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so do you ever look at people who are really successful in some category of life and wonder how in the world do they do that do you ever do that you look at somebody who's successful in business or they're really really healthy and in good shape or they have a great marriage or they're incredibly godly or they have massive influence and you wonder how did they do that when i was growing up i used to just think they must have been really really lucky they were lucky enough to be born into the right family they were lucky enough to have some kind of big opportunity they were lucky enough to have good genetics or lucky enough to meet the right person or lucky enough to have some breakthrough idea and while there is some luck and some people have been given more what i've noticed over time that in most cases when people are really successful at least in some area of their life they're not just lucky but they're consistent they're consistent over time and i tell our team all the time that successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally let me say that again in in some area of life there's consistency there's persistence there's patience because successful people tend to do consistently what other people do occasionally i've never seen someone that just like accidentally paid off a ton of debt you know someone's got a bunch of student loan debt or credit card debt or big car payments or whatever he just said i wasn't even paying attention to my finances i got no idea how one day i just paid it all off and i'm just accidentally debt free it doesn't tend to happen accidentally but intentionally with consistency over time the same is true with uh their marriage i don't know anybody who says i don't know how in the world i just got a great marriage i mean we've been married for 23 years and we've never had a fight i mean like we're just like kissy kissy kissy all the time i've never met anyone like that what i have met is people who say we work really hard at our marriage we intentionally prioritize our relationship when we get it wrong which is often we intentionally repent we apologize we work to put jesus first we value one another we work really really hard at our marriage i don't know anybody who ever said i just accidentally got close to god i don't know how it happened i wasn't doing anything i mean i was just sinning and sitting wildly and then one day i just stopped sinning and all my addictions went away and i stopped cussing and started saying praise the lord all the time and i have no problems no way i'm just close to god god just speaks to me i just hear his voice i didn't do anything no what i do know is a lot of people who say i've worked really hard to die to myself and to seek god and to know him through his word and to hear his voice and to let him conform me to the image of christ and over time as i've pursued him he's been changing me and i'm becoming more like him all of us have good intentions we all want similar things but we have very different results we need to understand that intentions don't determine direction actions determine direction in other words if you just keep on doing whatever you've been doing you're going to keep on getting whatever you've been getting hoping for a different future doesn't bring you a different future hope doesn't change your life habits change your life and so that's why today as we continue to talk about how we specifically change our life i just want to say humbly that the life that you want whatever it is in your finances in your friendships in your ministry with your children with business whatever it is it's never the result of a few lucky decisions but is always a result of countless consistent seemingly small decisions done over time i always tell myself it's the small things that no one sees that lead to the big results everyone wants it's consistency and faithfulness in the small things over time the problem and you know this at some level you feel it that when you do the small right things or don't do the small wrong things a lot of times you don't see very fast results you're trying but you don't see a lot of immediate life change so if you're like me or a lot of people you tend to get frustrated you get discouraged and you often feel like quitting and that's why the title of today's message is don't give up and with that in mind i would love it in all of our churches or around the world online would you just join me together in prayer father we ask that by the power of your spirit and the truth of your word that you would speak to us and empower us to live a consistent life dying to ourselves living according to your spirit honoring you in the small things and seeing you god trust us with even more because we've been faithful with little we pray this in jesus name and everybody said amen amen type that in the chat we're glad you're with us uh galatians chapter 6 verses 7 8 and 9. i want to spend most of our time today in these three power packed verses that are prophetic in every area of life and this is what the apostle paul said in verse seven i like the serious tone that he has he says don't be deceived this word in the greek it means don't be led astray it honestly it could mean don't be stupid that's kind of what he's saying like don't don't be stupid don't be fooled and then he says god cannot be mocked uh in the greek language the word translated as mocked it means to thumb your nose up it means to snub god's you're not going to do this to god don't be deceived don't be tricked don't be fooled don't be stupid god cannot be mocked and then he gives us a law and the law is this a man reaps what he sows another way of saying it is we will harvest whatever we plant he says a man reaps what he sows and whoever sows to please their flesh you remember what the flesh is it's not our our skin it's our sinful nature whoever