The Discipline of a Disciple | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

well this is our God and he's worthy of our praise bless your name Jesus I wanted to stand your feet and clap your hands onto the Lord stand your feet and clap your hands and give King Jesus praise give Yahweh praise today amen I'm so glad I know the god of the Old Testament made himself known in the New Testament came to Earth Amen dwelt on the earth as one of us and aren't we thankful for that amen grab your Bibles and tour with me to First Timothy chapter 4 verse 7 and as Pastor Winona's already said it's so good to have all of our guests here and looking around to see faces that are unfamiliar and uh church is probably where I I enjoy seeing unfamiliar faces the most amen because that means we have guests here and that means so much to us thank you for making this your place of worship uh Pastor Noah also talked about our missions commitment service Pastor Carpenter which by the way our Juniors as seniors are not here tonight you've probably realized we had a quite of our young adults missing Juniors and seniors are in Orlando and our pastoral teams from our pastoral team took them down there including senior pastor first lady including also the Hammonds they're down there both sets of Sullivans and they're they're making sure everybody stays in order and that's a good thing order is a good thing but they're having a blast and we miss them but this is something we do every two years just to treat our genius and seniors to a trip where they can make some memories they will never forget and I'm thankful for that I'm thankful they have that opportunity I'm also thankful the Pastoral team can spend some time with them but Pastor Carpenter on Sunday morning if you've never been to one of our missions commitment Services we do this once a year the first Sunday of of March every year we come together matter of fact all churches all the way across the United States and our organization we come together and we bring the needs of the world admissions Department before you in doing so we'll have pledge cards you'll kind of you'll get an idea of a lot of the missionaries we support not all of them but but most of them that we support this church supports as far as world missionaries will be on that card it'll be perforated and you will be able to fill out both sides of the car both the perforated sides one will come back to the church the other will go home with you but we'll give you some time we'll I know Pastor will probably give you at least a week if not more just time to pray about it time to just seek the Lord on what you should give what your family should give weekly or monthly whatever you choose to do but we're going to give we want to give we want to make sure that we always have World missions on the Forefront of our minds amen we love we love missions around here so that is Sunday thank you this morning was our first Wednesday we had prayer meeting this morning from 6 30 to 8 30 and so many of you were here thank you for coming and making this this the house of prayer that it is and I believe that that's going to be that's going to be something that's going to be launched here at the church that I believe is going to do great things and we're going to see and reap many benefits from our first Wednesday prayer um and then one more thing I want to just announce we have our Bible reading charts that are in the in the lobby as you're exiting the doors please if you can stay up stay up with the reading we're going to read through the whole Bible together as a church one good thing that I did notice about this year that we've never really had before is the dates or I should say the reading days are not dated they're just kind of go by weeks which means a lot of times if you're like me I'll get behind on my reading and you get so far behind and you're just like well there ain't no hope am I the only one all right come on speak back to me you know you get about two or three weeks behind and you're like oh boy well tries to get next to your brother AJ you know I've been there I've been there well the great thing about this one is it just goes by weeks so if you get behind a week don't worry about it just pick up on if it's Thursday pick up on the the closest Thursday you got you can get done and just pick it up from there and just keep on keep on going through it might hey if you get done with the Bible in middle of January next year that's okay the main thing is we got we read through it together amen so pick those up and uh Avail yourself to that first Timothy 4 7 says but refuse profane and old wives tales or Fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness for bodily exercise now we make a big deal about this right here for bodily exercise profit if little hmm but godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that is not the now is an event which is to come now let me read this um the living Bible translation makes this a whole lot clearer so there's always time arguing over foolish ideas and silly myths and legends time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit it says bodily exercise is all right but spiritual exercise is much more important and is a tonic for all you do so exercise yourself spiritually and practice being better Christian because that will help you not only now in this life but also in the next life too I I'm just gonna study the word of God with you just for a few minutes on the title the discipline of a disciple discipline of a disciple now I'm going to be reading I'm going to be reading through uh keep your Bibles out and be reading through a lot of different translations if you don't have a translation I have don't worry we're gonna have that on the screen for you I've I've sent my notes in so we're gonna be prepared for that but this is this is a topic I believe everybody be I want to be disciplined anybody else