One Small Choice That Changes Everything- Pastor Chris Lindberg

Good morning guys. Such an honor and a blessing to be able to come to you from Life Fellowship Church here in McKinney, Texas on your tablet in the facilities that you're at. It just blows my mind that that we're able to do that, that God has worked that out. My name's Logan Williams. My TDC number's 1490218. I have four numbers after that. I didn't have a tablet when I was incarcerated for all those years and man, I wish I would have. They're such a blessing and we're honored that you would click on Life Fellowship and check us out because I know there's, I think the last count was 150 churches along with the Chosen and the Bible Recap and a bunch of books and worship stuff. So we just want to say thank you. We're honored. We consider you part of our church family. I know Pastor Chris tries to say that every time he does a message and we mean that. The staff here, they're always asking about you. They're always praying for you because we believe in you. My heart is with you. I did four trips through the penitentiary in and out and around and couldn't get it right, couldn't figure it out. I understand that frustration and anxiety and all that comes with that. And I just want to encourage you that man, nothing is impossible with God. And I know you might be sitting there wondering what's going to be next or am I ever going to get out of here? Some of you may have long sentences. Some of you may be in the county jail right now and you haven't even gone to court yet. And I just want to tell you that God can use you. He can meet you right where you're at and He can change you and He can use you in any circumstance that you're in. He can use you to make much of His name and to enlarge His kingdom and to draw people to Him. And it's an amazing thing to be used by God. It just is. There's nothing that can touch that. There's not a drug. There's not a sexual encounter. There's not a pile of money or a bunch of material things. I've done it all and nothing beats getting used by God to be the hands and feet of Jesus. And that's what I want to talk about this morning. But first, I want to remind you that you can get your friends and family, tell them to download the Pando app on their phone. They can watch the same messages and y'all can study it together and do life together, go spiritually together, even though you're in there. I know you speak on the phone, you write letters, you see each other in visitation. Many of you have children. I mean, lead your children from behind there. Don't fall victim to the lie that just because you're in there, it's over. It's not over. So tell them, tell them to do that. Encourage them. We would

love to have them as well. Watch them, have them a part of our church family as they watch us. And we hope to speak into their lives as well. Man, it's cold up here in Dallas. We just had a big ice storm. All the prisons that we go to are shut down due to lack of security. And so, yeah, we're just making it. I got my TDCJ beanie on. This is an officer's beanie. All right. These are actually very difficult to get. You actually have to work there to get one of these, but I got my hands on one. It's funny, the things that, you know, bring you joy when you're on the other side of it. And I just want to encourage you guys, man, that there's so many things that God has for you if you just keep your eyes on him and follow him and follow him. I just kind of randomly opened my Bible this morning, and I opened it to Luke 10, and I want to talk about the scripture, the Good Samaritan. Many of us know it, but I'm going to start in verse 25. It says, one day an expert in the religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question, teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life? You know, these religious guys were always trying to try Jesus. They were trying to test him, trying to trip him up, trying to get something they could use against him. But he, Jesus is a, he's just so gangster, man, because he always responded in a way that they couldn't get him. He just had the best responses to people, and he seemed to never react. He always responded. And I want to encourage you guys to do that, because I know in the... situations that you're at, there's a lot, a lot, a lot of things that you can react to. But in my experience, when I just react to things, especially in there, I'm probably gonna crash out. I'm probably heading for a wreck. So we need to have that in our mind. The man answered, you must love God, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Right, Jesus told him, do this and you will live. The man wanted to justify his actions. So he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor?

And Jesus replied with a story. He said, a Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead besides the road. So they robbed him. I don't know if any of y'all ever got robbed. It sucks, right? You get beat up, get all your stuff taken. And that's what happened to this guy. Said, by chance, a priest came along, but when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. Man, I don't want nothing to do with that. A temple assistant walked by. This is another religious leader. Looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. And then came a Samaritan. Now, what's the significance of it being a Samaritan? Well, the Samaritans and the Jewish people, they hated each other in general. They hated each other. And so you would think that the last person that would help this guy would be a Samaritan person because they had so much angst against each other. But here comes a Samaritan. And when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. He felt compassion. Do you guys look around and see people that are struggling?

See people that maybe have a heavier sentence than you or maybe a messed up family situation, worse than yours, or maybe they don't have any money on their books and you have, does it stir compassion in you? And if not, we need to be praying and asking God for that. David used to pray, man, search my heart, oh Lord, and reveal anything that offends you. And then he says, created me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in me. These are things that we can pray. And I know if you're like me, when I was in there, I had compassion for people, but I didn't tell anybody about it. I'm just staying in my lane. I was like the religious guy. Just stay to yourself. Something goes on over there, I don't even see it. Because that's the belief system in some of the institutions that you're at. And if you don't walk by that, right? In some places you could get you in a wreck too, but I'm here to tell you that if God puts it on your heart, okay, God has got you, okay? No weapon formed against you shall prosper. If God is for us, who could be against us? Yeah, there's gonna be people against us, but who are they? Who are they? We've got almighty God on our side. Guys, if you don't have the compassion for people that are around you, man, pray for that.

