Are We Listening to Our Spiritual Life Coach?

Happy Sabbath! It's always great to see you here, especially as we get so close to the spring holy days. We're now only three weeks from the Passover and the days of unleavened bread. Of course, the Passover pictures God's grace by providing a Savior, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins. And our salvation isn't something that we could earn. It isn't something just by being obedient. It isn't something by mere works that we can earn. It is a gift by the grace of God, an undeserved gift, due to the shed blood of God himself who came to earth and walked as a human being and sacrificed his life so that you and I could have that opportunity for salvation. And we will commemorate that once again in the Passover this year. And then we, of course, know that the days of unleavened bread symbolize our desire to become sanctified. That is, to get the sin out of our lives, to get the evil out of our thoughts, out of our hearts, out of our actions, to develop the mind of Christ, again, by removing sin from our thoughts and our actions. To prepare for that, we will go in our homes, we will look for and we'll remove leaven from our homes. It's analogous to looking for and eliminating evil from our lives, and we'll do that search and we'll do that removal in our homes. And it's a powerful symbol of the fact that we need to continue to grow, we need to continue to be sanctified, we need to continue to root out the sin and evil that lurks in our hearts and in our minds. This is a time for very sincere self-examination as we come up to the Passover. I found over the years that many individuals are frustrated and often discouraged by their lack of personal growth. And it's usually this time when we take a look at our lives and we might say, wow, I haven't come as far as I thought I would. I didn't overcome this temptation. I haven't yet learned to shut down this thought. I continue to say things that I shouldn't say, do things that I shouldn't do. I continue to offend people. So it's usually this time of year through serious self-examination when we may become frustrated, we may become a little discouraged with ourselves. This is true not only in the Church of God, but it's also true that people in the world face. Quite often they face frustration and discouragement and that they're not achieving the things. They don't have a sense of worth. They don't have a sense of purpose like we are blessed with in the Church of God. 50 years ago when people were searching for meaning or they had problems, they would go to a religious figure. They would go to a priest to talk about things they had going on in their lives. That has dwindled over the years because of issues with the priesthood in the Catholic Church and the hit that religion has taken in our culture today. More and more people instead of going to religious figures are going to what's called life coaches. These are individuals that are trained to help people have a breakthrough in their life, to change their lives. It's actually a phenomenal industry that has grown to become a $2 billion industry in the United States. To prepare us for the Spring Holy Days, I thought it might be helpful to look at three ingredients or qualities that a life coach receives when they're being certified to be a trainer. The reason I want to look at these three things is because they're biblical. As I've said before, anything that's true science, anything that is true philosophy that is held up through rigorous study and research you will find originated in the Bible is a biblical concept. That's why when they do rigorous studies, rigorous testing, rigorous trials on that philosophy or the idea that it works. Because it originates, the concept or the idea originates from the Bible.

So these three ingredients or these three qualities for having a breakthrough in our lives, for going from stalled to moving forward in our spiritual lives, is something that God wants us to do. And there are things that if you went to a basic class and becoming a life coach, you would be taught that you're not going to be able to help people until they achieve these three things.

All three are necessary. If you have one, you're going to be stalled out. You have two out of the three. You're going to be stalled out in your life. You need to have all three. So that's what I would like to discuss today. If you think about it, actually God gave you a life coach. When you came out of that baptismal tank and that elder laid hands on you and asked you to receive a very special and powerful gift, the gift of God's Holy Spirit.

So God has given you, unlike the world, God has given you a spiritual life coach. Now, of course, whether it's spiritual or physical, if we're not listening, the coaching isn't going to do us any good at all. If you receive a gift and you don't open that gift and you don't use that gift, then that gift isn't going to help us at all. So again, all three of these qualities must be present for sustained growth to occur in our lives.

They work together. They need each other to produce change and to be effective. But if any one of these three qualities or ingredients are lacking, our ability to grow, to get to another level, to have a breakthrough, is going to be stalled out. So let's see what they are. Let's see how well we're doing in our own lives, as I'll ask some questions along the way. And let's see maybe what we can do differently. So here's the first ingredient or the first quality. The first one is motivation. Until any of us are motivated, there will be no change that will occur.

Motivation is number one. Motivation is defined as the general desire or willingness of someone to do something. And if we're just not a motivated person, if we are just not motivated to change and grow, it's not going to happen. So that's why it starts here. Philippians 2 and verse 12, if you will be kind enough to turn there with me to Philippians 2 and verse 12.

Philippians chapter 2 and verse 12, Paul wrote, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, Paul isn't saying that we do something that earns us salvation. As I mentioned earlier, it's a gift. It's due to God's grace. But the point he's making is that we have our part to play. Yes, God draws us. God calls us. We repent. God gives us, through that repentance, the gift of His Holy Spirit, that awesome power. And from that point on, it's our responsibility to use that power, to use that gift, to change our lives for the better.

That's the part that we play. That's the part that we work on. And it is work to change ourselves, isn't it? It is work to change our mindset from being negative to positive. It's work to learn to overcome the sin and stop doing something that's been a habit most of our lives. So he says here, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You have to work at it really hard to have the kind of growth. You need to be really motivated to produce the kind of change that literally will transform your life.