want to be disciplined hey man you may be seated tonight in Jesus name discipline um it's one word however a whole lot of opinions are out there on the topic or on this word discipline some uh feel it's it's a punishment discipline your kids some feel as is it obedience is it rules is it enforcement is it consistency is it doing what you're told is it rigid is it boring to understand what discipline really is and what it really means we're going to look at the origin of this word the root word of discipline is disciple which comes from the Latin word discipulous meaning a student so most people a lot of people feel like disciple means follower and we use that and and yes the disciples were followers of Christ but in reality it means student This Is What disciple means it means student or it means one who studies all right so disciple we're going to kind of understand disciple becomes disciplined it's it's a Latin word disciplinu I'm not Latin so I don't say it quite right but disciplina which comes we get our disciple from which means instruction and training okay so together these two words simply mean to learn so we are to be if as Disciples of Christ it's more than just being a follower of Christ because there's a lot of of followers of Christ matter of fact there's a lot of people that refer to themselves as TR as Christians followers of Christ however there's a difference in somebody who actually learns or learns of Christ and I'm going to kind of get into that in just a moment here so so what is discipline let's go back to discipline discipline is to study learn train and apply a system of Standards or a system of doctrines but let me let me first share what what a disciple or discipline is not discipline is not rules regulations punishments it's not uh compliance obedience enforcement it's not rigid boring always doing the same thing it's however it's much different than that it's something that we do for ourselves um this is a this is a prayer that I pray very often I pray God help me to discipline myself because discipline is not something anybody else can do for you discipline can only be done by yourself matter of fact I I believe it was it was um Dr Hughes that was talking about the whole idea how we pray for God to help us with things and there's certain things that God is not going to help us with we've got to just have the discipline to do those things um I I could pray all I want God you know you know help me help me to eat right help me to eat the right Foods God you know help me Lord God take the Temptation away wouldn't it be nice if there was no temptation with food am I the only one I mean there's some of you out there because because I've got a brother-in-law named Zach Hammond who can pull up to a Taco Bell and can order 15 things and can lose weight after he eats them I seriously I've been with them before like he's he's like really bad influence on me because he's like starts his order and he's still going and he's still going I'm thinking myself oh yeah that one did sound good oh that one's oh okay yeah double that okay and the difference is I gained 10 pounds and he loses a pound that's the difference between me and brother Hammond um but wouldn't it be nice if we could just say God from now on God take every desire of food out of my mind God when I when I pull into O'Charley's when I pull into Chili's Lord God help me forget about that basket of chips and that salsa when I go to Old Charlie's Lord help me forget about the roles for help me forget about the butter and God's saying I I can't help you with that because that's something you've got to discipline yourself with it's not something that I can force upon or even even if you if you ask him it's not something he can do the only thing only way discipline can be applied is internally and we've got to better ourselves through discipline so the more discipline equals a more choice and the more control the less discipline is less choice and less control and and let me kind of give you an example that I think that all of us can relate to um I want to get up at 5 45 in the morning to work out okay I know that if I get up at 5 45 A.M that gives me roughly 30 minutes of a good workout and then I got about 45 minutes I can have a good devotional personal devotion prayer time Bible reading Bible study good 45 solid quiet minutes before the kids get up why before any other lights get turned on and then at seven o'clock I gotta do my daddy Duty which is I iron clothes yep I'm the clothes steamer and I'm really good at it thank you I feed the dog or else the dog dies and I made the kids lunches those are my morning daddy duties I don't know why I feel like that hand applause was started by a woman I don't know why so if I do those things okay if I go if I go in that order if I get up alarm goes off 5 45 I don't want to get out of bed but I do um exercise whether it's walk in the neighborhood whether it's on the treadmill whatever that exercise is and it's it's I can't look at me you can tell it's not a lot but whatever that is um get into my get in my prayer time my Bible reading if I if I go through my studies get the kids up get the kids off to school quickly I'm again ready I'm back I'm back to work about 8 30 in the morning let me tell you something my day goes good I mean my head is clear you know what I'm talking about a lot of you many of you most of you probably in prayer this morning this is something about man when you when you have all everything is in order when every when you're disciplined to do the things that you know you got to do everything's great now if by chance it doesn't happen quite like that if at 5 45 my alarm goes off and I hit snooze 55 hit snooze five after I turn it off right reset it to seven o'clock well let me tell you something my daddy duties get done because that's how I stay married right however by the time I get to church here and my day gets