First Things First! The Principle of Priority. Getting Focused!

Call to Worship

We have come into His House!

Welcome

Wayne Sullivan

Happy New Year!

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

May this Scripture be our prayer today and throughout the new year.

Old Testament Scripture Reading

Wayne Sullivan

Exodus 33:12–23 ESV

12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” 17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

New Testament Scripture Reading

Stephen Nobles

2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1 ESV

11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. 14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Prayer of Invocation:

Songs of Worship

Oh how He loves You and Me

There Shall be showers of blessing.

Sermon Series: Replenish: Principles for Cultivating a Healthy Soul!

Introduction:

Happy New Year Ephesus! How are we doing with those new year resolutions? We are in day three, so are we maintaining or have we already lost traction? Resolutions can be fickle like that!

Last year, you know what, I hit the ground running. I was so ready to have a great year. I even preached a series of sermons to start the year, pre-COVID, titled “Thrive 2020: We Were Created To Do More Than Survive!”

I was ready! I thought we, as a church family, were ready! I thought 2020 was going to be the year that we began to make the jump to becoming what God had called us to be.....(pause).....Boy, was I wrong! I missed that by a Texas mile, I hear that everything is bigger in Texas, never been, but that is what I hear. I have beat myself up over that particular sermon series all year long. I missed it, I blew it....or did I?

Many of you know that this past week, I got away for some alone time, just me and our Lord, to pray, ponder, and plan somethings for 2021. During that time away, I reflected on this past year. I reflected on all the things that I thought I failed in, and there were many things that I know I could have done much better than I did, but I also reflected on all the good things that happened this year.

While we were busy attempting to navigate the new normal, God was busy being God! The Psalmist, in Psalm 121:4, said, “He who keeps you will not slumber.”

Do you believe God has a plan for your life this morning? Do you believe God has a plan for His Son’s bride here at Ephesus? If you do, and you should, then we should have expected great things from God even in the dryness of 2021. He did not fail us.

The new normal taught us a great deal about ourselves. If we weren’t in survival mode before COVID hit, we were surely in survival mode after its arrival. In the midst of our survival, we continued to adjust and find ways to love one another and serve one another.

The number of weeks have slipped my mind, but we provided food to our church family and community for most of the Spring and Summer. We transitioned to a new way of gathered worship in the outdoor drive-in services, and we learned new technology through Zoom prayer gatherings and our capacity to host video and live-streaming ministries has increased. We saw God ministering to those around us in many amazing ways.

Our online prayer gatherings were a wonderful time of spiritual encouragement and growth for those who were able to participate. My only regret is that more of our family could have experienced those weekly gatherings, maybe 2021 will be the year we see more join us there.

One on one discipleship happened throughout the year and a small discipleship group began meeting toward the end of the year. Many of our seniors pulled together to hold a time of fellowship and bible study under the carport of one of our members. God was busy all year long.

While we may not have Thrived in 2020, I believe we did realize that we were created to do more than survive. So, maybe the sermon series, wasn’t a complete failure.

With that said, God is still not through with us yet. There are many things that we must continue to work toward together. We were in the midst of a Church Revitalization when the global pandemic hit our shores. That church revitalization mentality must return to the forefront as we advance into the new year.

Most experts say that revitalizations may be delayed by 3-5 years in most cases. That may be true in most cases, but I am prayerful that by mid-year we can begin to move forward in our revitalization process once again. We need to desperately seek God’s face and petition Him to remove the restrictions that we are living under due to fear of spreading or getting the virus.

If we are going to be able to accomplish even half of what I believe God wants us to achieve in 2021 and beyond, then we need to be like Joshua and “be strong and courageous.” Sadly, I feel like most of us are suffering from covid confusion, pandemic passivity, and viral vulnerability. We are tired, fatigued, weary and worn down.

Ephesus, the only way we are going to regain our confident courage, our powerful proactivity, and our victorious vigor for the Lord is if we first recognize the threat that our soul is under daily and our very real need to begin to practice soul care daily. It is time to swing the pendulum back toward our soul, back toward spiritual health.

We must begin taking steps toward repairing the past damage done to our souls. If you are like me, then I am sure that your goal in life is to get to the finish line still in love with who you are, with your family, with your church family, and most importantly, still in love with Jesus Christ. I want to be able to look back over my shoulder at the finish line of life and know that it was worth it.

