Road Trip - Three Essentials for the New Year | A Daily Necessity

How many of you have ever run out of gas spiritually in the day?

So in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22, one of my favorite passages,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22, it says,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

The fruit of the Spirit are these, love and joy and peace and patience

and gentleness and goodness and faith and meekness and self-control.

These are the fruits of the Spirit.

And so for those of you who don't understand the theology of that,

let me briefly explain.

As you walk with Jesus Christ, as you have a daily time with God,

here's what happens.

When you walk with Jesus, you are filled with the Spirit of God.

And then naturally what comes out of your walk with Jesus is love.

And then joy and peace and patience and gentleness and goodness and faith

and self-control.

These are the natural results of being filled up with the Spirit.

So let me ask you this question.

How many of you have ever gone through the day and by the end of the day,

you've run out of patience?

That is more than people that ran out of gas.

Now let's be honest, I'm there.

How many of you have ever run out of patience by the end of the day?

Raise your hand.

Do you know why?

Here's why.

It's not a judgment.

It's not mean mean.

Here's the truth.

You ran out of patience because you weren't filled with the Spirit.

Because for those who are filled with the Spirit,

the Bible said the natural result will be patience.

Have you ever run out of love?

I have many times.

No, no, I'm serious about this.

I walk through the world and as I see the world,

I'm supposed to reflect the love of Jesus and share love and pour love on people,

but I just get irritated with people.

People I don't know and people I do know.

And I think to myself, this is not love what I'm feeling.

Have you ever run out of love?

How about peace?

Have you ever run out of peace?

Where your anxiety level just gets to a shaking point

and you're like, okay, I don't know what's going to happen next.

Okay, you may have run out of peace because you weren't filled up.

Love, what about joy?

Can you honestly say that your days are ending in joy,

like genuine smile?

You say, well, things aren't going well.

Oh, joy is not a result of circumstance.

Joy is a fruit of the spirit.

Why don't you love to go to bed with peace and joy and love and patience

and gentleness and goodness and faith?

What about self-control?

A lot of you have made some pretty big resolutions.

And you're like, I am no longer going to take that

and I'm no longer going to eat that

and I'm going to from now on go and do that.

And your self-will, you're going to do these things,

but your self-control breaks?

Did you know that it could be possible you're running out of self-control

because you didn't fill up with the spirit?

And so today is a secret.

Today's sermon series that begins today, next two weeks,

it is the secret of the Christian life,

the road trip that you have ahead of you in 2024.

There are three essentials you must have.

The first is a daily necessity.

And that daily necessity is a walk with God.

Here's my big proposition for today's sermon.

Here it is.

A daily God time will fuel you up.

Listen, you need a daily God time.

Not your grandma, not your parents, you.

I am so excited for the 12-year-olds in the room.

I am thrilled for the 17-year-olds in the room.

And here's why.

Because those of you who are young enough to practice this now,

a daily time with God,

will have a flourishing spiritual walk for the rest of your life.

I tell you this because myself,

Pastor Caleb, Pastor Fred, Heather,

these other leaders in our church,

when they were young, they began it.

Some of you are saying,

well, I'm in my 20s right now, it's too late.

Oh, it's never too late to start understanding what it is,

to daily walk with God,

because it fuels you up with the spirit of God.

And in doing so, it allows you to have love and joy and peace

and patience throughout your entire day

and into your entire life.

Everything you're looking for is found in this daily necessity

that I am wrapping up,

and I'm presenting to you as a gift.

So the question we have to answer is,

well, there are three questions we have to answer.

Three necessary questions for fueling up.

Why, what, and how?

Why, what, and how?

Let's say them together.

Why, what, and how?

Let's say it again.

Why, what, and how?

Come on, do it again, do it again!

Why, what, and how?

Once we answer all three of these questions,

we're gonna get out of here.

Who's ready to jump in?

Say amen.

Okay, why have a daily time with God?

Why have a quiet time with God?

Why a God time in your life?

Do not think about your husband.

Do not think about your girlfriend.

