen, get that, put God first. Are we missing that note? Okay. Put God first.

If God is not first in your life, he isn't really a part of your life. Uh, he's, he's not in the equation is really what it comes down to. If he's not first in your life, you're not first or he's not first and you're not going, and you're not allowing him to be a part of your life. Really what it comes down to. If he's not first in your life, you're not allowing him to be a part of your life.

And God will only take, God only wants one place. He only allows one place in your life and that's first or he's not in it at all. He didn't give us the option for any other place in our lives. He wants, he wants our lives to be first. God will only take one place.

He is either Lord of your life or he is not. So you have to sit back and ask yourself, is God number one in my life? Genesis 1.1. And this is probably a little out of context, guys.

I know that. But Genesis 1.1, all of you know this, in the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. Because from the very beginning, it was God.

He breathed life, he spoke, and things leapt into his existence in the beginning. God. And if he was the beginning, he should be the beginning now in everything we do. He is always the beginning of everything. Everything began with him, therefore everything we do should begin with him.

Every day, every week, every month, every year. Exodus 20.1 and 3 says, and God spoke all these words, I am the Lord your God. He's talking to Israel. He's telling them exactly who he is, who brought you out of Egypt.

Out of the land of slavery, I did all that for you, I broke you out of there, I freed you from there, and you shall have no other gods before me, because there's no negotiating this, I am the god of all gods, and we have a lot of gods in our lives, now think about it for a second, we're not carving out trees, images in trees, and bowing down to those things, are we? We're not carving rocks out, and having them in our house, and we're bowing down to those things, and maybe some people are, some cultures are around this area, I don't know, but most people in America are not doing that, and we often think about that when we put gods before us, but gods are anything you put before him, anything. What you do first tells a lot about yourself, I'm not going to mention any names today, but I had, because I don't want to embarrass anybody, you know, he didn't give me permission to share this, but I'm sure he won't have a problem with this, but I was having a conversation with a leader here in our church, and he said he was fasting and really having a hard time with it, a water fast, and he almost went off the fast for a day, or what have you, to go work out, because he's really into CrossFit, and I was like, oh, okay, so, so, you know, but I didn't, without any interruption, he said, but I realized that I have a problem, because CrossFit is before what God wants me to do, and I was like, yeah, that could be a god in your life, anything can be a god in your life, whether it's CrossFit, or any kind of sport, or any kind, you know, family can even be a god in your life, did you realize that? Ooh, that's, that's, that's kind of punchy, but it's true, anything that you put before God, anything that you put up on a high, in place of God, God, I'm putting you to the side right now, and I'm putting this in place, anything that gets in the way of what God has for you, is a god. God.

So, we need to assess our gods, all these little gods we have, all these little g-gods, all over the place that, that we are a part of, and there's no negotiating with God. Number two, give God the first of everything. Don't just give God first, we need to give God the first of everything, and we often speak of first fruits, and you have a lot of preachers that kind of, kind of, they, they mean well, but they misuse scripture to kind of get a lot of money in the door, you know, you know, like, you need to give your first fruits and stuff, but it's so much more than just financially. Now, financially, finances is a part of it, and many of us understand that, but it's every, everything, everything. Leviticus 27, 30 says, the tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil, or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord.

Everything. It is holy to the Lord. Everything. Everything. A tithe of everything.

Deuteronomy 14, 23, in the Living Bible, I love how this paraphrase says it's the purpose. There's a purpose behind tithing, and this is, what I believe is to do something for us, is to teach us. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God in first place in your life. That's the purpose of the tithe. The purpose is to teach us how to put him first.

Now, how do we do that? I'll give you some practical things here. First of all, you need to put them first, the first of your year. The first of your year. We give God the first of our year, because here's the deal.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't do 2019 without God. I just can't. And that's why I have to set aside some time the first of the year to really focus on him and his will for this coming year. And we do something very practical here at the church that we invite everybody to participate in, and we call it 21 days of fasting. And you heard a little bit about that at the beginning of the service, but let me explain that a little more.

Every year, we set aside three weeks, three weeks of prayer, and then we tag on fasting, if you're ready to go to the next level, prayer and fasting for the next three weeks, to give God his time. God is just asking three weeks out of your year to set first fruits, first, the first period of your year, starting tomorrow, and we'll end on the 20, 27th. And it's, it's, I'm telling you, it's an awesome time. If you, it's one of those uphill things, because it's not easy. I'm telling you, I'm already counting the days off, man, because I love, I love eating.

I love doing all those things, you know. It's one of my favorite parts of, of who I am. I love food, and, and there's a lot of things in my life I enjoy very much. And it gets really hard in the wintertime when you're fasting and a big snow comes or something, you're stuck indoors and you want some comfort food, you know. And I'm like, I can't eat that.

