Welcome to 721 Live, the video arm of 721 Ministries. I'm Sam Hunter, I'm glad that you're with us. Thank you for joining us. We're starting off 2024, and I want you to think in terms of a five-year plan for your life. Now, not actually a five-year plan, but a five-year perspective on a one-year plan, or a five-year perspective on today's plan, or tomorrow morning's plan. Let me explain what I mean by that. When I was 45, when I turned 45, I was in the construction business and I was renovating houses at the time and I asked myself at 45, Sam, do you want to be doing this when you're 65? Because I knew that 65 would be right around the corner. And the answer to that was no, I do not want to be renovating houses. I enjoyed renovating houses, but I just didn't want to be doing that at 65. I didn't want to be chasing sheetrockers around, trying to get electricians there, dealing with homeowners who were upset that the tile man didn't show up because now we can't get the plumbing fixtures in. I didn't want to be doing that at 65, so the answer was no. Well, then what followed was, well, you better start doing something differently, because if you want things to be different, you have to do things differently. And if I don't start today at 45, 65's gonna roll around really quickly. And of course, I did try to expand my construction business using the experience that I'd had in commercial and industrial construction. I couldn't make any of it work. And three years later, we're doing 721 ministries. And so looking back, it may have been that I couldn't make it work because I wasn't talented enough or it may be that the Lord wouldn't let it work so that he could get me into 721 ministries. But either way, I thought about 45 and I jumped out to 65 and I started changing things then. Next step, after we started 721 Ministries, a few years into it, just three or four, I'm sitting down with my friend, Det Bowers, who was a pastor of a church at the time, and I said, Det, do you have a five-year plan for your church? And he said, no, I don't, and the bankers are after me all the time to give them a five-year plan. And he said, do you? And I said, no, and I get asked this all the time, saying, what's your five-year plan for 721 Ministries? And we both said, if we make a five-year plan, whose plan will that be? It'll be our plan. And I would rather let the Lord's plan unfold. I'm going to show up every day. I'm going to give it my A-plus effort. I'm going to do everything I can, but I don't want to plan out Sam's plan. I would rather it be the Lord's plan. Now, fast forward to today. I'm turning 67 this month, and I'm looking out five years, and I'm saying, okay, I'll be 72. Things are going to change in these next five years. My wife wants to live full-time in Charleston. We live about half-time down there now. Eventually, in the next five years, we'll probably be living in Charleston. Things are going to change. Now, Andy Stanley, years ago, about the time we started 721 Ministries, he came up with two wonderful observations, and I want to share those with you now because they are as good as he's ever come up with, is where you're going, where you want to be when you get there. is where you're going, where you want to be when you get there, and direction, not desire, determines destination. Direction, the direction you're on, not your desire, not your intent, determines your destination. Now, just pause and think about that for a moment. Is where you're going where you want to be when you get there? And along with that, what direction are you currently on? Because that's what will determine that destination when you get there. And today we're thinking in terms of five year segments. And so I want you to think about jumping out five years and is where you're going today, your direction, where you wanna be when you get there, when you get to 72. Now, here's the key, you are going, you're moving right now and as we know, five years we'll get here like that. And so the whole thrust of today's conversation is what do we do today? What do we do tomorrow morning? So that when we get five years from now, we can look back and say, I am where I wanted to be. So let's start with this. Five years from now, I want you to write in your age, your spouse's age, your children's age, and if you have grandchildren, their age. So if I'm filling this out, I'll be 72 in five years. My wife will be in her late 60s. My children will be into their 30s and even early, almost 40. My grandchildren, the two that I have, will be They'll be moving around, they'll be going to school. Where do I want to be? When I look at myself five years from now, what do I want to see? What do you want to see five years from now? Because it's coming quickly. No matter where your age is, it's coming quickly. And I hope that looking at this is a somewhat sobering exercise. Because we tend not to think about it. And I wish that I'd ask the question, is where I'm going where I want to be when I get there? Many times over the years where I've made so many different mistakes, even after I knew Jesus, but certainly before Jesus, Sam, is this track you're on, is it leading to where you want to be when you get there? Now, of course, we never get there until we arrive with Jesus for eternity. And even then, we've got a whole eternity to live. Five years from now, what do you want to see? So ask yourself this question. What do you want to see when you see you in five years? What do you