0007 Sermon: Trusting GOD vs Testing GOD. Do The Next Right Thing!

Trusting God in our journey is not about testing Him, but about taking actionable steps toward a deeper faith. We discuss the practical application of faith in daily life and launch a 90-day challenge to encourage accountability and growth across various areas. 
• Emphasizing the connection between trust and action 
• Importance of integrating faith into daily routines 
• Distinction between testing and trusting God 
• Introduction of the 90-Day Forging Challenge 
• Focus areas: faith, family, fitness, skillset, finances 
• Role of community and fellowship for encouragement 
• The impact of prayer and meditation on spiritual growth

Christian Warrior Talk is Sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence preparedness. Trident Shield helps safeguard your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield, defending faith through empowered preparedness because together, we save lives."

Chapters

• 0:00 Christ Forge Church Announcement and Sermon
• 13:46 The Path of Wisdom and Trust
• 28:30 The Path to Trusting God
• 46:33 Community 90-Day Challenge

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Welcome. Happy Lord's Day, happy late Lord's Day. I had every intention of trying to do a service at 11 o'clock but, as you guys know, I'm alone here on the farm with the chores and everything else. I think that's my wife telling me. Sound is good. Yeah, she's watching my wife's in Maine with the girls and my son the three of them. They are visiting relatives there, sick relatives, and so this is all happening during the coldest time of the year where we've had, well, the longest sustained snow I've seen in Tennessee, meaning that it's snowed and it's stuck around. Instead of snowing and then melting and being gone, we've had sustained cold days, you know, multiple days under freezing, which in the south that can be challenging.

Speaker 1: 1:37

Not this house on a basement and we have a wood stove down there that heats the entire basement, heats the floor, rises up the stairs and does a great job. The preppers who are here you know the homesteaders that were here before us set that up. I mean it's amazing. We got a nice deep wood stove. Hooked up to the right of that is a wood cooking stove. So if things ever go wrong and we got wood, we can cook, or coal, we got bolt. We got exactly what we need there, and I know they used to use that for canning and a bunch of other things here. So, um, so chores take a long time breaking up the ice for the cows and the hogs and everybody else, and so I just could not get it done in time. So I pushed to seven, and of course this is only a one-time thing. Next week we'll be back at our normal time. So again, happy Lord's Day to you. Thank you for tuning in late on your Sunday. So welcome to Christ Forged Church, a home church, community ministry and farm that forges Christian warriors for today's challenges.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Christ Forge Church stands as a training grounds for discipleship and a forge for Christian warriors, uniting faith and purpose in every step of the journey. Our mission is to transform men, women and families into fearless Christian warriors through discipleship, biblical truth and hands-on training. We are building a fellowship of believers, united under Christ, living out a biblical worldview and advancing his kingdom with strength and purpose. We are committed to forging men into biblically masculine leaders, protectors, providers and disciples who stand unshaken in the face of the spiritual and worldly challenges. Likewise, we train women as Christ-centered shield maidens, embracing biblical femininity while standing steadfast in the faith and purpose, fighting alongside their families, alongside their families. At Christ Forged Church, we prepare warriors for both spiritual and kinetic warfare, equipping them with the armor of God, the courage of faith and the skills to prevail Through fellowship, the refining fire of God's word and the bonds of united brotherhood. We are creating a godly, loving and resilient community, forged to stand boldly for Christ, advancing his truth and love in every battle and every season of life.

Speaker 1: 4:06

I'm reading that every service now so that you guys know what we're about. I know we've got a lot of new people coming. I think we picked up, and we're picking up, hundreds of subscribers over at YouTube, so the shorts are really doing their job. I've always knew that that would be the case but again, you guys really remember I'm a one-man show and there's some software out there that helps me do it. So the shorts are really helping People get a taste of us and then they turn in to see more.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Some announcements We'll be back to our 11 am time next week. No zoom room. If you guys notice, we do about 15 to 20 minutes of worship, you know, from 7 to 7 or sorry, 11 to 11, 15, 11, 20. I was going to do what I used to do and have that. You know that flashing, looping, 10 15 minute intro that just sat there, but then I have to trim it out at the end and I think it really hurts our viewership on some platforms. So I'm just going to throw a live when we're done worship and hopefully you're at home playing worship as long as well as us. Now the worship list has gone long and we're playing a lot of stuff up there and there's some stuff that's just like Christian hype music before the sermon and then there's, you know, worship music that happens, you know, after that City of Light song we move forward into more traditional worship music After worship is done here.