does what's wrong and ungodly and sinful from the flesh they reap destruction you sow bad things you get a bad result but he also says whoever sows to please the spirit whoever does what's god honoring from the spirit will reap eternal life who's thankful for eternal life through the grace of jesus christ something we don't deserve something we haven't earned but something he's given us by his grace and then the apostle paul tells us this he says let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we'll reap a harvest if we do not give up we'll come back to that verse but what i want to do for a moment is i want to talk about this law and i want to give you three laws under the big law this is the these are the laws of sowing and reaping and it's important to know these are laws uh a law means it's always true it's a little bit like the law of gravity if i get too close to the edge of this stage and i fall which direction am i going to fall i'm going to fall down every single time i'm going to fall down never one time whoops i fell up i always would fall down because it's a law now i want to give you the three laws of sowing and reaping the first law is you reap what you sow whatever you plant you reap that type of harvest the second law is this that you reap more than you sow when you put a seed in the ground you get more fruit out of the seed in the ground you reap what you sow you reap more than you sow and number three you reap after you sow let's say these allowed all of our churches and online number one you reap what you sow number two you reap more than you sow and number three you reap after you sow let's unpack each of these important laws one by one and let the spirit of god drive truth deep within our hearts so the spirit can change us not behavior modification but spiritual transformation number one we need to understand you reap what you sow you reap what you sow here's a little game i'm going to ask you a question and you can respond it's not a trick question sometimes i do trick you this is not a true question if you plant corn what will you reap you'll reap corn right if you plant corn you don't get pineapple every time you put a certain type of seed in the ground you get a harvest that corresponds with the seed that was planted we could say this like paul said i'm paraphrasing but if we plant bad seeds we get a harvest of destruction if we plant godly seeds and godly habits over time we tend to have a godly harvest in fact speaking of the negative of this if we continue to sin if we're disrespectful to people if we're selfish if we're angry if we're unforgiving if we're bitter if we're harsh if we're judgmental uh if we're if we're uh hate people it's going to come back to us in a multiplying factor in fact in the old testament hosea 10 13 says this very clearly scripture says but you have planted wickedness in other words you've done things ungodly you've sinned and because of what you've planted what have you reaped not good things but you've reaped evil imagine in any facet of life any area of your life when you do the wrong thing why would you ever expect to reap a good thing from the wrong thing take your job if you show up late all the time and you come in with a bad attitude and you have a half-hearted approach to what you do why would you ever expect to get promoted if you don't if you stay there it's because in many ways you're most likely reaping what you sowed uh if you're always lustful and selfish and you're like binging on porn and you're using people and then hoping to have a really godly marriage if you find yourself in a really rough place one day why is that it could be because you're reaping a harvest from the seeds that were sown if you eat anything you want hey like praise the lord donuts twinkies and chips any time and you never ever exercise you don't take care of your body and you drink a six-pack on friday to celebrate that it's friday and a six-pack of beer on saturday because it's saturday and a six pack on sunday after church to celebrate the goodness of god on sunday would you be surprised to find yourself 30 pounds overweight well this isn't fair it's a punishment no that's not a punishment that's a harvest that's a harvest you're reaping what you have sown and here is probably the most important thing we'll say all day the big principle if you don't like what you're reaping change what you're sewing if you don't like the harvest change the seed if you don't like what you're reaping change what you're sewing and i usually give you kind of a divine assignment at the end of the message i'm going to give it to you right now and then we'll reinforce it later i'm going to ask you to look for one different type of seed to plant just one thing just one area of your life where you say i want to be consistent in this area i want to sow seeds have consistent it might be prayer it might be time in god's word it might be generosity it might be a godly attitude it might be forgiveness it might be acceptance it might be that i'm going to start saving money i'm starting chipping away at the debt pick one area of your life that you want a different harvest ask yourself what type of seed you need to plant pick one area and we're going to plant the right types of seeds and believe that god will bring the right type of harvest if you don't like what you're reaping change what you are sowing it's a law it's always true number one you reap what you sow the second thing is you reap more than you sow what you sow god multiplies god multiplies in fact in mark chapter 4 jesus told a parable it was a story about a a solar or like a farmer who went out to plant some seeds and sow some seeds and the farmer would cast seeds out of a little basket a little hatchet in his side and sow some season some fell on rocky ground and they didn't do very well some fell in the thorns and they didn't do very well but the seeds that fell on