Do not think about your children.

Do not think about your grandparents.

Think about you.

Why do you need a daily time with God?

Here's why.

Three things it provides you.

Nourishing, strengthening, rewarding.

Why do I do it?

Because it's nourishing, strengthening, and rewarding.

What do I mean nourishing?

When you spend time with God every day,

it feeds you.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter four and verse four.

He said, man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Jesus said, you know, I don't need bread.

I need God.

Say that with me.

I don't need bread.

I need God.

Say it with me.

I don't need bread.

I need God.

Say it again.

I don't need bread.

I need God.

You say, well, Pastor Josh, I mean,

eventually without bread I'm going to die.

Really, how do you think you're going to do without God?

Thousands of years ago, there was a man named Job.

And Job said about God and God's word.

He said, the word of God is more important to me

than my daily food.

Nourishing.

That's why I've heard Christians often say things like,

no Bible, no breakfast.

Have you ever heard somebody say that before?

No Bible, no breakfast.

You know what they're saying?

They're saying I prioritize the Bible even above my very food.

No Bible, no breakfast.

Say it with me.

No Bible, no breakfast.

Now, how many of you like Josh?

You don't really eat breakfast all that much?

How many of you are not breakfast people?

Right?

All right, let's try this one.

No Christ, no coffee.

No.

Yeah, see, I got you there.

So we're like, fine, I can go without breakfast all day long.

Coffee, no, thank you.

No Christ, no coffee.

Here's what it's saying.

It's saying before all of these other things,

man, do I need God.

So I get up and I want to spend time with Him

because He's nourishing to my soul.

The word of God feeds me.

It feeds me.

But not only is it nourishing, it's strengthening.

It builds me.

Like going to the gym and building the necessary muscle

that you have, you need to go to the Word

and strengthen you.

Do you ever face a trial or a challenge in your life

and you fold quickly?

You ever face a temptation that's like you just fall apart?

And you're like, what is going on?

I thought it was strong.

And the answer is those trials and temptations

are revealing something.

It's revealing your weakness.

And you say, well, I don't want to be weak.

Then strengthen yourself

by going to the gym and getting built.

I go to the gym, obviously.

Don't laugh at that.

Don't laugh.

That's so rude.

You're like, ah.

What do I have to do?

Somebody's like, lift weights.

Okay, let's move on.

All right.

I go to the gym in my 40s

for different reasons than I used to go.

I used to go because I wanted to prove something.

I wanted to build myself.

I wanted to look good.

And the older I get, the more I realize,

I already look good.

You know what I mean?

I got nothing to prove.

It's so good, by the way.

For those of you who don't know yet,

in your 40s, it's great because you don't care anymore.

It's just you don't.

You don't.

You say, why don't you go to the gym?

I go to the gym for different reasons in my 40s.

I go to the gym because I feel better when I do.

Like, on my Saturday is my Sabbath,

my family day, and my rest day.

And so my family Sabbath day,

which is something we're going to talk about next week,

you do not want to miss next week's sermon.

A weekly rhythm.

But in my family Sabbath day, my rest day,

a lot of times I'll get up and I just do what I want.

Rest, sleep in, then I'll get up.

I like to open the Bible and spend a lengthy time with God,

because sometimes it feels rushed on the day to day.

And then I like to go and play games with my kids,

watch Netflix, go for a hike, lay around.

I like to lay on my back.

I have a big, a big,

what are those big cushy chairs?

The bean bags.

Yeah, but the cheap one.

Yeah.

And I just sit there and I'll sit there, I'll lay there.

Have you ever laid in bed so long you get a headache?

You're like, that's right.

I rest.

But then sometimes I'll notice,

I've noticed this in my 40s,

that if the whole day goes by without me doing physical something,

like I feel really bad by the time it's four or five o'clock,

headaches and I just feel bad.

So what I'll do, a lot of times, like I did yesterday,

I'll be like, I'm just gonna run to the gym.

For like 20, 30 minutes.

And it ends up being like 40 or 45 minutes.