Speaker 1: 5:50

If you were to come in person, we will dismiss the young'uns to go to a separate room on the other side of this wall. That's the mother's room and that's where Lauren and other moms can bring the younger kids to watch the sermon on TV and enjoy kids' appropriate Bible lessons and Bible activities. Lauren and my mom, my mother Barbara, will be helping people park and welcome you to our home church. Again, this is a home church. This isn't some vast big building. This is a two-car garage that I turned into our worship space because we couldn't find a church that fit our needs. So through there there's a bathroom that is for churchgoers only, but when you come in, you'll come in through our living room, through our kitchen and into the worship space, which we're lucky to have this as a worship space, space, which we're lucky to have this as a worship space.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Our Christian fellowship show, christ Forged Locking Shields, is on Friday at 9 pm on all social media channels. This Locking Shields is a fellowship show where we discuss all things Christian life, prepping, homesteading tactics and news stories that affect us all. We will be filming a welcome video to show people what to expect when they come to our church. Be on the lookout for some social media posts that will appear in the welcome video. That's probably going to be in February, with how much time I'm going to be on the road.

Speaker 1: 7:15

A call we need musicians to play worship here. Right now we are doing it via YouTube with words on the screen. We'd love to have our own musicians here. So if you're a guitar player, piano player and you want to kick it off here and you want an audience, well you'll have one, and then I think we can actually stream at them. We also want a looking volunteer for social media, website setup crew, greeters, parkers, breakdown crew, camera crew, hospitality crew, et cetera. The more we get help from you guys, the better the production we can have. It'd be great if I had somebody over there on the switchboard where I could put up slides and run things, but right now I run it all. Alright. Well, let's go ahead and let's get into the sermon. So let's go to war.

Speaker 1: 8:12

Dear Heavenly Father, lord, we thank you for this day, thank you for all days, lord, so much of the world is ignoring you, but not your faithful, and we stand as that group. Right now there are people watching football games and all kinds of nonsense and entertainment, not us, lord. We put you first. Lord, help us to always put you first in our life, to break our addictions, to crush our false idols in our life and to put you first to make our Bible our primary entertainment, our Bible, our comforting, our comfort, food of choice. Lord, we are, we stand in awe of your creation, of your common grace this universe sun, the moon, the stars, this earth, the mountains to the oceans and everything in between. Let me thank you for the sunrises and the sunsets. We thank you for our warm breeze on a cold day or warm fire that's what we've been having here on these cold days. And a cool breeze on a hot day. We thank you for the sound of children laughing, bird songs and waves on the shore. Lord. We thank you for the smell of fresh morning, rain, good food, cooking. Lord. We thank you for the taste, the good taste, of good food and drink. You didn't have to make it taste good, but you did. Lord, we thank you for blessing us with another day for the trillions upon trillions of cells that had to work perfectly just for us to be here. We treasure every moment we have with our loved ones that you've blessed us with, and we pray that you help us not to take that for granted.

Speaker 1: 10:29

Lord, we are so broken and we devolve whenever we take our eyes off of you. I think of Peter watching you walk on the water in that storm, with waves, and coming out on the water on you, and as he kept his eyes on you, he walked on water with you and stayed on that path. The second he took his eyes away, he sank. How often is that us, lord? How many times are you patient to reach and plunge through the water like our picture over here. Pull us up from our filth, from our sea, our ocean of sin and brokenness.

Speaker 1: 11:16

Lord, many of us come from generations upon generations of curses and brokenness and wounding. Lord, I pray that everyone out there who's a victim of that, that you would go into their heart and heal them and show them that you can redeem them. You can redeem all the pain and call them to you, lord. So, lord, I pray that this time that we're about to spend today glorifies you and only you, serves you and only you, and that it would please you. I pray that we would proclaim you with every breath of our lungs and serve you with every beat of our hearts. In Jesus' name, we pray amen.