good soil produced an amazing harvest jesus said this the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept god's word and produced a harvest from one seed a harvest of 30 60 or even a hundred times as much has been planted in other words you plant one seed you can grow an entire tree which then produces more fruit with more seeds to bring about an exponential harvest and you see this in your life and your relationships in your discipline if you walk into a room full of people and you smile real big god will often multiply that and you'll get a bunch of smiles back if you walk into that same room and you're the spiritual gift of jerkiness you often get back multiplied influenced there'll be jerks back to you because you reap more than you sow this is so true in my marriage with amy when it when i love her and honor her and cherish her and serve her and bless her in the way she deserves she multiplies it back and gives me more unconditional love than i could ever imagine she multiplies but when i give her a hard time what happens it comes back what we need to understand is that we reap what we sow and we reap more than we sow in fact i want to show you a book that uh is written by darren hardy and this is a book that i take my children through i take all of my kids through different books at different stages this is one of them and then i've got three son-in-laws when a boy comes around my house and wants to marry one of my daughters we go through some books together okay and this is one of the books that we go through and there's one big principle in this that he tends to teach if i could summarize it is that small smart choices just the small things plus consistency plus time equals a radical difference it's the compound effect when we do the small right things consistently over time planting the right types of seeds in the right kind of soil in the right time of the year god sends the rain and god produces a harvest to a radical difference and what i want to do is i want to share with you an illustration from his book just so you'll know i've changed it up a fair bit so if you don't like it blame me don't blame him but the root illustration comes from him and it's about three guys and we're going to assume that they make about the same amount of money they live in the same neighborhood and to be honest their middle age they have the same kind of um dad bod there's a little extra twinkies that they're carrying around in their dad bot and i'm gonna give them three different names you got sammy the same billy better and wally worse this just in case you're wondering is part that i made up so don't blame that'll sharon those were my names and uh sammy the same you could imagine over time he essentially does what he does the same thing he uh kind of complains about his life but he doesn't change much and he does the same thing nothing really different much like many people that we know billy better though came to life church and he heard this sermon and he made some ridiculously small seemingly insignificant changes he started every day reading his youversion bible app he's going through a bible plan with friends and he's spending five minutes seven minutes reading the bible and just a little time in prayer and and it's it's not a big deal but it's a little deal he also listens to the craig rochelle leadership podcast which is a little shameless plug but he didn't just listen to the podcast but he also reads some of the stuff that i recommend and he starts developing himself as a leader um he cuts 125 calories a day just 125 like no soda or a different snack at the end of the day a healthier snack he walks three times a week and that's it that's all he does different almost nothing first few weeks and couple of months he sees no real change he almost gives up but he remembers small consistent right disciplines plus time equals a radical difference he stays in the game uh wally the worst skipped church the week we did this message and so unfortunately wally picked up some small bad habits he doesn't read the bible he believes in god but he doesn't doesn't do anything doesn't serve anywhere um unlike billy better he didn't cut calories he just added just a few just 125 calories uh just a just an extra soda or a bad snack and uh because he's kind of discouraged he likes to disconnect and waste a lot of time playing video games the good news is he gets high scores all the time and continues to beat his record but he plays a lot of video games so six months go by and there's almost no noticeable difference like none whatsoever like like billy better is doing the right things and while he worships doing wrong things and you there's almost no difference whatsoever about 18 months or so you can start to tell some really small difference but on month 27 the change for two of them is startling and i want to show you what this is the first one sammy you think there's any change for him nope just like a lot of your friends and i could say sadly just like for some of you 27 months from now you'll still be worried about the same things you're worried about battling the same sin you're battling struggling with the same struggles you're struggling with wishing for the things to be different you're still wishing to be different sammy the same had almost no real change billy the better though he consumed a hundred and seventeen thousand five hundred fewer calories and check out what happened to this bro 33 pounds down he's fit he's confident he's got some new clothes he's looking better he's feeling better he walks into the room you know when billy's in town billy's got some mo going wally on the other hand is not such good news wally consumed 117 500 more calories and according to the math he went up 33.5 pounds do you think he's confident when he walks in a room he's not feeling so good right now if you're not good at math the difference is 235 000 calories and 67 