Pray for that. So going over to him, the Samaritan, this hated person, soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged him. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here. Now, which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked, to the man who was robbed and beaten and everything taken from him, Jesus asked. The man replied, the one who showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, yes, now go and do the same. And so I wanted to just bring that up because you are in a situation, you are in a place where you can practice this. You can practice this. You see people all the time getting taken advantage of. You see people all the time yelling into that phone. You see people all the time hungry. They don't have any money on their books. They wash an underwear for a soup, for a ramen noodle pack. There is opportunities abound in there to have compassion on someone. I'm not saying you have to go over there and make a big deal and do anything that's gonna get you the heat put on you,

but I'm just saying an encouraging word maybe. Maybe you throw the guy a soup. Maybe you just encourage him. Encourage him or you say, hey man, it's gonna be about, hey man, can I pray for you? Hey man, tell me about it. Sometimes it's just time, giving of our time. And so some notes that I wrote about that, you know, he says it into response to this question, but it's a loaded question. The guy wants to know who is my neighbor. He's not really asking, looking to love more. He's not really asking, hey, how can I go and love more people? He was really looking to limit his responsibility, but Jesus flips that on him. Instead of asking who deserves love, he shows us what love looks like. And so this guy is laying there, like he, according to the scripture, he might've died if no one would have helped him. And two men who knew scripture, right? The religious leaders, they knew God's law. They know what's right, yet they pass right by him, not because they don't see him, but because compassion would have actually cost them something, maybe time, maybe safety, maybe convenience or comfort. How many of you guys are sitting in that day room doing Bible studies and you see somebody

getting taken advantage of over there and you're in the word, you know the word, but you just turn a blind eye because that's what we're supposed to do in here. And I'm not saying not to turn a blind eye. I'm just saying to consider this. This is what Jesus said, how we're supposed to live. And I know it's different when you're in there, depending on what situation that you're in, but I want you to try to look for opportunities to put this into practice because I say this all the time. If you can do it in there where it's more difficult than it is out here, when you get out here, you're gonna be so far ahead spiritually. I'm talking spiritually. I'm not talking materially. You may still be in a transitional center getting a bad job, but at least you have a job, but you don't have much money and you don't know how you're gonna get your head above water, you don't know how you're gonna get out of this transitional center and get into a living situation because you just don't make that much money. I'm saying spiritually, man. You're gonna have developed spiritual muscles, as I call them. You're gonna be working out if you look for opportunities to practice these things in there because I can tell you from experience, it's harder in there than it is out here.

You don't get any heat from helping someone out here. You don't get any heat from seeing somebody that's being taken advantage of and sticking up for them, but you do in there. And so I'm just trying to encourage you guys, like we have to start practicing these things when we're incarcerated. I never did that. I never did that. I went to church, the open church. I did all the little programs. I did the Kairos and the Bridges to Life and what else can I sign up for because I'm just checking boxes, but I didn't change, nothing changed in my heart. I just continued to live the same way I was living, hustling, gambling, smoking. If you had some hooch, I'd drink some. Telling myself the whole time, I know what to do when I get out, but I wasn't developing spiritually at all. In fact, I hadn't developed at all. I would go to church and I would hear a good message, but I'd be like the seed that was thrown on the ground and here come the birds and plucks it up because I'm not trying to put this stuff into practice. It's too hard. I just wanna be comfortable while I'm here. Guys, I wanna speak against that, man. Nothing good ever happens spiritually in our lives

from being comfortable. And I know you guys, you're trying to get as comfortable as you can, especially in the summertime when it's hot and it's oppressive and it's, you have all these things coming against you. If you can find a way to try to practice some of these things, I'm telling you, you're gonna be miles ahead, miles ahead. So I just wanted to end with it's gotta cost you something because love that costs you nothing changes nothing. You're just sitting at that table doing Bible studies, but you're not getting out there and doing anything that costs you anything. And so let me pray for you guys. Again, I love that you guys are watching. I always get on my knees because when I first got saved, one of my mentors told me there's two things that the enemy hates. One is praying in Jesus' name and one is praying on your knees. So Lord, we just thank you. Man I thank you so much. Thank you for these men and women that you are drawing to you. God, I pray that you would meet them right where they're at. I pray that you would show them not just how they can practice these principles that we just talked about, but all of your principles in the place that they're at. God, I pray that you would open their eyes to see people the way that you see them. I pray that you would soften their hearts towards those who are hurting, especially when loving them costs them something. God, I pray that they would make the right choice and that they would get to experience being used by you. A feeling that nothing can touch. God, give them courage.

