Inventory

but we are here tonight for our first bible study and I felt compelled on this evening to uh to begin the year on on Bible study tonight to begin the year with a little bit of self I don't know self uh preservation self uh um inspection kind of just look about yourself and and see how things and where things are with you on this week I want to read some scriptures to you Psalm 139 I'm certain probably some of you have this series of verses memorized but we'll go to the word and it will be for those that want to know in the King James that I'll read from finding out through Celebrate Recovery there's 150 000 translations I was a little nervous Sam on that Rick James version but anyway so it's not the copy I had but anyway Psalm 139 verse we're going to read all of this chapter y'all with me can we anybody okay reading the Bible it's not near as offensive right okay let's start over here sister Jennifer read verse one let's everybody take a verse let's go around till it runs out loud and clear loud verse 2. loud come on very good back here in the back go Stephen Annie you up or no all right go come on he's a college voice okay keep going Robbie keep going Daryl very good brother Dan go it's verse 7. a weather show s very good ate somebody keep going verse 10. even 11. 12. okay 13. Ethan go I will praise Justin that you whatever yeah verse 15. my substance was not good for me I was amazing Bonita 16. 17 Whitney go Logan 18. okay Michelle 19. very good Vandy 20. 21. bill you want to read go you know you're not all right oh Lord but I that hate me and why not am I am not I'm good very well Andrea 23. we got Melody 24. there we go man what a great series of verses come on there's 45 different places in here that y'all quote all the time you said know where they were uh 139 is jam-packed with Incredible encouraging verses I need help brother Dakota helped me would you vain could you help me please real quick up here I'm gonna hurt this way quickly come on Nathan you can help too everybody needs a pen and a piece of paper come on man act like it's a Georgia football I need one of those too brother Nathan let me have one I forgot I laid them all down thank you everybody needs a piece of paper this is uh it's 7 30 for us clock Watchers almost foreign we're going to spend the next few minutes taking inventory somebody that's been in retail or knows something about product and all tell me what's an inventory shout it out what's an inventory check what you got and list what you don't got what you should got man we used to just when I work in retail I hated I just despised inventory because I'd be counting the silliest thing I used to work at a computer shop and we built computers and we'd do inventory every year it may know what a Sim chip is that goes in a computer man we would have to count those but you couldn't touch them at that time that was back in the 256k that was the biggest you could get okay 256 kilobytes of ram Josh is all you could get huh the good old days hey man it would take hours to count those silly things or and then they'd be off by two and guess what they'd make you do recount somebody else come back behind or then I did some work at a candy place that we stock shelves and candy stores and or in grocery stores and markets and we'd have to inventory everything I don't mind telling you it's it's a big bore to count 150 come by jillion candy bars you can't eat any one of them huh inventory well tonight we're going to take a few moments everybody's got an ink pen and a piece of paper if you don't have one sorry though we ran out of trees no I'm joking you gonna make some more thank you this is what I'm going to ask you before I know somebody already cheated so I'm even making an airplane already um listen carefully Pastor the next this month of January is going to be our month of dedication I feel like that because of where we desire to go in the future we need to know where we are presently is that okay now I want the Lord was so gracious to us tonight listen carefully the Lord was so good to us just a few moments ago the spirit of the Lord breathed into this house anybody else reckon that is clear indication God is ready to do something even on a Wednesday night I want to be in a place and in a position to where I can respond and receive and I can interact with God's presence so I want to ask you to help me out tonight number one on here on a scale of one to ten this is not for you to ask those people around you this is not for you to take a consensus of somebody and see what they think of you I'm asking you to be honest with yourself is this okay honest with yourself on a scale of one to ten 10 being the greatest one being the smallest how is your relationship with God write it there on a scale of one to ten how was your relationship with God don't be cheating off somebody else you've got a really great relationship or you're still working on it two on a scale of one to ten how is your relationship with other people not other gods but other people scale of one to ten how is your relationship with others thank you man number three scale of one to ten this may be the greatest challenge of all how's your relationship with yourself you like yourself are you frustrated with you whatever we're going to talk about these each one I'm just giving you some time to peruse them right now number four I'm just going to read through these and then