The Winter Arc - Bro. Ulises Hernandez

Alright, tonight we're in Ecclesiastes chapter 11. Look down your Bibles at verse number 3.

Ecclesiastes 11 · chapter mention

The Winter Arc. And what am I referring to when I say The Winter Arc? Some of you maybe have never heard that, but it's a popular trend online and it pretty much has to do with people wanting to hit a reset button at the very end of the year.

And I like things like this because it's a good thing to participate in because a lot of times at the beginning of the year you set up goals for yourselves and then some people set up goals that are too unrealistic.

And then towards like January 2nd, you already fell off the train kind of thing.

But at the end of the day it really doesn't matter when you start, but it's a good way to put it in your mind, kind of get in that mindset that hey, it's time to hit a reset button.

And when we talk about the Winter Arc, a lot of times people will refer to it as a 90 day period beginning at October 1st and it carries on all the way to the end of the year.

So it's about like 90 days. A lot of people like participating in this because like I said, it's a good way to start over.

Maybe you fell off the tracks. Maybe you didn't get to fulfill certain goals that you had for yourself at the beginning of the year.

And when we talk about goals, it is good to set up goals, especially as a Christian, right?

We have goals when it comes to our personal life. We should have goals when it comes to our spiritual life.

And there are many goals that we have, you know, whether it's at work, whether it's goals that we have with our children or with our family.

You know, as a Christian, you should set up goals.

And, you know, one of the things that we should do as Christians is just have that mindset that, you know what?

Every day is a brand new day. His mercies are new each day. And it's a fresh start every single day.

And I want to encourage you, you know, this evening to just think about that, you know, the year is coming to an end where we just started fall.

Winter is going to come. And, you know, what have you done with the whole year of 2026, right?

Some of us, you know, we just let the days go by. And then before you know it, the year came to an end and you didn't accomplish anything, right?

And, unfortunately, a lot of times where you're at today, it's just a result of all the decisions you made at the beginning of the year.

And you have no one else to blame but yourself, right?

So this morning, this evening, I just want to encourage you to just think about that.

Some of the things that you should consider if it comes to the winter arc.

And I like that name because when you think about an arc, right? A character arc.

A lot of people just think about it as like, you know, there's certain stories where a character starts off as a good person

and then towards the end, you know, they end up being somebody really bad, right?

Or a character starts off being like a terrible person and then they go through some tragic events and at the very end,

they end up, you know, turning their life around and they become a good person.

And these are things, you know, that we read in fiction. There's a lot of characters like that in the Bible.

But you know, when it comes to us, maybe we had a bad start at the beginning of the year.

Maybe at the beginning of the year, your marriage wasn't where it should be, right?

Or maybe at the beginning of the year, you really didn't have like any goals, any clear goals in mind.

Or maybe, you know, as a teenager, you know, you were doing really bad in school.

And it's your last opportunity to find, you know, turn things around and then get it right.

So this evening, the title of this sermon is The Winter Arc.

Now if you would go with me to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Like I said, what is the winter arc?

Just that popular trend usually is like 90 days beginning of October 1st all the way to the end of the year.

And it's not something that you have to participate in.

Obviously, some people just, it's a popular trend, like I said.

And a lot of people just like participating in this because it kind of sets the mood, you know.

Not really in California, you know, but in other places, it gets cold.

And a lot of people just like isolate themselves and they work on themselves.

A lot of people enjoy self-improvement.

And I think you should as a Christian.

You know, there are a lot of things that we can improve as Christians.

And it only takes a couple of minutes to analyze, right?

To do some introspection.

You realize, hey, there's a lot of things that I have to work on.

Now as you were turning there, Hebrews chapter 10, let me read to you from Acts chapter 1.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention Acts 1 · chapter mention

The Bible says,

Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus which is taking up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

And so here is after Jesus Christ already gave the Great Commission after he resurrected.

He already told him, you know, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you and ye shall receive power.

And so Jesus Christ has just ascended, carried up into clouds,

and his disciples are just standing there gazing, right?

And so the angel is just telling them, why stand ye here gazing?

And a lot of us are just like that.

We're just standing around, right?

We're not really getting anything done.

God already gave us all the commandments, all the things that he wants us to accomplish.

And instead of getting to work, you know, all we're doing is just standing around.

And when we started in Ecclesiastes chapter 11, let me read to you verse 4.

Ecclesiastes 11 · chapter mention

It says, He that observes the wind shall not so, and he that regarded the clouds shall not reap.

And a lot of times people are like that, you know, based on the circumstances in their lives,

based on the way the weather is outside, you know, they make decisions based on those things.

A lot of factors, right?

If it's too cold, you know, instead of just saying, I'm going to throw on a jacket, you know,

and they decide, you know what, I'm just going to call off of work.

It's too cold to go to work, right?

Or, you know, instead of getting things done, you know, instead of going out so many, right?

It's just way too hot.

I'm not going to go out so many.

Why? Because they let the weather, they let their circumstances determine how they act.

And it shouldn't be like that, right?

So if you're in Hebrews chapter 10, where I told you to go, look down on your browser, verse 24,

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

the Bible says, And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,

not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as the manner some is.

And so the reason why we want to read this verse is because obviously the Christian life, you know,

if we take it at face value, it's very simple.

It's very basic.

Now, it's harder than what, you know, it's harder.

It's easier said than done, right?

It's what I'm trying to say because the Christian life just consists of certain basic things

that you have to do day after day.

But where it gets hard is that we're inconsistent a lot of the times.

And this verse, it just talks about going to church, you know, being around God's people.

And as a Christian, one of the most basic things that you have to get done or get down

if you want to succeed as a Christian is what this manner of going to church.

And here we see in verse 25, look down your Bibles at Hebrews 10, verse 25 says,

Hebrews 10:25

not forsaking the assemblies of ourselves together as the manner some is.