Give them courage and compassion and obedience to love your children out of obedience and from their heart. And so God, I pray that for all of us that you would search us. If you see anything, anything that offends you, God, I pray that you would break it to the surface, bring it into the light so you can sever that thing from our life. God, give us courage to fight against our sin. Give us courage to try to live righteous lives. Yes, we are. We're human. We're going to struggle with sin, but what are we going to do about it? How do we respond when we do sin? Does it bother us? God, search us out and change us where we need to be changed. God, I thank you for these men and women. I pray that you would bless them to overflowing. I pray that you would bless their families in Jesus name. Amen. You know, I got one more question for you. Whose house? God's house. Let's give him some praise. Enjoy the message guys. Hello and welcome to Life Fellowship. Whether you're home or you're somewhere else today, we are so glad that you chose to join us today. Welcome. We're glad you're here. Out of the abundance of care and concern for everyone here, we've decided to move our service to online only. We always like to be here together, but know that God meets us wherever we are, wherever you are. What we want to do is one simple thing, make you feel encouraged and loved and to know the presence of God is wherever you are. He meets us where we are and we're so glad about that. So what we want you to do is take a deep breath, grab a warm fuzzy blanket and settle in and truly lean in to what God wants to say to us today. Let's pray. Father, you are so good. May you open our eyes and our ears and our heart to receive everything you want to tell us today. We love you, Lord. In Jesus name. Come and fill this place. Come and let your presence fill our place, fill our place. Come and let your presence fill this place. Come and let your presence fill our place, fill our place. Come and let your presence fill this place for you. You're the one we want to be. Jesus shines for you. All the praises that we sing for You You're the one we want to be Yes, You are, Jesus, shall be All the praises that we sing We thank You for Your presence

We have come to give You highest praise We have come to love You in this place We have come to love You in this place We have come to love You in this place We have come to love You in this place We have come to love You in this place We have come to love You in this place We have come to love You in this place For You, You're the one we want to be Jesus, shine through All the praises that we sing For You, Jesus, for You You're the one we want to be Jesus, shine through All the praises that we sing It's all for You Here we are, here we are It's all for You Here we are, here we are It's all for You Here we are, here we are It's all for You Here we are, here we are Receive it all It's all for You Here we are, here we are It's all for You, Jesus Here we are, here we are It's all for You, Jesus It's all, it's all, it's all for You

Here we are, here we are It's all for You We've seen it all, we've seen it all Here we are, here we are Receive all the glory, all the honor, Jesus It's all for You Come on, right where you're at, why don't you lift your hands It doesn't matter if you're home, it doesn't matter if you're out If you're sitting right now, lift up your hands and it goes And say it's all for You, Jesus Receive all the glory, all the honor, all the praise Because it all belongs to You, Jesus Oh, it's all for You, Jesus It's all for You, it's all for You, it's all for You It's all for You You're the one we want Jesus, shine through all the praises that we sing for you, you're the one we want to meet. Jesus, shine through all the praises that we sing for you, you're the one we want to meet. Jesus, we're so worthy. We worship you, Lord. I am a mention of exaltation. I was born to lift your name above all. You hear the melody of all creation. There's a song of praise that only I can sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. You are infinite, God of the ages. Yet you chose to make my heart a dwelling place. You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory. So I have songs of thanks to lie in the ages. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus.

Come on, let's sing this together. Come on. Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood You proved to us the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift it up Holy, holy Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood You proved to us the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift it up Holy, holy Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Jesus Christ, who lives in you. Oh, God's the one who's standing by. Oh, thank you for standing by, Lord. Jesus Christ, who lives in you. Who else is worthy? Come on, sing it out. Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Nobody but you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Nobody but you, Jesus. There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Come on, sing it out. Come on, come on. The Lamb of God anointed one. Who was and is and is to come.

To sing it over the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood. You proved to us the Father's love. Come on, sing it again. Holy, holy, holy, Lamb of God. You are the anointed one. You're seated on the throne. We worship you, Jesus. Holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood. You are the anointed one. Jesus Christ, who lives in you. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Nobody but you, Jesus. There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Jesus, you are so worthy. Thank you for your presence being with us in our homes today. God, it doesn't matter where we are. One thing that we can always remember is that you are holy. You are praised. You are worshiped today, God. God, we thank you for how you're going to continue to move in this service. And it's in your name we pray. Come on, let everyone say amen. Amen. Thank you, church, for worshiping with us.