I want you to take some time and fill in some blank what are three things that you consider to be a success this past year what was successful in your life this past 12 months number five what areas of your life do you feel like that you need to work on personally number six what can you do to help other people become successful or be more successful seven if I have to remove something from my life in order to grow what would it be and how would I remove it number eight where do I see myself 12 months number nine where do I see myself in three years 36 months number 10 am I willing to advance the kingdom of God by making myself available to him and if so how I'm gonna give y'all a few minutes I'll watch the clock Izzy turning on the song real real low okay so they don't have to hear each other's Pages rattling there you go Sam you got it all right you know go ahead take some time this is honest inventory okay and then we'll talk about it here in a minute because you're not doing very good at it are you y'all go ahead it's only 10 questions here give it some thought there's some easy stuff now you can think just turn it down that's good right there thank you Fred go ahead take your time with it we're going to talk a little bit about it here in a minute foreign a few more minutes go ahead for the van you made any sound failures out man you're just walking foreign guys a few more minutes a couple more minutes and we'll move forward mm-hmm all right if you need to you can take it home and I hope prayerfully or even while we're finishing talking about it um I realized that life can can cover us up so anybody here busy you know someone busy you've read a book about somebody who's busy you enter you you saw somebody who was looking busy um there's a whole lot of things in life that can occupy our time agreed and we make choices about those things a lot of times don't we I know in discipleship when I do discipleship classes on Sunday mornings I talk about how many hours are there in a day how many 24 there's no more no less you don't you don't get to buy more time you don't get to sell some of yours you just everybody's got the same look at your neighbor and say you got 24. but we make choices of what to do with it do we not and then other people sometimes help us with our choices don't they parents with little ones yeah but I think again that God is has positioned the church in this dark chaotic messed up world that we're living in for such a time as this God is Not on strike he has not quit and given up walked away it is still his church Heaven is still real amen there is still one way come on don't don't get sideways or don't throw in the towel you stay the course you've got to believe that but what can happen sometimes is our intentions can turn sour our desires sometimes can fade and the next thing you know is we are back to December of another year and something has happened I know we we consider New Year's resolutions and we talk about the the Calamity of that and how many uh treadmills occupy people's bedrooms that have clothes and blankets and pillows laid on top of them and it's a great clothes rack right um but intentions were for that not to happen right on a scale of one to ten how's your relationship with God are you willing to honestly take inventory of yourself and say you know what right now I might be at a anybody want to give me a number we're not going to judge you what'd you put seven eight five something else okay now some of y'all are like whoo man she should have said 10. oh yeah he ain't no six yeah right here's the truth of the matter is this you have to decide how much of God you allow in your life don't you young people on the back row you do you have to decide if you're going to have a relationship with God and then you have to decide how much you're willing to invest in that relationship bottom line has God ever backed away run away from you and said I don't want to hear your voice any longer no you've got to decide though how much are you willing to seek after him run after him because then you can determine in your relationship the more you know about God the grade of your relationship is with him understand that so as you take inventory it's okay to be honest and say you know what I feel like right now in my life I have gotten to the place that I am not where I want to be not where I was but I'm I'm middle of it right now and I really want to get closer the second one how's your relationship with others anybody seven nine anybody else six someone else two someone else ain't got one what does it matter of how you interact with other people why does that matter I'm sorry so that connects to number one if your relationship with God is good what is going to happen with your relationship with others the fruit will show itself now now hear me I know that for us to say it's a two or it's a six or it's a basically what you're doing is hear me you are identifying in yourself what you feel like is a 10 and a one because if you put yourself in a lower bracket or lower number what does that generally indicate you have high expectations and you know you need to do something right some some would say I'm a one and I'm proud of it stay away from me how about this one again as I mentioned a moment ago what about your relationship with yourself how many don't like yourself come on you've made some really terrible choices or maybe you've overcome