And then you go and you work out the best you can in your 40s.

And you come home and the rest of the night,

man, I feel so good.

I worked it all out.

Do you know what I've noticed about my daily time with God?

Is that it not only trains and strengthens me,

I feel good after.

It's the same thing like when I go to a gym.

I never want to go to the gym.

Nobody wants to go there except for the weirdos.

But once you go and after you come away,

you feel God.

That's how it is with the word of God.

When you spend time with God daily,

it's nourishing, it's strengthening,

and then number three, it's rewarding.

Daily time with God is extremely rewarding.

You say rewarding like what?

Like gold?

Yeah, actually just like gold.

In fact, that's exactly what Psalm says in Psalm number 19,

verse 10 and 11.

It's talking about the word of God.

It's talking about loving the law of God.

It says, more to be desired are the words of God than gold.

Yeah, even much fine gold.

The sweeter also are the words of God than honey and the honeycomb.

You know what he says?

He said, I'd rather have the Bible in my life than gold in my life.

I'd rather have the Bible in my life than sweet, wonderful desserts in my life.

Moreover, by them, by what?

The word of God.

Moreover, by the word of God, the servant of God is warned.

And in keeping of them there is great reward.

Have you ever needed a warning but nobody warned you

and so you stepped into it and you really hurt yourself?

Don't you wish somebody would have warned you about that person and a relationship?

Don't you wish somebody would have warned you about that investment or that business?

Don't you wish somebody would have warned you about that opportunity

but you went into it blind, nobody warned you?

And so your life was hurt.

You know what the Bible says?

It says, as you study the word of God,

it warns you about the mistakes you're about to make.

And then as you're warned about these mistakes, you keep the word of God.

And you know what happens?

It rewards you.

Why?

Well, because it's nourishing, strengthening, rewarding.

Does anybody remember the second question we need to ask today?

The first one was why.

Does anybody remember the second one?

What?

What?

What?

What is a daily time with God?

That's the question we ask now.

What is a daily time with God?

And the reason I share this is because there are some Christians in this room.

You've known Jesus since before Peter and Paul.

I mean, you have been a Christian a very long time.

But there are other people in this room who just became a believer in the last few years.

In fact, I'm interested.

How many of you in this room have just become a follower of Jesus,

a true, real follower of Jesus, just in the last few years?

Raise your hand.

How many of you are like that?

Look around you.

That's a lot of us.

Okay, now look.

We who are following Jesus have a way of following Jesus.

What does it look like?

Okay.

The answer to that question is daily time with Jesus, there are a lot of options.

There's not one way to do it.

And sometimes Christians are like, okay, how do I spend time with Jesus?

And there's like 400 options to spend time with Jesus and it freaks you out.

So what we did is we created a menu.

I want you to pull out your notes today.

Can you hand me those notes right there?

Yeah, right.

Thank you very much.

You see this, see this right here?

We have a little menu on the back.

And what I want you to do today is look at the menu and I want you to circle one, two,

or three things max by the end of the sermon.

One, two, or three things max by the end of the sermon that will be your time with God.

What I don't want you to do is freak out about all the options.

How many of you have ever been to a restaurant where there are too many options?

And you have to like figure out what do you want and you're like, I don't know, it all

looks good.

Bring me one of everything.

Last night my family and I went to Juan's Fajitas.

Somebody back here really excited about, are you the owner?

Are you guys, no?

So good, man.

Juan's Fajitas.

You say, pastor, what did you have at Juan's Fajitas?

What do you think I had at Juan's Fajitas?

I had Fajitas.

It's simple.

You go to Juan's Fajitas, you order the Fajitas.

You don't order the Fajitas.

There's something wrong with you.

Juan tells you.

Juan says, come and try the Fajitas.

So I went in there, piece of cake.

And sometimes we can get overwhelmed by options.

I don't want you to do that.

There are lots of ways you can spend time with God.

Pick a few.

Pick a few.

Now, let's talk about some of the most obvious.

Number one would be Bible study.