We love you so much. As we prepare to continue worship through giving, I want to take a moment to talk to you about priority. You know, every day we build our lives around what matters most. How we use our time, where we focus our energy, and what we prioritize. Our time follows it. Our energy follows it. And eventually, whether we like it or not, our finances follow it. I want to read this verse to you. Proverbs 3, 9 through 10 says, Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of your crops. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. I want to share with you two things from the scripture. Number one, notice the order. It says, the firstfruits. God doesn't ask for the leftovers. He doesn't want what's from yesterday or last month. He wants the first. He wants the first, the first. Number two, this is not a get rich, get a lot of money quick. That's not what this scripture is saying. That's not what the Bible says at all, actually. This is about honoring God. This is about obeying Him. About worshiping Him. About doing what God is asking. So I want to invite you today. Invite you to put God first in your life. In every area of your life, put Him first. Honor God by putting Him first. Let's pray.

Father, we thank You for the opportunity to worship You. We thank You for the opportunity to return the tithe. To give offerings. And I pray, Father, that this verse would challenge our hearts, Lord. And that we would honor You. We would prioritize You. In Jesus' name, Amen. and every year I fail. Why even try again? But with Christ's help, I can be different. He's shaping me into who God created me to be, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God is with me, directing my steps and giving me power. This year can be different. I did the right thing today, and if I can do it today, I can do it tomorrow. One day at a time, God is changing me. Maybe change doesn't start big. Maybe it starts small. Hey Life Fellowship, so glad to have you with us. I'm telling you that if you live in Dallas, Texas, I want to tell you that you are an overcomer. We have had snowageddon hitting this entire area, and I'm glad that you're still alive and that you're with us and joining with us for this live stream. Now today is week number four of our series, A Little Goes A Long Way, and I think it could be one of my favorite messages in this entire journey that we've been on, and I'm really elated that my wife Tatum is going to be co-teaching with us today on this cold Sunday morning, and the reason is is because we're going to talk about a small little thing that literally has the potential to make some of the biggest, most profound impact in your life. So the driving idea, the driving force that we've been studying through these past few weeks has been this, that the life that everybody dreams of is built on the small choices that nobody sees. Now today, I've got a brand new idea for you that we're going to be seeing throughout this entire message, and here it is. We form disciplines, then our disciplines form us, and here's the twist of the whole thing. The disciplines in our life, they actually work best when they're small and repeatable. In fact, every one of us that are listening today, we all have disciplines, whether you want

to admit it or not. So maybe your discipline is you check your phone the very first thing that you do every single morning. Maybe you have a discipline of eating late-night snacks. Maybe you have a discipline of avoiding conflict or waiting to the last moment before you do something because you just thrive on that adrenaline that you get. The real question today isn't if you're disciplined because you actually are. The real question is, are the disciplines that you have created in your life, are they propelling you, are they leading you into the future that you actually want? So we form our disciplines, and then our disciplines actually form us. In fact, I love how Aristotle said it. He said, we are what we repeatedly do. So we form our habits, and then our habits are forming us because we all have them. Here's the challenge. Most people have uphill hopes and downhill habits. They have a great hope for the future, but I want to remind you today, hope is not a strategy. Hope is going to get you started, and a lot of people have experienced that in the beginning of a new year. We have all these hopes of resolutions and how we're going to make some positive steps forward, but it's not going to keep you going. To experience lasting change, you need something a whole lot deeper, a whole lot more consistent. Yeah, and the Bible actually speaks really clearly to this idea. There's a scripture I want to read from Proverbs 13 20, and it says, walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. So this is one of the reasons why I've become so wise, because I've been walking alongside this girl right here. No, in other words, what you walk with, who you walk with, what you walk with, the disciplines that you create, eventually that is going to become who you are, because wisdom doesn't just happen accidentally. No, it takes intentionality. I love what Galatians says, chapter 6 verse 7 and 8, don't be misled. Wait, so what that's telling me, though, is that there is a potential for all of us to be misled. Absolutely. Because if he's saying don't be misled, there's a lot of folks that don't even realize that they're being misled in these areas. So he's like saying, hey everyone, watch out. Watch out, don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You'll always harvest what you plant, and that is a principle not

meant to... be a punishment. It's literally a principle that means what you do daily is going to produce a future fruit. So your daily seeds, your daily disciplines are going to produce a future fruit and it's not going to be easy. That's the thing that a lot of us, you know, we talk about disciplines and habits and the reason why we shy away from it is because we do know that it's not going to be easy, but nothing in life that's ever worthwhile is ever easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it. That's right. Um, one of the things about consistency that, um, matters and creates such an impact in what you do daily is that consistency will be your intensity every single time. So if you think about the beginning of a year when you make a New Year's resolution, a lot of people start out with a lot of intensity. You may maybe over commit to do, you know, 75 hard, that workout that a lot of you have heard of where you're doing like 75 minutes a day, you're committing to twice a day workouts. The intensity is insane, but the truth of the matter is, can you do that intensity long term for the next, you know, 10 years of your life? Is that how you're going to live? That's pretty hard to do, but your consistency, the small decisions that you make and can continue to do every single day, that's going to beat out, uh, the hard extreme that, that we sometimes get caught up in. And I think that should really help us when we understand, okay, this is not going to be easy, uh, but it needs to be done. It needs to be implemented in our lives because God calls us to live disciplined lives. And the whole idea that you just talked about Tatum where you said, uh, that consistency beats intensity every time. I think that should all help us because it's, it's not the big, huge strides and the effort. Remember, it's the small things that nobody else sees that produces a life that everybody else wants. And so I think it's the small things. So a lot of times people get very intimidated of, you know, big disciplines. No, no, it's small things, consistent things, small, uh, over the course of time, God will do massive things through them. Let me read a verse from Luke, um, 16 verse 10. It says, Jesus is talking. If you're faithful in the little things, you'll be faithful in the large things. In other words, the little things aren't actually little. Then he goes on to say, but if you're dishonest in the little things, you won't be honest in greater responsibilities. So the thing that I love pointing out at this point here that, um, discipline is a lot like compound interest.