a lot of things and you really like who you've become somebody give me a number three nine eight someone five four one seven three zero y'all don't even know my point to everybody's heads like oh that was honest they was real honest they didn't even considered an answer listen to me again if I may back to number one if your relationship with God struggles it's going to affect your relationship with others agreed that in turn is going to affect your relationship with yourself listen to me carefully there's probably many in this room tonight or watching online you have the greatest challenge of laying down at night closing your eyes and go to sleep because you're not happy with yourself and you beat yourself up laying there on that pillow and you don't have peace with yourself to be able to say Lord I have fought a good fight I finish this day therefore I'm laid up on this bed right now to go to sleep I don't mind telling you it's a practice I've been in for many years to myself I don't discuss this with my wife she already knows my Supreme qualities we talk about it once in a while that one and I'm joking I know so when I close my eyes at night I ask myself was it okay today did you please God today are you okay with yourself or did you spout off or use the wrong attitude or I do I take inventory because I want to know where I stand when I close my eyes come on back in the day when I was a teenager again I'm probably weird or maybe I'm not I used to go to bed after church on Sunday nights scared to death brother Nathan I was afraid that I was going to die in my sleep because that's the way the prayer was taught to us now I lay me down to sleep pray the Lord my soul to keep if I die before I wake anybody else pray that so I just knew I was going to die before I woke up and then when I became a teenager my dear old precious Pastor used to preach Hellfire and brimstone hot hot hot and I'd lay in my bed and wander I've told you all before I'd lay in my bed when I was in the military in Germany and I would cry just myself to sleep saying God if you will allow me one more moment in your presence I won't do this anymore I won't go there anymore some of y'all know exactly what I'm talking about in the midst of all the mess the Lord would come into my room and I'd lay and weep and cry and thank the Lord for his power and his presence I want to be okay with myself not of you are struggling with yourself if your relationship with God is right and others relationship with yourself can be okay what are things that you consider to be a success in your life the last 12 months somebody shout one out decided as a family to go to church you said where I'm sorry where beautiful someone else yes having a see you could probably talk about that a little more and get a little more inside having a child certainly someone else I hear to moving here yeah someone else making if you need a microphone anyone else adjusting the empty nest I don't mind saying yo it's it's all right love you Lauren love Stephen anybody else there's a job certainly someone else success time and money to others that's a success someone else got her hand out gotcha come on someone else what do you consider to be a success in your life over the last month or 12 months yes sir got married certainly answer to prayer someone else not that's right someone else what's a success here let me put it to you this way back in January this time last year did you set up some things that you wanted to accomplish and through the year last year you were able to accomplish it anyone right here clean out the closet my wife and I have a couple of these things that we pray over often because we set our plate on the table and eat but inside is pictures that she so desperately wants to put in photo albums guess where they are now anybody remember pictures shoe boxes and little totes anybody no see everybody now got it on your iPhone or iPad right my wife said baby one of these days we're going to sit down we're going to get all those in place and I'm like well that's a great idea for you that would be a success we all recognize by this question that you can fail or you can succeed who determines your failure or your success you do huh we live in an age right now I don't mind I've said it many times and I hate that I have to but in 2023 we have had to learn how to pull our expectations down a little bit huh it used to be especially you know who you know who gets on my nerves more than anything I'm just going to share it with you all ready for it is the guy bagging my groceries at the Walmart self-checkout I do such a bad job I get home and it's all busted up and all I'm staring and going you know what this is probably the simplest job out there and I can't do it right or go to ALDI it may go to Aldi at 12 cents for a bag I'm going you know what every once in a while I'll Buck the system I ain't getting no bag and then get out of the car says Jennifer and I gotta throw it all down and halfway home and it's under the seat it's I'm not oh anyway that is not successful for me I do realize that in life we make a lot of choices and a lot of decisions listen carefully how you begin 2023 you have to listen you have to be able to decide within yourself I am well able to succeed at something I can be successful I've proven it proving it number five areas of your life that you still have to work on anybody dare to share one of those