wanna see when you see you in five years? I have a friend who's kind of a nuts and berries granola type guy and he said, Sam, have you ever thought about witnessing yourself as a way of watching the way you live your life? And he meant by that, pulling back and watching the way you live, watching yourself and wondering and asking, am I satisfied with what I'm seeing? Now I have, since Dean and I got married, I have three, now three more children in our family. And they're young adults and they were around for the holidays. And the house we have in Charleston has a loft on it. So I imagined myself up on that loft watching Sam interact with Dean's three children. What man do I want to see? Do I want to see a grumpy, grouchy, irritable old man, 67-year-old man who wants his own way. Is that what I want to see? No. I want to be up there watching a man who's got full of energy, full of joy, positive, interacting. That's what I want to see. So what do you want to see when you see you in five years with respect to your marriage? What do you want your marriage to look like as a parent, your career, And then, and what we'll focus on over these next couple of weeks is, what do you wanna see with respect to your body, mind, and spirit? What do you wanna see with respect to your body, mind, and spirit? How do you want that whole physical side of your life, your mental side, and the most important, your spiritual journey? Are you satisfied with where you are today? And if you just wanna move on another five years and be the same person you are five years from now, you really don't need to be watching this. And I tell the men at our 721 meetings, if you are, if you're okay with where you are, don't come back. Because we're not about just getting together to talk, we're about going deeper. We're about going deeper into the kingdom. We're about growing closer to Jesus. We're about being everything we can be men in the kingdom of God Are you satisfied with and I'm going to give you an exercise shortly to help you kind of think that through but Jesus gives us to warnings stark warnings about being complacent now What I when I talk about Jesus, I always want to talk about what a incredibly positive influence He is in my life how much joy he's brought how much peace he's brought how much clarity and energy Living with the Holy Spirit and living with Jesus and my Heavenly Father But I would be remiss if I did not share with you the warnings that we get from Jesus sweet graceful Jesus gives us some warnings and we do want to pay attention to them. So let's start with the first one in Luke. The servant who knows the master's will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows, but the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Now, my guess is you don't like the first part. That he who, the servant who knows the master's will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows, but the one who doesn't, with few blows. That is just an indication, it's a reference to the fact that we're held accountable. And there is a reward system in heaven, and we'll talk more about that, but the way you live here, Matters there. It doesn't get you there, but it matters and the question I would ask is do you know in general what the father's will is what he wants for you and the answer is very simple that you Go find yourself in a intimate personal relationship with Jesus growing and going deeper into the kingdom becoming more and more godly more and more holy set apart and you live your life. It doesn't get down to specifics in this general idea we know and then this idea that comes up next for from everyone who's been given much much will be demanded and from the one who has been entrusted with much much more will be asked. Does that fit you? Do you qualify? Everybody I'm guessing listening to this or today or watching this today would have to answer Yes from everyone who has been given much much will be what's the word? Demanded and from the one who has been entrusted with much much more will be asked We have all You have been given much We don't have any excuses And Jesus is telling us, it matters. I want you to take what I've given you and grow. Of course, when we talk about the parable of the talents, the thing that Jesus wanted to see, that the master wanted to see his servants was growing what he'd given them. When he had five, he grew five. When he gave two, he grew two. What upset him was the one, the servant who did nothing with what he had been given. Yes, God is a God of grace and Jesus is the God who delivers grace, but that doesn't mean we are not asked and, the word here is demanded, that we use what he gave us and we grow. Here's another start warning, again in Luke. Then he told this parable. A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, for three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down. Why should it use up the soil? Sir, the man replied, leave it alone for one more year and I'll dig around And fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, then cut it down. Now listen. The message is clear. Your Heavenly Father, your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, wants you to bear fruit. They want you to take the talents they've given you, whatever level it is, and use it. Use it to grow deeper into the kingdom. Use it to grow his kingdom. Use it. So these warnings against complacency leave us no room to say, I'll be fine if I'm the same way I am five years from now. He wants