And so the Bible clearly says that as the manner some is, you know,

there's some people in here even today, you know, that that is their manner,

you know, missing church.

That's what they're known for.

You know, we don't even have to ask ourselves, you know, it's so, so going to come.

We already know they're going to miss, right?

And you know, you shouldn't let that be you.

You shouldn't be like, well, I don't really expect them to come.

It shouldn't be like when you show up to church, you're like, oh, dang, he's actually here tonight, right?

But it shouldn't be, you shouldn't be characterized as that.

And so the Bible here is saying not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as the manner some is,

but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching.

So I understand obviously a Thursday night's a little bit different.

People, you know, work, they come out late.

A lot of people live far that come to our church and the traffic is just insane.

But I'm talking about just missing church consistently, like week after week.

You can't even make it to one service.

You're pretty much like consistently being inconsistent, right?

Because a lot of people are like that.

They'll come one week and we see them and then we're like,

all right, well, we'll see them again like in a month, right?

And we don't want to be characterized as that.

So one of the basic things that we can do as a Christian is if we want to succeed,

one of the things that we have to get down and if you haven't gotten it down yet

is this matter of coming to church.

Now go to Mark chapter 11, go to Mark chapter 11.

Mark 11 · chapter mention Mark 11 · chapter mention

Now while you turn now, I'm going to read to you from Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Another basic discipline that we have to develop is this matter of Bible reading, right?

And in Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, the Bible says,

Joshua 1:8

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,

but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,

and that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein,

for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.

So not only do we have to come to church, right?

And it's not like, well, you come to church if you feel like it, right?

A lot of times we're out there sewing it and they tell us,

Well, I'm not very religious. I don't really go to church.

I don't need to go to church to have a relationship with God.

Well, actually you do, right?

Because going to church is a commandment in the Bible.

And another thing that we should do as a Christian is develop the discipline of Bible reading.

And here it says that for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous

and then thou shalt have good success.

See, a lot of people want to be successful in every area of life,

but you're not going to be successful according to the Bible

if you're not reading the Bible.

And so one of the things that I want to encourage you,

you know, there's only three months left in the year

and maybe you start it off right, you know,

you start at Genesis and then you stop reading after Genesis 5, right?

Maybe that's you tonight.

But, you know, there's still time for you to finish the Bible.

There's like more than 90 days. There's probably like 100 days left.

And if that's you tonight and you have that goal, you know,

you set up that goal in the beginning of the year,

I want to read my Bible this year from cover to cover and you did it and you failed.

There's still time, right? There's still time to get it done.

And really, you can read it in 90 days.

And I'll tell you how.

One of the ways that you can read it in 90 days is just 13 chapters a day, right?

And 13 chapters a day from what I like timed in and looked it up.

You know, if you read pretty fast, you read pretty normal speed,

it's like 40 to 45 minutes and everybody has 40 minutes in here to read the Bible.

Now, I'm not saying you have to do that all in the morning.

You could break it up into, you know, morning, lunch, and then at night, right?

You read 10 minutes in the morning, you read 10 more minutes in the afternoon

and then you just finish the chapters at night.

There's ways to get it done.

So if you haven't read your Bible cover to cover this year

or you think you might not finish, there's still time, right?

Don't give up.

Don't quit.

Don't wait.

Well, I'll just wait till January 1st, 2027 to get started again.

Don't do that.

Because then you're going to be, you know, next year again,

and it's going to be September and you're still in the same boat.

You haven't finished it again.

So you're there in Mark chapter 11.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Look down at verse number 24.

The Bible says,

Therefore I say unto you what things to wherever you desire,

when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.

So number one in the introduction is this, that as Christians,

the Christian life is very basic.

The only thing is that we have to be consistent.

And I'll be the first to admit, you know,

throughout the year, sometimes you are inconsistent.

You know, you have the flesh.

You have the old man.

You're not always succeeding at the goals that you, you know,

set for before yourself.

But the point is this, you have to get back on it, right?

You can't just quit all the time.

And the first thing that I brought up is the fact of going to church.

You know, get that down already.

You know, you've been in our church for more than a year.

You should be consistent in church.

And I'm saying, I'm not saying you have to go all, you know,

three services.

That's the goal, you know, three to thrive.

But even if you can't come all three services,

make it to one service, right?

It's not that hard.

And especially if you've been here for more than a year,

this is something that you should have already developed.

Number two is that you have to develop that discipline

of reading your Bible every day.

And even if you don't read, you know,

five chapters, ten chapters, read one chapter, right?

Just read something.

It's not that hard.

So, and the third thing that I brought up right now

is that you have to pray.

These are just basic Christian disciplines.

You have to go to church, read your Bible, and pray.

Because we all have needs, right?

You know, everybody needs something from God.

Everybody needs God to give us wisdom.

Everybody wants God to provide for them.

But you have not because you ask not.

Now, go to, if you would, go to, let me see here,

go to Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Go to Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

So, the title of the sermon this evening is

The Winter Arc, The Winter Arc.

I'm going to read to you from 2 Peter chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

The Bible says,

Wherefore I will not be negligent

to put you always in remembrance of these things,

though ye know them,

and be established in the present truth.

Yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle

to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.

And so, here Paul is saying,

he's not negligent to put you in remembrance

of these things, right?

He's always reminding them of the things

that they have to get done.

And let it not be said of us, you know,

hey, we're just tired of hearing all the time,

you know, pastor telling us,

read your Bible, go to church, go so many.

These are things that we constantly have to be reminded of.

Why?

Because we forget sometimes, right?

And you miss one week, you forget about it.

And then you miss one week

because it's easier to miss a second week.

And then you just develop bad habits.

And before you know it,

you're not even out there so many no more.

And I guarantee you, you know,

I don't even have to ask,

there's somebody in this room right now

that probably does not go so many every single week.

And if that's you, you know, you got to get that fixed.