I can't eat that. What am I going to do, you know. Maybe play video games, you know, because I'm not really addicted to those. I can, you know, whatever. But, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's not easy.

So we're, we're asking, I'm asking everyone, everyone as a part of our church to consider giving three, three weeks out of your entire year to some type of fast. And it doesn't have to be a food fast. A lot of people do complete fast where they give up food. And if you're called to do that, amen, do it. It's, it's not as hard as you think it is really.

I mean, it, it, it, it's hard at first, you know, but it's, it's doable, you know, it is very doable. And maybe you're called to do that. An all water fast or maybe an all liquid fast or something like that for, for the next 21 days. And then there's a selective fast. Some people, that's where you eat certain foods, but not others.

You, you cut out breads and sugars. Some people do like paleo diets and, and, and different things. It's really up to you and what God tells you to do because it's really a heart thing, right? So you, you ask God what you want to do. And then there's, there's a select, there's a partial fast.

A lot of people do partial fast. I've done partial fast before and combined it with some other types of things where, where you give up a meal or two a day or give up all meals a day and do it like a Jewish fast where it's from sunup to sundown, you don't eat. So that's an option. And all of these are biblical fasts and they're all effective. Every one of them is effective.

No one is better than the other. It's just about what God tells you to do. And then there's one that's not necessarily in the Bible, but I think it's very useful and effective as well. And some people call this a soul fast and which is, which means just giving up some kind of technology and entertainment or, or something over the next 21 days that has you. The point is, what has you?

What has your heart? What, what's in place of God in your life? What, what pulls you away from spending time with God? Take, take time the first part of the year. And instead of focusing on those things, focus on God, seek him for this new year and see what he has to say and, and, and go to him.

Uh, uh, just, just, just take out those, those portions of your life for three weeks. And I promise you, God's going to do something amazing in your life. And it might not even happen the first couple of weeks because they're going to be miserable. But I've, I've actually had, I mean, we don't, well, I don't want to bum you out, but at time for some people it is. Some people it's very easy.

Maybe I don't know. But for me, sometimes it's all the way up to the last 20 few days that I really, really hear from God and God does something special in my life. But I ask you, once you start it, stay with it, stay with it. Cause so many people, they start it and then after five, six days, I just don't know if I could do this anymore, but stick with it because God, God has something for you. And I, and I just invite everyone to participate.

Imagine a church where everybody participated in this and just, just seek to God for their lives, for our church, for our community, for their families, for, for everyone, for, for 21 days. Do this for 21 days. In fact, we don't even do small groups. Small groups won't launch till February because we want everybody to have the opportunity to really focus on this because in small groups, we get together and eat, you know. So we don't want to, you know, and those who have selective fasts and partial fasts and stuff, we don't want to hinder that.

So we're really just allowing this time for people to do this. So giving up something. Give them the first of your year. Secondly, give them the first of your month. The first of your month.

This involves scheduling and budgeting. And that means make God a part of your scheduling. Make God a part of your month. When you're budgeting or when you're scheduling, make sure God's scheduled in your schedule. God, I'm looking at my month.

Are you in there? And make sure your wife and your kids are scheduled in as well, you know, because they have a priority in your life as well. You need to do these. You need to schedule out your month. Make sure you're giving God that opportunity to be a part of your life or to be first in your life.

And then budgeting as well. You need to look at your budget and say, okay, God, are we giving you this? What are we doing? Tithing and giving. You know, how much are we going to give?

God, I want to honor you with this. This is an act of worship when we do this. It's a heart thing. And God, you know, I'm putting you first. And when I write out this check, I'm giving to the church or I'm giving to whatever.

Whatever I'm to giving or or to to some kind of project with the church or whatever it is, it's not about the church necessarily having more money. It's great that we can do projects and we build buildings and we can do more ministry and we can give to the poor and we can do things. You know, we can do all kinds of things that money. And that's great. But it's really not about that, because going back, it teaches us to put God first.

That's really what it's about. It teaches us that we're honoring God with our money so that he can ultimately bless us back. He can show us the gratitude and the generosity that he has for us. And that's why we do it. It's not it's budgeting to put God first.

So we give him the first of our month and then we give him the first of our week. The first of our week. That's Sundays. Isn't it cool that Sunday is the first part of the week where we come together today? You are starting your week.

And the reason you're here today is because you take this very seriously. I want to give him the first of my week. I want to be consistent in giving him my Sunday mornings because I'm going to have a much better six days if I give him that seventh day. Right. That first day in that seven day week.