Verse 13, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Paul is saying, if we pray about it, God will give us the will. God will give us the motivation. He'll give us a jump start. He'll help us to get started. We still have our part to play, but God will do that for us. And I want you to notice how God looks at our change process. Does he hold his nose? Does he say, oh, they're just bad, sinful people. Oh! No! It says he does this for his good pleasure.

It pleases God to see his children going to another level. It makes God happy to see his children doing their part as weak and as limited as we are to do our part to say, I can overcome this. I can change this attitude. I can alter this mindset. I can stop doing these things with my hands.

I can stop walking in a direction that's destructive and harmful and walk toward the light instead. That pleases God. That's what Paul is telling us. Verse 14, do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless. Become is a word. That means that's a process. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes decades and decades of work for us to get to the point where God wants us to be.

He says, become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Paul said, my prayer, my goal is that when Jesus Christ returns, I see all of you excitingly leaving the earth. Being changed from mortal to immortal, he says, I don't want to have gone through all this. Traveled from city to city, beating to beating, and all of this just to see people fail, just to see people not be part of God's family. He says, it's my prayer. I want to rejoice when Jesus Christ returns and say, hey, they all made it. That was Paul's prayer. I'm going to read verse 13 from the translation God's word for today. It is God who produces in you the desires and actions that please him. Do everything without complaining or arguing. So Paul is discussing the motivation needed, the kind of motivation needed to work on ourselves. If you lack motivation, if you're saying to yourself, I'm just not a very motivated person, of course, pray for it.

And understand, however, that there are things that we can do to motivate ourselves through God's Spirit. Paul says here that God will give us the motivation we need to grow. But he also says that we have a part to play. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. We can't sit back and think that change will occur in our lives just by having happy thoughts.

Just by hanging around and attending Sabbath services long enough. That's just not going to happen. We have to work, and the work is hard. Change is difficult in our lives. That's why he uses that phrase, you're working with fear and trembling. So we have to work for our spiritual sanctification. We already know how to be motivated because the Father originally called us and he motivated us to come into the church. You're here today because somewhere along the line you were motivated, whether it was something you saw on the internet or a booklet that you read or beyond a day program, you were motivated to come here. So you certainly know how to be motivated. The truth is that not all of us are motivated by the same things. And that's one thing that life coaches are taught and understand. And that is that people are wired differently. People have different personalities, people have different DNA, and they are motivated by different things. Some leaders, and I might add some preachers, incorrectly think that the way to motivate people is by fear. Just make them fearful. Every week just beat them up. Just imply they're never good enough. The next week tell them here's something else you need to work on. Imply that you're always just a hair's breath away from leaving and going into the lake of fire. But there's a problem with that, and the problem with that is that fear is the least effective form of motivation that there is. First of all, you have to constantly apply fear. Once you stop applying that fear, a person goes backward. And, in time, they become immune to the fear. When you make someone fearful long enough, they draw an immunity to it. Pretty soon, they don't care anymore. So that means you have to accelerate the level of fear in order to keep them motivated. And probably the worst part is that when all is said and done, you've made them completely needy and dependent on the fear to do anything.

They really haven't grown. They've learned to become obedient. They've learned to respond to fear. But they really haven't grown as individuals. You know, in Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents, all three individuals were motivated. The first two, the gentleman given five talents, and then the gentleman given two talents, were motivated by the confidence they were given to do something. And when they received praise, that was their motivator. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. But did you know that the last individual with one talent was also motivated? He was motivated by fear not to do anything. He said, I feared you. And he buried his talent instead of doing something incredible with it. The most effective form of motivation is encouragement. It's inspiring. And it's giving people or helping people to discover their own sense of mission. Those are the most powerful motivators that there are. Now, depending on your personality, we all have different personalities. We're all unique. Different types of motivation might include some of these things. Might include gathering things, being in possession of things. For some people, that's what their motivation is. It might be praise. It might be receiving recognition. It might be a title. It might be the fulfillment that comes through achieving something. It might be the sense of belonging to a group, a family. It might be independence. It might be tranquility. Some people are motivated not by tranquility, but by risk. They're risk takers. They only get motivated when they do something risky, when they stretch themselves. It might be social contact. Some people are motivated by a need for power. And, of course, that can be misused and be very destructive. And fear, indeed, can be a motivator, but it is the least effective form of motivation that there is. You know something? When you and I came out of that baptismal tank, we came out of that tank with a unique mission. Have you noticed that we've never had a baptism where we held someone down long enough that the bubble stopped coming up to the top? And why is that? It's because we came out of that baptismal tank not with the idea that, all right, now I've been baptized, now all I've got to do is hang around until I die. No! We came out of that baptismal tank with a unique personal mission that God gave you! So how are we doing on that mission? Do we even know what that mission is? Are we motivated by that mission? Or are we on autopilot? I'd like to ask a couple of questions for you to ponder just a moment. Question number one, what is it that excites you and gives you energy? What is it that you do? You say, I love this. I'm energized when I do this. I feel alive. I feel unconquerable when I do this. What is that? Here's the second question. What can you personally do to generate this excitement as a tool to motivate yourself as your part in working out your own salvation with fear and trembling? You see, where most people stroll out in life is that they've never taken the time or never made the effort to learn what motivates them.