Because we are a soul-winning church.

You know, the name of our church

is what first works Baptist Church.

We believe in doing the first works, our first love.

And so, we promote soul-winning here.

You know, you don't feel, you know, like,

well, I feel just too pressured to go out so many.

Well, you know, that's actually a good thing, right?

Because it would be bad if we weren't pressuring you

to go out and, you know, keep God's commandments

and going out there and winning the loss.

So, this is something that you have to purposely

put it in your mind, you know,

hey, I need to be out there giving the gospel.

And I'm saying maybe you can't go out on Sunday.

Maybe you can go out another day of the week.

Get with your team leader, ask them,

hey, what's another day that I can go?

Or maybe give me an area, give me some ideas.

Maybe they can meet you up.

Or do Omi TV, there's really no excuse

why you can't go so many now.

Now, if you're there in Hebrews 12,

look down on your Bibles at verse number two.

The Bible says, looking unto Jesus,

the author and finisher of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before him

endured the cross, despising the shame

and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And so, here we see that, you know,

Jesus Christ, you know, he already knew

what he had to accomplish, right?

He had for the joy that was set before him.

And a lot of times what makes it easier for us

to get something done is just picturing in our mind

the end result, right?

Just knowing what we're going to get out of it.

And a lot of times, if we have that go in mind,

we're more likely, you know, to put steps

into achieving that.

So this evening, like I said, the title of this sermon

is the Winter Arc. I want to give you three things

that you should consider tonight

when it comes to the Winter Arc.

Now, everybody's arc is going to look different, right?

Some of you guys want to improve in different areas.

Everybody has different goals.

You know, just like in a personal level,

some of you had the goal of losing weight, right?

Some of you guys had the goal

of like, you know, getting a better job

or getting married.

You know, some people didn't accomplish that,

but, you know, I'm not going to look at anybody,

but, you know, these are goals

that people have year after year.

No, I'm just kidding.

But, you know, these are goals

that people have sometimes, right?

Just getting married, starting a family,

getting in shape, you know, whatever the case may be.

These are goals that you can start now, right?

So don't wait until 2027

to get started. You know, January 1st,

I'm going to sign up for the gym.

Just start, you know, sign up tomorrow, right?

Don't go right now, but they're about to close.

But, you know, go sign up for the gym.

And honestly, look, this is a real thing.

You know, one time, me and Pastor

were just talking it up, and then he's like,

I'm going to start working now. Let's go sign up.

And we literally just signed up on a random day

in September, I think.

And then he hasn't stopped going since then, right?

So it's never like the wrong time

to sign up to the gym or to start your goals

is what I'm trying to say.

So the three things I want you to consider tonight

when it comes to, you know, just changing

the way that you are, setting yourself up

for success for the upcoming year.

I want you to consider these three things.

Number one is consider this. What motivates you, right?

What is it that motivates you?

Because honestly, we all

don't have discipline, right?

At the end of the day. Let's just be honest, right?

These are things that come, you know,

after you put in the work.

And if we're honest with each other,

sometimes we just fail to put in the work right away.

And so everybody at the beginning,

you know, you need some kind of motivation.

After a while, you get motivated.

You develop the habits of going to church,

reading your Bible, praying,

you know, just being an asset to a church.

And then you can really rely on just discipline at that point.

Sometimes you're not going to feel like it.

But because you develop the habits,

the discipline, even when you're not motivated,

you're still going to do it.

But how do you even get to that point, you know?

What motivates you? Like, why is it that you come

to church? Because you all come here

on your own free will, right?

No one went to go pick you up.

Nobody said like, hey, go to church tonight.

I'm going to put gas in your car so you can come.

I mean, I don't think nobody did that, right?

But, you know, what is it that motivates you

to do what you do?

Now, when I bring up motivation,

like, what is motivation?

So when I looked it up, it says that

act of an instance of motivating

or providing with a reason to act

in a certain way.

The state or condition of being motivated

or having a strong reason to act

or accomplish something.

So as a Christian, we do have to

stay motivated to do what's right.

We have to stay motivated to come to church.

And sometimes in the beginning, it is because,

you know, of somebody else, right?

You want to see your friends.

You want to see, you know,

the friends that you have, maybe somebody

from work invited you here, and that's

your motivation to go there. You don't want

to let them down. And so the way that

we develop motivation, we have to create it.

So what is motivation?

Again, it's just an instance of

being motivated, providing with a reason to act

in a certain way. And then the state or condition

of being motivated or having a strong reason

to act or accomplish something.

Now if you would, go to Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Excuse me.

So if you're there in Philippians chapter 3,

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

the Bible says in verse 14,

I press or the mark for the price

of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Now go to Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 12, you know,

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

one of the ways to stay motivated

is pressing towards the mark.

The first thing I want to bring up when it comes

to staying motivated is that we have to establish

goals, right? We have to, you know,

put it in our mind, what is it that we want to accomplish?

You know, we don't want to just live day by day

and not having any kind of goals, right?

There's something in life that we want to accomplish.

There's something that we have to,

we want to do, right? Like when it comes

to spiritual matters, we know that we're

going to get rewarded for everything that we do.

You know, that should be in the forefront

of our mind. Now,

when it comes to establishing goals, oftentimes

people establish like too big of a goal

and then they try to do it

and then they fail at it and then they just quit.

The better way to do it is just establish small

goals so that when you accomplish those

then you get closer and closer to that bigger

goal that you have for yourself. Now

I think I tell you, yeah,

go to Hebrews chapter 12, look down at your

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Bible as in verse number 2, the Bible says,

looking unto Jesus, the author and

finisher of our faith, who for the joy

that was set before him, endured the cross

and spiced in the shame and is set down

at the right hand of the throne of God.

So I said before this that Jesus already

had in mind, you know, what was the end goal?

And a lot of times if we're going to accomplish

something, you know, we have to put it in our mind.

