In Romans chapter 12, verse number one, the apostle writes, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. There is one thing that even the most worldly or the newest baby in Christ can figure out, and that is that God wants us to change. When God saves us, He takes us like we are. He really does. But He has no intention of leaving us that way. Does that mean that God's not satisfied with us? that maybe he doesn't like us in our present state as much as he could. Well, you don't even like you in your present state. Do you? I don't like me very much sometimes. So I'm sure God is not too happy with the way I am sometimes. Now God loves us. Don't be mistaken about that. Now Lisa, my wife, she loves me. But I'm pretty sure there are times she doesn't particularly like me. There's a bit of a difference there. Now when Jesus saved us, he swept into our lives like a lightning bolt. And in one mighty instant, he transformed our spirit. When I put my trust in Jesus to save me from my sins, and ladies and gentlemen, that's the only thing I'm putting my trust in is Jesus. No trust in me. When he did that, he brought my spirit from being dead in trespasses and sins all the way to life everlasting in one fell swoop. He changed me inside from unrighteous to righteous, from lost to saved all at once. The rest, however, the outward changes, they all come by evolution. Hence the title, Christian Evolution. I asked one of our kids last night what evolution meant and she began to tell me a lot of things about how the world has corrupted creation and they don't understand and they don't know what they're talking about. And I was just talking about the word. It means small changes over time. Now some of these changes are hard. Some can be painful and some come through many failures before we see success. I'm not the same person that I was when I got saved. Outwardly or especially inwardly, of course, because the Lord changed that all at once. God has a motive for wanting us to change. It's much more far-reaching than most people seem to think. Let me read one aspect of it from 1 Peter 1, verse 13. Peter says, Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, Be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, you know, back when you didn't know Jesus, remember? But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation or behaviors, what that word means. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. Now as obedient children, yes, we ought to desire to change simply because God wants us to and he commands it. That should be enough of a reason. But it might not hurt to know why he wants us to change. He says in Galatians 3, verse 13, that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Well, what does that mean? Well, it means that all those good things that God promised Abraham and gave him, he wants for us too. Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the thoughts. Now he's talking to Israel here, but we also know that it applies to us because as believers we are the promised seed just like Isaac was. He said, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. Third John verse two says, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. My soul prospers because I've been made clean and righteous on the inside by Jesus Christ. And the Bible says that God wants me to prosper outwardly and be in physical health just like I am on the inside. That means that God wants to bless you. Pretty simple. This may be the easiest to agree with God about that you'll ever find. You can agree with God about that, can't you? He wants to bless me and I want to be blessed. Pretty simple. So what can I do to help expedite that process? We were talking in Bible class briefly this morning about good parents don't give 16-year-olds 400 horsepower Mustang GTs for their birthday. Unless they want to be minus a son or daughter pretty quick. God doesn't give us everything that He wants to give us until we're mature enough to handle what He can give us. Our nature is just to live our lives and be moved along, taking the path of least resistance. That's what we do by nature. Like a canoe in a creek, you're just going to go with the flow. Going along to get along. Doing it like Daddy did it, or like Mama did it, because that's all we know. Staying at a mediocre job because it's easier than breaking out and Breaking into a new one. Continuing bad habits because it's easier than the process of replacing them with good ones. Change is great and it's wonderful and profitable. But it is not usually fun. And it's almost never easy. Today is the first day of a brand new year. Oh, there's nothing like a fresh start. There's just nothing like a brand new fresh start. We serve the God of another second chance, you know. And He is all about giving us a brand new start. What a perfect opportunity to think about some real and positive changes in your life. Everyone is thinking about their New Year's resolutions, right? Did you make a resolution last night? You already broke it? Let me remind you that resolve rarely, by itself, changes anything. Can you even remember what last year's New Year's resolution was? I can't. I know for one reason I didn't make one, but other than that... Now, let me just ask you, isn't there something in your life that you would really like to change? I mean, you'll think about it. Now, if your answer is no, then you're either lost, or you're already as good as Jesus, or you're acting like a fool. One of those three has to be, you know. What is it in your life, and don't say everything, okay, what is it in your life that, something that you'd really like to change? You know, I'm not just talking about overcoming sin, That's what preachers are expected to talk about, but that's not the only thing that our God is interested in. There's more. Maybe you would like to get out of debt. How would that be? Would that feel good? Maybe you would like to clean up your credit. You know, your credit score is a part of your Christian testimony, whether you know it or not. Think about that. Maybe you would like to make a better living for yourself and your family. I hated being broke all the time. I've been through that. It was miserable. Maybe you would like to become a faithful