And furthermore, maybe even worse than that, they have never discovered their passion. What's your passion? What's your passion for life? What's the passion you have for that mission when you came out of that baptismal tank? Passion is something that drives you so deeply. You do it without money. You do it without recognition.

You do it for the sheer joy of doing it because it excites you, because it makes you whole. What is that in your life? Well, here's an assignment, the only assignment I have for you, but one that I have for you to prepare for this year's Passover. And here it is. What is it that motivates you personally? That's the question. What is it that motivates you personally? Yes, spiritual things are great. I hope you put on there keeping God's law and walking God's way of life. Absolutely, that should be at the top of the list. But as they say on late night television, wait, there's more. There should be more. If you're saying to me, Mr. Thomas, I don't have any goals, there's a problem there. Mr. Thomas, I don't have anything that motivates me. There is nothing in my life that motivates me. There's a problem there. Mr. Thomas, I don't have a passion. There's a problem there. And if you answer any of those questions in that way, we need to have a good heart-to-heart talk with our dad, our father, before the Passover and ask him to reveal those things to us, put him in our head, to use the power of his spirit to spiritually coach us, to lead us into understanding what our mission is. You know, God created us to be individuals. We all have unique talents, unique interests, and even though God is doing a great work, he's also doing a personal work in your life. Do you know what that work is? Do you know what his mission for you is? I don't mean in vague, esoteric terms. I mean in real terms. Terms that excite you. Terms that help you to be alive. Because, brethren, God has called us to be beings, to be, to fulfill what he wants us to do. We are human beings, not human doings. Not just going through some rope thing of obedience and learning to respond to things inherently, but to live, to be. That's what God has called us to do. Are we doing that? Are we taking that awesome gift of God's spirit? Have we opened that gift up? Are we changing our lives through the power of that spirit? I'd like to just go down a list, and I'll do this quickly, of things that motivate people.

Now, some of these things you may say, you know, that's something I need to try. That might help. Other things I'm going to mention here you might say, that wouldn't motivate me at all. And that's okay. Because we're all wired differently. Remember what I said earlier. That we are different, and we are all motivated by different things.

Employers have finally got smart enough to figure that out. It used to be in the workplace, and employers said, all right, we'll just give them a raise every year. It doesn't work. Because many people aren't motivated by money. Moneys go, okay, but that's not what their motivation is. They might want a title.

Maybe they'd appreciate a great job, praise once in a while. Maybe it's some benefit that they're looking for, an extra few days off a year, to put everyone, the pigeonhole everyone into some box and say, well, everybody's got to be motivated. Everyone should be motivated by this, and I choose fear is a falsehood, and it's destructive. So I'd like to mention some things that are motivators. Quickly, and some of these may apply to you. You might say, hey, that's great. I'm going to try that. Others may not apply to all. Here are some of the things.

Pray to God to reveal to you a passion and a powerful motivation for your life. And if you feel like you have no passion, that you have no reason for being, that you really don't have a mission, then it's time, as I said earlier, to have a good talk with your father. Close your eyes and meditate on how it would feel to reach your goals. Get a little vision in your life. Meditate on what it would be like to have overcome that thing that you're struggling with, or those issues that you're trying to overcome. Fasting occasionally can be very helpful. It humbles us.

It's a motivator because it reminds us of our constant need for God's presence. We're here only because of the next breath, the next heartbeat. When that ends, all of our opportunities to change and grow are going to be ended in this physical lifetime. I don't mean that in a fearful way. I mean that in a very pragmatic way, where one heartbeat away from every opportunity to change and love the people whom we love, and to do the things we've always wanted to do, so that knowledge, that understanding should say to us, you know, it's time to do it, and the time is now.

Try something new. After sunset, try something that you've never done before. Make that first step. Make a to-do list. You'll feel encouraged as you cross off the items. And many people are motivated when they have that 10-item list, and they start working, hey, I'm making progress. Look at this. I got this thing done, and it was hard. It motivates them, again, depending on how we're wired. Get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation could be making you less motivated as a scientific fact.

Start out by taking a small step. You don't have to immediately immerse yourself in a huge project. Take the biggest goal you have, the biggest project, and break it down into seven little baby steps. Each step, ultimately getting you to where you want to go. Start small. Start with something. Start! And then work your way through that. Have a reward system. And each step that you take, every time you're making progress, reward yourself with your favorite piece of chocolate, or your favorite drink, or a cookie, or whatever.

There's nothing wrong with that. Some people are motivated by a reward system. You'll have something to look forward to, and it may pride you to continue to change and continue to take that action. Here's one that works for me. Play energizing music to help you get motivated. I listen to a lot of music. It changes me. Music that I grew up with in the 60s and 70s. My wife's knickers because she says, yeah, well, I gotta hear it too. But it inspires me. It lifts me up. It energizes me. It's my way, the way I am wired.