For that to happen, we must allow God to replenish us as we practice biblical principles that will help us cultivate a healthy soul.

Let me ask you a few questions:

What do you do when you get thirsty?

What do you do when you get hungry?

What do you do when you get sleepy?

What do you do when your car is almost out of gas?

Each of these are examples of our need to regularly replenish physical things in our life. The same holds true in the spiritual realm of our soul as well. Our souls need regular replenishment to stay on course. It was Mother Theresa who said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to put oil in it.”

Over the next six weeks we are going to examine what replenishment of the soul requires as we learn and hopefully apply six powerful principles that will help us to cultivate a healthy soul. The principles that we will learn will help us to:

Get Focused

Get Clear

Get Current

Get Going

Keep Going, and

learn to Rest and Repeat the process regularly.

Today, I want to share with you the first principle which will help us learn to get focused. From this principle, I want to show you three reasons why it is worth it.

Before we proceed, will you join me for prayer.

Our message today is titled:

“First Things First! The Principle of Priority. Getting Focused!”

If you study people long enough, both simple folk and great somebody’s, you will discover that they all have one very common trait. One characteristic that is true for them all is that each person finds a way to prioritize what matters most to them.

The principle of priority is expressed all throughout the Scriptures in many different ways. Perhaps it is best described in Matthew 6:33.

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In the context of teaching the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that we should worry or be anxious about what we can’t control. Not a single one of us can control tomorrow. Each day is sufficient for its own troubles. None of us can add even a single hour to our day, let alone the overall span of our lives.

So Jesus teaches us to slow down, to make the best use of the time we have by seeking first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, then all these things that we worry about will be taken care of in God’s time, not ours.

Jesus is clear that our wants get us in trouble, but if we trust God, put Him first, give Him the best we have to offer, then He will provide what we need in this life, with our ultimate need always being Himself.

I wonder, what is the priority that controls your life today? Is it the kingdom of God and His righteousness or something else. Pause for a moment and reflect on your life, your priorities; where is God and His Kingdom on your personal list of priorities? If Christ is our priority, are we seeking to be great at following Him?

Is it wrong, is it prideful to desire to honor God with lives of great faith and excellent good works? Not at all. From God’s perspective, we were designed to be great and to do great things.

Genesis 1:31 ESV

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

1. Church, we exist for His glory.

No matter what sector of life we choose to look at, we will find that greatness is nearly everyone’s ambition in nearly every area of life. Business leaders want to lead with excellence so that their businesses will be great; professionals want to excel and have great careers; athletes run so as to win, not to get a participation trophy; men want to be great husbands and fathers; women want to be great wives and mothers.

The list could go on but the point is clear: God designed us to have an ambition to do great things. That kind of purpose is not fulfilled by mediocrity or by settling for simply being good. Mediocrity is almost no one’s true ambition, if they are honest with themselves.

Many of you have made your resolutions for New Year’s, some of you are hardened and calloused to the idea of resolutions because of years having failed to live up to their ideals of perfection, and dare I say it, greatness.

Maybe your pursuit of those ideals fell short because you made other things your priority rather than God. Maybe you didn’t reflect on them often enough to allow them to become a part of your guiding principles; habits that are so ingrained within your soul that you can’t help but fulfill them daily.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), is a great example of someone who took resolutions and the seeking of God’s Kingdom and His righteousness very seriously. Over a few months between 1722 - 1723, while only eighteen years of age, Edwards recorded 70 resolutions that served to guide him throughout his life and ministry. Each week of his life, he read over these resolutions until he became who the resolutions were guiding him to be.

Allow me to read his short introduction and just the first few of his resolutions to you. If you have time, I would commend the remaining 70 to you as well. You can find them online via a simple duckduckgo internet search. Edwards wrote:

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat Him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ’s sake.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the aforementioned things.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

When you reflected on your life a few moments ago, would your passions and desires reflect the desires of this young preacher boy who would grow up to influence a great awakening all across the United States? A man who is still influencing awakenings in the souls of men and women today, long after he has gone on to be with the Lord.

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Paul would later add these words to remind us how we should live:

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

“Do all to the glory of God.” Does that sound like mediocrity to you?

How do we glorify God?

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Church, we exist to glorify God and in doing so, we get.

2. We get to know God and be transformed by Him.

The Apostle Paul was a man who had an intense passion and zeal to know God. At some point in your life you will or you have fallen in love with someone; another way to say this is that you got to know each other and you fell in love with what you got to know.