You know, what is it, what's the destination

that we want to get to? And when we have

a clear destination, a clear goal,

then we're able to put steps

towards working towards that. Now go to

Deuteronomy chapter 6,

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

See, what is it that you want to get

out of the Christian life, right?

What do you want to get out of the Christian life?

And it is said that you get out

when you put it into it, right? A lot of people

want the product without the process.

You see, you can't go to the ATM

and expect to, like, withdraw 100 bucks

if you never put 100 bucks in, right?

It's going to say like overdraft, not just getting put.

You can get, you know,

something that you don't put in the work for.

And a lot of times people see other people's success,

other things that people have,

and they want that, but they didn't see

all the work that was put in to achieve that.

And a lot of times people just want to take shortcuts, right?

They see somebody lose weight,

they see somebody, like, get stronger,

they see somebody getting a better job,

better pay. What is it that they did,

you know, to help them get to that point?

And a lot of times instead of people trying

to do the same thing or replicate it

or put it into work, what do they do?

They just start hating on them, right?

So, if you're there in Deuteronomy chapter 6,

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

look down to verse number 5,

the Bible says,

and with all thy soul and with all thy might.

And so we ought to love God,

but here's the thing, there are certain things

that will motivate us practically

to do it better, right?

Sometimes we do it out of discipline.

The way that we show that we love God

is by keeping His commandments.

Now we should serve God out of love,

but in a practical way we should set goals, right,

that help us accomplish that.

Now, goals as Christians,

because everybody, like I said, has personal goals

and I'm not going to ask you, you know,

after the service to tell me where your goals are,

but as a Christian, some of the goals I could think of

is just this matter of, you know, training

other soul winners, right?

You yourselves, when you got to this church,

one of the goals that we had for you

is what, to become a soul winner,

to be able to preach the gospel.

And now that you know how to preach the gospel,

you know where your goal should be

is to be able to train up somebody else, right?

The way that somebody invested time in you

to teach you the ropes,

to teach you the verses, to show you, you know,

even to the point of how to knock a door,

you know, those are things that you should be able

to teach others now, right?

You should have it in your mind as a Christian,

because as a Christian there's so many things to do, right?

The Christian life is not boring at all.

It's only boring to those that do nothing, right?

If all you do is just come to church,

listen to the preaching and then go home

and just forget about everything, you know,

then I can see why you think it's boring.

But if you come to church and you expect to learn, right,

how to serve God, how to do something great for God,

and then during the week you're actually putting it in work,

you know, you're investing in others,

you're learning, you're memorizing scripture,

you're reading the Bible, you're praying,

you're getting people saved on only, only TV, going out,

so many, you know, the Christian life is exciting, right?

And as a Christian one of the goals that you should have

is to train up somebody else.

You know, it's cool, I think, that the Grossman's,

you know, the Grossman's, it's cool to see

that Christian came when he was like 16 years old,

just a baby, just a kid, and now he has his sister

going through the same thing now, right?

Just becoming soul winners, being an asset to a church.

And that's like, you know, that's the goal, right?

For everybody here, just being, you know, young and the Lord,

learning how to win people to Christ,

and then you yourself going and taking what was taught to you

and showing it to somebody else.

You know, as a father, my goal is for my kids

to become soul winners, right?

For my wife to be a soul winner.

For my family to continue on this legacy

of getting people saved.

You know, you don't want it to be said of you as like,

you're the only soul winner in your family.

What about your kids? You know, what about your spouse?

You know, you should have that goal.

Well, there's nobody else that could train.

You could train your spouse, right?

You could train your kids.

And your kids should be able to see you as a soul winner.

You know, you may not hold some title in church.

You might not be like a team leader

or an usher or anything like that,

but hey, you could be a soul winner, right?

And isn't it cool if your kids see you as like,

hey, my dad is a soul winner?

I know my dad, you know, gets people saved.

You know, that's something that your kids should be able to say.

Now, another goal, you know, that we should have

is just to have a better resurrection, right?

Have a better resurrection,

shining brighter and brighter.

And how do we do that? By earning rewards.

You know, getting people saved.

You know, teaching others the Bible.

You know, getting things done for God,

serving God in whatever capacity that we have.

Another goal that we should have as Christians

is having a successful marriage,

having a good marriage, right?

And unfortunately, you know, we do live in a day and age

where I don't know the stats out the top of my head,

but there's a lot of Christian couples

that end up in divorce, right?

And in fact, we know people in our church

that unfortunately have ended up in divorce as well.

But here's the thing, you know, as Christians,

our goal should be to stay married

to the person that we're married to, right?

Till death do us a part.

You know, that's a goal that we should have.

A goal that we should have too,

as Christians, to have good children.

You know, we don't want to have children

that end up being criminals,

children that fall away from church,

children that end up, you know,

being a reprobate, right?

These are things that as parents, you know,

God forbid that one of our children becomes a reprobate, right?

Some fag or something.

But you know, as parents, we should be able

to train up our children in the way that they should go.

Teach them young. Teach them when they're young.

Teach them the Word of God.

Teach them why it's important to go to church,

why it's important to read the Bible.

Why it's important, you know, for them themselves

to develop their faith, right?

Because one day we're not going to be here.

You know, right now our children are small.

A lot of us have young children

and one day they're going to be out there on their own.

You know, we always, well, at least I tell my daughter sometimes,

one day she's going to be a mom, right?

And she's going to have her own children.

And then their children is going to have their own children

and you know how kids are and they're like,

and then their children is going to have their own children

and then they start thinking about it too much.

But that's how our kids are, right?

But as a parent, you know, we just want to have those goals

in mind, having our children be successful Christians.

And go to Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Go to Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Now here's the thing, you know,

even though we set goals,

we might accomplish some,

but even when we accomplish those,

then we're able to, you know, set more goals.