So one of my hobbies is investments. I just, I mean, I love, uh, trading stocks and options and, uh, futures and all that kind of stuff. It's, um, it's very intriguing to me. And the whole idea of compound interest is a lot like discipline. So let me blow your mind. You ready for this datum? If I gave you the choice between these two options, what would you choose? Would you rather have $1 million today? Yes. Or if I gave you a penny today and then I double it the next day, double it the next day, double it the next day, over 30 days, most people would choose to have the million dollars. And you've probably heard this little analogy before. If you actually chose the penny doubled every day for 30 days, you'd actually wind up ready for this $5,368,709. It's crazy. It's five times more valuable, more impactful when you do the small things that start adding up every single day. So what's wildly fascinating to me about this is what neuroscientists discovered. There is this concept, um, in neuroscience that your brain actually seeks out the familiar. It seeks out the normal, uh, because what it does is it creates habits so that it can conserve energy. So, um, these are kind of mental shortcuts that your brain actually just runs the program. So your brain is not asking, Hey, is something healthy? Is this Godly? It doesn't ask, is this wise? Instead, it's asking this one question, is this familiar? And your brain will choose familiarity over faithfulness until we begin to retrain the neural pathways. In fact, if you've ever driven home, uh, and you, you've actually gotten home and you had no idea how you even got there. Have you ever done that before? I've done that many times. I do that so often. I'm like, I'm rehearsing meetings and counseling sessions and messages that I'm speaking. And before you know it, There I am. There's a scientific principle there that is in place where your brain just runs the program. And that's why change feels so hard. It's actually not hard, but your brain has been wired so that it always seeks out the familiar. It seeks out these habits because your brain loves to do what's familiar. So right off the bat, I want you to do yourself a favor and get rid of the excuses that may hold you back. Because every one of us are disciplined. Are we disciplined in the right areas that are producing the right future for us? Because you form your disciplines and then your disciplines form us. And as long as you make excuses, we will rarely make a difference. Yeah. So if you're hearing him talk about that today and maybe having the thought, this isn't going to work for me, because you're feeling hopeless, I want to tell you,

in order to create great habits, you have to have hope for the future. And I realize that some of you have lost hope. You're thinking, I cannot change. My situation cannot change. My marriage is never going to change. My finances cannot possibly be repaired. You just think that it can't happen. And I want to share a word for you today that in this moment is really important for you to remember. And that word is, but God. But God. Maybe you have a lot going on, but I want you to remember this promise from God's word in Jeremiah 29, 11. This word was given to God's people at a time when they were actually in slavery. They were actually slaves. And this is the word that was promised to them. For I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans that are going to give you a hope and a future. And that's God's declaration to you. And I would just want to just type in and just say this here, that you are worth it. You are worth the change. Your future is valuable. You have so much in you. And so let, let hope rise on the inside of you. And so if you just feel like, man, I just haven't been able to be disciplined in my life and I've got some wrong habits. Let this be a moment that now your faith begins to rise up because I'm going to give you here six things that I'm calling the champions of, um, uh, habits of, of a champion. And I believe that habits are a gift from God. I really do. Um, you know, when you have, uh, uh, a good habit in your life, it just makes it easy to do it. So I don't ever have to think about brushing my teeth. Um, it's just something that I naturally do when I don't do it. I feel awkward. I feel different. I just, I feel like I need to, yeah, I feel nasty. I need to like rinse out my mouth with, with something. And that's because there's a habit in me like Tatum and I, we have a habit that we make our bed every single day. And you know, some people say, well, you're going to go right back into that bed. So why make it? I just have a habit of that. I believe that your habits are stronger than your desires. So let me just unpack that. And then I'm going to give you these six rapid fire. Okay. So habits are stronger than your desires. Uh, there are a lot of people that say, you know, I want to quit smoking, but so they have a desire to do it, but they have a habit that is trumping their desire. There's a lot of people that say, I want to draw close to God. Like I want to start off this year. I really want to be close to God. You can have all the desires you want, but your habits will always trump your desires because your brain always looks for those familiar, easy pathways that you have created. So it doesn't have to exert energy. That's what habits are. So we're going to have to retrain our brain. We're going to have to retrain