going crazy Broome are trying to get websites out and we're trying to get cards made pledge cards made and everything else that goes along with working here at the church let me tell you something my day don't go real good because the whole day I'm wondering okay when am I going to get my study time in when when am I going to get my prayer time in oh man after after the after the noon meeting I probably have enough time to slip in the sanctuary but then something I got a phone call and I got to go to another meeting and then by the afternoon well when I get home from work I'll get that time in and get home from work but now the kids want to take the dog to the dog park and you then you feel like a guilty dad because you got to spend time with your kids and your dog in a while before I go to bed tonight I I before I go to bed I'll have that time of prayer well you know how it is and you get tired and things happen and so the bottom line is this if you're disciplined right if you're just more disciplined it's more Choice it's more control in your daily life it seems harder but let's be honest it's really easier our days everything goes so much better God's will is for us every morning when I Rise hey I'm gonna put you first in my life it's the tithe of our day give give God the very first ten percent of the day and to say God this is my time this is my first fruits to you I give my time to you first because what happens it's very simple it's very simple the more discipline more Choice more control better options higher standards improve skills more flexibility less discipline less Choice less control fewer options lower standards and Equity skills less flexibility let me give you an example kind of like with eating if I don't exercise in the morning at lunchtime I've already blown the day brother Perry and you know what that double cheeseburger is a really big deal because this day's already blown you know what I'm saying come on some of you all got Halos on pass by Krispy Kreme donuts I'm looking over here because my man right here brings me Krispy Kreme donut my waist does not appreciate it but I love you right and that's with everything when we lower our discipline it affects every other discipline in our life whether physical or spiritual every everything's affected that's why it's so important that we control ourselves and here's the deal we we've got to respect ourselves let's even talk about our physical body how how can we love others and respect others if we don't first respect ourselves look with me in Matthew chapter 22 verse 36 I want to read this for you and you've heard this many times the Bible says Master which is the great commandment in the law Jesus said unto him thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great commandment and then verse 39 says and there the second is like unto it Thou shalt Love Thy Neighbor on these two Commandments hang all the law and the prophets did I leave anything out what I leave out thou shall Love Thy Neighbor as thyself what this is simply saying is a disciple has got to First Love themselves and not in a way of of putting yourself up on a pedestal that you think you're better than everyone else it's not a prideful thing it's simply what this word love means in our language would be respect we got to respect ourselves enough and that that's where where bodily exercise my wife and I right now are on a diet they call it a a lifestyle change but I refuse to call it that um because she brother or I I don't want my lifestyle to look like this but but it needs to for a while but I have lost eight pounds I look all right I've lost eight pounds y'all y'all didn't even know all clapping like you saw that you didn't see that but I did um in a week pretty good um but you've got to because here's the deal when you don't love yourself or you don't respect yourself you allow things to enter into your body that if you respected yourself would never enter in your body if you cared if you cared about the way you look the way I smell I care about the way I smell I I care about what people think about me and and that's not a prideful thing that's just I represent this church it matters um and then of course spiritually what I watch what I listen to the things I talk about these these are all disciplines if I don't have respect for myself if I don't have respect for my ears I'll just allow anything to enter those ears right people talking about people get on a telephone and hear all the latest worst but if but if I truly love or respect and that's that's what God would say that's the second commandment that's the second most important commandment you're going to love thy neighbor as thyself you got to respect other people just like you respect yourself if I'm gonna be a disciple maker here this this goes along with that if if I'm gonna attract people to myself because it to be a disciple maker you've got to attract people to want to learn what you're going to teach them right then you got to care about yourself you got to care about what you look like what you sound like what you act like what your reputation is if our bodies aren't kept then we lose esteem in ourselves if if our if we starve spiritually we lose esteem or we have low self-esteem it's a proven fact the lack of discipline in one area listen to me right here will lead to a lack of discipline in a lot of areas strength of discipline in one area will lead a person to strengthen all areas of discipline have you found that to be true man you you get a discipline of early morning prayer and something happens within you where you want to start eating right you want to be careful what you watch you want to be careful what you hear you want to be careful what you read all these things all play the same say and I could go in in the physical if you get to where you're exercising every morning you know this already you're not just going to eat just anything if