Bible study is a great option to spend time with God, to study the word of God, to get

into the word of God.

And some of you come from religious Christian background even, where you've been taught

this idea, somehow got this idea, that the Bible is something, man.

I can't get, like, how do I study that?

I need a professional to study.

You don't need a professional.

The early followers of Jesus were fishermen and farmers.

You understand?

Prostitutes and people of the street.

All of us can follow Jesus by studying the word of God.

And so can you.

There's a few things you might need to know.

How do we do it?

Well, one of the ways you can do is understand which Bible to choose.

There are so many Bibles that you can pick from.

I want to point out a few options that you might be able to pick from.

And this part of the sermon will be brief, but very practical.

As you look at different Bibles, sometimes people question, Pastor Josh, which Bible?

First of all, they're all the same Bible.

They're just different translations of the original languages.

So they're all the same Bible.

They're just different versions or translations of the Bible.

Now, on the screen, there's a chart that I wanted you to look at.

This chart will help you select which Bible will work best for you.

And many times people don't understand why there is such a plethora of English translations.

And the answer is because we have a wealth of English translations for different purposes.

Different publications produce different versions for different reasons.

For example, some of the translations are there for Bible deep study.

And so they translate the Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek word for word,

rather than thought for thought or paraphrase.

Is anybody in this room bilingual or trilingual?

Would you raise your hand if you are? You know multiple languages.

Raise your hand. All right, very good.

That doesn't surprise me.

In the city of Las Vegas, a lot of people are bilingual or trilingual.

You'll understand this better than people like me, who really only speak English.

That sometimes in a translation, you want to know, am I being accurate as to the word for word translation?

Or am I being accurate as it relates to the thought?

Because sometimes things get lost in translation.

And so some Bibles that you'll pick up, like this one, is the interlinear Bible.

That's a word for word translation, or the NASB, or the AMP, or the ESV, or the KJV.

These are Bibles that are really attempting to give you the best word for word translation,

so that you can study the actual words as deeply as possible.

And sometimes without historical context, you may miss the meaning of the bigger thought.

And so it takes more study.

There are other Bibles that are translated, that are purely for kind of preaching and teaching.

They're translated so that a guy like me can give an audience like you the thoughts of the Bible,

and you can go deeper later in your own Bible study.

And then there are some Bibles that are translated, that are really translated for, I would say, devotional usage.

Versions like the NLT, or the GNT, or way at the right hand that message Bible, which is really a paraphrase Bible.

Why do I tell you all of this? Because sometimes there's a lot of confusion as it relates to Bible translations,

especially if you find somebody who is really passionate about, let's say, like the King James Version of the Bible,

which is a wonderful, historic translation.

But one that seems to be a little bit archaic for modern-day speakers.

But the reason why they're so passionate about that version is the same reason why, for about a thousand years,

people were very passionate about the Latin Vulgate.

The Latin Bible was the number one Bible version for a thousand years.

And so for the church to give up the Latin Vulgate about 400 years ago, it was a struggle to look at it historically.

And then 400 years of one Bible version, the King James Version,

it was a struggle for a lot of people to move past that just the same way it was for the Roman church to move past the Latin Vulgate.

Now, now that I've talked about Bible versions, what are some specific Bibles that you might be able to find out there?

Here are a few options, practically, if you're new to Christianity.

Ones that you can buy on Amazon right now. Go to the next slide.

You'll see on the left-hand side, that's the new King James Version.

That's the Bible version that I'll preach out of right here at church every single Sunday.

It's an updated version of the King James Version produced in 1982.

It is a good study Bible. That's why I use it on Sunday mornings that has a better concept of a thought-for-thought pattern and uses that sometimes.

On the far right, if you want a good study Bible at home, if you're big into word studies and going deeper,

then try the ESV study Bible, a wonderful Bible for that.

Or if you're looking for something devotional that you're going to read every day, like a paragraph, like a book,

then you could read what's called the NLT, New Living Translation.

That's the Bible I open every single morning myself.

