What Are Your Invisible Horses?

Well, it was July of 1940. Hitler and the Nazi Empire was on a rage. By July of 1940, they had conquered much of Europe, including France. You could stand on the coast of France, you could look across the English Channel, and you could see the white cliffs of Dover, of the British Kingdom. Hitler decided that he wanted to conquer Britain, so he launched Operation Sea Lion.

The United States wasn't in the war yet. Britain was standing alone. And the British obviously wanted to protect their beloved island by learning to fire artillery cannons into the sea. The idea was that if Hitler invaded by ship, that you would want to be able to shoot cannons and missiles into the sea to try to knock out the ships so they couldn't land troops on the island and conquer the island. But the British had a problem.

The veterans from World War I were the only men who were available. You see, the younger men were in different areas of the British Empire, already fighting the Nazis. So the goal was to take these World War I veterans, who already had artillery experience from the First World War, and to teach them to fire as many cannon missiles into the sea as possible within five minutes. So they did a time study, and they wanted to train them to shoot as many missiles into the sea as they could in five minutes, because the more missiles you shot into the sea, the greater chance of hitting a Nazi ship that might be invading Britain.

But there was a problem. And the problem was that these were World War I veterans who, in World War I, the artillery was moved around, not by trucks, like in the Second World War. So here's what they did. And this drove the British leadership nuts for a while. What they would do is they would load the cannon, they would pull the firing trigger, and they would put their hands out. Once again, they would open it, let the smoke come out, put a new shell in, pull the firing trigger, step back, and put their hands out. And this drove the British leadership nuts. Why are they putting their hands out like that? Why are they wasting time? Why is the result of less missiles being fired into the English Channel?

And they finally figured it out. These were World War I veterans. In their day, the artillery was moved around by horses. World War II was moved around by trucks. But in World War I, when you pulled the trigger and fired off that cannon, you had the steady, the horse. So you see these veterans of the First World War were trying to hold onto invisible horses. Now there's a moral to this story. And the moral is that holding onto these invisible horses was an obsolete, outdated habit that they had.

And we too, brethren, often hold on to outdated mindsets and outdated habits from the past. Oftentimes, they are detrimental to us, just like it was to those British veterans. I'd like to draw this analogy a little further from this historical episode from World War II. An invisible horse is an outdated, harmful sin or a habit that wastes our time, that saps our energy, and may even eliminate the joy that we have in life.

It erodes our hope for the future. And our goal as a Christian is to learn to shoot those invisible horses. Let's go to Luke 9, beginning in verse 23, and see a statement by Jesus Christ. We all have our own invisible horses. Some of them have been struggling with a herd of them for many years. Some of us have even begun to build a corral to take care of all the invisible horses that we have in our lives.

It's a struggle. I know that. I certainly understand that I'm a human being. I struggle with issues like you struggle with issues. Luke 9, verse 23, Jesus said, and He said to them all, if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. You see, He doesn't just say, take up his cross and follow Me.

He says, we need to take up our cross. That's our personal burdens, the things that we're struggling with. To take up his cross daily. To battle daily. To struggle daily. And to follow Jesus Christ. Verse 24, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

For what profit is it if a man gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost? So to gain all the physical possessions of the world, what good would it be if we were to win the 600 million dollar lottery but we'd lose the opportunity for eternal life? You'd have a few years of probably living pretty high in the hog, or maybe we should say pretty high in the beef, in our case.

So for a few years you might live pretty well. But the human lifetime is very short. You know, what again, what profit is it if a man gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me, in My words, of Him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory and in His Father's and of the holy angels. I'd like to read verses 23 from the New Century version. Jesus said to them, if people want to follow Me, they must give up the things they want.

They must be willing to give up their lives daily to follow Me.

It's those invisible horses, aren't they? Pull us in the wrong directions. The habits, the mindsets that we struggle with every day, and we do need to struggle with them every day and be determined to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Verse 24 from the New Century version, those who want to save their lives will give up true life. But those who give up their lives for Me will have true life. This is an important scripture to remember as we begin to enter the spring holy day season. Remember, Jesus said that we, as His followers, must give up our lives daily. Every day we need to pray for the strength of God's Spirit.

Every day we need to confront and begin shooting those invisible horses in our lives.

Now, throughout our Christian journey, it's not easy. And we occasionally slip into a spiritual hibernation period. I know I can look at periods of my life when I literally was in spiritual hibernation. I was an autopilot. And that's not a good thing. God knows the way that we are. He knows the way that we are wired as human beings. And that is the exact reason why He created an annual season of the spring holy days that are intended to remind us of the need for growth and the need to celebrate a new life in Jesus Christ.