the neural pathways that are there. And as we do that God's way, it, it begins to produce for you, um, a life that you're actually moving towards. It's the life that God's intended for you. And so as we look at these, I want you to have your heart open. So no matter what your age, no matter what your background ask God, are there some areas that I can improve in? Because I believe out of these six, there's going to be at least one, maybe two that the Holy Spirit's going to put his thumb on and say, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, this is an area I need you to be aware of. So here's the first thing, and that is to develop a habit of prayer. You know, prayer is the life blood of the Christian. it's a prayer is to a Christian what breathing is to our body it's like the opportunity for us to breathe in the very presence of God and when we're not praying you actually begin to suffocate you begin to die we need to breathe in the holy atmosphere of God and for a lot of people they struggle with actually praying because we haven't created a prayer habit so here's my question for you have you made it a habit to be with God so let me just just explain quickly what I mean by that up and give you some ideas you know maybe one of the things that you could do is what I've discovered in my life that if I if I spend time with God at the same time every day sitting in the same chair drinking out of the same cup and you know I do that I have my little cup and maybe you have a little candle that you like you know want to light you want to get all Catholic on yourself or whatever you got that little thing happening there maybe you have some like the same kind of Tatum and I both like you know like little soaking instrumental worship playing

but when you create that repeated habit all of a sudden now you actually start looking forward to that moment because you know that you're gonna be spending that time with God that's so good and I feel like something that has changed over the over the years or seasons of life is like what that habit looks like we didn't always have you know bright and early mornings when we had babies and toddlers and kids that I could light a candle and drink my coffee and do that necessarily and that's okay what we're sharing with you today is our habit and our rhythm and what works but there are seasons of life that man maybe your time with the Lord is your 30-minute commute to work every morning and you're gonna make that commitment that I'm gonna turn my music off and I'm gonna talk to the Lord and spend time there and that that works as well. Yeah the Bible says in Romans 12 verse 2 fix your attention on God and you'll be changed from the inside out. So like fix your attention on God and that's what prayer is it's you quieting your heart and focusing on God and and getting his word on the inside you know this morning I was reading about Abraham and how Abraham was unwavering in his faith to what God had promised him so I read that I thought you know God I pray that you would make me unwavering in the promises that you've given me Lord and and sometimes you feel your your your hopes kinda shifted and you gotta pull and so all of a sudden now there's this prayer that was coming out of me this morning saying God make me unwavering. God I just pray that you would just cement those promises on the inside and I'm claiming that I'm not standing on your word. In fact just quickly also I would say when it comes to prayer

why not create habits of praying with your kids praying with your spouse I think that's important. One of the things that we did when our kids were growing up is that every day that they before they went off to school every day even on the we're running late today days yeah we would I'd grab my babies and I'd pull them close. Tatum would do the same thing and we would pray over them. They heard their father praying over them as they went off to school. Sometimes I'd be driving in the car doing it but develop the habit of prayer so we did that every day so again we we create our habits and then our habits create us. We form our habits and then our habits form us. There's a second thing. And that's the health habit. So your health matters the word of God tells us that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and I believe that taking care of our body making good decisions for our body is going to enable us to do what God has asked us to do for the season and the time that God has put us here on the earth and that really has an impact on us. It's massive. We say it like this you take care of your body and your body will take care of you. So you don't we don't have to get into all these things but I've got a a plethora of thoughts here but let me just encourage you eat right. You know get get the right nutrients on the inside of you. Again you are what you eat and we're discovering that more and more so instead of just consuming all kinds of toxins and

quick cheap meals that when I say that I mean there's there's not a lot of nutrients to them. Eat real food. Drink plenty of water. How about this? You want to say something? I was just going to say some of the simple things that man everybody can do like you said drink more water. But one of those things that really makes a difference in our in our health is just get yourselves outside. Like, turn off the television, walk around a little bit more, you know, move a little bit more. That's why we all need a dog, right? Because nobody walks their cat. But we all can walk our dog. We can now don't do it today. It's not fun outside at all. But, like, get some exercise, get some sun, get some dirt underneath your fingernails, get in the middle of all of that. How about this one? Turn off technology. And do that after we finish up the service here, okay? But like, just we need to have some healthy habits. How about this one? Go to bed at a consistent time. And I know I sound like your mama. But, like, seriously, eat some good food, get some good exercise, turn off technology, get however that exercise looks for you, and then be consistent on going to bed early. In fact, here's what science has discovered, that exhaustion kills discipline faster than temptation. When you are sleep deprived, it reduces self-control by up to 40%. Think about that. All the mamas said amen, because you know when your little ones don't get sleep or don't get their nap, man, affects your whole day. And the same is true for us, affects our body physically. Yeah, poor sleep increases cravings for sugar and carbs by 30 to 45%. And one hour less sleep increases emotional irritability by 60%. So, again, your habits are stronger than your desires. Here's the third one. Let's talk about family habits, about being intentional with them. Because the truth of the matter is, whether you have kids or you don't have kids, for parents in the house, our kids are a huge assignment, right, in our life, a huge responsibility. But that does tend to be temporarily, right, for a certain degree. Because when they turn 18 or when they turn 20, the hope is by around that age, you've raised them, formed and helped shape them with God's help, and they're going to be moving on, right? Yeah, so what I would say is that when they're young, maybe from like birth to like fifth grade or sixth grade, that's when we train them.