Speaker 1: 12:06

Now, I know that many of you out there don't know how to pray or are new to prayer, aren't comfortable with it. Trust me, when I am alone and I'm not focused and I don't have things I'm looking to accomplish and I pray, my prayers wander and things intrude into my mind and call me away and it takes so much discipline. That's why kneeling for me particularly kneeling in pain because of my um, because of my, because of my knee replacement, as just really focuses me and I find I get less intrusions, less distractions, less warfare, less my selfish body and my selfish mind and all my bad habits and all the works of the enemy trying to pull me off topic, interrupt my time with the Lord. The beeps and the boops and the phones and the roosters and the dogs and all that goes away then. But just know that you don't have to pray long like I just did or as long as I just did. You can do a simple prayer, a simple prayer like a child. Just know, realize who you're talking to, get humble, get grateful and speak to your heavenly Father, who is the creator of everything. Be honest, because he knows it all.

Speaker 1: 13:46

Anyways, one day we're all going to stand naked before God. There'll be no lying, there'll be no secrets, there'll be no hiding. Every wicked deed, every selfish act, every false idol we had will be laid bare. Every false idol we had will be laid bare. Don't go there with that unrepented Repent and own that If you don't know how to pray and you don't know where to start. Well, the Lord gave us a great example in Matthew 6, 9-13. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. So I call this sermon Trusting and not testing.

Speaker 1: 15:18

The Lord do the next right thing, and it's every time I get off course, every time my life is on fire, like in California, or I am failing to die to myself and my former self is showing my sin patterns are merging and I am drowning in who I was and not who I should be. I find that I usually have made a lot of bad decisions to get there. It's never an accident, it's never this. It's one small one, and then another small one, and then another small one, and then the snowball's off and running and, whether it be whatever it is, finances. I find that the only way to turn that around is to do the next right thing to break it down, and do the next right thing to trust in the Lord.

Speaker 1: 16:42

The way I look at our journey with the Lord is that we are walking across a giant like the Grand Canyon, a great chasm, and there are no bricks in front of us. Okay, now we would want to look across the bridge normally and see that there is this great bridge and it's safe all the way through. And we would be looking at step 50 and 60 and 70 and 100 and 150 and 100. And we want to see it's all good because that's through diligence. But walking with the Lord is a little different. I find that we have to do the next right thing and step in faith, and he puts the brick underneath your feet. He's not going to give you the vision of brick 45. If you think of the yellow brick road, it's empty. It's a cliff off and you're on it. When you step out, trusting the Lord, doing the next right thing, there will be a brick for you. So where do we find this?

Speaker 1: 17:54

Proverbs 3. Turn there and your Bible's at home. I'm reading out of the English Standard Version Trust in the Lord with all your heart, my son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart. Steadfast love and faithfulness. Be steadfast and faithful so you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. This is a hard one, you know, as a former atheist, as a what I would call somebody a disciple of science, a previous disciple of science and now a disciple of Jesus Christ. Those of us who are particularly raised in secular schools, we want to understand everything, and when we don't understand everything, well, we get angry, we get unsure. And even in Christian circles there's a lot of topics where there's a lot of lack of understanding.

Speaker 1: 19:30

We have varying opinions from scholars with lots of letters behind their name Calvinism, arminianism, you know, preterism, partial preterism you know premillennial, amillennial, postmillennial, all these things, six-literal-day creation to something other than that, to six days in heaven, to an indefinite amount of time before the six days of creation. There's just so many disagreements in our faith. What we have to understand is that we know what to do. Just do the next right thing. I'm a simple guy and I find that if I keep things simple and I have a choice of not right thing, next right thing, and I know I need to do the next right thing, I can do the next right thing. But when I've got too many choices, that is where I get into trouble.

Speaker 1: 20:43

In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. There's a lot of massive lack of humility, particularly in the social media spaces today, where everyone is wise in their own eyes and a lot of it is a lack of fear of the Lord. Some of those people who have a lack of humility in their lives do fear the Lord. They just lack all humbleness and think, because they have a differing opinion on some things, that they're better than others, and that's just not the case. Be no wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Speaker 1: 21:46

This is the one where so many people fail and we wonder why we struggle financially. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. So many of us only give what is left over to the Lord in serving the Lord and wonder why he never blesses our finances. That is an act of faith. That is an act of sacrifice. If you're wondering why you're struggling, or you're wondering why you haven't break through, why your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, it's got nothing to do with giving. It is one of the only ways to give back to the Lord. It's helping his people. That's what honoring the Lord with your finances does. It's helping other Christians.