So we're never really going to get to a point

where we're like, all right, well,

I accomplished everything that I wanted to accomplish

as a Christian. And here in Philippians chapter 3,

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

looked down in verse 13, the Bible says,

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,

but this one thing I do,

forgetting those things which are behind

and reaching forth into those things which are before.

So even if we get all these things done, right,

just put that behind you.

You have failures in your life, put that behind you,

you know, and then it's time to look

to the things that are before us.

Now go to, if you would,

to Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

The point I'm trying to make right now is that

what is it that keeps you motivated, right?

What is it that keeps you motivated?

How do we stay motivated?

First thing I said is that we need to set

goals as Christians.

Second thing is that we need to keep

that momentum up, right?

I'm going to read to you from Psalm 90.

The Bible says in verse 10,

the days of our years are three score years

and ten. And if by reason or strength,

they be four score years. Yet is there strength,

labor, and sorrow, for it is soon cut off

and we fly away. Who knoweth

the power of thy anger, even according to

thy fear, so is thy wrath.

So teach us to number our days that we

might apply our hearts unto wisdom.

You know, one day this will all be

over, you know, not to get dark, but one day

we will die, right? And here the Bible

is saying is like, teach us to number

our days. You know, what does that mean?

Teach us to make our days count, right?

One day we are going to pass from the scene,

you know, the hour come when no man can

work and whatever we do here, you know,

that's it, right? We'll get rewarded for it,

but we don't know when that day is when we're

going to die. And so one of the things

that we should do is not only set goals,

but keep the momentum up. You know,

you have good momentum right now, keep it going.

You know, a lot of times it's easier

when, you know, people first get saved,

they have really good momentum, you know,

everything is new to them, the hymns are new

to them, churches new to them, you know,

it's just having good friends is new to them.

And this is something that over time,

sometimes, you know, we can forget how good

it is, right? We just grow accustomed to

it, but we need to keep that momentum up.

And here in Galatians

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, look down, your Bible is

verse number 9, the Bible says,

let us not be weary and well-doing for

induced season, we shall reap if we faint

not. Now go to

Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

Now in order to get momentum

going, you do need to take the first step,

right? It's not just going to start automatically.

You do have to put in the work. You have

to take the first step. And in Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, 11, when we first started,

I read to you in verse number 4, it says,

he that observed with the wind should not sow,

and he that regarded the clouds shall not reap.

So again, don't let your circumstances

determine whether or not you choose to

act. You know, whatever

circumstances you have right now, maybe,

you know, you're financially struggling,

you know, don't let that deter you

from doing what's right. You know, oftentimes,

sometimes people get into a financial

you know, struggle and then they're like,

well, I'm just going to quit church,

you know, and it doesn't make any sense.

You know, because that's when you should be more

in church. You know, that's when you should,

you know, seek first the kingdom of God

and all these things shall be added unto you.

Now, I think I told you

where I told you go, Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, it says in verse 11, and he

gave some apostles and some prophets

and some evangelists and some pastors

and teachers for the perfecting of the saints

for the work of the ministry, for the

edifying of the body of Christ.

Now, before I get into this passage is that

number one, we do have to stay motivated.

Number two, we do have to keep momentum

going, and one of the ways that we can do that

is that we have to find people who we

can follow, right? And we don't

believe in this whole thing, it was like, well, I only follow God.

Because everybody follows somebody, right?

And Paul even himself

said, be followers of me, even

as I also am

of Christ. So we all follow somebody,

but you have to choose right,

you know, who is it that you're going to follow.

And I believe in this church, there's a lot

of people that you can follow. You know, there's a lot

of people that have succeeded at

things that we perhaps want to succeed at

and if we look to see how they did it, you know,

these are people that we can, you know,

emulate, these are people that we can follow,

that we can seek, you know, advice

from. Now, go

to Ecclesiastes chapter

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

9, Ecclesiastes chapter 9. And

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

so that's why it's important to be in church,

right? So whenever you're able

to come to church, make it that goal

to come to church at least once. Now

we're all for three to thrive, but if you can't

even do that, make it to one service.

And unfortunately, you know, to be honest, people

miss church for dumb reasons, right? Sometimes,

you know, their hair hurts

or, you know, those of us that have

hair, nah, I'm just kidding. But, you know, there

are reasons why, you know,

people miss church and a lot of it is just

dumb reasons at the end of the day.

And honestly, we make time for what's

important, you know, if you have

something important going on, you're going to make time

for it. You know, you want to be somewhere, you want

to, you know, watch a movie, you want to

like go, I don't know,

whatever event that you want to go to,

if it's important to you, you're going to find a way

to go there. And church is

important. So, you know, you shouldn't miss church

just for any reason, right? If you have to

work overtime, if you have to work, you got

sick, you know what, those are legitimate

reasons. But if you're just missing for the

sake of missing, just, you're feeling lazy,

you know, that's unexcusable, right? Inexcusable.

And so one of the ways that

we can make sure to be in church is by

not scheduling things during

church hours, right? And a lot of times

this is what causes people to miss church.

You know, we have seven days a

week, right? But for some reason, every

party, every Kinsignana, everything has

to be on a Sunday, right? Or like late

night Saturday. But don't schedule anything

when it's time for church, right?

You don't do that for work,

you know, you don't say like, well, I'm going to go do this,

you know, during my work hours, right?

Because you know, you have to be at work or you'll get fire.

So it's important to go to church.

And if it's important to you, don't

schedule anything during church hours.

You know, you only have to go to church at

10.30 in the morning. And then what? Church is

in until 5. You have all these hours to do

whatever you want, right?

So go to, I think, go to Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9. The Bible says right there in

verse number 10, what service I hand, find it

to do, do it with I might, for

there is no work, nor device, nor

knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whether

thou go is. And so whatever you're trying

to do, do it now. Now

go to Colossians chapter 3. Go to Colossians

Colossians 3 · chapter mention Colossians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. One of the other ways

that you can make sure that you stay

motivated, that you stay doing what's

right is putting yourself in the right environment.