And sure enough, what do we find when we step outside? Well, we find flowers blooming. I've cut daffodils and put them in vases because in my yard a month ago, things looked barren and now there's new life. I cut my first tulip yesterday, a very beautiful tulip. The world is coming to life. Spring is sending us a message. And this message is that the time of hibernation has ended and now it is absolutely time to start growing again, to have a new life. You know, we're nurtured in a carnal world. In our homes, in our schools, in the workplace, in the society that we grew up in, we developed our own individual horses. And they're not all the same horses. Some of the things that you may struggle with may not be things that I struggle with. Some of the things that I struggle with you may not struggle with at all. But we all have our own individual horses. And the British understood that they had to shoot. They had to make an effort to eliminate those invisible horses from those veterans. Because it was a habit that had to go. It was a habit that was holding them back from being the kind of soldiers that they needed to be. And you and I have been called to diligently begin shooting those invisible horses in our lives. Let's go to Isaiah 55 and verse 6. Isaiah 55 and verse 6. Another scripture that I think is very appropriate for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. If, like myself, you're saying within your heart that I can do more through the power of God's Holy Spirit, I can be more, I can serve in greater ways. This is a very encouraging scripture. Isaiah 55, beginning in verse 6. The prophet was inspired to write, Seek the Lord while the He may be found. Call on Him while He is near. And He is near. And He's so near that He's instituted an annual ceremony called to Passover so that we can be near Him. He's instituted a Holy Days, a group of Holy Days called the Days of Unleavened Bread, so that once again, through the annual reminder of springtime, that we can be near Him. We can worship Him. There's extra times to celebrate, to worship, to honor God. Verse 7, Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let Him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on Him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon. Did you fall off track this past year?

You feeling like you have drifted from God compared to periods of time in your life? Have you had a difficult year? Well, God understands that. That's why He says, return to the Lord. That's why He says that when we do that, when we repent, He will abundantly pardon us. Verse 8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways, higher than your ways, and by thoughts than your thoughts. You know, God is so far above us. And understanding it to bring it down to our level would be like us trying to discuss nuclear physics with an ant. That's how far above us God is. His comprehension, His understanding, His wisdom, His plan is on a whole different plane of existence that we can even possibly comprehend.

But in spite of that, He is a God that we can return to. He is a God that says here that will have mercy on us. He will abundantly pardon. That's what these scriptures just told us. Verse 10, For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, again another beautiful allusion to springtime, isn't it? And make it spring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eaters, so that bud in time produces fruit. Doesn't it? Food. Something to eat. Verse 11, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. It shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. God gives us His word because He wants you to prosper. He wants to finish the work that He began in you. He wants to accomplish what He pleases, and He wants to see all of us prosper spiritually. He gives us His word so that we can repent, and so that we can change, and so that we can grow. The Passover and the spring holy day season reminds us of the need that we have to rid ourselves of unrighteous thoughts.

Some of those may be envy. It may be jealousy or pride or hate. It might be thoughts of lust. One of the most important doctrines that I have always felt highlights the truth that God gives us compared to many other people of religious faiths is our emphasis on the continual need to work on overcoming our own personal sins and our faults and our weaknesses.

The bottom line is that God called us to a lifetime of personal growth and fulfillment that we can achieve by using the power of His Holy Spirit. I think that's very important because many people who claim to be Christians and say that they're born again and make a claim of Christianity, you just never see fruits in many of their lives.

Many religious faiths don't believe in the importance of continuous overcoming. What they say is that faith in Jesus is all that matters. All you have to do is believe in Jesus and a magical switch was thrown and you're going to go to heaven and from that point on your conduct doesn't matter because you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. I've done some funerals and obviously we have a funeral ceremony for people that are not in the church.

It's a very beautiful funeral ceremony. I've been asked to do funeral ceremonies and I was kind of tickled by one. It was an obituary because when you talk to the family relatives, you realize just how this person did not have their act together. This person struggled with serious problems and dysfunctions and addictions their whole life. But the obituary said the most important thing. It said is that age 17 she gave her heart to Jesus at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

So that made it all okay. There were never any fruits, but when she gave her heart to Jesus, that magical switch was thrown and nothing else mattered. But you see something else does matter and that is that God, through giving us the power of His Holy Spirit, is using us and changing us and helping us to develop character and helping us to choose good from evil so that He can use us for all eternity as His servants and as His children within His kingdom.

Recently there was a survey by the Barna Group, that's a B-A-R-N-A, who's a very prominent group. I found this kind of interesting. It was a survey about marriage and when they put together the results of people who said they were evangelical Christians and also people who said they were born again Christians, when they combined their statistics, they found that their divorce figure is statistically identical to that of non-Christian adults. So you have to ask the question, where are the fruits?

I mean, if you have all the same problems, all the same dysfunctions and all of these things and there's never any growth, at least over a period of time, there is no growth, there is no change, there is no development, then how in the world can we stand out? How can we be a light to the world if we aren't growing, if we aren't changing?