Music is a big part of my life. It may not be for yours, of course. Push yourself. Realize that getting things done means giving yourself a push sometimes. Set a deadline for a task to spur you to get it done before the time is up, even if there is no deadline. Set one for yourself, and then try to get it done before that deadline. Focus! Doing too many things at once can overwhelm you. Multitasking is not effective for most people. Focus on one thing at a time and get it done. It's better to complete one thing than to be working simultaneously on five things incomplete. Isn't it? Get a friend to join you to make whatever you're doing more enjoyable, like exercise.

Or a hobby. Maybe you have a hobby that you enjoy. You say, Mr. Thomas, I don't have any hobbies. There's a problem there. Clean up your home and your workspace, and you'll feel like you can get more done in a decluttered environment. It's amazing the human mind responds to junk and clutter by shutting down. It, too, is frustrated subliminally by junk everywhere. So an important first step in motivating ourselves is begin to declutter all the stuff that surrounds our lives. Do something you enjoy when you first get up, whether it's drinking hot chocolate, reading a chapter of your favorite book. Maybe it's the Bible or some other book that you're engrossed in.

Start your day off on a positive note. Share your goals with others. Say, Mr. Thomas, I don't have any goals. There's a problem. Being public about your goals will give you a sense of accountability which will make you more inclined to keep going. What's one thing a life coach does is a life coach holds someone responsible, holds him accountable. Well, last week you said that your seven-day goal was to paint that living room. How'd you do on that one? So when you share your goals with others, they'll say, hey, how you doing on that one?

It holds us accountable. We need that accountability. Focus on the positive instead of the negative, and you'll feel more inclined to start new projects and even take some risks. Thinking negatively will just paralyze you because you'll be focusing on what's lacking rather than focusing on the potential and what can be done. Encourage others and you'll automatically start seeing encouragement from them in return. It's a cycle. Step out and encourage others, and eventually they'll encourage you back. It's a positive cycle, positivity. Don't compare yourself with others.

You'll just get discouraged. Compete against yourself. If you want to really be humbled, as we're talking about preparing for the Passover, if you want to compare yourself with anything, compare yourself against Jesus Christ. But don't compare yourself with other people, especially your brothers and sisters in Christ. Have realistic expectations. Know yourself. Know how far you can go. Don't choose a goal or choose a project that's too big for you, that you don't have the finances for, that you don't have the time resources to do because you're setting yourself up for failure.

If you fail, pick yourself up and keep going. Don't let it derail you or cause you to lose confidence, which ends up affecting your motivation. Keep track with the journal. Some people love the write, and some people have that gift. I'll just say that my writing is very poor, but some people are good at writing journals. Writing diaries. When I first met my wife as a young lady, she kept a diary and wrote in it every day. After she met me, she said, I give up.

She doesn't do that anymore. But for many people, writing in a diary is liberating. It helps them to synthesize what they did during the day, and it motivates them. It kind of puts all the loose things in their life in order at the end of the day. And if that helps you, if that motivates you, then that is awesome. Read biographies of the people you look up to for inspiration. That's something else that I do. I've read autobiographies on historical figures that I deeply admire. Listen to motivational stories from audiobooks, TED talks, documentaries, things of that nature. Place motivational quotes around your house and workspace.

They can come in the form of sticky notes on a memo board, on the mirror in the bathroom as you get ready in the morning. Something positive to uplift you, to remind you of God's goodness in your life. Tape it on a mirror. Inspiring quote on a coffee mug. Put them all around your house to inspire you, to motivate you. Volunteer! It will help you make you realize that you're truly blessed.

If you go into an assisted living and you volunteer for a few hours, or you go where they're distributing food to the homeless or people that are disadvantaged, you'll realize just how blessed you are.

Write down a few things that you're grateful for. If you have a more positive mindset, you'll find yourself more motivated and looking forward to yet what good things God is going to give you. So take a list. List all the things that you're grateful for. Reflect on past times when you worked hard and you succeeded at your task. What did I do then that worked? What was different about me or that situation that I tackled that difficulty and I succeeded in overcoming it? Remind yourself that it's better to try and fail than living with regrets. You know, they've had numerous studies with folks in nursing homes, assisted living people in hospice. You know what their number one regret is? That they didn't try more things. They were too comfortable. They didn't take advantage of opportunities that came along in life. They looked for excuses, nah, I'm not going to do that. No, that's not for me. And so here they are in the final days of their life and knowing it with regrets that they didn't take advantage of opportunities that came their way. Drop the projects that you might not be totally committed to and focus on the ones that you're passionate about.