And then through their teenage years, we teach them. And then there's going to come a time that they are going to grow, and that's when we have to trust them. So we train, teach, and trust. And so while your kids are in those younger years, even into the formative years of students, teenagers, those are the times to create habits that you're training and teaching them. And so be intentional. Don't just let the season happen. Create habits. You know, interesting enough, psychologists report that families that have regular family dinners have a 43% stronger emotional health in their kids. So like plan, don't just make it random. Be intentional about it. Spend extra time if you've got younger kids. Create a habit of what that process looks like of tucking them into bed. In fact, I remember when my son Nash was really young, he loved the story of David and Goliath. He'd come to us all the time. He's like, Daddy, tell me the story about David cutting the giant's head off. His favorite bedtime story. He's like, tell it again. Like isn't that a great son that he would say, Dad, I want to know about his head getting cut off, you know? And so maybe not. But be intentional. Hey, so what about dating your spouse? Like don't just let months and months go by and there's no dates. There's no moments of where you are intentional at creating habits of connection with one another, where you're sharing emotional, honest communication with each other. Like that's really important. Here's the fourth one. And you go, you go for it, hon. Okay. Energy habits. So question is like, what is draining your energy every day that doesn't deserve your time or your energy? What are those things in your life that man, when you do these, they just zap it right out of you. So like, let's talk about some practice. So how about late, late nights when you stay up late, late, that will drain your energy. Yeah. How about saying yes too often? Yeah, it's not bad to say yes, but Jesus goodness, when you can't say no to, to some things, to the things that don't matter the most, all the yeses. Tend to fill up our schedule and make us insane so Years ago. I had a a mentor of mine that he looked at me He said Chris people need more of the anointing on your life than they do your time and What he was saying is this that if you make yourself accessible to everybody you will be exhausted and wore out You're not going to be able to pour into your wife your kids and actually have time with God

So be careful that you you protect that anointing and I would say the same thing to you You have an anointing on your life an area of responsibility whether it's in business and ministry In in raising your kids your family your marriage protect that People don't necessarily need more of your time. They need more of your your energy They need more of that anointing of God that's on your life So learn to say no to the good so you can say yes to the best and you're gonna have to create habits around that because you only got so much and so a big thing for us is honoring God with the Sabbath and The Sabbath is actually what's called a bridge command. So The first three commandments on the ten commandments are all about loving God, you know, thou shall have no other gods before me Thou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain the Commandments five through ten are all about loving others. So, you know, don't cheat don't steal don't lie Don't covet your your neighbor's things. So the first three are about loving God five through ten are about loving others the fourth commandment is the Sabbath and that's why it's called the bridge command because when you do that you simultaneously love God and other people and when you do the Sabbath and you actually Take a day not to work and we always say it like this that you actually have to work not to work You have to work not to respond to emails. You have to work not to allow your brain to get engaged in all things Business life work-oriented You actually get to reset and it's not optional. It's a commandment of God it's a commandment of God and so make that a Die-hard Non-negotiable habit in your life. We will honor the Sabbath. In fact interesting enough and I could teach on this for so long, but The Jewish people some of the things they would do with their kids Is that when they would what their kids would wake up in the mornings? They would give them a spoonful of honey On the Sabbath just on the Sabbath to let them know. Hey, this is a sweet day It would be a day like when we were had our kids. We said hey, you don't have to make your bed