Let's go to Matthew 5 and verse 48, a statement that Jesus made here that is very sobering. Of course, we'll talk about what it really means in context. Because when Jesus talks about perfection here, being perfect, he does not imply that we of ourselves can ever be perfect. That's something that eventually will be accomplished when he returns to earth and we are transformed from this carnal physical being that we are into one that is immortal.

And then we will become perfect because we will fully be like God with his character. But here's what Jesus said, and this had to kind of shock the listeners when he made this statement in Matthew 5 and verse 48. He says, therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Now this comes from the Greek word teleos, and it means completeness. It means a full age. So Jesus is saying, you shall become complete.

You shall become mature like a fine wine. You shall become a mature being. Scofield's Bible note says, quote, the word implies full development, growth into maturity of godliness. And again, Jesus wasn't saying that we can make ourselves perfect or that somehow if we just work at it hard enough, we can become perfect. We can't. We will always fall short. It's only Christ in us and that hope of Jesus Christ at his return that we will become perfect as we literally are changed from mortal to immortal.

But here is the ultimate goal that Jesus gave to his disciples. He said, this is your goal. It's not easy. It's not for the faint of heart. It's a tough one. But here's something you can work on. Perfection. It's becoming perfect. And brethren, we need to understand and appreciate the fact that change is a process, not an event.

Growth occurs over a period of time. It's our life's work. And we can only truly be complete and perfect when we are glorified as the children of God. But each day we should pursue it, not because it saves us, not because we think that we're better than anyone else, not because we think it provides us salvation. But every day we strive to become more than we are. We strive to become more like the mind of Christ because we seek to give glory to our Father, our God.

And we seek to praise Him by the things that we do. Let's go to Revelation 21, beginning in verse one. Revelation 21 and verse one. Again, the word perfect means mature, that implies full development, a gradual growth into the maturity of godliness. We're going to see here in Romans 21 that God looks forward to rewarding His people for their constant war against sin in their lives. And it's a war.

It's a constant war that we have to struggle our thoughts and our own attitudes and our conduct and the things that we struggle with. It is a war, but here's encouraging news, a encouraging word that Jesus tells us. Revelation chapter 21 and verse one. This is a beautiful prophecy about the time when plagues are done and the great tribulation is done and the day of the Lord is done. And it's kind of the summation of all the events that occur. It says, now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven, the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them. Now, do we observe, just as a side note, do we observe an annual holy day that looks forward to a time when the tabernacle of God is with men and that men and God will dwell together in unity? Well, of course we do. We call it the Feast of Tabernacles.

And it's the very holy day that looks forward to this time, the kingdom of God. Continuing, they shall be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things are passed away. Verse 5, then He who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, right for these words are true and faithful.

And He said to me, it is done. All of these plagues, all of these wars, all of this terror, all the terrible things that had to occur to wake up mankind, to prepare everyone for this kingdom, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega at the beginning of the end, and I will give the fountain of the water of life freely to Him who thirst. Now verse 7, here's what I wanted to focus on.

He says, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and He shall be my Son. So for that person who woke up every day and took their cross daily and said, I need to grow, and I need to work on getting and developing the mind of Christ, and I need to eliminate these mindsets, these attitudes, these habits, these sins in my life, and I need to work on it, and I need to work on it every day and be an overcomer. He says, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and He shall be my Son. But in contrast to those who did not make an effort to overcome, who didn't think that was important? The next verse, verse 8 says, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come, now something exciting is going to happen. Come, and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. So it just totally changes its theme. We are the Lamb's wife. The Lamb which we will celebrate symbolically on the Passover is Jesus Christ, our Lord, who shed His blood as the ultimate Lamb of God. So what does God want? He wants to stir us up to overcome our human nature and the poles of Satan's world and our rejection of evil grants us victory over the slavery of sin. And this is what we should strive for. But what happens? What happens are those invisible horses come back, don't they? They show up out of nowhere and they pull us backward. They pull us down. They seem to drag us down over and over again. So what can we do about them? We know we need to get rid of them, but how? What are some of the steps we can take to get rid of our invisible horses? What can we do to begin shooting those invisible horses in our lives? Well, today I'd like to give three approaches, three things that I think will help us to shoot our own invisible horses because that's what the theme of the Spring Holy Days is about. It's about time for another level of growth. It's about time for repentance, for renewing the covenant we made at baptism, and going on a whole new level of development and growth and becoming more like God. So here's approach number one.

I'd like to encourage you to recognize an aha. That's A-H-H-A. An aha. Learn to recognize an aha. What is an aha? Well, that's an inspired thought. It's a mind grabber. It's something that we read or something that someone says to us or something that we see that immediately seizes our attention. We say to ourselves, aha! You know, that was enlightening. That's a good point. That's something I need to work on. That's something I should be doing. That's what an aha is. And for many of us, our life's work through the power of God's Spirit has been to overcome our sins and problems and prepare for the kingdom of God. And when we hear a thought, a statement, when we read something that's productive and it's valuable and it convicts us momentarily to do something, we call that an aha moment. Again, it's a mind grabber, a thought that convicts us to action.