And I just spend time with Jesus reading through the NLT.

Now, there are actual ways in which you can do this on a daily basis, not only Bible versions,

but ways in which you can study the Bible.

I'm interested to know, and this is not to have you have pride, or for you to be embarrassed if you haven't,

I'm just interested as your pastor. I want to pull the audience.

How many of you in this room have ever read through the entire Bible at least once?

Raise your hand if you've ever read through the entire Bible at least once.

Raise your hand. Okay, very good.

All right, cool. Good. I would say about 20% of the crowd.

And so if you haven't, don't feel bad that you haven't. But I got to tell you, look at me.

You can.

The very first time I read through the entire Bible on my own, I purchased, go to the next slide,

what's called a one-year Bible.

You can buy this on Amazon for like $16.99, and you can do it in multiple different versions.

And it's really cool because on January 1st, it'll say, here's a little bit of the Old Testament,

here's a little bit of the New Testament, here's a Psalm, here's a proverb.

And as a follower of Jesus, you can be somebody who is within a year read through the entire Bible.

It takes about 15 minutes a day.

And this time next year, I've read the entire Bible.

Now, if you're somebody who would like to find this one, an app version, put it right on your phone,

I got to point you to what's called the U-version app, the U-version or Bible app.

Now I'm interested in this, I'm going to pull the audience.

Raise your hand if it's true. How many of you already have this app on your phone right now?

Raise your hand. Oh, I love it. That's probably about 75%.

And if you haven't downloaded the app, go ahead and do so. It's a fantastic app.

And it comes with so many Bible versions, absolutely free. And this is of no cost to you.

And the coolest thing about it is there are called Bible reading plans right there on the Bible app.

Go to the next slide. Go to the next slide. Oh, there it is.

See on the far left, right on the bottom, there's a little symbol that says plans.

And here's what you can do. You can click on plans and it'll give you all sorts of Bible reading plans for the entire year.

Here's the Bible reading plan I did last year. It's called One Story That Leads to Jesus.

I do this every day myself, right on the app. Here's what it looks like in the middle, every single day.

It'll tell you what passages to read. And as you read it, you just click the To Do List button there and check it off, the whole thing.

Here's the one that I'm doing right now. I'm in day number five.

Day number six, excuse me, the full story, you see? That's the one I'm doing right now.

Different people learn in different ways. How many of you in this room are visual learners?

You like to see things with your eyes and you receive it through your eye gaze.

How many are visual learners versus auditory listeners? How many of you are visual learners?

Raise your hand like that. How many of you like that?

Okay, how many of you are more auditory? You like to listen and you absorb it through listening.

Raise your hand. How many of you like that? Very good. I'd say about 70-30%.

I'm an auditory learner, which means for me, what I like to do is not just have the Bible open in front of me.

I like to press play and the Bible app will read the Bible to you.

Boy, that's good for me. Do you know why? Because I actually grew up struggling with dyslexia.

Did you know even now when I quote Bible passages, the reason I quote much of the Bible passages that I use instead of reading it,

and even as I pretend to read it, a lot of times you'll see me, I'll hold the Bible and I'll pretend to read it,

I'm actually quoting most of it because my eyes jump back and forth and I flip words.

So I like to learn by listening to the Bible. Somebody say, that's cheating, you're not really reading the Bible.

Shut up. Hearing the Bible just as good, you see.

And so you can do this on a daily basis. Bible study, number one.

Here's another menu option. How about prayer? Prayer.

Now, I love spending time in prayer and for many of you, I've taught you to pray,

or the other pastors of the church have taught you to pray.

I just want to point out a few things and we've got to move on.

I could do five whole sermons, Pastor Caleb and I could do five whole sermons on prayer, but we're not going to today.

I'm just going to give 90 seconds.

I'm going to summarize all of prayer by saying this.

There are prayer lists and there is prayer life.

Both of them are good and taught in the Bible.

Some of us really are prone to prayer lists and we need to learn how to have a prayer life.

That means walk with Jesus every day and talk to him in the middle of everything.