you know you got to work it off the next morning the worst thing you could do is is eat work it off eat work the same thing off eat work the same thing off right it's like a vicious cycle of of wasting time is what it is but disciplines add on and and over time our physical help our spiritual and our spiritual help our physical until we have we have strong disciplines but here's here's what I want to kind of bring to you today nobody drifts into discipline you don't get there by accident just as this uh it's it's undisplayable undisciplined body becomes sluggish we become overweight and fat if you will the undisciplined spirit becomes sluggish and weak and I'm not coming tonight to be some some health Guru because I've lost eight pounds but I've got 30 to go however on the spiritual side of things there are so there's so much that ties into in parallels with the physical uh I began in in John 8 31 this is this is the New Living Translation I I began to read and study spiritual maturity and the Bible says you are truly my disciples if you keep obeying me a spiritual lifestyle is not automatic the phrase keep or be obeying is a action phrase right this isn't a one saved always saved type phrase this isn't a shake the preacher's hand the day you feel convicted and suddenly you become mature if you're going to be a disciple if we're going to be spiritually mature it's going to be every day of the week amen over and over and over again just like exercise just like our daily devotion over and over and over again we are going to have to it's not automatic it doesn't come with prayer it comes with self will that says God I want to be spiritually clean I I want to give my disciplines to you and become your disciple second Corinthians 6 17. this is the New Living Translation also says therefore come out from among them and separate yourselves from them says the Lord don't touch their filthy things and I will welcome you I'll be your father and you'll be my sons and daughters says the Lord Almighty because we have these promises dear friends let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit and let us here it is work toward complete Purity because we fear God again work toward this is another action phrase We continually are separating ourselves from the world because why we're working toward complete Purity what does complete Purity look like I I don't know and I gotta believe that we're probably not going to find out until the day we go home however we're always continually working towards whatever this complete purity is we continually the verse here in second he said we continually refrain from touching and I could add watching or or listening to Filthy things because we are working toward a complete purity so number one spiritual maturity it's not automatic number two it's a process how many know it's a process to be mature it's a process and a lot of people don't want to spend time with process but Proverbs 8 and 5 says learn to be mature spiritual maturity is a learned behavior oh yes it is nobody just automatic because I wish so bad that the repentance and water baptism in the name of Jesus for the mission of my sins and in feeling of the spirit of the Holy Ghost I wish so bad that that's all it took it was like a uh it was just like a switch of a flip and all of a sudden we become Disciples of God but that's not how it works disciple again disciples much more than just following disciples much more than just saying that we're Christians or saying we're Apostolic Pentecostal being disciple is saying I'm going to study I'm going to go through the process it takes to become maturity and that takes time it takes time um I I love I love the Cheez-It commercials on ESPN you all know those you know where the the coaches in front in the locker room in front of all the round cuts of cheese and and he's trying to find out if they're mature enough but they're telling like Middle School knock-knock jokes you don't tell me what you remember talking about and of course he he writes on on the Forum he checks the mark not mature right and I guess they're saved from I guess becoming a cheesehead I guess it's kind of morbid when you think about it um however however then they have others where the cheese is real mature and and he marks he marks of their materials become Jesus so I guess they get eaten I don't know that's kind of a weird commercial I'm gonna look at that differently from now on but the bottom line is you can't skip the process that's what I was trying to get to you cannot you cannot skip the process of maturity it takes time there's a lot of effort oh there's so much that goes on spiritually that we um going to talk about in a minute but but you go from being a babe in Christ to being someone who can eat strong meat and someone who can be mature in the gospel will number one not automatic number two spiritual maturity it takes a process number three three it takes discipline that's what we're here tonight about discipline first Timothy 4 7 discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness mature Believers are called Disciples I I can't be a disciple without first being disciplined that that's what I'm trying to get to right there brother Tyler you cannot be a disciple without being disciplined and as much as we have this we have a movement of disciple maker movement and and I'm all about it I love it I believe if if any church has disciple makers it's this church and if you don't know let me just take time make it just preach a commercial real quick um if you don't know the movement conferences the movement conference is simply um letting letting people come into this place and letting you demonstrate how in each of our Ministries whether it's kids fit security production uh connect team uh ACA daycare School oh it's letting people see how we disciple people through our Ministries all right it's showing people how we make disciples how