tither, someone who's a generous giver on top of that. Maybe you would like to stop smoking or stop drinking or any number of other things that are harming your body and destroying your testimony before the Lord. Being a senior pastor, and by the way, I know folks like a preacher to be young and energetic, but there are some definite advantage to being a senior pastor. The Lord has taught me some things along the way that can really help you help the Lord to help you. You're looking at me like a calf staring at a new gate. What? Now without voicing it, I would like you to think of one specific change. Just one. that you would like to make in your life in this coming year. One specific change that you would like to make in your life in 2017. As we go through this message today, I want you to try and apply what you're going to hear and what you're going to learn to that specific change that's on your mind right now. Now the first thing I want to share with you is that you must decide what you really want to change. You're going to have to decide what you really want to change in your life. You're going to have to be specific. You can't be a better person. How would you do that? Nobody can be a better person, but you can do some specific things that will make you a better person. You see the difference? Don't be generalizing. You're going to have to be specific. You can't make more money, but you can do specific things that create more income. Do you understand the difference here, what we're talking about? Your goal must be specific, and it must be attainable. Now, we'll talk more about what's attainable as we go along. So you're going to have to be specific. You're also going to have to be reasonable. Now by this, I do not mean only to attempt things that are small or easy. What I mean is, don't try to change everything that's wrong with you all at once. Choose one specific goal and work on that. As you see, unless you're almost as good as Jesus already, trying to do more than one specific thing is probably not going to happen. You must also, and this one is especially important, you must also be right. The change that you're going to make this year, and I hope that you will follow, and if you'll follow what I'm going to share with you, you'll see that change that you want, that you desire. Be right. You've got to do it for a righteous reason, like love. Or like providing a better living for your family. Or so that you can have a better testimony for the Lord. It has to be for a righteous reason if you want the Lord's help in it. It should be legal. But not just legal. It ought to also be righteous. Let's say you want to start a business. It would be awesome to see some of you starting new businesses here. You need to ask yourself, is it honest? Does it take unfair advantage of people? You know, lots of things are legal, but there's a lot of things that are legal that are not righteous. I don't recommend you go start a bar or a nightclub or a pawn shop or a title loan center or a rental center or a gambling hall or an abortion clinic. Whatever the change is that you're going to make, it needs to be a righteous change. Even if it is righteous, maybe it's in the area of making a better living for your family. Some of you need to make a better living for your family. It's miserable. It's hard to serve the Lord the way we ought to serve the Lord being broke all the time. Amen. It's tough. You know, even if it's righteous, it still has to pay. As a Christian, your time, which is what your life is made out of, by the way, it's time, it's of great value. All the time that you're spending doing something can be spent doing something to bring God glory. It's precious. Nobody has the precious gift of time in the value that a believer has. I've started several businesses over the years, all of which succeeded to some degree, but when they did not pay enough in relation to the time they took, I either sold them or abandoned them and moved on to something else. It's got to pay. Be specific. Be reasonable. Be right. And also, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to think big. Don't be afraid of it. If you've got a big problem, remind your problem how big your God is. And if it's a big opportunity, you need to remember Philippians 4.13, which says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I was especially encouraged to hear our new president-elect the other day challenging American businesses and businessmen to think big. Take a risk. A risk isn't for us like it is for lost people. We've got someone backing up our plans when they're righteous. Once you decide what you want to change, then you're going to need to determine a course of action. You remember what you said you would like to change? Remember what it was? You're going to need to determine exactly what must change. For example, if your desired change is something like weight loss or smoking or alcohol addiction, those things are going to require a change of lifestyle. Diets don't work. Lifestyle changes work. If you try to quit smoking or drinking and you're still hanging out with the same people in the same places, it will turn out just like it did the last time you tried to quit. in a complete disaster. Maybe your desired change is that your husband would quit smoking. Ladies? Well, you can pray for him, by the way, but it would be wise to remember that the only one you can really change is you. You can't be the factor of change for someone else. If you want a better vocation, you must educate yourself to that new vocation. Now that doesn't necessarily mean going back to school or in a formal way. Many companies are willing to train hard-working, dependable people. If you want to start a business, it's the same thing. You must educate yourself to what is required. You may want to get some experience working for someone else in that particular field before you strike out on your own. Use the resources that God has provided. I don't know if you realize it or not, but there is a wealth of resource sitting in these seats beside you today. Seek the counsel of other brothers and sisters who care about you. It's pretty hard to find a college professor that cares about you. But seek the resources of advice and the counsel