How did that happen? You spent time together, unless of course it was simply infatuation, and then you never really cared about the other person in a real sense anyway. But if you really loved them, really cared for them, then you made it a priority to spend time with them.

Paul had an overwhelming desire to know God. Paul once said, as he was listing out his desires in life, his resolutions if you will that his overwhelming desire was....

Philippians 3:10 ESV

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Paul understood that He had to live for Jesus and with Jesus regularly. We get to know Jesus the same way we get to know our best friends or our spouse or our children; by spending time alone with Him.

Do you want to know God? Spend time with Him each day.

A. Develop the habit of giving God the first portion and the best part of your week through gathering for Worship.

B. Develop the habit of giving God the first portion and the best part of your day by spending time alone with Him.

As Christians, we can meet with God any time we want, in the morning, at midday, or in the evening, the important thing is putting Him first, letting Him be our priority.

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 130:6 ESV

6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

So your battle really isn’t “mind over mattress,” but “priorities over pleasure.”

Great Christians hunger and thirst after God. Their soul craves time alone with Him. Remember this was even true with Jesus Himself. He desired time alone with His Father. Even when His ministry was at its busiest, Jesus found time to be alone with His Father, even if it meant getting up before everyone else.

Mark 1:35 ESV

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

The important thing is that we get in the presence of God daily. That we abide with Christ always.

John 15:4–5 ESV

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

How can we survive this world, how can we thrive in this world if we aren’t seeking His sustenance, His guidance, and His love daily.

Solomon taught us that we should

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

If we spend time with Him, then we get to not only know Him more fully, but we also get to become more like Him.

3. We get to be like Jesus.

When we spend time with Jesus, we naturally get to know Him, and knowing Him, means we become more like Him in our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

As I have gotten older, I realized that I am a lot like the people I interact with. The jokes that my friends tell are the joke that I begin to tell. The interests of people I respect often become my interests. The attitudes I interact with often become my attitudes.

If you are around a debbie downer all the time, chances are good you will have a negative attitude at some point too. Likewise, if you are around an inspiring, caring, loving individual, some of that is bound to rub off on you as well.

When we spend time alone with God daily, our love, our passion, our intimacy with God will deepen and we will be transformed and equipped to be great for Him and His glory.

Consider Peter and John for a moment. Here we have two dirty old fishermen who began to spend time with Jesus. What was the result? We could say a lot about how both men turned out, but let’s listen briefly to what Doctor Luke recorded about what others said about them after they had been arrested for annoying the religious authorities because they were proclaiming Jesus and healed a crippled man.

The religious authorities asked them by what authority or power they did these things. Peter then boldly declared that they did this because of Jesus and through Jesus.

He said to them.

Acts 4:11–12 ESV

11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Doctor Luke tells us that after hearing Peter’s bold speech, the religious leaders recognized something about Peter and John that they had not recognized before. Listen to what Luke says.

Acts 4:13 ESV

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

We exist for His glory.

We get to know God and be transformed by Him.

We get to be like Jesus.

Those are three great reasons to help us get focused on our real priority as Christians as we begin to focus on 2021. We have to remember to put first things first. If our tanks are running on empty, we have to go to the only source of fuel that will keep our engines running.

Making God the priority of our lives should be the greatest resolution that we ever script for our lives. Believer get focused, examine your heart, are you giving Jesus the best part of you? Is He your overwhelming priority? If not, listen to Edwards third resolution again and apply it to your heart this morning.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

I challenge you to come forward, come to yourself again, kneel before your maker and pray that God will replenish your soul this year.

If you are listening to this message this morning, whether in person and online, and you are far from God this morning, so far that you feel that you are lost, so far that you realize that you don’t have a relationship with this Jesus at all, then the first step you need to take today is to bow before your creator and ask Him to reveal himself to you.

I am here to help guide you to Him, that is a large part of my role in life. If I can be of assistance to you please reach out to me by email, you will see my email address in the notes attached to this video, or come down front during our hymn of invitation and have a short talk with me.

Don’t be nervous or afraid, you have nothing to lose and eternity with Christ to gain. Respond to Him Just as you are! May we all learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading today as we seek to get focused on the only priority that matters. May we put first things first! Lord replenish our dry and weary souls in this new year.

Join me in prayer

Invitation

Hymn of Invitation

Just As I Am!