many are thankful for the Academy we we got a lot of people in here that if it wasn't for the Academy you wouldn't be here today the academy is a disciple maker Kids Quest um we got our our February um spirit is very important to us to keep track of numbers of how many people are in this building for any given service because we're keeping track of souls it's not about uh putting something on Twitter because we don't it's simply about knowing where we stand and how many people we have and how many people we have since last year we put we we have goals of how many people we want to have here right because that's that's Souls on the Pew and um our Wednesday night crowd our Wednesday night attendance was like only three less than our Sunday night attendance it's mind-blowing when you think that that most churches they can't even hardly have a midweek service well most students can't have a Sunday night service that's not a point but the fact that we have a Sunday night service that's packed in our Wednesday night service are the exact same crowd well I'll tell you why because we have a kids quest Department and we have a strong tower youth Ministries and an adulthis program that is drawing that is discipling people and they want to be here on midweek so that's what the movement conference is all about but however I said all that to say this in order to disciple people we've kind of be disciplined we got to have disciplines in our life there there has to be something that happens every single day the true Mark of a disciple is bearing one's cross which means denying our desires my desires in order to put God first in everything every day everyone say every day it's a daily task it's something they cannot We cannot put on on a Shelf discipline must always be at the Forefront of our minds because spiritual discipleship requires the disciple of cross-bearing Luke 9 and 23 look look with me in Luke 9 chapter 9 and verse 23. you might be able to cultist that says Jesus said If any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me I I I bring that parallel with Luke 14 27 and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple so I look at that and we kind of see uh in really one verse in in Luke 9 we see in one verse What It Takes truly to be a disciple of Christ Christ said crossbearing is the denial of yourself in full surrender to God the key to every kind of discipline is being consistent and working every day to perfect it now I refer to how the Bible Compares spiritual discipline but also um to bodily exercise but it also Compares it to what we ingest for instance look with me in First Peter 2 and 2. it's like it's like daily exercise like bodily exercise it is profitable however when we go from discipline into being a disciple or wanting to become a disciple we see in verse two and in the second half of the verse it says newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby yeah First Corinthians 3 and 1 this is the New Living Translation he says dear brothers and sisters when I was with you I couldn't talk to you as I would to mature Christians this is Paul speaking of church and Corinth I had to talk as though you belong to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian Life I had to feed you with milk and not with solid food because you couldn't handle anything stronger look right here hey and you're you still aren't ready y'all see that then Hebrews 5 and 12 similar says you have been Christians a long time now and you ought to be teaching others yeah you've been Christians or disciples for a long time and and you ought to be disciple makers but instead you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the scriptures you were like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food and a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian Life and doesn't know much about doing what is right solid food is for those who are mature who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right the word here mature it comes from the same root word as the word ripe think about this it indicates something that has been completely or fully developed growing old listen growing old without growing up is a tragedy man in this generation we have a lot of them we we got a lot in in the gamer generation that still stay up all night playing games and still don't go to work it's true it's an epidemic it's no it's a life of no discipline in people who ought to be uh there there was a move there was a movie that came out I didn't watch it but I but I read I read the summary of it I think it was called something like the Failure to Launch which simply meant he never I don't think he ever got out of his parents home he just he was in his maybe 30s or 40s I don't know but he never he never went to school he never graduated he never he never got a job he just stayed a failure to launch he stayed as if he was a child and a lot of times I believe there are Christians that get into that Failure to Launch mode where they're the same place 10 years from now they were 10 years ago nothing's ever changed they're still expecting the very same thing ah listen I'm not trying to be harsh I don't want to be like that I want to grow daily out every day I want to get into the word of God in a way every day that I'm learning something I'm applying something to my life I I'm taking I'm journaling notes every day when I'm in my prayer time I'm reading through the Bible I'm taking notes I'm underlying things things that pop out in my in my in my mind of what I'm reading or Leviticus and now in the numbers and and as I'm reading through these books and and some things I've read over and not even paid attention to now all of a sudden I'm seen it and they're enlightened to me and I'm writing them down why is that because I want to better myself I mean you think about we we spend time energy and money on so many on bettering so many other things we spend