Here's the key to your priority list, to your thinking. Saying no to something that you're not passionate about leaves you room to say yes to the good things. So you don't have to do everything that everyone asks you to do. You can kindly say, no, thank you. I won't be taking advantage of that particular opportunity because it's not really a priority. It's not important in my life. Focus on the things that you're passionate about. Know that with God's Spirit you have the power to create your dreams and to generate motivation in your life. Pray about it. Meditate on it. Write down where you see yourself in five years and stick that note in a visible place. This is the kind of person that I aspire to be through God's help in five years. These are the qualities that I will have. Find something you truly enjoy and do it. Pick up a hobby. Start a collection. It'll make you excited about life. Some of you will probably laugh at some of these things that I do. I enjoy raising tropical fish. I have a goldfish here. I have two fish tanks at home, one with tropicals. I also have 75 little morning glories who have popped out of the soil in my basement all searching for that fluorescent light tube that's glowing above their heads. 75 of them. Because I enjoy growing things. That's what motivates me. And then finally, this may sound kind of funny, but it actually works. That is, fake it until you can make it. And I say, oh! Does that mean being a phony? No. That's you modeling the right example. And if you do it long enough, you will learn that it becomes natural and you're motivated. When I was a small child, I didn't want to say, pass me the butter, please. I wanted to say, butter. I was a man of few words as a small child. Well, my parents reinforced, no, we don't say that. We say, please, give me the... I didn't want to say please. That's too many words. It's much easier to just say, grunt, butter. But, you know what? I knew the consequences of not saying thank you and please. So, I faked it until I could make it. And now it's a part of me. When I'm at home, out in the restaurant, would you please pass me the butter? Why? Because I learned to fake it until it had meaning to me. Fake it until you can make it. Act like you're motivated. And you know what? If you'll do that, scientific studies have proven that if you do that long enough, it becomes a habit. It will become a reality to you. Take some time. But it can happen. Now, of course, we know ultimately that Christian views life through the lens of the future. And being in the presence and glory of God is the future. And that's our true motivation. That should always be our true motivation. And again, if we don't feel motivated, we need to have a heart-to-heart talk with God before the Passover. Let's go to Proverbs 2 and verse 1. Proverbs 2 and verse 1.

Then you will understand the fear of the Lord. And it doesn't mean fear like trembling. It means the awesomeness. You'll understand just how awesome God is. You understand to fear the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth, come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.

Notice the words that are demonstrating. The Father says to the Son, Here's the motivation you have to have. You need to treasure, incline, apply, cry out, lift up, seek, search. He's saying, Your effort needs to be that of a strong motivation.

And being a great transition scripture, this leads us into the second characteristic, or the second ingredient, and that is right knowledge. So the second characteristic is having the right knowledge. That is defined in the dictionary. Knowledge is the enlightening process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. The motivation is important as the first ingredient without it. Nothing else happens. You'll sit there coasting through life, changing very little, doing nothing, no purpose.

So you have to have, first, the motivation, and then you have to have, of course, the right knowledge. Here's a riddle for you. What do you get when you motivate a fool? You know what you get? You get a motivated fool. Well, that's not very helpful, is it? That's why this second principle, this second ingredient, is so important. It's right knowledge. I want you to look at the example of a terrorist, a suicide terrorist.

Unfortunately, you read about them far too often in the newspapers. They're motivated. I mean, to be willing to give up your life for a cause, that's a pretty motivated person. So they're motivated, but they have bad knowledge. They have false knowledge. So they're motivated, but their motivation is leading to destruction. It's hurting people. It's hurting their family members who miss them when they blow themselves to pieces in some synagogue or mosque or some open marketplace. So knowledge is important. And even with a religious person, it can be rightly said that zeal without knowledge is destructive. I'm going to give you a classic example. I mentioned in Acts 15.

About 58 AD, some Jewish members of the church who had been Pharisees and were converted, they were in the church, they had God's Holy Spirit, they came up with a logical, Biblical concept. And here it is.

Their concept was that one must be physically circumcised to be saved. And they had all the Scriptures. It's in the book. Genesis 17, Abraham was told to circumcise every man in his household. In Exodus 4, Zipporah took a flint knife and she circumcised her son because Moses hadn't done it. As a matter of fact, God was so upset, he attempted to kill Moses. In Leviticus 12, every male in Israel, it's said, was to be circumcised. In Joshua 5, after they went through the 40 years in the desert, they came to the Promised Land. Joshua had every male circumcised in the Promised Land. Furthermore, Jesus Christ himself was circumcised.

Therefore, you have to be circumcised to be in the covenant with God. To these zealous believers, it was the most logical, the most obvious thing in the world. There's only one problem with it. It's 100% wrong. You see, they had zeal, but they didn't have knowledge in the wisdom that comes with the knowledge.

Wisdom is the discernment. Be able to say, all this information I've gathered, this is valuable, this is bunk. This is helpful, this isn't helpful at all. That's what wisdom is. It's the discernment after you've gathered knowledge. So what they had was in the book, very logical. It only made sense. The problem is, it's wrong. They were living in the wrong covenant. You see, it's not circumcising a little piece of physical flesh. And something can only apply to half of the human race. The new covenant is circumcising that stony heart that we have.

That applies to everyone. Even in Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 16, it said, Circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. In the new covenant, that is the kind of circumcision that God is looking for. And my point is, is that we need to be learners. We need to have open minds. Let's go to Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 5. See what the Proverbs tells us. This is, I guess, a chapter just before the last verse we were in, or the last point we were in.

Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 5. It says, A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. See, a man of understanding doesn't say, I'm going to figure all this out myself. I'm not going to go to school. I don't need to go to Sabbath services. I don't need to read those booklets. I don't need to read that correspondence course. I can find out everything I need to know on Google. No, it says here that a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. A man of understanding asks lots and lots of questions. By the way, that's what a life coach does. A life coach rarely offers advice.

