Win The Day (3)
Win The Day • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 7 viewsWinning the day... Christian growth... is accomplished one day at a time, one step at a time... Sometimes those steps are easy, sometimes they are difficult... If we expect to grow, then we have to take those difficult steps. We have to "Eat the Frog!"
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| Eat The Frog
As a sophomore at Marple Newton High School, Bob Speca was introduced to the math induction theory. His teacher, Mr. Dobransky, likened the theory to the domino effect.
This led Speca to start “playing” with dominos!
Speca went on to set several world records in “domino toppling”!
Why do I mention Bob?
Around the same time Bob Speca was setting world records, a physicist named Lorne Whitehead was also “playing with dominos!”
He was studying the domino chain reaction.
Whitehead discovered that a domino is capable of knocking over another domino that is one-and-a-half times its size.
In other words… A 2-inch domino can topple a 3-inch domino; a 3-inch domino can tumble a 4 ½-inch domino, and so on and so forth…
By the time you get to the eighteenth domino, you could topple the Leaning Tower of Pisa… The twenty-first domino could take down the Washington Monument… The twenty-third domino could knock over the Eiffel Tower… And the twenty-seventh domino could cartwheel the 160-story Burj Khalifa.
Why are we talking about dominos?
Because… Nothing is impossible if you take it one step at a time!
You can climb as high as you like on a ladder by starting with the bottom rung, then climbing the ladder one rung at a time.
We can accomplish ANYTHING if we take it one step at a time. We can OVERCOME anything…
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Look at what God said about them (v6): “Nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them.”
Now, there are a lot of questions raised by this passage, and we can address them later… For now, I want you to notice something.
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
They started by making bricks… THEN… they built a city!
They didn’t start with the city!
I think, way too often, we want to start with the city, AMEN… but we can’t!
We have to start with that first step…
Look at Abraham.
God did not start by making Abraham into a nation… he started by calling him to Faith… To take a step… To trust Him enough to “GO”!
THEN… He walked him into Cana…
THEN… He gave him the gift…
Only after testing Abraham, did He make him into a “great nation”!
The same is true for us!
God calls us to “Be Holy as He is Holy,” but… He doesn’t call us to get there in one leap!
Look at John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
That’s the first step!
God didn’t say, “If you want eternal life, Go make yourselves perfect first!
Just as with Abraham, God calls us to Faith FIRST!!!
He calls us to COMMIT to Him… To put our complete trust in Him…
“Then,” He says, “We’ll worry about the rest...”
The key to “being holy as God is holy” is to create domino habits.
Domino habits — “little habits that are high leverage habits.”
It’s all about our spiritual disciplines.
Look at the “Sermon on the Mount”…
Matthew 6:2 (NIV)
2 “So when you give ....
Matthew 6:5 (NIV)
5 “And when you pray....
Matthew 6:16 (NIV)
16 “When you fast....
Spiritual disciplines are not optional to Christian life… They are essential! They are expected!!!
Jesus said, “When you...” not “IF you...”
We spend to much time making excuses!
— I don’t have enough time…
— I don’t have enough money…
— I can’t fast, I’ll get sick!
NO!!!
That’s not true!!!
It’s about priorities!
— If you have enough time for TV, gardening, facebook, … Then…
— If you can go out to eat more than once a month, Then…
— Fasting is as simple as setting aside one meal in order to spend time with God…
Church… These are little things!
But they are powerful in our lives!!!
I promise…
If you do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things!
We have to Eat The Frog.
WHOA!!!! Wait a minute Pastor! That’s a little weird!
Why are we talking about eating frogs?
Mark twain once said: “If you ever have to eat a live frog, it’s best done first thing in the morning.”
Why?
Because you can go through the rest of the day knowing that the hardest task is behind you.
Last week we said that taking that first step… that leap of faith… was the hardest part.
That’s the Frog!
— Taking that first step to begin creating new Spiritual Habits.
(Example - Altar Calls)
Hold that thought.
According to Duke University … 45% of daily behavior is automatic.
That’s not bad, unless, they’re bad habits.
You see… Habits are the way we put things on repeat.
Without that ability to automate, we’d have to relearn everything we do every single day.
Daily habits are not just a good thing, but a God thing.
Habits save us time and energy, but those savings come at a cost.