Speaker 1: 22:59

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be wary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves whom he loves as a father, as a father, the son in whom he delights so much of us today, as my wife Lauren is saying, being around people who are not raised in the Christian way. You have to love your children enough to discipline them, because God loves you enough to discipline you. That's why, when you sin, it hurts. When you do drugs, it drags you down and it hurts, and it hurts, and it hurts, and it hurts, and it hurts. If it didn't, you'd do it forever. God is trying to call you out of that with discipline. Sin always leads to pain. Every single time it leads to pain. Every single time it leads to pain, destruction of relationship, destruction which it can be destruction of trust.

Speaker 1: 24:04

Wounds tore open to abandonment People checking out on their relationships, husbands completely detached at home because they're not living a Christian life and a godly life and leading from the front. Instead, they're checked out playing video games while their wife and kids or their wife is running the house, or they're at a football game or a hockey game or a basketball game or a baseball game, or whatever you want to call it. Instead of leading their family, they're escaping. That will always lead to pain, because the Lord loves you enough to cause you that pain, to fix, to make you repent and fix that.

Speaker 1: 25:01

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom Verse 13. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than the gain from silver and her profit is better than gold. She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, and her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Those who hold her fast are called blessed. Those who hold her fast are called blessed. The Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth by understanding. He established the heavens by his knowledge. The deeps broke open and the clouds dropped down. The drew my son, do not lose sight of these. Keep sound wisdom and discretion and they will be a life for your soul and an adornment for your neck. Wisdom which supreme wisdom is fear of the Lord.

Speaker 1: 26:28

As a former materialist myself, items I have. Things never bought me. Peace or happiness, maybe for a time, and then they get old. Materialism is just such an empty way. But wealth in itself is not bad. It is a gift from the Lord to be used and weaponized for his kingdom. Dollars are bullets in the war against poverty and the war against the enemy. Everything that you see costs money the lights, the cameras, the software. I'm just using my example, this small example the house we're in the time that I could be working. Instead, wisdom can lead, and should lead, to prosperity, not prosperity, gospel. If you're wise and you make good business decisions and you follow the Proverbs, you're going to spend less than you make right and you're going to have a good reputation and be honorable and people are going to want to do business with you and you're going to avoid doing business with shady people. And, lo and behold, things just work out. Why? Because God blesses those who do those things. Some of the richest people I know are the most unhappy. Some of the most famous people you know are the most unhappy. Some of the most famous people you know are the most unhappy. They're fake Instagram accounts when they get on there and then pose in some picture to make it look like their life is awesome and they cry themselves to sleep.

Speaker 1: 28:31

Be wise, know what's real. Know what's real, know what's not. Then you will walk on your way securely and your foot will not stumble Verse 23. If you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet because you're wise.

Speaker 1: 28:54

Do not be afraid of sudden terror or the ruin of the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and you will keep your foot from being caught. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it. That means if you owe somebody, pay up. Pay up before you buy that new car, or on and on you choose it. Do not withhold good from those whom it is due when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor go and come again Tomorrow. I will give it when you have it with you Again, delaying making someone whole, who you owe them something.

Speaker 1: 29:43

Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous. Toward the scorners. He is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. We must trust in the Lord and he gives us wisdom, lessons, guidance, eternal wisdom and guidance, and then he gives us the weapon of prayer and then he gives us the body of Christ to help us, other Christians to help us, to help us other Christians to help us. You know, if you look at other religions, mormons do business with Mormons and help Mormons. Jews do business with Jews and help Jews. Unfortunately, far too many Christians do not do business with Christians and bless other Christians, and we need to change that. We need to change that. We need to change that.

Speaker 1: 31:17

I often talk about testing versus trusting the Lord. I do this in my other profession, where I teach security training, active shooter, et cetera to Christian schools, churches, christian organizations and secular organizations With Christians. I often have to teach them the difference between testing and trusting the Lord. Testing the Lord or trusting the Lord is saying, hey, I want to go parachuting skydiving. So I go out, I take instruction, I buy the best parachute that I can, I practice, I pack my chute to the best of my ability, I go up into a plane, I jump out of the plane, I do everything right and then I pull my. Before I pull my chute, I pray to the Lord for him to bless that jump and expect him to meet me halfway. That is trusting the Lord. I did my part. Testing the Lord is going. I want to go skydiving. I go up into a plane and I jump out without a parachute and say God, save me.