And behavioral psychologists tell us that if you're going to make a change in your life, it takes about 30 days of consistent effort to either break a bad habit or to form a productive new habit in your life. And at first, let's say we're trying to break a bad habit. It's going to be very unnatural. Why? Because the bad habit is natural. So starting with day one, when we do something different, counter to the way that we've been doing something, it's going to feel so weird. It's going to be so unnatural. It's going to be a struggle. And if we tend to be procrastinators, we're going to come up with a hundred reasons in our minds why we shouldn't even get started or do it. Because that's the way we are as human beings. But if you're persistent, behavioral psychologists have proven over and over again that if you do something for 30 days consistently, that you can break a bad habit. That's a very important concept. That's just the way that human beings work. Obviously, if it's something that's a physical, biological, or a mental addiction, the urges aren't going to go away in 30 days. That's kind of a different level. It's really a different topic. I'm talking about something that is just a habit in our lives. A character flaw or sin that we are doing or something that is habitual. And the same is true if we want to establish a new habit. It's been proven over and over again. If we say we're going to do something and we start doing it, the first few days are going to seem very odd. It's not natural. It doesn't feel right.

But if we stick with it over a period of time, you know what will happen after 30 days?

After 30 days, if you don't do it, you will feel a void. If you get in the habit of studying the Bible for 30 days, you do it 30 days in a row, it becomes a habit. The first day you don't study your Bible, you'll say something's wrong. I just don't quite feel right. That's what developing a good... and that's good. That's God's Spirit trying to tell us something, trying to give us a message.

So developing those habits is so very important. And breaking those bad habits is so very important.

And all of that is tied into learning the power of an aha. Jesus was very skillful at providing ahas for people's growth. We won't turn to the Scripture. We're familiar with Luke 10, when Jesus visited the home of Martha and Mary. Mary's sad and she listened to Jesus.

But what's Martha doing? Well, she's all wrapped up into preparation for the visit.

She's worrying and fretting about every little detail, about everything getting done.

And in essence, she is not growing. She is making a martyr of herself. Oh, nobody cares. Oh, I'm doing all this work. I'm all worried and I'm doing all these details. And would someone please tell my sister to stop just sitting there and listening and to help me? And Jesus gives her an aha moment, doesn't he? He gives her an inspired thought as an important first step for her personal growth.

He says, Martha, Martha, you worry over too many things. You're too fretful about things that really aren't important. He gave her an aha moment, something for her to think about. And if she seized on that moment, she could have begun to make some very powerful changes in her life. Let's now go to Matthew chapter 26 and verse 31. Matthew chapter 26 and verse 31.

Jesus is going to give Peter an aha moment. Peter needs an aha moment, doesn't he? You know, Peter is a remarkable man, and when he was converted, he did remarkable things for Jesus Christ and for God. But at this point in his life, he's not converted. And he had a tendency to do and say certain things and make statements in which he usually engaged his mouth before he engaged his brain. And that would come back and haunt him. But Jesus is going to give him an aha moment, and this changed Peter's life. Matthew 26 verse 31. Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it is written I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered and said to him, there tears the engagement, puts his mouth in dee drive. Peter answers unto him, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Jesus said to him, assuredly I say unto you that this night before the rooster crows you will deny me three times. And verse 35. And Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so said all the disciples, you know, the instinct, the crowd instinct. Yeah, yeah, me too. Yeah, I'll die for you too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course, we all know the history. They all denied him. And in one account in the synoptic Gospels, when Peter heard the rooster crow, he wept, it says, because he realized who and what he was and how, you know, bragging that all his bragging and all his cockiness meant nothing when the chips were down. As I said, he had a tendency to do certain things and make statements before engaging his brain. This was the same Peter who would cut off the sermon in a high priest's ear when Jesus was arrested. The same Peter who jumped out of the boat to walk on water. And then as he's walking, he realized, hey, I'm walking on water. I can't walk on water. So this is the same Peter who told Jesus on the night of the Passover that you'll never wash my feet. Oh, no way! You're not going to be able to wash my feet. And so what's Jesus doing here? What's he preparing him for? He's helping Peter by giving him through this scripture an aha moment. So Peter can see an invisible horse that he had in his life being impetuous speaking before filtering that through that brain. Letting things come out here before they came and filtered through here. So Jesus is giving him an aha moment. And here's the most important thing to remember about ahas whenever they occur. Studies show that if you don't act on a provoking thought within 24 hours, you most likely never will. There is a short window. There is a short zone of time when we go through an aha moment that we literally can change our life. But we have to make that effort within the next 24 hours or the daily distractions in life. The other stuff that surrounds our life will come in and take away the impact of that aha moment. And that opportunity will pass and it'll be gone forever. Now if we're lucky, maybe a similar aha moment will occur sometime in the future. But the studies show of the human brain that if you don't act upon a provoking thought in 24 hours, you most likely never will. So when we realize we need to change something about ourselves, we need to start at least right away or it's soon going to lose its importance. And we're going to miss a valuable opportunity. It's a short zone, a window of time.