And the right environment is just

being in church, being around good people.

You know, being around people that are

actually serving God.

And so I don't believe there's anybody

that like in this room that would say,

you know, that was just straight up say

I don't really care if I succeed in my Christian life.

I don't think anybody thinks that.

But unfortunately some people act that way

because they're not doing anything

that would help them succeed in their Christian

life. And so one of the best ways to do

that is by putting yourself in the right environment,

hanging out with the right people.

Hanging out with people on your team,

people your age, people that are older,

people that are hard workers, people that

are soul winners, people that inspire

you to go to missions trips, people that

inspire you to be a hard worker.

These are people that you should be around.

Now in Colossians chapter 3,

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

look down at verse number 23, the Bible says,

And whatsoever you do, do it hardly

as to the Lord, and not unto men,

knowing that of the Lord,

ye shall receive the reward

of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ.

And so whatever we do, do it

hardly as unto the Lord.

So whatever it is that we do, we have to

have it in our mind, we're doing it as unto

the Lord, right? And if we

have that mindset, we're going to do a better

job at it. Because if we're only doing it

to be seen of men, you know,

to get approval, to get validation, eventually

you're going to stop doing it. But if you're doing

it as unto the Lord, you're going to try to do

your best, right? Because you know that God is

watching you. And if you're, you know, at

your job, whatever you do, whatever it is that

you do for work, do it as unto the Lord.

Because if you're doing it as unto the Lord, you're

going to be an honest worker. You're not going to

be stealing from your job. You're not going

to be stealing hours, right? You're not going

to be messing around when you're on the clock.

And so these are things that, as a Christian,

if you have it in your mind, you know,

I'm doing this as unto the Lord, then you're

going to do what's right. You know,

wives, you know, you serve your husbands, right?

You submit unto them, do it

as unto the Lord. And these are things,

you know, as husbands, yeah, we fill

at times, right? We probably jerk some of

the times, right? Most of the time,

some of the times, right? But why should

you still submit? It doesn't matter, you know,

regardless of how your husband is, because you're

doing it as unto the Lord. You know,

children, you know, obeying their parents,

they're doing it as unto the Lord. And

not every parent is perfect. You know, our parents

made mistakes. We as parents, we're going to

make mistakes. You know, sometimes

we're not always going to, you know, we try

to keep our promises, right? But sometimes things

come up and you don't do what you thought

you were going to do, right? But children

should not develop this attitude of just obeying

their parents if they're good parents,

right? You're doing it as unto the Lord

as Christians. Now go to 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

3. So the title of the sermon this evening is

the Winter Arc. But before

you even start that, if you choose to start

that, or whatever, you know, time

in the year you choose to hit, like a

reset button, you know, these are things

that you should consider. Number one,

you should consider, you know, what motivates

you? What is it that motivates you? Number

two, how is it that you handle

tribulations and trials, right?

Are you better at doing that this

year than you were last year, right?

Because some people are not here in church

anymore. And it's, you know, they were here

earlier this year. But because

they got involved in sin

or, you know, some trial came into their life,

they're out of church now. And as

Christians, you know, if we want to be better

Christians, we got to, you know, get that

thing down now of being

able to go through hardships. You know,

you should develop some thick skin.

You should develop some strength because

some Christians, you know, they get out for whatever

reason. You know, some small problem happens.

They get a flat tire.

Or, you know, it's something small, right?

And it just takes them out of church.

And there's people, unfortunately, that

are always getting out of

church every year. It's like, instead of

getting better, they're just regressing

each year, right? And it's almost

expected of them to be, oh, well, this is

around the time that they get out of church.

You know, that shouldn't be you, right?

And so how is it that you're handling tribulation

and trials? Go to 2 Timothy chapter

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

3, 2 Timothy chapter

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

3. The Bible says in verse

12, yea, and all that will live

godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer

persecution. And so why are we

amazed, right? If you were choosing to

live for God, serving God,

living a good life, right? Living

righteously, why are you surprised

that you suffered through persecution, right?

And persecution could be anything from, like,

losing friendships, losing a

girlfriend, losing a job,

you know, whatever the case may be. These are things

that happen in life. Get over it, right?

And as a Christian, you should be able

to endure hardships.

You know, it's not, you're not going to go

through your whole life with the same friends.

Sometimes you're close to somebody and you

grew up with them, maybe you've been friends

with them, like over the years, but eventually

things could happen, right? And don't let

that take you out of church. You know, sometimes

friendships end. Sometimes relationships

end. Sometimes you do lose your job.

Sometimes, you know, there's problems in

your marriage. Sometimes there's problems

in your life. You go through health,

you know, you go through health problems, right? These

are things that we're all going to go through,

experience it throughout our lives.

And it shouldn't be something that takes us out of church.

Now go to,

if you would, go to

Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4. I'm going to

Mark 4 · chapter mention Mark 4 · chapter mention

read to you from John 16.

John 16 says in verse number 1,

these things have our spoken unto you,

that you should not be offended. They shall

put you out of the synagogues. Yay, the

time cometh, that whosoever

killed with you will think that he do with

God's service. And these things will they do unto

you because they have not known the Father

nor me. But these things

have I told you that when the time

shall come, you may remember that I told you

of them. And these things I said not unto

you at the beginning because I was with

you. And so Jesus, he always warned

his disciples, right, of the things to come.

And isn't that what pastor does every Sunday,

every service, you know, telling us, hey,

you're going to go through persecution, you're

going to go through trials in life. These are

things that he tells us that we, so that

we won't be offended, right? And maybe

you're like, oh, I've never heard him say that.

Well, maybe you're not paying attention, right?