On the Sabbath. Yeah, make it a fun way and teach your kids How to also create that habit in their life where we're actually going to do Things that are restful things that energize us things that are fun that are not work related Because it's a commandment that God gives us and it's also wow It refreshes us it empowers us it gets us ready for the next week. Okay, here's number five Encouragement habits and so we taught about this last week if you see the good Speak the good it says in Proverbs Tatum, won't you read that Proverbs 16 24 says gracious words are honey You say gracious words And I'm gonna say it again everybody It's not enough. It doesn't say gracious thoughts. It says gracious words. You you can't just think a thought you have to speak the thought And that's when it becomes sweet to the soul. Yeah, and healing. Yeah, it says yeah Well the power of your words, right they bring life or death and so they can be very healing Very encouraging very life-giving when we speak them so speak them write them make it a habit one of the the habits that is in my life is that I I Endeavor my very best every day to find five people that I can encourage So that's my habit whether that's through personal conversation whether that's through a note that I write whether it's through a text message Whether it's through calling somebody up, but I'm gonna find five people Every day that I can I can speak something good into their life Here's the last one and that's a giving habit Deuteronomy says the purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God in First place in your life and the thing is like for Tatum and I Tithing is not it's a non-negotiable because it it it reminds us that We are the stewards of everything that we've been entrusted with. We are not the owners and this is a habit So, I mean, I am very adamant about this in our own life. So, if I ever do something or I have an investment that I earned some money on, before I ever use it for anything, the very first thing I'm doing is I'm getting onto my BillPay on my banking app, and I'll send out that tithe check. And sometimes it's something really small.

Sometimes, you know, I made a hundred bucks doing something and so it'll be $10. I don't care. I'm going to send the $10. If I need to, I'll send $5. Other times, I've made a lot more in different things. So, I'll make sure that I'll send that as well. So, before I ever even use it, I make sure that we honor God with the tithe. It is a non-negotiable. And as we get involved in God's business, God gets involved in our business. And so, when it comes to our giving, it makes sure that we have developed this habit on the inside that we put God first. We put Him first in everything we do. I want to just challenge you in these six different areas. Remember, we form our disciplines, then our disciplines form us. And I want to encourage you today that there is hope for your future. You're worth it. You know, the enemy may have lied to you and told you that you're never going to be able to succeed, that you're always going to be floundering in these areas, and that you'll always be alone, you're always going to be behind the eight ball. But I'm going to tell you that it's the small things done consistently over time that are going to produce a future for you that everybody is wanting. God's going to do that in you. And so, let me pray for you. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for every person that is listening. I pray, Lord, that your Spirit would rise up on the inside of all of us, Lord, and that we wouldn't just have uphill hopes, but, God, we'd also create disciplines that support the work and the future and the promises that you've given to us. I pray, God, for strength in the heart of every person. I ask, Lord, that as we are hunkered down in homes all across Dallas and really all across the southern part of America, I pray, Lord, that you would just come close to us today. Help us to reprioritize.

Bless your people, I pray. And if you're listening to me right now and you are away from the Lord, I want you to know today that He loves you. He sees you. He sees your mess, and He still wants to be a part of you. Like He's seen you on your worst day. He's seen those secret things that nobody else has seen, and yet He still loves you. And today would be an amazing day for you to surrender your heart to Him. And so, come on, won't you pray with me right where you're at? Just say, Jesus, I give you my life. I ask you to change me. Make me new. I confess you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' strong name, I pray. Amen. And amen. Well, hey, everybody. I'm really praying that God would give you an incredible day of rest while we're all hunkered down. And I hope to see you back here next week as we kick off our brand new series called Kiss and Tell. We're going to go verse by verse through the Song of Solomon. It's going to be a steamy series, and you're going to actually like it a lot. So make sure you bring your friends, your neighbors. Let's pack the house on all of our services, both in the North Campus and the McKinney Campus. Hey, everyone, I want you to know we love you. We're praying for God's best to be yours. God bless you, everyone. See you, guys. Hey, we want to take a moment to share with you a few upcoming events at Life Fellowship. You guys, this is more than just announcements.

These are your next steps. Yeah. So February, Pastor Chris is starting a new message series that he's calling Kiss and Tell. And you guys do not want to miss this. Pastor Chris is going to teach on relationships. And you know it's going to be honest and biblical and practical. Yeah. And we all have relationship issues one way or the other. So please come every week so you can learn from God what he wants to do in your relationships. Yeah. And this Tuesday, January 27th, we are kicking off Life Groups with an event we are calling Community Night. This is going to be an opportunity for you to come to our McKinney Campus and to meet new families, to meet new couples, make new friends, and most importantly, encounter God. So I would challenge you, if you're not yet plugged into. a group or into the church, get plugged in. Absolutely, groups are life changers for sure. And then on February the 15th is our next baptism. And if you have chosen to follow Jesus, then this is exactly your next step to be baptized. You guys, baptism is just like an outward expression of what Jesus has done inside and we want to celebrate with you. So please text the word baptism to 51010. Yeah, and we have Legacy Leadership Dallas coming up. This is a 90 minute experience that is designed to equip leaders to lead with integrity, with love, and most importantly, to lead like Jesus. So you can sign up online and group discounts are available. You guys, due to this crazy weather, Pursuit Night January 25th has officially been canceled. Well, we want to say we're so grateful

that you joined us for this service. You guys, stay safe and warm. Drink lots of hot chocolate with marshmallows preferably. Oh yeah. And know that we are praying for you. We can't wait to gather with you again soon.