Let's go to Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. Philippians chapter 2 beginning in verse 5.

Paul, in a very inspiring scripture, wrote to the congregation at Philippi, let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made of himself no reputation. So he went from being God to Jesus, who? Who's this guy? Oh yeah, that's right. Isn't he the carpenter's son? Imagine going from the glory and the majesty of God into people saying, Jesus, Jesus, I may have heard that name. Oh yeah, that's right. He's that carpenter's son. So he emptied himself of his glory and his divinity and he became of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death in the cross. For God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and those in earth and those under the earth. Verse 11, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, he said, you know, you didn't only obey when I was with you in Philippi, when I was there as your pastor serving you, he says, but now much more in my absence. He says, I commend you because you are obeying while I'm gone, while I'm in another city. You're still doing the things that you need to do. And he says here, but how much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. So it's God's Spirit that can help us to recognize an aha moment in our lives and give us the will to change, to give us the desire to please the Father. He's not saying that we can earn our salvation here. He's not saying that somehow we can be righteous enough that God just saves us by our good works or by our obedience. He's saying, no, salvation is a pretty serious issue and we want to draw closer to God. And we do that with a sober, we call it fear and trembling with a sober and serious approach to personal growth and becoming all that God wants us to be. And who helps us? Verse 13, it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So again, those aha moments are very important.

Here are some things that I'd like to encourage you to think about. If you have an aha moment, let's say you're at work and somebody says something to you, you say, you know, that pertains to me. I need to do something about that. Maybe your spouse, I know that sounds rather miraculous, but maybe your spouse says something that helps you to grow, that says something to you that sparks a thought in your head. Yeah, you know, that's me. It wasn't intended for me, but I'm just like that. I need to make a change. Maybe it's something you hear in the sermon. Maybe it's something you read in a magazine, in the Good News magazine or literature, or something a co-worker says. When you have that aha moment, immediately write that thought or experience down and later on, review it. Don't let that opportunity get away. Don't let that moment go by without capturing it on a piece of paper and reviewing it. And then begin to pray for a full measure of God's Holy Spirit and its fruits. Say, God, this is a change. Begin a dialogue with your Father. God, this is a change I need to make. This is a change in attitude or habit or action that I need to make in my life. And be persistent. Pray about it daily. Here's the hard part. If it's not too personal, ask a loved one to help encourage you or to hold you accountable. Now, a lot of people say, oh, you mean someone else knows that I have this problem? I've got news for you.

Your spouse knows already. Let's settle that one, you know, first of all. And if you have any very close friends, they know every weakness you have as well. And why is that important? Because when someone else knows that we're working on something, when our spouse knows that we're trying to grow, that we're trying to change, first of all, if they're in the faith, they should encourage us. And we need that encouragement. But also, just as honestly, is we need someone to hold us accountable. If we're changing or growing, we need someone to say, how are you doing on that? A week ago, you said you were going to make this change in your life. You were going to begin to, how are you doing on that? What can I do to help you?

How can I encourage you more? What can I do to help you to get to another level in your life? So ask a loved one to encourage you and to hold you accountable.

And then create a plan to eliminate it. If it's something that's bad for you, create a plan on how you're going to do that. What are you going to stop doing? Write it down.

What are you going to do differently? If there's a void in your life, what are you going to replace that void with? You see, you know, our lives are like a sack. And if you just take a big void out of that, you either have to put something positive in that void or something negative will come back and fill that void. So you have to replace it with something positive in your life. If it's a new habit, if it's something good that you want to do, make a plan on each day, how you're going to begin doing that, how you're going to make that change. Consciously work on it every day and be consistent.

All right, the second area that we can discuss today, the second area, the three approaches to help us to shoot our invisible horses, is to discover what real motivation is. Discover what real motivation is. The word motivation is a combination of two words.

It's motive for action. It simply means that you have a motive for your action. You have a reason that you want to do something. And I've got news for you. If you really don't have a reason, if you haven't convinced yourself that there's a good reason, you won't have the motivation to do it.

So that's why this is so important. It means you have a motive for the reason you're going to make this change. And people who lack motivation really lack a genuine purpose or an achievable goal that is important to them. They're trying to change because they think this goal is important to someone else. But because it really isn't important to them, they're not motivated to make that change.