time money energy on our wardrobe uh what kind of car we drive or what kind of what does the house look like what does the lawn look like where we're gonna spend some money on True Green get this grass growing in here and and in in our animals our pets we can spend money on everything else in time on everything else in effort on everything else but then what about us what about making sure we spend enough time and get enough effort to where we say God I don't want to remain who I am today tomorrow I want to be I want to do something for God I I want to be something for God I want to be a world changer I want to do something that nobody else is doing and the only way we do that is to mature as Christians and not get in like the the word here says where you're just a babe you're just drinking milk and and you're drinking something that's easy to digest because you can't take anything stronger but God help us God give us good solid food and I I believe from this Paul but you hear good solid preaching God give us give us real food get tell us about the way the truth and the life I need some real solid food amen he didn't know who I am I didn't know what I'm doing I need to know how it is I'm Gonna Make It To Heaven the word mature comes from the same root as ripe it indicates something has been fully developed growing old listen God help us that's the definition of death is when somebody 's body does not change once they get to a point where they're no longer growing there's no longer life inside of the body that's the definition of death if we're not moving forward in our Christian Life listen we're backslotting there's only two choices there's no such thing as just staying where you are you're either moving forward or you're falling back it's all about the discipline so what about what about second Peter 1 Chapter One look look with me and this is the new international version but but look with me in second Peter chapter 1 and verse 3 the Bible says his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness through these he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires oh that's that's a that's a scary place right there for this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness watch this right here and the goodness knowledge and the knowledge self-control these are all disciplines and the self-control perseverance and the perseverance godliness and the godliness brotherly kindness and a brotherly kindness add love for if you possess these qualities look at this right here in increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ but if anyone does not have them he is a nearsight he is nearsighted and blind and it's for God that he has been cleansed from his past sins therefore my brothers be all the more eager to make your calling and elections sure for if you do these things you will not fall I love that uh back I don't know back around verse 8er says for if you possess these qualities in increasing measure oh I love that because if we can if we can somehow discipline ourselves and if we can somehow build one discipline upon another that's what this is all about this is the discipline of a disciple if we can keep on in continually oh God I never want to stay the same I always want to increase and measure spiritually Lord God the way that I think and the things that I do Lord I always want to increase I want you to add knowledge to me daily God I want you to add wisdom to me daily Lord God I I want the gifts of the Spirit Alive and at work in my life y'all feel that way I mean that's that's meat right there the gifts of the Spirit that that's me that's not meant for babies that's meant for mature Believers that's meant for disciples to have power that God has given the church and to be able to use that power God help me to increase David whenever possible when I'm teaching on a subject that demands Personal Achievement I I always like to include application and and if you have a pen or paper or even if you want to pull your phone out I want to give some ideas I I want to give um I want to give some ideas of how you can increase your Spiritual Development you could be getting that out and in first Timothy 4 7 are opening text I don't think this smartphone apps were what Paul had in mind as the proper spiritual training equipment however I do believe that if Paul lived in our generation today I just believe that he would have included smartphone apps that I'm going to share to you right here I believe he would have I believe he would have put him in here because as much as a smartphone can deter you in your development spiritually it can also be a help it can also if used properly it could assist you with that in mind here are three categories of apps that'll help you train yourself in spiritual discipline and and I really enjoy all of these apps I just want to share some of these that I use and I found some more I researched a little bit but many of the best Bible reading apps include reading plans now we have a reading plan we're going through but there's a lot of Bible apps if you've not um I think about I think somewhere I read that like 84 of Americans have smartphones so I feel like I'm pretty uh pretty good with this but but there are apps there are Bible apps that have reading plans there are Bible apps that have verse of the day they have devotional plans these are all ways to help us to put our devotion first of the morning two of the most popular ones are you version all one word y o u v e r s i o n and also Bible Gateway those are my favorite too Bible Gateway One Word look those up those are free apps um I know Bob I believe it's Bible Gateway actually I think maybe both of them will read the Bible to you matter of fact a lot of times um when I get when I do get a little bit behind on my Bible reading I love just to put it on brother alter and I let that go and that's that's a that's like spiritual food right there just