work for God where are you good someone else Ford Focus very good someone else prayer life certainly communicate more effective yes yes time management you're the one that had a child and we're successful right time management someone else write more good one yeah someone else being a good husband you said husband first but okay being a good husband Sam I've got some advice and I'm joking yeah what else come on what are some areas in your life you still need to work on on time timeliness yeah someone else anybody else cultivating spiritual disciplines anyone else get rid of stuff is that like yard sales stuff anyone what else okay if you will now this is all honesty right we're family areas of your life that you have to work on are there areas in your life that you've already succeeded at and don't need to work on anymore anyone everybody's like I mean it can always be better gaining weight that's right you do it well though right there are such things as successes and failures in our lives right and we have to work on things listen carefully in a self-inventory interspective of yourself what if you were to specifically pray about things this coming or this year because you know that it's a weakness or it's something that you struggle with Lord help me to work on my disciplines Lord help me to work on writing more help me to work on getting rid of stuff and you put that in your prayer list and you specifically pray about it Believe It or Not guys we're headed somewhere tonight number six what can you do to help others be successful not just you but others what can you do to help others be successful encourage good example accountability connect Mentor them someone else good answer pray with and not for with them for them gotcha listen more you know this morning y'all know how I woke up I was glad um with this Epiphany now this happens to me once in a while and the music's great it's not a symphony okay I said Lord help me to talk after what I hear and listen because I've got two of these so I need to take whatever this is and I only need to use this one half for that time because a lot of time we miss what in the when we're talking we miss the details are you with me so if you want somebody else to be successful Brother Gibson mentioned a great one mentoring what was what does it mean to actually Mentor somebody an example to them but what else that's true but what else it teach example but if you do what brother Rob says and you actually take them under your wing per se and you walk with them now what happens to your journey your journey now is connected to that person now here's the question are you willing to give up your journey destination to help them arrive at their destination now I'm not saying you got to do it 24 hours a day right but you can decide in prayer Lord help me to make a difference for somebody else to be successful how can I help them and then make that part of your prayer make that part of how you interact with God lord you put me on Earth you gave me talents and abilities help me Lord to share those with others to invest in others so that they too could be successful and they can then pass that on to someone else that okay is it okay for other people to be successful or have we reached the point in our lives and in this culture that we don't want anybody else's success we want our own I believe that when when the Lord Jesus Christ changed your life filled you with the Holy Ghost allows you to be baptized in his name what he was saying was what go and make Mentor someone help someone help somebody become successful help somebody plug into the good news of who God is and the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ number seven this might have been a challenge if I have to remove something from my life in order to grow what would it be and how would I remove it let me before we go into this one if you know there's something in your life that you've got to remove so you can grow that almost sounds counterproductive to grow you just want to keep adding right sometimes listen carefully I have in my life and my short life I have learned there are some people I do not need to be around why the bad influence what else not going the same direction what else their influence can overpower yours come on there's also some things in my life that I don't need as much as I might would like to drive I don't know a two hundred thousand dollar Lamborghini I do not need it there are speed bumps to my house and I would sure enough take out the undercarriage so Lord help me to have the money and not the Cardinal I'm joking what are some things in your life that you know are hindering you from growing in God yourself out of the way good answer yeah someone else media no one else fear of failure keeping you paralyzed that's true someone else depression certainly someone else something you can remove in order to grow now if you mention something or you wrote something down here's the next question how are you going to get rid of it how do you get rid of the fear with a depression how do you get rid of yourself how do you get rid of the things that's pulling you down anyone prayer replace it with something counseling what else here's the thing if I may y'all y'all still with me I'm gonna see what time is I got I got a few more minutes here's the thing when we talk about taking something from us ourselves we have to consider the cost of that we