And one of the things that we can do to help in that area is discover a passion in life. And depending on your skills and your personality, it's going to be different than your spouses or your neighbors or your brothers and sisters in Christ. But if you lack motivation in life, it's probably because you lack a passion. Something that you were really excited about. Something that gives you a reason to wake up in the morning. Something during your spare time you say, I can't wait to get back to this, to doing this thing. There are some excellent motivators that can help us to shoot our invisible horses. I'd like to give you just a few to think about. First of all, if you make a change in your life, something negative that you eliminate, or if you create a new habit and start doing something you haven't been doing, it's going to give you greater peace of mind. Isn't that good, having a greater peace of mind? Isn't that good that you're going to feel positive about a change that you've made in your life?

So greater peace of mind when you finally taken something that's been plaguing you and you begin to make an effort to get rid of it is a good motivator.

Another reason is going to please our Heavenly Father and it's going to bring Him glory. That brings God glory. When we have a habit, a sin, something that we're struggling with, and we finally make an effort to overcome it, it brings our great God glory because that's why He created us. Another motivator, another reason to make a change, is that we will be blessed for doing it. We may not be blessed next week or next month or next year, but there is a law in the universe, a principle called cause and effect. And if you do something good for someone else, eventually it's going to come back to you and you're going to be blessed. It's called cause and effect. If you're a blessing, you will receive blessings in return. Another reason, a good reason to motivate ourselves, is that our close friends and our loved ones will love and respect us even more.

They, I'm sure they do now, but even more than they do now, they will applaud the growth they see in our lives. And they'll say to you, you know, I really noticed a lot of growth in you, Mom, or a lot of growth in you, Dad, or a lot of growth in your life over the past year or two.

That's another great reason for motivating ourselves to create change. Let's take a look at Matthew 19, verse 28. See, I promise that Jesus gave to all of us that I think is very motivating.

How well are you motivated? What motivates you? Have you ever thought about what motivates you?

Fear won't work because it's only a short-term motivator. Trying to please someone else won't work because that will wear off. That will not give you the drive and the stick-to-it-iveness just to make someone else happy. What will motivate you is when you discover a passion that inspires you.

Matthew 19, verse 28. So Jesus said to them, assuredly I see unto you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And in verse 29 he gives to us, and everyone, he says, who's left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, everyone who gave up wealth, everyone who gave up something, made a sacrifice in their lives to follow Jesus Christ, for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first. I'd like to read verse 30 from the new century version, because the whole order of society is going to be changed. Now what do we see today is first in our society? Well, yes, celebrities are idolized, practically worshipped. They make lots of money. You have politicians. They're prominent. They're on the news everywhere. You have the wealthy industrialist. You have, you know, the Bill Gates type. Steve Jobs died. He was in the new Warren Buffett. You have lots of people in the strat of the day who are first in our culture because they either have power, prestige, or money. Here's what this verse says in the new century version, for many who have the highest place now will have the lowest place in the future, and many who have the lowest place now will have the highest place in the future. That's pretty motivating. God is saying, I'm taking common ordinary people whom I have called, and people that the world may have despised, people that the world never knew existed or could care about least. Those are the people that are going to serve in my kingdom and be kings and priests. So Jesus tried to bring the goal of his kingdom down to earth for his disciples to motivate them. They would need to give up everything that was dear to them in this material physical world. They would need to bear their own cross daily, and they would need to move forward into the future. And God has many offices in his kingdom according to our talents. What does he have for you? What kind of office does God have for you? It could be his king.

It could be his priest, as a teacher, as a designer, as a builder, as an architect, as a scientist, as an administrator, as a manager, as an artist, as a musician, as a healer, as an inventor. But God has something very special planned for each and every one of us. Think about the opportunities that Jesus Christ gives us. The opportunities are endless. Imagine when all the dust settles we just read from the book of Revelation a few minutes ago. It said it is finished. Imagine when all the dust settles that you are on the ground floor of the kingdom of God rebuilding the earth from scratch. All cities will have to be redesigned. All the entire culture and what's important in a culture will have to be redesigned from scratch. And you get to participate in that. You get to be in the ground floor of literally rebuilding an entire civilization and doing it in a godly way.

And when you're done with that, then we move out into the unfinished planets and eventually into the universe. There's a reason when we look at all of those planets in our own solar system that, you know, you don't find an atmosphere on them. You don't find life as we would know of life. Many of them don't even have an atmosphere. They look like a piece of unfinished furniture floating out there in space because God from the very beginning designed those someday to be inhabited.

So now let's look at the third and final of the ways in which we can get the most out of our ahas.

And I think this is a particular item here that many of God's people are not aware of.

Sometimes you say to someone, what is your major goal in life? They say, my goal in life is to be in the kingdom of God. And that's wonderful and that's true. But really, what does that mean?

That seems pretty big to me. Right? That seems rather futuristic to me. That's hard to grasp the be in the kingdom of God. So the third point is to establish short-term goals to develop your growth. Establish short-term goals to develop your growth.