pounds spread between billy better and wally the worse and that's just the beginning of the changes in their life because how many of you know that some small positive changes often compound into other positive changes and negative changes often compound into other ones sammy the same didn't change any at all but billy the better he lost weight he gained confidence his time in god's word started to strengthen his relationship with god hey he grew better as a leader his bosses started to notice they gave him a raise and a promotion he paid off his debt and his wife is happy there's a lot of kissing going on inside of billy's home willie though gained weight lost confidence drifted from god his gaming addiction turned into a gambling addiction his finances are a wreck and his marriage is hanging by a thread and those are obviously made up illustrations but the truth isn't too far from that home because it's not what we do occasionally that makes the difference it's what we do consistently if you don't like what you're reaping change what you're selling just one thing just one thing i promise you if you try to change three you won't change any just one thing what is it one area of your life where you're going to be more consistent because believe me when i tell you it's a law you always reap what you sow you always reap more than you sow and number three you reap after you sow you reap in a different season and that's not easy because you plant and fall and you don't typically reap and fall you've got to plan and fall and wait until spring and that's why we get discouraged right because what do we do we'll try for a little while i prayed for five days straight and i still dropped a bad word on the golf course i prayed and prayed and prayed i still don't feel close to god i went to the gym five times and i still got quarantine 15 all up into my business right i'm trying to pay off my student loan debt thirty seven thousand five hundred dollars of weight so all month long you don't buy any expensive coffee and lo and behold you saved a hundred dollars and at the end of the month you don't know thirty seven thousand five hundred dollars you're thirty seven thousand four hundred dollars and so you wrongly conclude that the small decisions don't matter that much but you forget what is our story who are we in so many different ways our entire life is the sum total of all the decisions that we make in every action you're choosing a direction and so let's review from week number one what do we know we know that all of us want something different something better in our lives the problem is even though we want similar things we have very different results if our identity is wrong then the cycle is bad when we think i'm bad i'm pathetic i'm nothing i'll never change i'm not going to amount to anything i'm always going to be broke i'm always going to be stuck into sin i can never quit doing this i can never have a good relationship i could never have a real ministry i could never have a real impact then we try in our own strength but eventually our willpower wanes so in our inevitable failure we start to feel the shame which reinforces our negative identity i'm always going to be bad so what do we do we recognize if we're in christ we're new the old is gone and he has made everything new and because we're in christ his spirit gives us strength which helps us to do the right things we're walking in the fl in the spirit not gratifying the desires of the flesh it's not our power it's his power christ in me is stronger than the wrong desires in me so because we know who we are then we know what to do and because we know who we are we're not trying but we're in training we're becoming more of who we already created us to be and by his spirit he helps us to choose what we want most over what we want now so how do we judge the success of a day it's the end of the day did i honor god did we do good did we make progress to or are we are we working toward the harvest that honors god here's how we judge the success of the day we don't judge the success of the day by the harvest we reap but we judge it by the seeds that we sow did we honor god today and you don't become successful when you achieve the goal somewhere in the future you become successful when you honor god today do not be deceived god cannot be mocked it's a law you reap what you sow you reap more than you sow you reap after you sow and that's why paul said this he said let us not become weary in doing good for in due season at the proper time when the time is right when god's watered it when he's put his sunlight on it you will reap a harvest if what say it with me if you do not give up if you do not give up in one day in springtime in a later season you'll wake up and you'll realize your hard work your discipline your sacrifices your faithfulness it was never ever wasted it was being stored up it is being stored up a little bit like if you take a pot full of room temperature water and put a little fire on it and the fire burns consistently over time the water heats up to 85 degrees and then 97 degrees and then 114 degrees then 139 and then 187 then 201 and then eventually it gets to 211 degrees and what do you have when you have 211 degree water you have really hot water really hot water but one day in a harvest season when there's one more degree it's not hot but it's boiling one day you wake up and your marriage is better than you ever thought it could be one day you wake up and realize there's a 67 pound difference between you and your buddy down the street one day you wake up and realize we're debt free and not just given ten percent of our income but we're given twelve percent of our income to make a difference one day you wake up and you realize i used to feel unworthy to lead a life group now i'm leading a life group serving and switch and i'm discipling three people during the week boiling boiling your