And the cool thing is the Sabbath was originally on Saturday under the Jewish custom, under the Jewish law. It was a command. It was a law by God to rest on the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath holy. But what the Christians did when Jesus came and fulfilled the law, they moved the Sabbath, the Christian church, to Christian followers, these people that they called Christians, little Christ, gathered together, not only to say that Christ is the fulfillment. Christ rose from the dead on this day.

We're celebrating a risen Christ and we're no longer under Jewish law, but the fulfillment of the law, which is through the ultimate fulfillment, which is Jesus Christ. Not only is it for that, but we're putting God first in our week. We're coming together to celebrate. We're coming together to give. We're coming together to share a word together.

We're coming together to do all these things together to celebrate him. And I don't know what it is about today, but that's one thing I believe the church, and I think some of it is just technology and people can sit at home, be at home now, and I'm not forbidding that. In fact, one of the initiatives we want to do this year is put our church online, and that way we can have online services. So if you can't make it to church that Sunday or something comes up or whatever, you can pop it online and watch it from home and engage from home and things like that. So that's kind of our next initiative this coming year.

We want to do that. So I think these are very good things because we live in a world. But often people just neglect the meeting together. In fact, Paul talked about that. Don't forsake the meeting together.

Guys, as some of you are in the habit of doing, he got on to them. He said, you're getting in the habit of this bad habit of not giving God your first of your week, and you need this. You really do need this. Some of you know that. Some of you have said that publicly.

You know, like I was out of church for a while, and things fell apart. But when I got back and I was able to be encouraged and build up and equipped and work and share and do ministry with others, God just did something special my whole week and my whole month, you know, when I got consistent with it again. These things are important. Putting God first. And not only celebrating on Sundays, but resting.

When I was young, we got out of church. We went home, my family, and we ate. We had a big meal around the table, which was nice, you know, all together. And usually it was pot roast and potatoes because that's what North Carolinians do. We eat pot roast and potatoes all the time, you know, carrots and potatoes, and put them in the oven.

And that's every Sunday. I got pretty sick of pot roast and potatoes. And sometimes I'm like, oh, pot roast and potatoes when Miranda fixes it or whatever because I ate it every Sunday, it seemed like. And then we would rest. We would chill out.

My parents were pretty strict about not going out, not doing anything, taking naps, really resting that day, giving that day as a time to really just rest. Go take a nap. Go take a nap. Some of you need to take some naps. Some of you need to stop working seven days a week.

Some of you got to, I mean, some of you don't even, well, you know, I do this and I do this. I got to entertain. Man, some of you, man, I'm actually envious of you because every time I go on Facebook, y'all are going to an event. I'm like, there's an event this weekend, middle of the week, next week. Y'all are always at events.

I'm like, man, are y'all exhausted from doing that? Because I don't know. Sometimes we just need to stop. We need to stop and just give God a day. Chill out.

Thank you, Randy. Chill out. Let me just say it like that. I'm going to use my language. I'm going to chill and grill and hang out and enjoy my day, right, and not do anything and sleep and relax and let God replenish me.

And I'm speaking to the choir here, I know. I'm speaking to myself here because I think that's one of the most neglected commandments in the Bible, one of the things that God really wants us to honor, the principle we want us to honor. And then lastly, the first of my day. Give him the first of your day. Give him the first of your day.

And I'm a firm believer in waking up early in the morning and just giving him that first. I mean, as early as your eyes opening and you're looking at the ceiling and you say, God, thank you for this day. Thank you, I'm alive today. I'm giving you this day. This day is yours.

And let me just give you some practical stuff. Everybody has 15 minutes in their day, 15 minutes. Just start out with 15 minutes. I got this idea from another pastor, call it the first 15, first 15. And the first 15 is you open up the Word for five minutes, read the Bible, read the Word.

Maybe it's a devotional, maybe you're going through a one year's study of the Bible or whatever it is, a reading of the Bible, reading plan, whatever it is, there's lots of information out there. You can use it fairly easy, five minutes in the Bible. You can do it as groups if you need to. You know, there's ways you can connect online. Miranda and a group of people here at the church are doing a one year study through a chronological Bible and they're talking about the things they're reading throughout the week.

They'll read it in the morning or read it in the afternoon, evening, whenever they want to on their own and they'll post something and they'll interact and engage during the day about it. So it's really, really cool. I mean, there's all kinds of things you can do that and it helps you grow and learn and there's all kinds of practical ways of doing that. So give five minutes, just five minutes. Just start off with five minutes for Bible reading and then five minutes of worship.

Cut on a song. Maybe you're not a singer, but just soak in the moment as you listen to my firm foundation, you know, my rock, you know, just put on some worship and for five minutes, just, just allow God to minister to you. Then go into prayer for five minutes. Prayer for five minutes. The first 15.