And here's what I mean by this. We need each and every one of us to develop goals that are beyond our grasp but within our reach. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means you have to develop goals that require some effort because nothing just comes for free. Only the United States government thinks that something comes free. In the real world that I live in, nothing is free. Somebody has to pay for it. And if you want to achieve a goal, you have to have a goal that stretches you a little bit. You have to have a personal goal that is beyond our grasp but within our reach. I'll just give you an analogy. This is a glass. That glass is beyond my grasp, isn't it? But with a little effort, it's within my reach. You see, our goals have to stretch us. Nothing comes in this life for free. Growth doesn't come for free. Nothing comes just by sitting around and waiting for it to happen. And it means that these small or minor goals have to be realistic to us to be achievable. I'll give you an example. Let's say someone gave you an axe and he said, okay, here's your goal. I want you to clear a five-acre forest. You're sitting here with that axe. Well, that seems kind of big, doesn't it? Is that very motivating? Let's clear this five-acre forest with this axe. Well, that goal is so large, it seems frightening, it seems overwhelming. Most of us, including myself, wouldn't even attempt it, would we? We wouldn't start going out there swinging our axe. But what if we were told that here's your goal. I just want you to cut down one tree each day, day after day. That's all. Just cut down one tree each day. Well, if you cut down one tree each day, day after day after day, you know what? You're going to clear that entire five-acre forest. What did we do? We took something that was so big and nebulous and seemingly unachievable, and we broke it down into stepping stones, in the daily steps that we can do to achieve something great, to achieve something big. The same is true in our spiritual life. Let's take a look at this principle in Joshua chapter 3, beginning in verse one. If you'll turn there with me. Joshua chapter 3 and verse 1.

Joshua chapter 3 and verse 1. And the Lord said to Joshua, This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When you come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan. So Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among them. And he's going to mention some problems. And you and I have problems. And what should our approach be to our problems?

You shall know that the living God is among you, that he will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Grgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. So what's God telling them? He said that I'm going to remove your enemies one by one. What would have happened if he said, Okay, if God told them, All right, I want you to remove everybody tomorrow. Well, that would have been so big and overwhelming. Israel would have been discouraged. It would have been demoralized. They probably wouldn't even have tried. They probably would have turned around and headed right back to Egypt after all they had been through. But God said, No, I am going to help you. The way to approach your problems, the way to approach the enemies in your life is not to be swallowed up by how big it is.

Don't be frustrated by the enormous task that you may have with all the problems you're struggling with. Start with just one and work on that one. And when you get that one done, get that one blicked and move on to another one. But don't allow the fact that the task is so big to frustrate you or to discourage you. There's an old saying that says, inch by inch, it's a cinch, yard by yard, it's hard. And that's the way life often is.

Perhaps I can give you another example. I'd like everyone here today to raise your hand and touch the ceiling tiles. If you could just raise your hand and touch the ceiling tiles.

But what a rebellious, disobedient group of people. I can't believe this. Well, you know what? Why didn't I see a single human being? As a matter of fact, why didn't any of you even try it? Because the goal was too big. It was unrealistic. And there again, if our goal is, I want to be in the kingdom of God, that's so big, that's so enormous, that's so futuristic, that can be so vague. It's not motivating. We have to break it down into something about that kingdom that literally excites us. Now, what if I were to say, we're going to touch the ceiling tile in five easy steps. Here's step number one. I would like you to please get out of your seat. You got out of your seat. And I say number two is go to the custodian's closet. Down the hall, it's to the left. Number three, get the ladder and bring it back in here. Go get the ladder and bring it back in here. Number four, climb the ladder. You climb the ladder. Number five, now just easily reach up and touch the ceiling. You see, we took something that was so vague to all of you, you didn't even try. You didn't even make a...shame on you. I'm just kidding. You didn't even make an effort to something that really is easily achievable if you just broke it down into five simple steps.

And for those of us who have the goal of the kingdom of God, and I certainly include myself, we have to look at something about the kingdom that becomes our passion, that excites us, that motivates us, that inspires us, and helps us every day to move closer to that kingdom, to being in that kingdom. You know, we all want to be in God's kingdom.

But let's begin to picture that ultimate goal as a journey of personal growth, and not just some faraway destination, a kingdom that will be here someday. I'd like to give you some things to think about that you can begin changing in 30 days, starting with the spring holy days. You know, with God's Spirit, the problems that we have compared to God's Spirit, the problems we have are opportunities and work clothes. All right, it's going to take a little work, but the problems we have are opportunities for us to change and grow. And during the next 30 days, as we're on the cusp of the Passover in the spring holy days, I want you to think about some of the things that you can change in your life. It might be an ongoing personal sin. Maybe it's something that's in your head. Maybe it's a form of bigotry towards people who are different than you are, or intolerance. Maybe it's being too judgmental. Maybe it's being verbally abusive. It might be something like a personality trait. Maybe just being rude or unkind or having the attitude of a know-it-all that turns people off. It might be an attitude problem. Maybe it's being negative all the time or being whiny or complaining about everything. It might be a character flaw. It might be white lies. What's a little white lie? Well, that's just a gentle way of saying you're a liar.