allowing that word just to enter in and a lot of times in one day I'll go through four five six seven chapters as I'm getting ready as I'm getting preparers I'm coming to the office and it's getting in it's getting soaked into my mind and I love that so it reads to you um it has great devotionals it has great reading plans um number two um screen time apps this is very important right here um as I mentioned earlier our smartphones our tablets they can deter or they can be helpful and the way they deter obviously is that people get into into social media news feeds and and uh they start watching like funny puppy videos oh my word I've never really been into puppies well unless they're golden doodles and I've got a golden doodle so I do I do enjoy watching gold golden doodle videos and I do get sometimes a little absorbed sister Dempsey and like like one goes that next one and of course Bulldogs because my brother and sister will have a bulldog and and there's some of the funniest oh my goodness craziest animals in the world and so I've gotten there but but people get get into that people get on get into chat rooms and they spend time getting the plane just games that will actually absolutely eat up your time I have this written down because because I thought this was this was interesting uh John Piper he said one of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the last day that prayerlessness was not from the lack of time let me go back so I had to slip that I read that I thought that is the truth because more time is wasted on social media oh more time and again I please listen we we use social media around here to spread the gospel applesauce Collective uh we're we're giving away some some in-ear juicy ears whatever they're called I think we've had what like 4 000 comments on that on that giveaway it's it's causing people to um to subscribe to Apple stock Collective and to follow us I I'm not against social media I'm against wasting time on social media I I'm against two hours later and you're still on Facebook or two hours later we're still on Instagram or you know and so there are there are screen time apps that you can get I know I know on Apple I'm sure Android has it on Apple it's built in I'm sure Android is also built in where you can you can limit your time wasting right and I know a lot of people think those are just for our kids like so we can kind of like govern our kids but what's sad is that we can govern our kids and make sure they're not on their devices for more than 45 minutes a day but then Mom and Dad's on for three hours a day right and that sounds excessive go to your phone and look at your time spent it might blow your mind how many hours a day you're on your phone and I know we work on our phone I I get it I get it but but this but the fact is this if we're gonna set aside time for God we've got to make time because we will never have time oh no we'll never have time we gotta we've got to be disciplined enough so look at the screen the screen time apps and your phone number three I love this one it's a habit tracking app now I'm no health expert but I do know this that the majority of fitness trainers will advise their clients not to skip a scheduled workout if at all possible amen seven of you that work out you're like yep the same is true for Spiritual workouts skipping a day of Bible reading makes it easier to skip another day of bobbery right skipping A Day of Prayer makes it easier to skip Another Day of Prayer so I highly recommend uh there's these habit tracking apps the one that I absolutely love is called strides it's s-t-r-i-d-e-s and I think this is an Apple product only I'm so sorry to my Android friends but I'm sure they have something similar in Android but the strides it's so cool now how many goals how many real color Golds are in the house raise your hand hot proud raise them up proud come on um and I think I think more of you will like this in just just goals but this strides app allows you to discipline every part of your time whether um you you put in there what you want you could put like like Graphics like I'll just give you for instance um if I want to drink 10 bottles 10 bottles of water a day no it's that's excessive let's say five bottles of water a day okay I can I can put graphically five bottles that as I'm as I'm drinking through and trying to drink through my bottles of water I can touch each one of those bottles of water and mark them off as I go and then it shows me incomplete at the end that I've successfully completed my five bottles of water um same thing with prayer in the morning same thing with bobbery uh same thing um with with Bible study you make these lists and you can see at the end of the day you can see that I completed all my tasks okay and I know that's very gold and some of you are some of you oranges out there are going oh that's making my brain Frizzle okay um but trust me it's worth it because sometimes oranges you need that us goals we love it oranges you need it all right we all need it why is it it keeps us accountable to something because it has it has um it has like a look I gotta make sure I have this right make sure I have it keeps track of your streaks okay for instance if I've seen for eight days that I've done my Bible reading you better believe I'm gonna think twice before I miss that ninth day because I want to have it ninth days or or maybe some of you Ultra spiritual people if you have 89 days of Bible reading in a row you're gonna make sure that you get to the 90th day and same thing with everything with prayer but but you even move it into with daily exercise it could be anything that you want to put on there anything that you're trying to make sure that you keep disciplined right because discipline's not about celebrating discipline and self discipline is about at the end of the day you're at another level right I'm not where I used to be I'm at a much