These are things that pastor

warns us about. The Bible warns us about

we know that we're going to go through

hardships. And if you know that you're going to

go through hardships, you know that you're

going to go through trials, why is it that

you let it affect you, right? Why is it

that you let it get you out of church

or get offended? Now go to

Mark chapter four, Mark chapter

four. You know, people do marvel

when bad things happen to them as if

life doesn't consist

of bad things happening, right?

Don't be surprised when bad things happen.

Don't be surprised if, you know, a relationship

didn't work out. Don't be surprised

if, you know, a job didn't work out.

There's more jobs out there, right?

And God is faithful. He's going to provide for you.

He's not going to let you, you know, just, you know,

be in the red or whatever. But, you know,

he's going to provide for every single need that you have.

And maybe you did lose a friend.

Maybe you got sick this year. Maybe you got,

you know, whatever happened to you this year,

the point is this, it will get better.

And even if it doesn't, you know, you know

that this life consists of those things.

So don't be offended at that. Now

Mark chapter four, look down at verse 16.

The Bible says, and these are they like,

and these are they likewise, which are

on stoning ground, who when they have heard

the word, immediately receive them with

gladness, and have no root in themselves

and so are endured, but for a time

afterward, when affliction or persecution

arises for the word's sake, immediately

they are offended. And so there are a lot

of people like that that are going to come to the doors

of our church. They're going to get saved.

They're going to get plugged in church, but

unfortunately they don't get rooted in the word,

right? And so because they don't get rooted

in the word and they think everything's like

lovey-dovey in the Christian life, they're going to get

offended. They're going to get out of church

when hardships come. Now go with me if you

would to Proverbs chapter six, Proverbs

chapter six. I'm going to read to you

from Proverbs chapter 24, the Bible says in

Proverbs 24 · chapter mention

verse 10, if thou faint in the day

of adversary, thy strength

is small. And so if you

quit, you know, if you faint in the

day of adversity, what does that tell us?

Your strength is small.

And this kind of always reminds me of like

you know, when you're lifting, right?

And if you ever deadlifted, you know, there's

that point in the deadlift where like

you just think to yourself like I should just let

it go, right? But if only

you just keep pushing, right? You let

yourself just shake and like, you

know, tremble. It's going to go up,

right? So these are things that I kind

of picture in my head where it's like

if I let that bar go, if I fell at

this PR or whatever, I'm speaking about

deadlifting, you know, my strength was small.

You know, at the end of the day, I just wasn't strong enough.

And maybe you're a runner, you know,

I ran for one week, I already

quit, but

you know, when you're running, right?

There is a point whether you're running fast

or slow, it doesn't matter.

You know, you get it in your mind, you know,

I could just stop, I have free will. You know, why am

I going to continue? But if you have

that going in your head, I am trying to

accomplish this and you keep pushing forward,

you know, your strength increases. And

it's the same way in the Christian life, you know,

if you constantly quit in the Christian life,

that trial is going to happen

again. And because you didn't develop

the thick skin, you didn't develop the strength,

you're going to quit again, right?

And so you don't want it to be said of you, like, hey,

last year I went through this same exact thing

and I ended up quitting last year. And

then it happens again this year and then what happens?

You end up quitting again. You want to develop the strength

every time you go through a trial, a tribulation,

a hardship to be able to get over it.

And the way that you do that, the more you do

it, the stronger you are as a Christian.

You know, more problems arise, you're going to

get through it. And you know you are, why?

Because you've done it in the past, right?

But if you're known to be a quitter, whenever

hard things come your way, you're just

going to quit all the time until you develop

that strength. Now

go with me if you would to, I think

I told you, go to Proverbs 6, look down

your Bible as verse number 19, it says, a false witness

that speaketh lies, and he that so

would discord among brethren. And so here

we see one of the problems that do arise

when it comes to friendships and church is this

matter of just division of strife, right?

And a lot of times it has to do with people

purposely causing strife.

And these are things that will happen. You know,

sometimes you do have a fallout because

somebody, you know, tells lies about

you or rails on you. These

things will happen. And

whether or not that person gets it right,

you know, that shouldn't surprise you because

the Bible warns us of that. You know, there's people

that will lie about you. And you can't

let, you know, a lie, if you know

it's false, you know, don't let it get

out of you, get you out of church, right?

That's why I'm like thankful for

pastors in our movement because they have thick skin.

You know, how many people have rails on

them? Not just like in person, but

online, right? If they were like

sensitive and they had like, you know,

thin skin, they would have been out of church already,

right? But I'm thankful that we have men of

God to look up to that, you know,

go through it. Whether in the comment section

in life, you know, people are constantly

lying about them and they develop that

thick skin and they don't let them get out of

the fight. Now, go to 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

So, the title of the

sermon is the Winter Arc, but here are

three things I want you to consider and

I'm almost done. Is that number one,

ask yourself, you know, what is it that

motivates me? Number two is it, you know,

how well do I do with tribulation

and trials? You know, am I better this year

than I was last year? And if you're not,

you know, get it right this year, right?

Develop that thick skin, develop

that strength.

Now, the third thing that I want you to consider

this evening, and it's the last thing,

is, you know, how do you handle

temptation, right? How do you handle

temptation? Now, before I get there,

let me read to you from,

let me say, let me read to you from 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. The Bible says in verse number

1, and I, brethren, could not speak

unto you as, unto spiritual, but as

unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

I have fed you with milk, and now with

meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear

it. Neither yet, now are you

able, for ye are yet carnal,

for whereas there is among you envy

and strive in divisions, are ye not

carnal and walk as men? So there's

constantly, you know, striving your life

and you're constantly fighting against other people. What does that tell us?

You're just a babe in Christ, right?

Because little kids do that. You know,

those of us that have small kids and the

siblings are always fighting, right? They constantly

fight. And that's how kids are, but

as a grown adult to always be fighting,

right? To always be like, hey,

you know, like just always having problems with people.