Normally what they do is they offer and they ask the tough, soul-searching questions. The tease out of someone, where they're at and what they need to do. They let them come to an understanding of what they need to do. Verse 6, to understand a proverb and an enigma are a hard saying. The words are the wise and they're riddles. So if you want to understand hard sayings, if you want to understand riddles, you need to attain wise counsel.

You need to ask lots of questions. The fear of the Lord, and again, that's not trembling. That's having an awe that God is all-knowing. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Mark Twain once said that me and God have all knowledge. God, He knows all there is to know and I know the rest. Are we that humble? Or do we have an answer for everything? You know, some of my clients and the life coaching that I do, here's their comment about religious people.

They say the problem with religious people is once they become religious, they have an opinion on everything. They seem to have an opinion on everything that doesn't require an opinion. Something to think about. Again, let's read verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction because they think they know it all, or they think they can figure it out themselves. A wise man increases in knowledge because he is humble enough to ask questions rather than trying to figure everything out himself. Listening and learning from those who are spiritually mature will accelerate our understanding, much of what I've learned through my 40-plus years of serving God's people came through lots of listening, asking lots of questions to people that I respected, including many people not in the ministry, I might add.

And they are the ones that imparted to me much of the things that I know because I was humble enough to ask lots of questions, not to just assume, not to think I know, but to ask. Because here's the reality. If we just come here and we want to learn God's doctrines only by attending Sabbath services, it's going to take you decades to put all the puzzle pieces together.

Doctrine is much more than understanding prophecy. It's much more than understanding moral living. It's about relationships. It's about learning to balance our attitude. It's about changing our mindset, how we view life, how we view our purpose. Doctrine is a big, complex topic. And if we're only coming here to learn, that is Sabbath services, then it's going to take us a long, long time to put the puzzle pieces together. Proverbs, Chapter 18, if you turn there with me, Chapter 18, Verse 15.

It says, The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge, its motivation. A man's gift, meaning a giver, makes room for him. It means it opens doors and brings him before great men. So God blesses us. We have a very important message to come to this stage. We have a very important message to come to this stage.

So God blesses us. We have to have that motivation. We have to have that desire to acquire right knowledge. Good education. Not to be like those Pharisee believers, as sincere as they were, in Acts 15, who got it all wrong. Because they didn't ask enough questions. They just assumed. Like most aspects in life, spiritual education is a process.

It takes time. In God's church, education is a high priority beyond what most other churches do. If you go to the New Testament and you look up the Greek word that's translated disciple, it's Mephetes. Mephetes, and it means to be a learner or a pupil.

This denotes having the humility of an open mind. Have you ever gone into the early grades of an elementary school? What do you see sitting in that classroom? You see a bunch of little kids, wide-eyed, minds like sponges, excited to learn new things. All right, class, take out your history book. You can hear the clang and clatter and the pages turning.

They're excited to learn new things. Jesus said, speaking of having that childlike attitude of such, is the kingdom of God. So what are some of the ways that we can acquire knowledge? Well, of course, Sabbath attendance. That's very important, and I emphasize that strongly, that we do it consistently. Following the example of the synagogue and their services, we have a lecture portion in our worship.

We call it a sermon. We have a smaller one. We call it a sermonette. And, of course, spaced repetition of right knowledge is the most basic form of education. The hard-wire something new, the most effective way to do it, is through spaced repetition. This here, Sabbath services, is God's university. And there's personal Bible study. But personal Bible study is only effective if you learn the proper tools of Bible study.

If you just sit and open the Bible and read it like a novel and don't understand Bible tools like context, background, culture, you'll come to conclusions as poorly as the Pharisees did there in Acts 15. Again, as sincere as they were. So it's just not a matter of opening the book and reading it like you would a novel. It's having the tools to have effective Bible study.

Another thing are our booklets in our literature. We have 35 booklets in the United Church of God, most of those in that rack in the back. Aside from that, we have 16 Beyond the Day Bible study guides to help you with reading the Bible. We have a 12 lesson Bible study correspondence course. How are you doing with those? This is so important, we put enormous efforts into explaining doctrine and biblical truth. There are a few churches that I'm aware of, and I know of literally hundreds, that put the financial resources into teaching, into booklets. I'm going to give you an example here. When we moved into this building, there were two literature racks. There was one there, we took that one down.

There was a little wooden one, this was the door that was mostly used. There's a little wooden literature rack, it's still there, painted white, we don't have anything in it. And I took a piece of literature out. I wanted to see, I'm inquiring minds like to know. This one's called Seriously Spaking. All right, here's the full booklet. That's it. Now, the closest I could equate this comprehensive dialogue on eternal life was our booklet, The Road to Eternal Life.

Thirty-two pages. Something like 30 scriptures explained putting them all together to give someone an understanding of the journey and taking the right road and responding to God's calling and eventually being baptized, and all it takes to achieve eternal life. What's the difference between these folks? They're very sincere. And this organization? This organization has decided that teaching doctrine and teaching people about the Bible is so important, we will spend enormous amounts of money to make that happen. So are we studying the literature? Are we studying the doctrines? Again, I'm going to reveal to you something that's personal to me. Can we talk?

Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago, what's your biggest frustration as a pastor? I thought, boy, should I answer this or not? I said, my biggest frustration as a pastor is kind of twofold. Number one, I'm amazed at how little people know about church doctrine. I'm amazed, especially people that have been around three to five years, how little.

The things that they say, how little they understand about church doctrine. That's frustrating. As a pastor, because I take that personally, I'm supposed to be the teacher. I'm supposed to be one helping you in your joy of getting to the kingdom of God. The second part of that is frustrating about being a pastor, is usually as a pastor, you see the train wreck heading before the person's life collides with the problem they have.

You see it in advance. It's obvious to you, you see it coming. They never ask for help. They never counsel with you. They never reveal they got a problem, even though it's obvious to you and everyone else. They just go merrily along until the collision occurs. And as a pastor, that's very frustrating. Colossians chapter 2 verse 1. Colossians chapter 2 and verse 1.

Paul wrote to the church in Colossae, For I want you to know what a great conflict, that is, personal struggles that Paul was having. A great conflict of being a pastor, of knowing issues and problems and things that people are going through, and trying to work on his own life and the obstacles of him doing his ministry. What a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of the Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. A few weeks ago, we talked about the relationship, distinction between the Father and the Son, and that God is creating a family. That's the mystery of God that Paul is talking about right here. God has given us his word to the Scriptures that has given us the faith of truth to achieve understanding and knowledge. So the first two things, of course, that we have discussed here were motivation was number one, motivation was number one, and right knowledge was number two. Now the third, that's essential, if you lack motivation, if you lack knowledge, or if you lack this, you're just going to be stalled out in life. The third is lasting achievement. Lasting achievement. Achievement is defined as a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill. In a scriptural context, the results of achievement are referred to in Bible terms, like good conduct, works, good works, or fruits, the fruit of the Spirit. Just remember as we go through this process that people act in ways that express their values. When we're motivated, when we've done that, and when we get the right knowledge, our values change, and therefore our behavior ultimately changes for the better. That's why we start out with motivation, and then we start out with right knowledge, and that leads us to achieving, overcoming, changing the parts of ourselves that we know we need to improve. Again, this takes time because it's a growth process. 1 Peter 1 and verse 13. 1 Peter 1 and verse 13, if you'll turn there with me. Our final point, lasting achievement. Peter says, therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. I'm going to give you another translation to hopefully make it a little clearer. New International Version. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. In other words, do it! Do something! Take that motivation. Take that right knowledge and act upon it. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Be self-controlled. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Verse 14, I'll go back to the New King James Version, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust, as in your ignorance, not being like you were before. Don't go backward. But as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. We've got to do something with it. We've got to do something with that knowledge. It's not such a well-somed intellectual thing. I just want to learn everything I can. Well, that's okay, but there's no change in your life until you apply it.

Until you take that knowledge in it, you allow it to transform you into the kind of person that God wants us to be. This is what becoming a new creature in Christ is all about. Of course, it won't happen if we're not motivated to change. It won't happen if we don't acquire the right knowledge, because we'll just be motivated to do the wrong things and cause destruction and hurt other people. 1 Peter 2, verse 11.

Peter writes, Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from the fleshly lust which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, having your conduct honorable, the Gentiles, the people in this world, they're watching us. When we go out to a restaurant, they're watching us. When we're shopping at Walmart, they're watching us. In the workplace, our co-workers are watching us.

Your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. They may condemn you now. They may judge you now. But in the day of visitation, when Jesus Christ returns to earth and they see you literally transformed from mortality to immortality, they're going to say, Oh, am I in trouble? Oh, that person was one of them. Maybe there was something to that seventh-day Sabbath. After all, maybe that time she tried to explain to me that plan of salvation and I was only half listening. Maybe there was something to that. Glorify God! That's what we'll be doing. When people outside observe us at work, a community event, shopping, a sporting event in a restaurant, what do they see? Do they observe a people who radiate joy? Or do we look like we're angry all the time? Right? Are we joyful? Or we look like we're sucking on lemons? I'm a Christian. You want some of this?

Why would anybody be attracted to that kind of a faith? I wouldn't be. Why would they be?

So when people see us from the outside, brethren, what do they see? Our example has the potential to influence others in a positive way. Are we respectful? Even when we don't get what we want? Even if the food is cold? Even if the service is poor? Are we dignified? Are we helpful? Are we friendly? Or do we fly off the handle? Do we give rude snide little comments and remarks about the service here? She should give me a tip. The food is so bad.

The food is so bad, the flies chipped in and had the holes in the screen door fixed.

Jesus stated in Matthew 5, verse 15, He said, Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. So why do we have these good works? Why do we change? Why do we improve ourselves? Why do we make that effort? Well, it's simple. It glorifies our Father. We don't do it because we think it saves us. We don't do it because we think it earns us some kind of salvation. We do it because we're humble and childlike in spirit. We want to please our Dad, just like a small child wants to please. Look, Mommy, look at the flower that I brought you. Look, Grandpa, I made a coloring for you. Here's roses on it because I know it's your favorite flower. Children want to please the people they love. We should want to please our Father and give glory to Him. Our final scripture today in the book of James. James, Chapter 2. We'll take a look at two chapters in James. Just a few verses. James, Chapter 2 and Verse 14. A rather classic scripture, but I think it's so important to emphasize our need for achievement. Not just talking big, not just bragging, but doing. Just do it.