business starts succeeding your influence starts expanding and people look on and they'll say you were lucky you were lucky and you're no no no no you weren't lucky you were faithful you were consistent and what they won't see they'll never see it because it's often the small things that no one sees that lead to the big results that everyone wants they won't see you overcoming your self-doubt and your insecurities and confessing your sins and failing and standing back up and trying again what they won't see you is praying and fasting and seeking god and depending on him they won't see the early mornings or the late nights they won't see you enduring criticism and showing back up with a heart of grace they'll know nothing about the grind your perseverance your private pain the small consistent disciplines they won't see any of that but you'll know it's the seeds you planted and it's the harvest god brought and that's why i came to tell someone you will reap a harvest of righteousness if you don't give up don't give up i don't know who this is for but don't give up praying don't give up believing don't quit stop don't stop believing for the salvation that person that you love don't quit giving don't quit saving don't stop trying to climb out of debt don't stop fighting to stay pure don't stop believing that god will help you overcome that addiction if you fall short today there's always tomorrow you keep seeking god you keep pressing into god you get up early you stay late you bring a sacrifice nobody else sees something they don't know about you so back up you do extra reps when everybody else gives out you bring two more reps two more reps 20 more than anybody else and you bring a little bit more you keep saying yes to what's right you keep saying no to what's wrong you keep chipping away at your debt day after day fully investing in your marriage and it's never going to be easy it will not be overnight that you will reap a harvest if you do not give up so father today we ask that by the power of your spirit you would speak to all of us about one area just one our diet the time we rise in the morning our attitude our generosity our stewardship our depth our physical exercise our pursuit of you through prayer or through the word just one pick one and we're going to ask god to help us plant those seeds of righteousness consistently and trust that he'll bring a harvest all of our churches are online you got your one area just one and if you don't get it now get it today but if you know an area you want to be more consistent before god would you lift up your hands you could type in the chat i've got my area i've got my area and father today i pray that by the power of your spirit you'd help us make just one small change that may not seem like anything big in the moment or in the weeks to come or even the months to come but god we thank you that in the years to come we will reap what we sow and we'll reap more than we sow and it may be in a different season than we sow but god we want to honor you by what we sow god by the power of your spirit because we don't have the ability in our own power we're not trying we're in training to do what you've called us to do help us to honor you oh god as you keep praying today without looking around i can imagine how some of you feel right now if i go back in my life and think about hearing a message like this i would think yeah i probably deserve a lot of bad harvest because i've done so many things that are wrong and i want to tell you about one area of life where this law does not apply and it's the most special area of life there is an area of life where you actually get something that you don't deserve and that's by the grace of god and because of his love and because of who jesus is the son of god who was perfect and died in our place on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins when you put your faith in him even though we deserve destruction for our sinfulness by the grace of god we reap a harvest for a seed we did not plant god sent his son one son who gave his life that there could be a harvest of people made new and forgiven guess what some of you today you're that harvest and i want you to feel it that god loves you so much this is how much god loves you that he sent his perfect son to die in your place to plant that seed in the ground that the one that didn't stay planted the rose again so there could be a harvest of lives change and you could be that harvest today if you're watching online or one of our churches and you realize yeah i've done so many things wrong and i don't i don't feel at peace with god when you step away from your sins and you turn toward jesus when you call on him he hears your prayers he forgives all of your sins you don't just become better you become different the old is gone and all is new at all of our churches those who say yes i want his grace i want to receive something i could never earn and i don't deserve today i surrender my life to jesus when you do that he makes you new all of our churches those who say i want him by faith i walk away from my old life i give my life to jesus that's your prayer lift your hands high now all over the place say yes jesus i'm giving my life to you as we've got people at all of our different churches calling on him those of you online just [Music] type that into the chat i'm giving my life to jesus just type that in right now i'm giving my life to jesus and right now as some spiritual seeds are being sown in the kingdom of god let's pray together and believe for an eternal harvest would you pray aloud wherever you are pray heavenly father forgive all of my sins jesus save me change me make me new fill me with your spirit so i could be who you call me to be [Music] my life is not my own i give it all to you thank you for new life you have all of mine in jesus name i pray because somebody thank god for a big harvest of lives changed