And if you do that for 365 days this year and stay consistent with it, make it a habit in your life, it's going to change. It's going to change you. It's going to change your days. It's going to change your weeks. It's going to change your frustrations.

It's going to change. I'm telling you, this is not just a principle. This is a promise. This is a promise. God, if you give him the first, if you give him the first, and this is the last point I want to make, number three, and expect God to bless the rest.

Expect God to bless the rest. That's a promise. That's a promise, guys. Now, I'm not up here telling you that you're going to be blessed with this amount of money if you give this amount of money or whatever. That's not what I'm saying.

It's much bigger, much better, greater than that. The blessings that God has for you, the things that God has for you, it's much greater than that. It's not just a principle, like I said earlier. It's a promise. It's a promise that if you do this, I will do this.

I will pour out so many blessings on you. These habits that if you start participating in these uphill habits that I've given you, if you do these things, I promise you, I promise you, I will fill your barns. Look what Proverbs 3, 6, and 10 says. In all your ways, acknowledge him. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with your first fruits of all your crops.

And when your barns will be filled, then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. New wine, new blessing, new year, new things. Take that step. Take that step. If you've never done that, take...

And I believe in doing small things that build to big things, and that's why I give you like 15 minutes in the morning, and just three weeks out of the gear. And I promise you, you'll be so excited about what God does for you and how he's changed your life. He's changed your trajectory. He's done everything. Things are just feeling different.

You're going to want to do more. You're just going to want to do more. And he'll do much more than you ever expected him to do. Much more than you... Much more than...

He will go beyond, above and beyond. Because guess what he wants? He wants to bless his children. These are not commandments that he just throws out there because he wants us to be good, and wants us to do the right things. He wants you to be blessed.

He loves you. He loves you. God, you cannot afford... You cannot afford to give God the first of your year. You just can't.

You need the time. You need the strength. You need all of that because this is... It's a busy world. There's a lot going on.

Life is hard, but you need this. This is why God says, come to me first. I will give you rest. He even says, my yoke is easy. Come to me.

My yoke is actually easy. It doesn't seem as counterintuitive, but it does. The yoke that we put on horses that are heavy... My yoke is the nice yoke. Mine is like the Barney style yoke, you know?

Like the high-end yoke. It's not the Walmart brand. It's that high-end brand that you have to purchase. And it takes, you know, weeks for it to come in. And it's like three times the money.

And it's special. And it's tailored and all that stuff. That's the yoke I have for you. That's the one I... And it's special for you.

It's uniquely purposed for you. And that's what he has for you, too. If you're willing to take the step and receive what he has for you. With all heads bowed and all eyes closed, I just want to pray for everybody in this place. Perhaps you're here today.

You've heard this. And maybe life is tough. Maybe you're dealing with some things in life. And you're like, Pastor, I needed this message. Help me.

Help me to make that next step. I want to pray for you today. I want to pray for everybody here as we're going through this new year. This new year. And God, I pray that you would encourage us and motivate us.

Help us see that we need to put first things first. And that this church as a whole would honor that one promise. So that you can bless the rest. I pray blessings over this entire church. I pray for stories.

We had so many testimonies this past year. We had lots of people saved. Lord, we thank you for that. We had lots of people baptized this past year. We're so thankful for that.

It was a wonderful 2018. But 2019, you're going to do so much more. You're going to have so many more rest of testimonies and things. Because Lord, today, we're honoring you by giving our first right now. Right here, we're making that statement.

And we're going to have a great story to share. Amen. We're believing that. We're believing that today. Do you believe that with me, church?

Believe that with me. We're believing that today. And that same spirit with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, I want to ask this question. There are some of you here today that have walked through that door that's never even made God anything in their lives. And maybe today's your day.

In fact, today is your day. That God... Maybe you backslid. I don't know. I was one of those that backslid and just got away from God.

God called me and pursued me. And that day I was sitting in that church and God spoke to me and said, You need to come back to me. You need to come back to me. You need to make me first. Maybe that's you.

That's you. Or maybe you've just never made that decision before. Maybe you never knew. I just never knew about the generosity that God had for me. I never knew about this thing that God had for me.

If you only knew. If that's you, if you would just gently lift your hand. I'm not going to embarrass you. I just want to pray for you. Just slip your hand up and say, God, I want you to pray for me.

Any more hands in the church that just says, I'm ready to make that decision today. I'm coming back to you. Or I'm coming to you for the first time, Lord. If everybody in the church would just pray this for me or with me. Father, in the name of Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God.

And I'm ready to make a 180. I repent of my sin. I turn to you. Come into my life. Come into my heart.

Make me a child of yours. Let me experience the generosity of the Savior.