James writes, Chapter 2, Verse 14. What does it profit my brother? And if someone says he has faith, but does not have works. Can faith save him if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food? And one of you says to him, to pardon peace, be warmed and filled. I'm really sorry that you're hungry and naked, laying on that concrete. You know what? I'll go home and pray for you.

And James says, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body. What does it profit?

Thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works.

Instead, the faith isn't a living faith. It's just gibberish. It's just a dead faith. That's mere words and no action.

It's just brag. It's just big talk. It's just phony platitudes. But it has no action. It doesn't result in positive change. It doesn't help anybody.

What James is saying here, and every good life coach knows, is that a person needs to have motivation and right knowledge. But you know what? If they lack achievement, there are no real results.

What comes out of their mouth, and I hope this isn't true of us, is lofty platitudes, phony promises, self-denial, weak intentions. Yeah, I'm going to someday... someday I'm finally going to approach that sin that I've been living with for 20 years.

Someday I'm going to tell my wife that I love her. Someday I'm going to pick up this hobby that I've wanted to start for 10 years.

Someday I'm going to get on more of a routine of daily Bible study. Someday, someday, someday... Brethren, those are just intentions. That's not action.

And the result of that is there will be little or no growth in our lives.

It doesn't please God when we don't have a living faith, because it doesn't bring Him glory. People recognize it for what it is. It's phony platitudes and vanity of saying, Yeah, I have faith. I know God. I believe in God. I'll pray for you. Well, that's fine, and that's an important ingredient. But what else are you going to do? Continuing here, verse 18, but someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. He says, Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. I've had people tell me, My conduct isn't important. I have religious discussions, not people in the church. My conduct isn't important. What's really important is believing in Jesus.

I said, You know what? Big deal. The demons believe in Jesus. Look what it got them. The difference is, I told one person, the demons are called that today because they refuse to repent. So belief is just mere words. What James is saying is you really don't have a belief unless you put that belief in action. Unless you do something about it. Verse 20, Do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he authored his son Isaac on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by his works, or could conduct faith, was made perfect? And the scripture is fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. So you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith only? He's saying with Abraham, it wasn't platitudes. He had that young man lay on that altar. He put the wood on him. He picked up that knife. He held that knife over that boy's throat. He had decided in his head that he was going to plunge that knife and obey God. You know what that was? That's action! More than just mere thoughts, happy thoughts, and I'll think the best, and I'll pray about it. It's doing it! So he says, Abraham, when it says that he was a man of God and he believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness, that belief included more than just faith. Happy thoughts. It included doing it.

Verse 25, likewise, was Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them another way? They needed protection or they were going to be caught and probably filleted alive in Jericho. She didn't say, oh, I'll just pray for you. Good luck. Good luck, boys. No, she said, I'll hide you. I'll give you protection. You know what that is? She did something. She didn't talk about doing something. She didn't think about doing something. She just didn't pray about doing something. She did it. That's what James is saying here. For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. To James, and he understood, of course, that faith and works are two sides of the same coin. They're not in competition. It's not faith or works. It's faith and works. They reaffirm and reinforce the other. That is what belief means. It means to not simply have faith, but to respond to that faith with action, doing it.

James chapter 3 and verse 13, our final scripture today. James chapter 3 and verse 13.

James says, Who is wise and understanding among you, let him show by good conduct, that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. What does God want from us that glorifies him? He wants good conduct. He wants good works. He wants to see us grow and change and become sanctified and become more than this carnal human beings that we are today. He wants to see us develop the character and the mind of Jesus Christ. To do that, brethren, is indeed hard. But we don't have to do it alone. By no means. We need to have a humble attitude of being a learner. We need to acquire the right knowledge along with wisdom to discern the truth of God and have the motivation to do something with it. We need to make the effort to achieve positive, godly results. And the good news is, we don't have to do this alone. Jesus said, I'm not leaving you as orphans. I'm going to give you a comforter. I'm going to give you a helper. Jesus Christ offers us a life coach. Not a physical person, a spiritual life coach, the gift of his Holy Spirit. Like any coach, as I said earlier, it's only helpful if we listen. Maybe between now and the Passover, something we can work on is to make sure that we are listening to our life coach. And when it pricks our conscience and says, you should have said that, rather than sloughing it off and flipping that thought onto something else, you should have said that, you shouldn't have done that, you should have got some prayer in today. You need to go and apologize to your spouse. When those thoughts hit you, just don't easily dismiss them. Realize that your life coach is trying to tell you something. So let's all be determined, as God's people here in the Greater Cleveland congregation, to make this a powerful Passover that literally changes us and helps all of us to get to the next level that God wants us to go. That we understand what our individual missions are. That we are motivated by those missions. That we take our lives to a level that God looks down upon us because we're glorifying Him in the things that we say and do, and can say to us, well done. How good and faithful servant. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.