Speaker 1: 32:38

And that's how far too many Christians today are living, financially relationate, you know, in their family, in their relationships, in their fitness and in their faith. They don't read their Bible and they wonder why their relationship with God sucks. They spend all their time doing everything but spending time with God in his word and prayer and wonder why their life isn't working out Because they're testing the Lord and not trusting the Lord doing their part. Many of us have a lot of anxiety and there's a lot of things coming at us from all sides. Many of us have a lot of anxiety and there's a lot of things coming at us from all sides, but if we bring it back to God, no matter what happens, you'll be okay in the end, which is eternity.

Speaker 1: 33:45

In Psalm 118.8,. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans 100%. Men will lie, cheat and disappoint you. People will fail you your entire life. In Psalm 28, 7, the Lord is my strength and my shield. In him my heart trusts, I am helped, my heart exalts and with my song I give thanks to him. How often do we thank God faults and with my song I give thanks to him. How often do we thank God?

Speaker 1: 34:09

You know, I remember when I was an atheist and I'd see some sports athlete achieve the pinnacle of his career and he'd thank Jesus Christ and I would be so irritated. Now I'm like man. I should be doing that for everything good that happens in my life, and even the things that aren't good, because I'm learning a lesson when I fail Matthew 6, 25. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body. What you will put on Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing.

Speaker 1: 34:48

I find it interesting that that is being said to people where there aren't vast grocery stores and 7-Elevens in every corner. There was no safety net in society. There was no safety net in society. There was no social security. There was no disability. Disability was sitting on the side of the road and begging, and there's God telling us that In Psalm 910, and there's God telling us that In Psalm 910,.

Speaker 1: 35:27

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, o Lord, have not mistaken those who seek you. We all want God's blessing, but are we seeking him? Are we deliberately pursuing him, or are we doing our stuff? Our stuff, not his stuff? Are we deliberately saying today, I am going after you, god? How do you do that? Do the next right thing, what's the next right thing? The book, the word, get in the word. Then what? Pray, then what? See what he puts on your heart. Maybe he'll guide you to a movie or a show or a song or a sermon. That's how it starts by doing the next right thing.

Speaker 1: 36:27

Joshua 1.9. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. My girls know this, yet I at times forget it. My girls have supreme faith. They don't have the doubt of the world, and I'm so proud of them, proud of their faith, when you raise your kids Christian and you give them that gift of faith. There is no, there is nothing better. They can handle anything the world throws at them All the cruelty, malice, filth, heartbreak, betrayal. They can handle it all. Without it, they're naked.

Speaker 1: 37:27

Proverbs 3.6,. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths, as I read earlier. And Proverbs 16.20,. Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. So we know we need to trust the Lord, we know we need not to test him, and we know there's a tool of just doing the next right thing.

Speaker 1: 37:53

But what is the next right thing? For many of us, starting tomorrow, the next right thing is a 90-day forging challenge. It's a 90-day forging challenge. It is an accountability group that we are doing here on Facebook, on the Christ Forge Church Facebook, there's groups that ask to join the Christ Forge Christian Warrior Discipleship Training Group. There's some questions. Answer them or I won't let you in. If you can't answer simple questions, you're not going to do anything in there. So either make it worth your time or don't Doing the next right thing. We're going to try to do the next right thing in five categories, the five categories that I realized that I needed when my life is going crazy or leads me to destruction if one of these five things isn't going right.

Speaker 1: 38:52

One faith. The most important one is faith. Every day, we're going to do the next right thing with faith. We're going to put faith first. We're going to start when we wake up with a prayer of gratitude. It doesn't have to be complex, something like this Dear Heavenly Father, jesus and the Holy Spirit, thank you. Thank you for blessing me with another day to get it right. Thank you for protecting me and my family throughout this night. Lord, help me to die to myself today and to become more like you. Help me to walk in your ways, and only your ways. In Jesus' name, I pray amen. Boom, done. How long did that take? It doesn't have to be that long. Then you're off on your day. You have a meal. Say grace, thank you for this meal, lord, amen. There you go, done. Obviously, you can go way more complex than that, but basic.

Speaker 1: 39:57

Read your Bible, give your first cup of coffee you know you're going to have a cup of coffee Sit down in your chair, crack open your Bible. Don't use an app. Don't use an app. Don't use an app. Don't use an app. Get a book, study Bible. So when you run into something you don't know, there's some hope that you might find out or somebody below might help you understand it.

Speaker 1: 40:20

In the notes I recommend you read four chapters a day. That's a lot for some. Read an Old Testament, read a New Testament. So Genesis 1, matthew 1. Then read first day Proverbs 1, psalm 1. Finish with a Psalm Done. Day 2, genesis 2, matthew 2, proverbs 2, psalm 2. Okay, now, if you just do one, that's great, I'm just if you wanted to really crush it, do four, okay.