have to consider what kind of void it will leave in US agreed agreed when you've got something that that bothers you and and bothers you and and stymies your growth and causes you to trip and fall although you don't like the fact that it's there and it's causing you to trip and fall and mess up whatever sometimes you might say with your mouth I need that gone but then you grab a hold of it tighter true story happens to to all of us at one time or another in our lives we should be able to say Lord this is in my way this is dragging me down This is distracting me this is hurting me whatever it is and we should be able to say simply push it away but many times in identifying what it's a how it's affecting and what it's doing to us we then begin to remember why it's there how it got there or what happened with it and then we begin to entertain it instead of get rid of it again I have had to walk away from friends before I have had to make decisions I will not work at this place because of this or I will not buy that or will not do this simple great big small whatever I've had to make those decisions why because it was hurting me more than it was helping me understand so if you have to remove something from your life because it is hindering your growth in God I admonish you listen to me I admonish you in this 21 days of dedication that begins this week this next week I admonish you add that to your prayer list Lord help me figure out how to get rid of this move this remove this that okay where do you see yourself in 12 months simple one year from now where are you going to be what you going to be doing what's going to be happening in your life praying more completing more of your what you feel like is what you need to be doing what else anyone 12 months worshiping in another facility Lord she's got so much work to do what else where do you see yourself in 12 months one year let me bring it close to home Okay you ready for it this month started with a Sunday anybody remember January the first before you blink before you turn around and recall it's going to be March and we're going to be planting Easter stuff in the next couple of weeks and then you're going to be so excited because the kids are going to be getting out of school and you're going to wonder what to do with them and then you're going to be planning back to school next thing you know thanksgiving's on top of you and Christmas and guess what the year went by that fast and you're gonna be standing there saying I meant to pray more where did the time go I meant to be more helpful in mentoring others my mind I'll do better next time anybody and what happens I don't my wife mentioned it a moment ago we are indeed empty nesters and it happened overnight that's the truth that's the truth overnight almost I'm like honey who in the world is that guy in the mirror look at it he's got gray hair he's twice the man you're married why are y'all laughing for you're saying too and I look at that and I'm like where did the time go Michelle and I will make the mistake occasionally we'll mention about a kid or something going by I said I remember holding Stephen for hours laying there before I could lay him down to go to sleep because he wanted to cuddle with you we'd sit in a rocking chair before bedtime and rock and rock and rock and you had to keep that motion Seth and then you up you over to the bed y'all know what I'm talking about well then he did not go one fail swoop I'd go anybody I'm talking about I had another one that God was gracious to us ready for bed sit in the chair she'd do this towards the crib she'd go all right I'd look down and go I'm a good rocker I know how not her and we talk about that and I look at her now and I said where did the time go how quickly things passed things get on my nerves now that never did before why you don't have to nod all the old folks go hmm some some of y'all say things to me and I'll just look at you no idea what you just said I don't some of these teenagers around had to make me make that and everything y'all know what I'm talking about and I lean over my wife I said hey what did they say I don't know just smile ask my daughter how many times I caught her baby what's this mean I don't oh Dad that's young people man where did I miss it 12 months goes that fast where do you see yourself okay I'm gonna make it a little more easier 36 months three years from now Pastor why does it matter I'll tell you why I'll tell you why because in a blink of an eye life's going to pass you by and I want to be able for all of us to say at the end of it I fought a good fight so three years from now how many things we could be walking on streets of gold anybody some of y'all don't even care how many think we can be walking in heaven you're not going to just show up no you're gonna do everything you can do to get there I'm telling you you're gonna have to fight tooth and toe nail to get to that place why because we are we have figured out in the past 10 to 15 years how very easy it is for an entire culture to become distracted come on we just went through two years of some of the greatest and most miraculous stupidity that we've ever been through now I'm not being vulgar I'm telling you it was as if overnight the entire world went okay okay and nobody it's like we all knew that we should have and we asked questions and then we okay put the mask on and in an entire world stopped we have