Some of us are really good with the talk to Jesus every day and we kind of feel like he's always with us

and we're like, hey, Jesus, and then you say, and some, and you're not really good with prayer lists.

I don't know where you fall in the spectrum, but wherever you fall on the spectrum,

you should really learn to practice the other side because both are very good.

Does that make sense if it does? Amen.

So let's talk about prayer lists.

Prayer lists are a great way to take account of what you want God to do.

You say, well, it's not about me.

When it comes to prayer, it's about you and God telling God exactly what you want.

You say, that sounds selfish.

The word prayer literally means ask.

So all you gotta do is go to God and be like, hey, so I need this.

That's it.

You know who taught us the very first prayer list? Jesus.

Jesus said, when you pray, say, our Father which art in heaven,

how it be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,

give me the state of my daily bread, forgive me of my sins as I forgive others,

leave me not into temptation, deliver me from evil.

You see? It's a prayer list.

And some of you are prone in your mind the way God built you to love the idea of lists

and you check off lists.

That's awesome.

Do that this year.

But also learn to have a prayer life.

By the way, if you're not good with prayer lists,

let me give you a good prayer app for your phone.

It's called Prayer Mate.

This is the one that I use every single day.

I love it because it's free.

And it helps you keep track of all the prayers that you're praying to God

and things you're asking God for, for yourself and for others.

Many of you are on my prayer mate list.

Now, depending on where you fall on prayer lists or prayer life,

I want to recommend two books to you, especially those who are readers.

I want to encourage you to pick up one or both of these books,

depending on where you fall on the spectrum of prayer life versus prayer lists.

If you're a prayer list person,

you need to learn to walk with God on a daily basis just throughout the day.

Like I need to learn, then this book called Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools is excellent.

I'm reading through it right now.

Amazing! It was recommended by Pastor Andrew,

our pastor of Counseling and Care, gave it to my wife.

My wife has fallen in love. Now I'm reading this great book.

It's about how to just walk with Jesus and pray all day long.

You'll love it if that's what you need to learn.

If you're really good at walking with Jesus all day long,

but you haven't learned how to really master the quiet time prayer time in prayer lists,

then I encourage you to pick up Circle Maker by Mark Batterson.

Both of them excellent books on teaching you more about prayer.

Well, in the menu I've talked about Bible study, I've talked about prayer.

Let's talk about singing.

How many of you are natural musicians? You love music.

You just love me. How many of you like that? Raise your hand.

How many of you are not somebody?

Like you like music, you're like me. I like music, but you do not want to hear me sing.

How many of you like that?

Music doesn't hit you the same way it hits somebody else?

Right? That's the way I am?

Like I like to sing a lot. How many of you have ever been to a game

and they start playing Sweet Caroline?

You know what I'm talking about?

All of a sudden you're like,

and they're like, Sweet Caroline,

Bum, bum, bum, good times,

I don't know any of the song, just that far.

Sweet Caroline, come on, let's do it again.

Sweet Caroline,

Bum, bum, bum, the good times,

So good, so good.

That's it. That's all I know.

And I love that part of the song. You know why?

Because I have that part memorized. I know that part.

Have you ever been to a concert before of like one of your favorite bands

or a favorite artist and they get there and they start playing all the songs

that nobody's ever heard?

And they're like, well, we wrote some new ones today

and we know you're waiting for such and such,

but we got some new ones and you're like, no, nobody cares.

Nobody, play the hits.

One of the reasons why Christians will come to church

and not enjoy the music as much is not because you're not musical,

it's because you don't know what they're singing.

You don't know the hits. You don't know the songs.

You say, well, how can I learn the songs?

I want to encourage you to go home and listen to the songs.

You say, how do I do that?

Quite literally, I think what you can do is download the playlists,

put them on your phone and listen to them every day.

Like in your daily time with God, a little prayer, a little Bible study,

play a few songs and sing to Jesus.

You would say, what songs? The songs they sing.

Like the people up here, you know those people? The pre-show?