You know, that just shows us that you're a babe in Christ

and it's time to mature.

Now, I think I told you go to

go to Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Go to Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Sorry, just go to

Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

And so, again, live, before I

move on to the last point, it is filled

with good times and bad times. You know,

the Bible talks about the seasons of life.

We're not always going to have a good time, right?

Life is not always linear.

You know, it's not always like your life is just

like, you know, you're on top of the world.

You know, sometimes we have low points.

Sometimes we have high points.

But, you know, if we know this,

you know, when those hard times come,

we're going to be ready for it. Now,

in Philippians chapter 4, look down on your Bible,

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

it's verse number 11. The Bible says,

Not that I speak in respect of one, for I have

learned in whatsoever state I am,

dare with to be content. I know

both how to be a base and I know how to

abound everywhere.

And in all things, I am instructed both to

be full and to be hungry, both to abound

and to suffer need. I can do all

things through Christ with strength as me.

So, at the end of the day, you know, we need

to learn contentment. We need to learn

how to be content with the circumstances in our lives.

Some days are going to be

good. Some days are just going to be hardships.

But we need to develop this attitude

of contentment.

So, the last point I wanted to make is this.

How do you handle temptation?

You know, are you constantly just giving in

to sin? You know, obviously, we're sinners.

We're going to sin to the day that we

lie, to the day that we die, right?

But, you know, there are certain

things that as you grow in your faith,

you're going to get away from, right?

You're not going to be, like, let's say you used to drink

all the time. The more you mature in your

faith, obviously you wouldn't be in this church, but

let's say

you got out of that habit, you stay away from

that, you know, you're not going to constantly open

that door, right? You want to be to the point

where, like, I don't hang out with those people,

right? I'm not living in fornication.

I'm not living with my girlfriend, you know,

and stuff like that. That's what I'm talking about.

So, you don't want to, you know, just be

constantly falling into sin, getting

out of church. You know, this time around

if you have something like that in your life,

we're like, maybe I develop a covetous attitude.

You know, get that right now so that

when the new year starts, you could start

on a good foot.

So, go to James chapter one, James chapter one.

Here's the last passage.

How do you handle temptation?

The Bible says,

And so, we're all going to be tempted, right?

But here's the thing.

We're not supposed to give into it.

You know, God gives us the ability.

God told us to walk in the spirit so that

we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh.

And as I said, you know, you can't

prevent, what do they say?

Like, you can't prevent birds from flying

over your head, but you could, like,

prevent it from, you know,

building a nest on your hair.

I forgot how it goes, but you get the point.

You know, obviously you can't control certain

things in life, right? There are certain things

that are just going to happen no matter what.

But how you react to it, how you handle that,

you could control that.

Now, go to James chapter four, James chapter four.

And then verse number seven.

The Bible says,

And so, one of the ways

that we can avoid temptation

is just resisting Satan, right?

And the Bible says, you know,

he's going to flee from us

for a season. So yeah, we're always going to be

tempted, but we need to resist

the devil. And so, what I'm trying

to get across in this point is just this,

that you need to learn how to handle temptation,

because we're all going to be tempted with things.

And you need to learn how to put yourself

in a place where you're not,

you know, you're not putting yourself

in a situation where

you're going to commit that sin, right?

Let's say you're dating. You're not going to

put yourself in a situation where you could

commit fornication, right? You're not like,

well, I don't know how I fell into fornication.

Maybe because you keep riding with your girlfriend

by yourself, right? Or maybe because

you keep hanging out with her by yourself.

Or like, how about, you know,

people that have children out of wedlock,

you know, bastard children, how did that happen?

Well, maybe because you kept fornicating, right?

Why are they so shocked?

You know, these are things that

people could avoid, you know, from

happening. You know, the temptation

is there, but just remove yourself from it, right?

Be like Joseph, flee fornication.

And there are other things that I could bring up, you know,

just drink. Why do I keep falling

into like drinking with my friends?

Why are you hanging out with those people, right?

There's certain, there's so many ways that you

could avoid sinning, right?

Sinning in that way.

And things that would get you out of church.

You know, why is it that I keep losing money?

Or maybe because you keep buying lottery tickets, right?

There are certain things that you can do

to avoid, you know,

falling into these traps. So we're all

going to be tempted. We're all going to sin,

but we don't always constantly have to

fall into these bigger sins is what I'm trying to say.

And so tonight I just want to encourage you,

you know, think about these things, you know, what are

the three things that you should consider? What is it that

motivates you, right? We all need motivation,

you know, let's be honest about that.

And then, you know, what, you know,

how are you handling trials and tribulations

this time around? You know, are you doing better

this year than you were last year? If you're not,

you know, hit a reset button, you know,

you got the rest of the end of the year

to get it right, to start 2027

on the right foot. You know, how are you handling

temptation? Are you avoiding going

to places where you shouldn't be? Are you,

you know, October is coming up, you know,

don't go to a Halloween party, you know,

don't be dressing like a whole on October 31st,

right? You know, I don't know how I blacked

out maybe because you went hanging out with your friends

and drank alcohol, right?

I was going to say something, but

idiot, I

don't want to say

another thing, but yeah, you don't want to,

you know, you don't want to put yourself in those situations.

You know, some thought just came in my head

and I try to avoid it, right?

But, you know, you want to be able

to set yourself up for success in this

upcoming year. Let's pray. Emily and Father,

Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for allowing us,

Lord, to gather tonight. We got

people and be able to hear from your word.

I pray, Lord, that you would help us to have a successful

year. Help us, Lord, to develop

good habits, spiritual habits, Lord, that

would help us do what's right. I pray

also, Lord, for a pastor and that he

would feel better, Lord, so that he would be here

on Sunday. I pray, Lord, that you put

your, that you would heal him, Lord,

for whatever he's going through. I pray, Lord,

that you keep us safe. Help us get home safely

in Jesus' first name. Amen.