Speaker 1: 41:11

Then when you go to bed, just say a prayer or something like this Dear Heavenly Father, lord, jesus, holy Spirit, victorious Trinity, thank you for my day today. Thank you for protecting me and everything I love. Lord, please protect us through the night. Bless our sleep. We welcome you into our dreams. Lord, to communicate with myself and us. Lord, I repent of any of the sins that I made today, known and unknown. I ask for you to forgive my sins. Lord, bless me and help me do better tomorrow. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen, done. You just did faith for the day and I did it in their sermon. Okay, outside of the reading.

Speaker 1: 42:06

Next is family. We're going to do the next right. Next is family. We're going to do the next right thing with our family. What's that? Which relationship in your immediate family is a dumpster fire? Pour into them If it's your son, your daughter, your wife, your husband, your mom, your dad, your dog, whatever it is Dog, I'm joking. But pour into them Doesn't mean you go there and just start reading scripture to them. Be kind, serve them, let them know you see them, let them know you care for them and just serve them. Be the equivalent of Jesus washing his disciples' feet. Do that for them in their life. See what happens. Don't do what you want to do. Do what they want you to do. We always want to serve the way we want to serve. You know we want to play with our kids the way we want to play with our kids or entertain them. Do what they love and they'll treasure you.

Speaker 1: 43:08

Next is fitness. We all need to get in better shape, myself included. My knee replacement has set me back massively, but I'm crawling out of it. I'm sure many of you in this winter where we come off the holidays and we pack on the pounds and we degenerate and degenerate and degenerate. You don't have to be Mr Olympia, you don't have to be a swim suit model or whatever. Be functional, be flexible, be healthy. Take care of this temple that you're given. So do something every day. It could be 10K steps, 10,000 steps. Take care of this temple that you're given, so do something every day. It could be 10K steps, 10,000 steps, it could be stretching routine plus 10,000 steps, it could be both of those and working out Whenever it's going to be. Do that Then.

Speaker 1: 44:03

How do you become a better asset? Well, skill set is what makes you valuable to yourself, your family, your community, your, et cetera, your business. Constantly be improving your skill set or adding to it. Whatever you do, try to become better at it every day. Do the next right thing while you're at work. Become better at your job. Don't just coast. Don't do the minimum standard. Don't procrastinate. Get better. Learn a new skill, and that can be something simple at work. And that can be something simple at work. Or it could be carpentry, electrical, plumbing, mechanic work, farming, regenerative farming, animal husbandry. Whatever it is, you could be learning how to do Canva for your company and marketing. Sharpen your skill set. Get better at it.

Speaker 1: 45:23

The last is finances, which is a pitfall for all of us. In this last season we came out of. It's avoiding the trap of debt, the enslavement of debt and the pursuit of materialism All the opposite aspects of that. It's about using your war chest for his kingdom and not your kingdom. It's about making sound decisions every day. Do the next right thing. Cut your budget, spend more than you or less than you make. Make hard decisions. If you do the right thing in all five of those, your life is going to get better in five ways at once. Your walk with God is going to improve. Your relationships are going to improve. You're going to start feeling healthier, better, more energy, more active. People are going to start depending on you because you have a skill set. They're going to start coming to you to solve their problems because you're the person who knows how to do stuff and you won't have that pit in your stomach when you're lying in bed wondering how you're going to pay the bills.

Speaker 1: 46:34

That all starts tomorrow. On that page, day one example is already posted. Come along with me Now. If you don't start tomorrow, that's okay. There's going to be a day posted, hopefully for a very long time, well beyond 90 days. Hopefully this becomes a way of life for you and I'll be on day 191, and it'll be somebody else's first day, it'll be somebody else's 50th day, somebody else's 20th day, somebody else's 35th day, somebody else's 20th day, somebody else's 35th day, whatever. Everyone is going to post in the same place for that day what day you're on and then what you did for those five things.

Speaker 1: 47:18

Now, within that challenge, that 90-day challenge, that 90-day challenge, there's some rules. You go on there, you read the rules, you take the oath. You see we have different. There's a guide in there. In Facebook, there are guides and they tell you how to do it. But here's the rules. Every day you get to post a new faith, a new family and a new fitness.