Right?

Those people are here to teach you theology through music,

to get you connected with God.

You say, I don't know those songs.

Learn the songs.

You know what my wife does?

My wife is a big loves music, lover of music,

and we'll watch a movie or a TV show and all of a sudden she'll say,

pause it.

Pause it and I'll say, what?

She'll say, pause it. I know exactly what she's doing.

And she'll pull out her phone and then she'll say, press play.

She'll say, Google, what is this song?

You know? And then it'll tell you.

And then she goes and adds it to her playlist.

Why don't you do that at church?

Because then on Monday morning you could get up and you could listen to it

and you'd be like, oh, that is good.

Oh, man, that feeds my soul.

And it's amazing how much more a song impacts you

when you know the words that you're singing.

It's incredible. It's a beautiful thing.

And you can do this. Now, the tech team gave me this QR code

because what they're going to do is update weekly the playlist at church

so that you can memorize the songs at home

so that your time of worship can be that much more productive.

Isn't that amazing?

That's a good thing for you to go home and memorize

and learn these songs and come back

and be able to sing with more passion and enthusiasm

and love for God. Boy, this will... Listen, listen, listen.

This will help you walk with God tremendously.

You don't want to get to the end of the day and run out of patience,

run out of hope, run out of joy,

run out of all of the things that God wants for your life

and you want for your life too.

Fill yourself daily with the word of God, with prayer, with songs.

Now, some of you are like, well, I don't really get my music that way.

In fact, I was doing the preparation for the sermon

and all the young adults were helping me, you know, the music guys and stuff and gals

and I said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, like, like I just downloaded it to my iTunes

and they all stopped.

They said, that's a good joke. That's good.

And they said, are you serious?

And I said, yeah, I said, what do you do?

They said, you don't have a subscription to Spotify or all these things?

I said, no, I just... I go to iTunes and I buy it for $1.29.

And they're like, you're not serious.

I felt like I was telling them that I have a phonograph machine at my house

the way they were looking at me.

I don't care how you get your music.

My question is, are you singing to Jesus every day

and are you singing songs that you can bring into your worship on Sunday?

I would love for you to follow through on that responsibility.

Number one, why? Number two, what? What?

And then number three, how? Let's talk about how.

Let's talk about how and then we're going to get out of here.

You say, how do I make sure that I have this time with God every single day?

That's a good question. I'm going to give you a few ideas and then we're going to get out of here.

Pick a place, pick a time, pick a plan.

Pick a place, time, plan, place, time, plan.

Pick a place, pick a time, pick a plan.

You say, I mean, this is a really good sermon, Pastor, but it's January 7th.

You know what I mean? Like, isn't it too late?

I'll just wait till January of 25, like it's coming, right?

No, you can start right now.

Here's the question. Tomorrow, where are you going to meet God?

Where are you going to meet Him? Tomorrow morning.

Do you know where it is? Somebody say kitchen?

Somebody said by your bed. Is it in bed for you?

Driving to work, somebody on your commute.

Now stop, hear me.

I know exactly where I'm going to meet God tomorrow morning.

I've got a chair in my family room. Before everybody gets up, I like to sit there.

When the spring comes, I like to move my place outside.

I like to be outside as the sun is coming up.

Where's your place?

Where's your time? What time do you meet Him?

You know, Job said this.

He said, what is man that you should even exalt Him?

That you should set your heart on Him?

What is man that you should even visit Him every morning? Now you think about this.

God wants to meet with you tomorrow morning.

Who are you that the guy who made the giraffe

is trying to schedule an appointment with you tomorrow?

And all I'm saying is don't leave him there.

If you and I were going to meet, like I said, hey, let's schedule a time to meet.

Where do you... Okay, most of you know me.

If I said, let's meet up, where... What place?

Can you visualize in your mind? What place are you and I...

If you know it, say it out. What place are we going to meet?

Starbucks. That's my place.

Somebody's like, I don't like Starbucks. Get out.

Oh, stay. I'm just kidding. All right.