You see…
When something becomes second nature, when we “automate”… we don’t give it a second thought.
That’s where we have to work… We "Win the Day” by deconstructing and reconstructing our daily habits.
So, How do we do this?
We can study other people and hack their habits, that’s one way…
But leadership starts with self-leadership, and self-leadership starts with daily habits.
We need to do a SWOT analysis…
We need to identify our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
We need to do an analysis of our Time Management, Talent Management, and Treasure Management.
Here’s the truth.
You can reinvent yourself.
You can reprogram your mind.
You can repurpose your heart.
You can reinvent your body.
The question is: HOW???
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We do it by focusing on God!!!
We do it by listening to what the Author of Our Lives has to say about us… and what we HE intends for us to do it!
Mark Batterson tells the story of a high school principal who read his book The Circle Maker.
He topped out at 397 pounds.
But, when He read the book, God gave him a “God-sized” dream… He decided to run a marathon.
He had to lose sixty pounds before could he started running, so he started small…
Soon… he began running prayer circles around the 82 schools in his school district, and in the end…
He not only ran a marathon, but he also lost half of his body weight!
He Ate the Frog!!!
God does not expect us to get to the end of the road in one giant step!
He leads us ONE-STEP-AT-A-TIME!
Look at the disciples… those “would-be” apostles…
— He told Peter and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you...”
— James and John, “Follow me”
— Levi (Matthew) - “Follow me”
— and the list goes on and on…
Jesus called them to take the first step! … To embrace the most difficult thing… to step out in faith!
Look back at the Sermon on the Mount… (give examples)
This is not about re-packaged self-help.
This is about stewardship!
It’s about making the most of your time, talent, and treasure.
It’s about bringing our utmost for His highest!
It’s cultivating God habits.
In order to live a life that is “Holy and pleasing to God!”
It’s “Winning the Day!”
What we need to do is hack our habits.
Pick a habit, any habit.
It can be physical, relational, emotional, mental, financial, spiritual.
For the sake of simplicity, I’ll give you a few examples.
It could be doing your age in sit-ups.
It could be keeping a gratitude journal with a daily quota.
It could be giving five minutes to meditation and prayer.
It could be creating a daily Bible reading plan.
Pick a habit, any habit.
How do you eat the frog?
You have to make it measurable, meaningful, and maintainable.
Let's break this down.
Make It Measurable
— means breaking down our gaols into “baby steps” that we can measure…
— That way, we can “see” progress…
Getting into shape and losing weight are hopes… lofty goals… but “lofty goals” don’t become habits unless they are measurable.
If you want to lose weight… you count calories… you map miles… you follow a workout routine… You make it measurable!
Once it’s measurable, it’s manageable.
But… It can’t just be manageable…
It has to be Meaningful!
Remember last week?
Fredrick Nietzche said, “He who has a WHY to live can bear almost any HOW.”
You have to have a WHY!
Habit formation isn’t just about you.
It’s about the third and fourth generation.
It’s about leaving a legacy.
It’s about being a blessing.
(teacher example — Walmart conversation)
Find your “why” and look at it everyday.
Pin a picture on your bathroom mirror, set an alarm on your phone, do whatever it takes to make it meaningful enough to keep you moving towards your goal!
Make It Maintainable
Our habits have to be maintainable.
It’s okay to dream big, but you have to start small.
Rome wasn’t built in a day!!!
Think about it…
If you write two pages a day, you’ll have a book in a hundred days.
You are capable of more than you imagine, but consistency beats intensity seven days a week and twice on Sundays!
You have to do it for a day, then you have to do it all over again.
That’s how every goal is accomplished.
The good news? Anybody can do anything for a day.
But Pastor… What does all of this have to do with scripture? What does this have to do with our walk with God?
I’m glad you asked…
43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.
45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
Now, let me ask the obvious question: “Why is the person worse off?”
Because they didn’t cultivate the daily disciplines necessary to back up the divine deliverance.
You see… God can deliver you in a day, no doubt!
But you have to cultivate daily habits to keep yourself there!
Again, if you want God to do the super, you have to do the natural.
You don’t break a bad habit by not doing it.
You don’t stop sinning by not sinning.
That’s like someone saying: don’t think about the Jolly Green Giant. What image just popped into your head?