Speaker 1: 47:45

Now it could be. I did 10K steps again today and that could be what you're doing for a while and that's fine. Your fundamentals and your finances are one a week. I am working on my budget this week. I am working on trimming subscriptions this week whatever you want to say, Right Fundamentals I am reading a new book on blank for the next three weeks and just post that so people can see it. And what happens is, as we come on there, we all start learning from each other. Be as honest as you can in there. Today, I poured into my wife. She was struggling with this. I did that. Someone's mind was struggling with the same thing and that seemed to help him. Maybe I'll do what he did Comment on each other's posts.

Speaker 1: 48:34

Make this the community you want it to be. Listen, we're not in some packed house here where you can just walk over and shake your hand. We're all over the country. We're all around the world actually. But in this challenge, we are locking shields around each other and we are going to fight for one another. So join me.

Speaker 1: 48:57

Post what you do tomorrow. You can post it at the end of the day. This is what I did. You can post it in the morning this is what I intend to do and at the end of the day, fix. This is what I did. You can post in the morning this is what I intend to do and at the end of the day, fix it, because on Facebook you can edit it. That works too. If you miss a day, you start over Back to day one. It's the only way it works. Every time we soften it we've tried this a few times. Every time we soften it, people go off the rails, miss a day, you start over. But that's great because you're not going to get left behind, because when I'm posting day seven and you're on day one, you're going to be right under there with me. So the community will always feel alive as long as people are posting, no matter what day you're on. Always feel alive as long as people are posting, no matter what day you're on. So that's all I. Well, we are now. That's all I got for the sermon today. So again, you can find that on our Facebook. Post our Facebook channel, join the group and let's do Lord's Supper. Let's make sure we got this. Whew, oh, I didn't prep it. Let's see if the Lord blesses me with these darn cups. Okay Now, I believe in doing the Lord's Supper every week because it's important. This is for baptized believers. Before you just come in and start eating the bread and drinking, you really need to hear what the Bible says about doing this in an ungodly way, to make sure that you analyze yourself accurately, that you repent and judge yourself accurately. Whoever, therefore and this is 1 Corinthians, 11, 27 through 32. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. You'll be guilty for his crucifixion and death. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. You'll be guilty for his crucifixion and death. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died, but if we had judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So now go ahead and close your eyes. Jesus on the cross, paying for your sin broken, beaten, sinless. On the cross, god made flesh, god serving as a willing sacrifice for your treason. See him, victorious, rising from the grave three days later to sit at the right hand of the Father In this victory toast, in this feast, this victory feast that we are about to partake in. But before we partake, come to the Lord and confess your sins to him. Judge yourself, for you know how black your heart is, you know how broken you are. You know how broken you are, you know how wicked you are. Bring it to him so he may Take. Eat. This is my body. Go and eat. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many who have given this a sense. Heavenly Father, lord, we thank you for this. We thank you for your Son Jesus. We thank you for the gift of the body, which is the church and everyone watching. Now. Lord, strengthen us, guide us, give us resolve to go forward on this journey together. Help us lock shields around each other, to pick each other up when we fall and to pour into one another, to commit with one another, to move forward for 90 days, and may those 90 days turn into a lifetime where we do the next right thing serving you in all aspects of our life. Lord, we are weak and we can't do this without you. Many of us have failed before. We want to do this, not for us, but for you, lord. Help us not fail you Now, lord. There are many suffering around right now, from the cold in the hills of North Carolina and Tennessee to the fires of California. We ask that you would bring them comfort and peace, lord, and that they would come to depend, know and love you. Now I pray a prayer of protection over this congregation, with this fellowship, over the persecuted church where our troops overseas, our first responders at home, our veterans of yesteryear. I pray that the world does not go into World War III. I pray that Donald Trump takes office in eight days and leads us out of the mess, and that you would use him, lord. I pray for my beloved America, that she would humble herself, turn from her sin, hit her knees and seek your face and repent, and that you would see her and heal her, so that we could once again become one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Now I call this fellowship to attention, to put on the full armor of God, to strap on the shield of faith, pick up the sword of the Spirit and to boldly walk forward to join the shield wall, locking shields of faith to the left and right as we march forward to take ground for your kingdom, for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray Amen. Now I'm going to torture you with my singing Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Speaker 2: 56:14

Praise Father, son and Holy Ghost. Amen. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Speaker 1: 56:34

May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you. I love you. I'll see you Friday.