us to grow. And I hope you want to grow. I hope you want to go deeper. Now, the next exercise I want to give you comes from Colossians, chapter 1. And it's one that I think people slip by and do not really take notice of exactly what is said here. In Colossians 1, as in so many of his letters, Paul starts off with a prayer. He starts off with praise, a greeting and then praise, and then he says a prayer. And this is the same way in Colossians 1. Then as he finishes the prayer he says this in Colossians 110 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way Let me ask you this do you want to live a life worthy of the Lord do you want to please him in every way you because I do. And I've learned over the years, myself can jump in and wanna take control at any point, but I've learned that when self takes control, life spirals downward. It is never am I gonna live the life to the full, the life that is truly life that Jesus wants for me and wants for you. So if my focus is more and more living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing him in every way, Well, first off, I owe it to him. He saved me from hell. On top of that, he's lavished me with wonderful gifts all my life. No matter what level, he's done the same for you. And I want to please him. And I want to live a life worthy of him. So here we have five very distinct, delineated ways that we can do this. So let's take a moment and look at these. bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father. Let's break that down for a minute. Bearing fruit in every good work. What would that look like? Growing in the knowledge of God, I like to say growing in the knowing of God, growing in the knowing, being strengthened with all power, and I mean by that Holy Spirit power, that's what the Holy Spirit through Paul means, growing, being strengthened with all Holy Spirit power, having great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father. Now, let's take this one at a time. bearing fruit in every good work. I want you to think about yourself, and I actually want you to grade yourself for each one of these. A, B, C, D, F. Yes, I want you to give yourself a grade in how you're living now. And as you grade yourself on how you're living now, and I will go ahead and tell you that the men in these exercises have pretty much come up with C's, a few B's, some D's, but rarely did we get over a C. And therefore, we have to ask ourselves, what is my current focus? Am I really focused? Am I putting forth any effort on any of these each day? Because we'll see in a moment, God is not opposed to effort. He's opposed to earning, but not to effort. So bearing fruit in every good work, what would that look like? Well, it would look in a number of different ways, but Anytime you're interacting with someone else you're looking in the back of your mind. You've got the perspective. Can I plant a seed? Can I talk about something other than just news weather and sports? Can I put a seed in here about Jesus? Can I can I put something in here to move the conversation in a more in a more eternal matter? Can I help someone if someone if a young person comes to me for advice business advice? If all I can do is give them business advice based on my experience in construction over all those years, well, okay, that's helping him, but that's not really bearing fruit. To take that opportunity to talk more about eternal things, about what his life, about how much I want him to look at life more than just the professional side of it, but the body, mind, and spirit side of it, anything we do, if we can have this perspective that I want to try to bear fruit in every good work. The next one we give ourselves a grade is growing in the knowing of God. Growing in the knowing of God. What does that look like? I don't like knowledge because knowledge tends to go with head knowledge And I know a lot of people who say I prefer the intellectual approach to to religion and I think to myself They're gonna be a lot of intellectuals in hell my friend Because the intellectual approach although I take it and I like it and I'm all about digging into the intellectual side of it That is not what we're talking about growing in the knowing of God growing in the knowing of Jesus Well, that would start with reading scripture If you're not waking up in the morning and spending time in the word, spending time with the Lord in the word, then you want to start that. If you're already doing it, read slower. The richness that you will find. We don't want to water ski across the surface. We want to deep dive. We want to scuba dive into the richness that is in the scriptures. So slow down. But not just spending time in the Bible. Developing a conversational walk through life with Jesus, where you're talking about him on and off all day, talking with him on and off all day, bringing him into the details of your life. It may seem a little awkward at first, but it will become more and more natural. And because he's real, he'll be a part of that. Growing in the knowing of Jesus. What grade do you have there? And be honest, what type of effort are you actually putting in there? Being strengthened with all Holy Spirit power. You even have a clue what living with Holy Spirit power would look like. What kind of grade would you give yourself? And I know this seems like a secular kind of thing, but it helps to wake ourselves up. This exercise is to ask ourselves, am I okay with where I am now five years from now? So