It’s like someone telling you not to look… What’s the first thing you do?!?
In psychology, there is something called a double bind.
If I say to you, “Be spontaneous,” you can’t be.
It creates a no-win situation.
The same goes for every temptation we face.
I wish eating the frog was as easy as, just say no. It’s not!
You need a vision bigger and better than the temptation.
The best way to break a bad habit is to build a good habit.
Easier said than done… it takes time and effort.
You have to reinvest your time, talent, and treasure into a good habit.
In the 1970’s, Dr. William Glasser wrote a book called Positive Addiction.
In it, Glasser said, “Addiction is not all bad.”
Sure, negative addictions destroy our lives one drink, one click, one hit at a time.
Positive addictions have the opposite effect.
In reality, all of us are addicts.
(Cell phone example)
The question is this: are those addictions positive or negative? Healthy or unhealthy? Holy or unholy?
All of us could afford to complain a little less. Am I right?
But you don’t just stop complaining. You’ve got to switch the habit.
Let me give you a simple example.
If you want to flip the script, one of the best ways to do it is keeping a gratitude journal.
A Gratitude Journal can turn someone who complains about anything into someone who is grateful for everything.
All it takes is one little habit.
Keep a gratitude journal every single day—write down one genuine gratitude per day. You’ve got to write it. You’ve got to recite it.
And see what happens!
Sooner or later, it will flip your script.
Why?
It sanctifies the reticular activating system.
Do you remember what that is?
R.A.S. is that part of our brain that determines what we notice and what goes unnoticed.
That’s habit switching.
That’s the first step…
Then we have to habit stack.
Habit stacking is coupling our habits with daily rhythms, daily rituals.
One simple way to do this is to turn certain times of the day into alarms.
You’ve already done this in your life… think back to school, can you remember what time the lunch bell rang? The dismissal bell?
Do you set a timer on your coffee pot to have it brew at the same time everyday?
This is why churches used to ring bells.
This is why mosques have their early morning call to prayer.
Habit stacking is coupling difficult habits with habits that come easy.
I read my Bible while I drink my coffee for a couple reasons. One, the Bible reads even better with a little caffeine.
I have a formula: The Holy Spirit + Caffeine = Awesome.
Two, My coffee acts like an alarm.
Lots of ways to do this.
You can take the stairs whenever the opportunity presents itself.
You can park farther out in the parking lot.
Great way to get in a little exercise.
Habit stacking is not new, look at the Shema.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
The question is “How?”
How do you keep them in your heart?
How do you put them into practice?
The answer — habit stacking.
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
God doesn’t just give commands, he couples them with daily rituals—getting up, lying down.
If you’re trying to cultivate a prayer habit, one of the best ways to do it is first thing in the morning or last thing at night.
Why? Those rituals function as reminders! (explain…)
Here’s the good news.
Some of us already habit stack, and we aren’t even aware of it.
We pray before meals…
You hug your spouse when you get home…
We seek time alone to think…
We might even read our Bible while we eat lunch…
The trick is putting this into practice across the board.
Pick a habit, any habit.
You have to stack those really hard habits with rituals and routines that come naturally.
One pastor gives this example: Most of us are dehydrated most of the time, and it has a detrimental effect on our physical and mental health. One way to counteract that is habit stacking—you get in the habit of filling your water bottle when you go to the bathroom. You don’t pee until you drink the whole thing.
Show me your habits, I’ll show you your future.
You will become the sum total of your habits.
That may sound a little overwhelming but let me ask a simple question: Pick a habit, any habit…
Can you do it for a day?
Don’t try to change seventeen things at the same time.
You will fail.
Focus on one habit, maybe two…
What can you couple them with to reach success?
For better or for worse, you are the sum total of your habits.
Bad habits always come back to bite us. But…
Good habits always come back to bless us.
Either way, you cannot break the law of measures.
2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Simply put, whether we’re talking about your health… your wealth… your marriage… you’ll get out of it what you put into it.
How you do anything is how you’ll do everything.
We can’t do it in our own strength and We don’t have to!
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
When we build spiritual disciplines into our lives, God is going to show up and show off.
Habit formation is a spiritual battle!
The battle is won or lost in the mind.
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
It starts in here.
You have to knock down the first domino!
Let’s pray together.