of other brothers and sisters who have succeeded in what you want to do. And if you're too proud to ask advice, you've got a problem with pride you need to fix. Amen? Amen. Proverbs 15, 22 says, without counsel, purposes are disappointed. But in a multitude of counselors, they are established. And especially when those counselors are proven to succeed and care about you, as your brothers and sisters in this church do, and have proven it again and again and again. Another thing that we don't like to do, but it's necessary, and that is that we must count the cost of the change. And there's a reason for this, a very special reason. Jesus said in Luke 14, 28, He said, For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Less happily, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it, begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage desiring the conditions of peace. You must prepare yourself to meet the cost of the change that you set out to make. A change, regardless of what kind of a change it is, is going to cost you in time, it's going to cost you in money, it's going to cost you in energy, it's going to cost you in commitment. To accomplish a goal almost always costs more in time, money, and patience and energy than we thought it would. estimates of repair on a car. Most of the time, it takes more time to fix it than he thought it would. Most construction people, my son back there, he's a remodeler. I tried to get him to do something else, but he wouldn't do it. He's a contractor. It takes a while to learn exactly how much time it's really going to take to get the job wrapped up. And if you don't account for everything, if you don't account for the cost of every step along the way, you're going to find yourself broke at the end and a job unfinished and your testimony and your reputation and a whole lot of other things damaged. Plus, you did not achieve what you set out to do. So you're going to have to count the cost. You say, man, it's too hard to change. It is hard to change, but it's worth it. It's worth it. Paula, is it worth it being a non-smoker now? How does it feel? Awesome? Yeah. Yeah. Change is worth it. Running out of any of these things in the middle is going to cost you. Then you must develop a plan. If you're taking notes, that's what's next. You don't have to be original in this. Others have succeeded in what you want to change or accomplish. There have been other people that have succeeded in what you want to do. Only a prideful fool thinks that something is not worth doing unless he himself or she herself thought of it. But you'd be surprised. Well, I don't want to do it the way they did it. I want to do it my way. That was just a bad song, people. That's not a good advice. All right? A plan must consist of specific steps. I want you to think about something. A determination of action is not a plan. A goal is not a plan. A plan is a specific set of steps that, when carried out, will accomplish what you need to get done, what you set out to do. And once you've developed that plan, and I'm not going to go into how to do that, there are lots of better books than I can preach written on that subject, and I can help you individually, and many others here can help you individually if you need to develop a plan to change something in your life. Once you've developed a plan, then you can be a Nike commercial. Just do it. Just do it. Set a start date and begin. I'm trying to get up enough commitment and courage to lose 30 pounds, but it's not going to happen without a plan. You set a start date and you begin, and you break it down into small doable steps. You may not be able to avoid smoking for a day, but you can avoid it for an hour. And to that hour, you can add another hour. And to that hour, you can add another hour. Break it down into small, doable steps. And regardless of what it is that you're setting out to do, whether it's to overcome a besetting sin in your life, whether it's to start a new vocation, whether it's to find a better job, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Do it well. Do it well. Do every little bitty step like the whole project depended on that one little step. Because success is in the details. It's not in the big picture that you're just going to go out and conquer this thing in your power. 1 Corinthians 10.31 says, Whether therefore you eat, well now we're talking about dieting again, right? No. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. That means do it in such a way that God would be proud of you. He'd be proud to say, that's my child doing it that way. Success is truly in the details. If part of your plan, for example, if part of your plan, maybe you want a better job. Anybody here need a better job? Amen. I don't need a better job. I already have the best job there is. You can't improve on my job. So I don't need a better job. But if you're looking for a better job, let's say a part of your plan includes a resume to be sent out. You need to make sure that that resume is in proper form. You need to have your resume proofread by others who know how to proofread. That means there's no typos. That means there's no poor grammar. That means there's no run-on sentences. That means it's humble yet factual. It's got to be the best resume that hits that guy's desk if you're going to do it in a way that brings glory to God. You have to do it the best there is. And you commit yourself to be the best at what you do. It doesn't make as much difference in what you do as that your commitment to be the best at what you do. And then you never give up. If it's worth doing, and if it's righteous, and if it's going to bring glory to God, you don't ever give up. Galatians 6, 9 says, Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. If we don't quit. You know, it's been proven that nearly anything can become a habit, a literal part of your life, if practiced for at least 40 days. If you can do it for 40 days, whatever it is that you're trying to change, you're going to have what you're working for in most cases. Now before we finish this up, I've got to tell you that another thing that you have to do if you're going to succeed in that change that you'd really like to see is you're going to have to prepare for