living with Holy Spirit power, leaning into the Holy Spirit, leaning onto the Holy Spirit, asking Him to help, asking Him to give you clarity, energy, and creativity in everything you do. Ask Him to give you energy, clarity, and creativity in everything you do. Bring Him into every detail. As mundane as I cannot find my keys, I lost that file, I've got a lunch with a friend, help me just to have some type of real fruit to come out of this lunch. I'm walking into a business meeting, Holy Spirit, show me, give me that energy, give me that clarity to make good decisions, to negotiate well, give me some creativity to handle this. Teenage children, we all need clarity and creativity and energy with teenage children or grandchildren learning to live with the Holy Spirit power. Great endurance and patience. Next week we'll talk about the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. How do you grade yourself on patience? And what effort are you putting towards living a life of patience? Would people describe you, would your spouse, would your children, would the people at work consider you to be a patient person? And giving joyful thanks to the Father. Thank you now, before I see how you work this out, because I know I'll be thanking you later. I've got a friend who was moving from one state to the next, and he had a great position as a CEO, and shortly before he moved, everything fell apart. They yanked the position. It was devastating. We talked about it and as of course, I didn't introduce this right away, but eventually I worked in Let's give thanks now because we will be thanking him later is as crazy as that may seem. Let's give thanks now Well, they still wanted him to come out. They've repositioned what they want him to do. It's much more exciting. It's much more fulfilling It's right up his alley and we're already five weeks later giving. Thanks and So am I giving joyful thanks to the Father day in and day out? So the question here is, how would you grade yourself on each one of these? How would I grade myself on bearing fruit in every good work? How would I grade myself on each one, growing in the knowing of God, of living with Holy Spirit power, of having patience and endurance and giving thanks? And then to ask myself, well if these grades are C minuses, it's because I'm really not putting any effort into it. And is that what I want five years from now? Do I want to be this same way or would I like to see myself, when I see myself, would I like to see myself differently in each one of these categories? And I hope that you do. So, what to do? Jesus said this, just to drive this home one more time. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Fruit that will last. That's what we're talking about in Colossians when we read bearing fruit in every good work. It's not, it's fruit that'll last. Fruit that has an eternal value. Planting seeds in people's lives, being there, helping them grow. Sharing the good news, sharing the good news of the kingdom, of life in the kingdom, of the A plus life to the full. This is gonna trip you up, but my friend Perry Bowers tripped me up with this one time. What is the number one responsibility of a fruit tree? What is the number one responsibility of a fruit tree? To grow what? to grow roots, not fruit. The number one responsibility of a fruit tree is to grow roots, not fruit. You grow the roots, the fruit will come. And so when we talk about growing in the knowing of God, that's digging those roots down. That's spending more time with him, both in the word and as you move around your day. That's bringing Jesus into the details of life. That's practicing the presence of Jesus throughout the day. That's growing roots. You pay attention to the roots and fruit will come. Okay, so as we conclude today, we've gone out five years, we've pulled back to say I wanna be different five years from now, I wanna grow. If you want things to be different, you have to do things differently. Just a simple observation, but it's true. I want to bump the trajectory. I'll explain that more in a minute. I want to bump my trajectory, and therefore I'm going to do things differently. And as I mentioned earlier, Dallas Willard said, God is not opposed to effort, only opposed to earning. So what do we do? Peter says it this way. For this very reason, all the goodness that your Heavenly Father's given you, he is referring to, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness and to godliness mutual affection and to mutual affection love. Make every effort the Holy Spirit is telling us through Peter and then the next verse, for if you possess these qualities in increasing measure. If you possess these qualities in increasing measure. So, it's just back to the talents. Are we increasing? They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we said early in Colossians, living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing Him in every way, if you possess these qualities in increasing measure. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. So if you're a knucklehead and you're such an ingrate that you don't even know what Jesus has done for you and you don't care to grow, then I don't know why you're watching these videos or why you're even digging in. But I don't think that is you. I think you want to. So the key here is bumping the trajectory. Now my dad mentioned this to me years ago. He said, son, when I watch people's lives, it's not so much that they are growing in leaps and bounds, it's more that they're moving along in life and then there's a bump in their trajectory and they're moving in a different plane. So I want you to take a look at this graph and imagine that you are on this bottom line and you're moving through life. Now, hopefully, this would actually have a tilt, an upward tilt to it, that you're actually growing and not just moving forward. But even if you're just moving forward, you take this moment at the beginning of 2024, in your spiritual journey, you start to give effort for these things we talked about, and you bump the trajectory. Now, if you went on through life not doing anything else, look how much higher you'll be five years from now, at a better place. But along the way, you bump the trajectory again. You add something else, as Peter said. And now, without any more growth, just moving along, look where you'll end up five years from now. So bumping the trajectory is what we're talking about. For this reason, make every effort to add. This is what the Holy Spirit is telling us through Peter. Make every effort to add, and to add in increasing measure. That really sums up what we're talking about today. We'll get into more specifics next week. But adding, increasing, what will we do today? What will you do tomorrow morning? Will you carve out a little more time to spend with the Lord in the morning? Will you pull out that Bible and start reading a little bit more? Beginning, let's just say the Gospel of John. Slow down. If you're already reading, slow down. You're not in a hurry. Start a conversational relationship. One of the things that I often do with people is I'll say, why don't you take the rest of this month, the rest of January, and just say the name Jesus instead of God. Just Jesus, not God, not Christ, not Lord, Jesus. Now, the concept of the Trinity means that all the same, but it's an exercise that will draw you closer to Jesus. Will you bump the trajectory? Now, as I finish, let me just tell you where this all came from. We're moving back into the Sermon on the Mount. As I read the Sermon on the Mount and moving from the Lord's Prayer on, there are three things that Jesus talks about surrounding the Lord's Prayer. The first is giving alms, giving charity. The next is praying, and the third is fasting. starting in Matthew 6, which is where we're going back to in a couple of weeks, giving, praying, and fasting. In all of them, he asks the question, do you do it to be seen by others or by God? Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And then Jesus moves into talking about treasures in heaven. And that's what I want to conclude with. As you look out five years and then come back to today, we're talking about not to be seen by others, but to live a life worthy of our heavenly father, pleasing him in every way. He is our audience. Now, There was an interesting story and I'll conclude with this. Jeff Miller, who is a senior rector down at St. Phillips in Charleston, that's where I attend a men's Bible study there, when we start a new book of the Bible, 1 Corinthians, Genesis, whatever, he comes in and does an hour presentation, and he's excellent. He is absolutely excellent. And I do not remember the context, but I do remember the story. His previous church had been in Buford, South Carolina. And when he arrived there, he was walking through the graveyard, and he noticed a headstone that had on it the bell of Buford. The Bella Buford, and it gave her birth year and her death year, but that was it, the Bella Buford. And so he thought to himself, just as I would, wow, this must have been one kind of lady. She must have been something else. I really want to know a little more about her. And her date of death was not so far in the past that there would not be people in his congregation that would have been alive, would have been grown up during that time, should have known the Bella Buford. And he wanted to know more about anybody that would have that on their headstone, so he asked around. And no one knew anything about her. No one remembered anything about her. It's a short lifespan. And I don't even know much, I don't know anything about my great-grandfather. I don't know, I mean, I know my grandfathers when they were alive, but one generation beyond that, I don't know anything. So are we living our life to be seen by others? Are we gonna bump the trajectory to be seen by others? Are we really looking to live a life worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way? Then I'll stop here and we'll pick this up next time Nick Fried us who is a from Virginia He's a Virginia legislator and apparently a half part-time preacher or whatever I heard his a little comment and he made this live your life focused on what God says when you arrive Instead of what people say when you're gone Live your life focused on what God says when you arrive Rather than what people say when you're gone Apparently the Bella Buford did not live her life focused on what God would say when she arrived, but on what people would say when she was gone, and they don't even remember her. So, my friends, let's bump the trajectory. Let's grow. Let's make the decision, looking out five years and coming back, what can I do differently tomorrow morning? so that a year from now, and then that five years from now, I'm moving in a direction that where I'm going is where I wanna be when I get there. Because there's more. You know there's more. Come, follow Jesus, and find it.