That's my place. Now, if we pick the time, okay, we're going to meet at 9 a.m. on Friday at Starbucks.

Now I want you to picture it. Can you visualize me sitting there?

I got my computer out, my phone out, my Bible out, and I'm waiting for you.

And now it's 9.05. Now it's 9.10.

And you say, nobody would ever do that. Yes, some of you have.

Okay, all right, all right.

And I'm waiting for you.

Now I want you to picture somebody way more important than your pastor.

There is a time and a place that God wants to meet with you.

And all you got to do is schedule that time and place.

Tomorrow and the next day and the next and the next.

It'll be so good. It'll fuel you up.

Okay, a few warnings and then we got to be done. Got to go, got to go.

Here they are. I'm going to call these warnings from a pro. Are you ready for them?

If you're new to this whole daily time with God thing, you need to be warned.

I'm a pro. I've been doing this a long time. Here are the warnings from a pro.

Number one, don't give up when you miss a day.

Number one, go to the next slide. Number one, don't give up when you miss a day.

Here's warnings from a pro. Don't give up when you miss a day.

Say you start tomorrow morning. Okay, you're like, all right, 7 a.m., me and God time.

You sit down and then Tuesday and then Wednesday, you're like, things went crazy.

Oh, well, next year.

Jim's make a lot of money on this proposition.

Don't do that with God. If you miss a day, it's okay. Say it's okay.

It's okay. So just pick up the next day. Yeah? A? All right.

Number two, don't plan more than you can pursue.

Here's a warning from a pro. Don't plan more than you can pursue.

So what do you mean more than I can pursue?

Have your eyes, have you ever been able to be ready to eat a meal and your eyes were bigger than your stomach?

And you just start piling on all sorts of things and then you start eating halfway through.

You're like, I can't eat all this.

Like this happens all of the time for Christians when it comes to these moments.

They're like, okay, that's it. I'm going to spend time with God.

And you're like, I need a solid 90 minutes with God every day.

Okay. 90 minutes with God every day would be awesome.

How much time every day did you spend with him last year?

You're like, well, I wasn't really good at it.

Well, maybe 90 minutes should be shortened to about 15 minutes.

Say 15 minutes is not enough.

It's plenty if you're persistent.

Does this make sense?

20 minutes with God. Hey, look, 20 minutes with God might be perfect.

Don't plan. Well, it's time to read the Bible.

I found a 90 day plan. Do not text me this week.

Say pastor, I went to the Bible app. There's a 90 day read through the Bible plan.

I know there is. Why are you telling me?

Because I'm going to do it. Have you ever read through the Bible before?

No, don't do that one.

Take a year, maybe two years.

Take your time. Relax.

Say relax. Relax.

Don't plan more than you can pursue.

Number three, don't view it as a chore.

It's supposed to be a pleasure.

Look, look, if you're not careful,

your daily time with God is going to be another check to do list.

Wake up, make the coffee, watch the dishes, brush my teeth,

change the baby, get the kids out the door, read my Bible,

pray, do the laundry, run to work.

You're like, one more thing, stop.

This is the only moment in the day you get to put everything away.

Nobody else matters except for you and him.

This is not about your husband.

This is not about your kids.

This is not about your boss.

This is about you and God.

And you can sit in His presence and just enjoy the beauty of that moment.

Don't steal this away from yourself.

This is not a chore. This is a pleasure.

And then lastly, my last warning, and we'll pray.

This can be addictive.

Here's the thing about Jesus.

Time in the Bible, prayer, singing, and all the other practices.

The more you do it, the more you can't get enough of it.

It's going to be a few days this next week.

You're going to get to your 20-minute marking.

You're going to be listening to the Bible as you commute at the way to work.

And as you get there, you're going to be like, I got to go in.

It's okay. Turn it off.

The more you taste and see that the Lord is good, the more you're going to want to spend time with Him.

Friend, this will change your life and you will be filled up.

And have all the things that God and you really want you to have.

Love and joy and peace and patience and all the things self-control.