disappointment. You realize that every great success is an accumulation of failures learned from That's what success is. It's an accumulation of failures learned from. Just look at the great men and women of the Bible. Every one of their lives is an accumulation of disastrous failures. Moses, he's running for his life. He's a murderer. David, we know about David. Peter, he's the denier. Rahab was a... and Matthew was a tax collector, which was on the level of a Rahab. in people's opinions. The only exception is Jesus. And there on the cross even he looked pretty much like a failure. Didn't he? Of course, it only looked that way for about three days and three nights, you see. Failure is what thickens our skin. It's what makes us tough. Some people say that whatever don't kill you makes you better, but I'm not really sure I believe that. It does thicken us up and make us tough, and the only real way to fail is to give up. That's the only way there is to truly fail. So what do you do when you fail? Rarely do I see anyone that comes back from an addiction without falling off the wagon in time or two, without a setback, without facing a failure along the way. Just about every successful businessman of any size in America has been bankrupt two, three, four times. You see, when you fail, all that means is that it's time to reevaluate. It means that you're going to learn from the mistakes you made, you're going to figure out what you did wrong, and you're going to safeguard it as you start over. It means you're going to adjust your plan. And it means you're going to keep on keeping on. You don't need to keep on doing the same things expecting different results. When you fail, when you get a setback, you're going to have to change up the plan. You see, for believers, our plan, whatever it is, is virtually guaranteed to be changed along the way. I don't know if you realize this or not, but God's already told us that you're going to make your plan, and then I'm going to change it. Now, I've thought long and hard about that. That's what it says in Proverbs 16, 9. It says, A man's heart deviseth his way. He makes his plan, but the Lord directs his steps. I've thought, you know, I've even asked the Lord, Lord, why do you always do it that way? Why does it never work out like I planned it? And I'm ready for the Lord to say, because you're not smart enough to get it right. But he never really said that to me. You know why I think it is? And he's going to change it. He'll redirect it somehow or another so that you will know that it's from his power, not from yours. He's going to prove in the process where the power comes from and who deserves the glory. for that amazing change that's going to take place in your life in the year 2017. We need to welcome the Lord into our plans. We need to quit saying, well, I'm such a sinner, I can't believe that God really wants to bless me. The Word of God says He does. You going to argue with the Word of God? If you're not, then you're going to have to realize that God really does want to bless you. Well, He wants me to be, you know, not such a sinner. He wants me to be more holy. Yeah. But He wants everything else good for your life as well. You can't just take one and leave the rest. And by the way, there is no glory in being poor. The financial principles of God's word are made for Christians to prosper and be blessed. You do what God tells you to do the way God tells you to do it faithfully and you will be prosperous. You may not be rich. He never said he'd make you rich, but he sure said he'd take good care of you. Being broke all the time isn't what I call good care. We need to embrace his redirection when it comes. Instead of getting all mad that it didn't work out, and it didn't work, and it didn't this, and it didn't that, you need to stop and think, who's really running the program here? And you need to embrace the redirection of the Lord in the changes that you need to make. Because they're coming. You need to expect them. Now some would say, well, I'm just going to wait on the Lord. The Bible does tell us to wait on the Lord. But that doesn't mean go get you a chair and sit down Turn on a TV and wait for God to do something, or to send you a phone call for a better job, or just some miracle that's going to zap the addiction out of your life. We must wait on the Lord, but that's not to be used as an excuse to embrace the path of least resistance. You see, sometimes when people say, well, I'm just going to wait on the Lord, they're meaning that I'm just going to sit here and take the path of least resistance and wait for God to do something. But Jesus tells us a little bit different plan here. He says, I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Asking, you can do that sitting in your chair. But that seeking and knocking is going to take some shoe leather. You're going to have to get up, and you're going to have to go out there. God feeds the birds, doesn't He? Yes. But they still have to go look for the seed. I wish you the best year of your life. Because Jesus said, everyone that asks, receives. He's talking to his children when he says this, you know. And he says, he that seeks finds, and him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Our Lord wants great and wonderful things for our lives, and he wants to bless us greatly. But those blessings, they're going to come through change. Oh, you'll receive a lot of blessings without the change because after all, you were born in America. Amen? That puts you head and shoulders above the blessings that most people receive in the rest of the world just by itself. But God wants you blessed. You say, well, I got plenty of money. Couldn't you do more for the Lord if you had more? Could you sponsor a couple more missionaries if there was more? Couldn't you help some neighbors that are struggling if there was more? We're not talking about being greedy. We're talking about being used of God. I want to see you blessed. And by the way, let me recommend that you quit being jealous of others that are being blessed because you haven't got there yet. There's no place in our Christian life for that kind of thing. Envy and jealousy are not characteristics, they're not gifts of the Holy Spirit, okay?