higher level so get into try out these strides try that out I promise you some of you are downloading it right now that's okay that's okay a disciple that understands that he has to be disciplined he's going to put God first every day right every day going to carry his cross pick up his cross and a lot of people have this this whole this whole daily cross-carrying thing people have is so confused it's not about wearing a cross around your neck it's not it's not about I've been to I've been to Ethiopia I've been to some of these African nations where where we're driving down the road and there's a guy with a cross and he's walking down the road with a cross on his back he's misinterpreter what the word is saying it's not about a physical crossword we're not trying to uh somehow put ourselves as Christ was or as Jesus was and and somehow this is how we help pay for our Salvation is by also carrying a cross it has nothing to do with that Karen across daily is simply saying I'm putting my will just like Jesus said not my will but thy will be done same thing with us when we carry that cross we're saying god listen I know it would be easy for me I I know that they're sleeping it would be easy for me I I know that that spending time on my on my device instead of spending time in prayer I know that would seem easier to me but not my will but thy will be done now I mean it's not my plan it's not my ideas God but God help me why don't you stand to your feet I want to pray I almost want us to pray a prayer this is going to be really simple but I want us to pray a prayer it says God help us to discipline our lives in a way that pleases you can you can you let me pray that prayer right here just lift up your hands to Heaven come on let's pray father Lord I ask you Lord in Jesus name God I want to discipline myself God I Lord I'm not I'm not asking you to help me I'm not asking you Lord God to do anything for me Lord God I don't need you to to make food taste bad to me I I don't need you to make me to to long to be in a gym with weights I don't need any of that Lord I just want to be able to discipline myself in a way that would please you let everything I do I would put you first in my life come on I want to hear you pray this right here tonight God we want to put you first daily oh God lord I know it's not going to be easy God I I know it's nothing that comes natural I I know that when I pray Lord God I know when I study the word I know when I read the Bible I know there's things Lord God going through my mind they want to take over my attention and Lord God they want to take Lord God priority but God I'm going to shut everything else out come on pray that prayer right here I'm going to shut everything else out and daily Lord God I'm gonna give time to you daily I'm going to give you the first fruits of my day Lord God before I go to the job that you've given me Lord God before I I make money Lord God and a paycheck Lord that you blessed me with before I do any of those things oh God I'm going to give you time Lord God Lord God I'm going to take care of my body because my body Belongs to You Lord my body is the temp of the Holy Ghost Lord I want to do everything I can Lord God to keep it fit I'm gonna put the right Foods into my mouth Lord God I don't want Lord God to do anything that would harm the Temple of the Lord Lord God I pray Lord God help me to discipline my mind oh God help me to discipline my actions Lord God come on pray this prayer Lord everything we read Lord God I want the things that I read to uplift me Lord God and not somehow pull me down God I want the things that are re-withered it's the news Lord God or whether it's on Facebook oh God whether it's in a book on anything a magazine a newspaper God I'm not going to read things the Lord God it would cause thoughts in my mind not to be pure I'm not going to read things oh God that would cause me to want to backslide or Lord God to somehow move away from your spirit but God I want to be uplifted Lord God by the word oh Lord God you gave us a book that we can read every day Lord God that will give us power it's aligned to our feet it's a lamp onto our feet it's a light into our pathway Lord God is it's what we hide in our heart that we might not sin against you Lord God help us Lord God to discipline every area of our life Lord God that you would be pleased in it come on is that your desired God we want you to be pleased I feel the Holy Ghost in This Place we don't have to get in a hurry we're early tonight come on why don't you just lift up your hands right here to say God I want to please you in everything I do oh God we want to please you matter of fact even right here on a Wednesday night Lord when it's it may not be comfortable Lord God will lift my hands but Lord God I've come with the sacrifice of praise and I I've not come to be comfortable Lord God I've come to give you praise tonight God I've come to worship you tonight oh God oh God I thank you Lord for a church that understands the importance Lord God oh God of Lifting Up Your Name Lord God the importance o God of making your name great Lord I Thank you Lord for a church Lord God who sees themselves as disciples and not just disciples but disciple makers Lord God won't you bless them this week God bless them on their jobs God lord if they're in the universities God bless them in their classes God I pray Lord God favor upon every life Lord God and help us to just discipline ourselves Lord God to please you in Jesus name we pray can you clap your hands to just love him oh we love you Jesus oh we love you Jesus we bless your name oh God oh we praise you in the house amen and amen God bless you dismiss tonight your kids are probably still having a little service but listen I kept you long last time I preached on Wednesday and I let you out early this time to make up for it all right it's all even I love you all God bless you have a great week