It might be gossiping, saying things about people that we shouldn't say.

I'd like to remind all of us that just because it's true doesn't mean it's not gossip.

It might be something like poor personal hygiene. It might be an area that we can grow in.

It might be sins. I'm sure you've heard of the sin of omission. The sin of omission is a sin in which we're not doing something we should be doing. Many of us think of sins of actions and things that we do that are wrong, that are against God's law, but they're also sins of omission. That is, leaving things out that we should be doing. Like Bible study. Every day, do you realize the thousands and thousands of people that gave up their lives throughout history so you and I could own one of these in our home? The people that were burned at the stake? The people that were filleted alive so that we could have won the right to own these books in our own homes?

And an unread book is nothing more than a block of paper.

A lot of people die so that you and I can study this word. And we need to have a habit of Bible study. Prayer. That's the way that we communicate with our Father each and every day. That needs to be a positive habit as part of our lives. Spending more time with the family. Another positive thing we can do is we can choose just one of the fruits of God's Holy Spirit in Galatians and choose just one and spend the next 30 days trying to grow and magnify and focus on that fruit. What am I doing different? If I were Sarah, I'd develop the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Well, there are so many of them. And they're so multi-leveled and they are so deep that a few people would even attempt it. But if we said, just take one of those, peace, and focus on it for the next 30 days and apply it in your life. Read about a scripture that refers to peace every day for the next 30 days and focus on developing that trait. You can do it. You absolutely can do it.

We can choose to serve and give others in a different way than we ever have before. That's something we can do in the next 30 days. We can invest the time to develop a hidden talent.

I think a lot of people have hidden talents that are sacred. Only they know that they haven't.

Well, let that talent come out. Let other people be blessed by the benefit of seeing those talents that you have. You know what a balanced and happy life is composed of? It's not a secret. A balanced, happy life is simply the result of hundreds of small and sound daily decisions. And over a period of time, you just build a happy, balanced life. It doesn't happen, hocus-pocus, way of a magic wand. It is the result of hundreds of good, small, daily decisions.

That over a period of time, we build a good life for ourselves. We build a close relationship with our Father and with our God. It's really no more complicated than that. Every good decision is a stepping stone. Even a small decision is a stepping stone that leads us towards growth and towards greater accomplishment in our lives. Let's go to the final scripture, Ephesians 4 and verse 17. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 17.

God, in His great love and mercy, gives us the help of His Holy Spirit. He knows we can't do this alone. He knows we're not capable of the kind of growth that He would like to see in us all by ourselves. He knows that we are human, that we're carnal, that we struggle with being the way that we are. But He's given us a wonderful gift. And He wanted to remind the church here in Ephesus of their calling. And again, I think this is our final scripture that this reflects what the spring holy days are all about and the newness of the spring holy days. He says in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 17, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the fertility of their mind. So, you say be a different people. Be a cut above the rest. Have your values and your standards high because the world doesn't have high standards. The world doesn't have high values. Verse 18, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. And it doesn't mean that in a deeply offensive way. They just don't know God. They haven't been called. Their minds haven't been opened. They don't know any better. So therefore, they're not living the kind of life God wants them to. He continues. He says because of the blindness of their hearts. Verse 19, who being past feeling, that could be translated past feelings of shame. In other words, they don't even feel a sense of shame anymore. And the things that they do have given themselves over the lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. And then he goes, he throws a thought into verse 20, pertaining to us. But you have not so learned Christ. What we learned about Jesus Christ is different than those qualities. We don't want to live a life of futility, do we? We don't want to live a life of ignorance. We don't want to live a life in blindness. We want the bright light of Jesus Christ to shine in our lives. What we learned is that we need to have the mind of Christ.

And we need to step out of this world. Verse 21, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. That old carnal self that we have is more corrupt than ever before. Those invisible horses that we struggle with are still there. And they're as detrimental to our lives as they ever were before. Verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. It says here, verse 24 in the New Century Version, become a new person. That new person is made to be like God, made to be truly good and holy. So, brethren, in conclusion, once again we are entering the spring holy day season. And God in his grace provided for his church an annual reminder that we've been called out of this world and our conduct should change.

It should improve. Who and what we are should be growing more towards the mind of Jesus Christ.

Repentance and renewal makes this possible once again. Repent between now and the Passover and be renewed. Have your mind renewed, your attitude renewed. Come here as a new person.

Filled with excitement and expectation, knowing that God is working with you. So, let's grasp the meaning of getting leaven out of our lives, the remaining days that we have before the feast. And let's truly begin, one by one, to shoot the invisible horses that are in our lives. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.