companies that never recuperated why they couldn't I'm not being political I'm telling you what we have witnessed over the last few years in our world is how very simple it could be to stop an entire economy an entire economy to this day right now there are products that I still cannot buy for my business because they're no longer available they haven't restarted those factors that used to make that stuff you see how quick things can happen you know some of us of course we've been hollywoodized to think that it's going to be like a movie set whenever the Rapture happens and that's not at all if they knew what it was going to be about they would be making their call and election sure come on but you and I got the word of the Lord we know it's going to be a shout the Trump of God come on the shout the Archangel coming phone picking up people taking them back meeting in the air gone forever listen if the lights are on here when I leave and you're still here leave them I don't care this is not my home now listen as we as we finish up am I willing to advance the kingdom of God by making making myself available to him if I am how should I do that this is an inventory tonight get more involved Monday night at our all church prayer the spirit of the Lord was here in a fabulous way tonight in our worship time as simple as it was on Wednesday night people begin to lift hands and Worship the Lord huh what is that an indication of the Lord is moving we are figuring out you know what there's more to church than in showing up than just showing up and showing out but when you come to the house of the Lord I think somebody's figuring out you know what this is a good place to be the altar is a safe spot to be in the midst of all the craziness and the chaos and whatnot brother heard you still here come on up and help me in the midst of all the things going on in our world the church is still the answer come on can you tell me anything else that will be victorious at the end of it all it is going to be the name of Jesus and that's all it's not going to be how fancy or how much or how little or how great or how small it is going to be the name of Jesus because nothing will ever defeat the name of Jesus so on this Wednesday night I'm inventory you may want to take this home and actually make it part of your prayer time Lord help me to do some self-evaluation to figure out where I need to focus and where I need to put my attention again Monday or Sunday I'll come in with our pastor's vision statement we'll talk about that I'll tell you kind of where we're headed as a church and then on Monday we'll begin 21 days of dedication there'll be podcast every day I'm going to ask us to fast we're going to sacrifice we're going to try to find and refocus our efforts to the Lord God but until you know where you are you're not going to know how to get back on track or how to grow where you're planted or how to be more successful where you've had successes I close tonight with this if there were any better answer for our lost and messed up world wouldn't you share it anybody when you share it yeah you know if you were baptized in tomato juice and you ate three cups of peanut butter you'd be saved you tell everybody This Is The Answer wouldn't you well the thing about it is the name of Jesus has proven itself time time time and time again and yet that's one of the things that you and I struggle the most over how much do we trust him how much do we believe that he is a prayer answering God he can do it for them but me come on I I pray this month of January that you pray yourself into position to be able to be used like never before in the kingdom of God if you do choose to use this sheet and you go through it I challenge you flip the page over and say Lord what are gifts and callings that I can be used in Lord what are ways that I can make a difference in the kingdom and I can invest in the Kingdom start your list and pray over them commit them to the Lord commit them to the Lord some of you parents out there need to pause for a moment turn something off and go in your children's bedrooms and pray over them some of you husbands need to pause for a moment and go in and pray with your wife some of your wives seem to pause for a moment go in and pray over your husbands come on you need to believe the power of the spirit of God in your home and in your job and on in your health and in your life just stand with me tonight it's 10 minutes after eight why don't you just take a moment here and just lift hands to him Lord the blood of Jesus washes cleanses and makes us whole the name of Jesus is exalted Above All Things help us Lord as individuals as a families as individuals as a church family help us God to be what you want us to be give us the courage and the strength to make tough choices Lord give us wisdom and understanding god of the days of ahead of us so we can continue to move forward in Victory help us Jesus to trust in you with our whole heart to depend on your lord for great things knowing Dear God the end of it all that we will give an account we will we will give an account in the name of Jesus the church is Victorious the church is Victorious we are Overcomers tonight we are Overcomers tonight we love you Jesus and we trust you for all things blessed be the name of the Lord blessed be the name of Jesus I love you Lord I trust you and I worship your name somebody say in Jesus name