Transcript

Good morning, church. Happy New Year. You've done well. Here you are, the first Sunday of the year and you showed up at church. You could check the box.

What about next week, though? I'll be looking for you next week. Happy New Year. You know, I usually take two Sundays off. I take the last Sunday and the first Sunday off to study.

And I did study last week and prayed and thought about our year, but I decided to come back early. And I know some of you lost a bet. You shouldn't have been betting. Anyway. Some of you told me before the service, oh, I lost a bet.

I thought Mike Laramie was going to be preaching today. Or I thought, you know, Adam was going to, you know, Adam preached last Sunday. But I'm back. I'm sorry to disappoint. Made you lose your bet, but I'm back today.

We're happy to be here today. And I get a Sunday off and I get a week to study and I get. I get a little energetic. So watch out. Get your seatbelts on.

We're going to have a good time this morning going through the word of God. I've got some things to announce that we were praying about for December. Can I do that quickly? And then we'll talk about the book of Philippians a little bit. But we were praying for a big day at Christmas that we would invite people far from God to come and hear the gospel.

And we were praying that we would have 600 in our Wilson campus and 200 in our Rocky Mount campus. And so we had 564 come to our Wilson service. And we had 15 guests, first timers, and three people among them prayed to receive Christ. And so that was. That was our Christmas big day in Wilson.

And then in Rocky mount, we had 212 show up and nine guests, and two of them prayed to receive Christ. And so that's why we do what we do. People say, well, you know, you shouldn't be big in the numbers. Well, there's a book of the Bible called Numbers. Okay, so God's big on numbers.

And because we count people, because people count and we care about people coming to Christ. And so we pray for these things and God comes through and we're thankful for it and thankful for your willingness to invite people to church. And so it's a new year and we're starting a new series today entitled A Vision for your life. Seeing your place in God's story. Seeing your place in God's story.

And you know, when we talk about vision, we're not going to get on an eye chart. So you're not getting an eye exam today. We're not talking about that kind of vision. What we're talking about is getting clarity about your purpose, about what it is you're doing. Now, I know a lot of you are probably, it's the first of the year and you've got some goals you're making, you've been making some resolutions.

I'm going to lose £15. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. But what I'm challenging us to do as we get started today is not to make resolutions, but to make a renewed commitment to be in what God wants for us this year, to find our place in his story. Because you might have a vision for your life, you might not, but God definitely does. God designed you on purpose, for a purpose, and so he has a vision for your life.

And so we're gonna be talking about that today and over the next four weeks. This week we'll talk about heart, getting a vision for becoming who you are in Christ. Next week we'll talk about home, getting a vision for your family and getting a vision for your church family, for your relationships. Three weeks from now, we'll talk about hands, getting a vision for your work that God's called you to do, the influence that you have at school and at work, in your service. And then finally, harvest.

Our fourth sermon is entitled Harvest Getting God's Vision for the World. For your participation in the mission of the world. So that's where we're at this month. We're going to take on a partial piece of Philippians each week. So today we'll take a little piece of chapter one next week, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four.

That's how we're going to carve it up, this series. Now, some of you may feel, I don't have a vision, Gary, I don't have a vision. I'm really drifting. I'm really just reacting. I'm really kind of like a first responder to my own life.

I'm constantly putting out fires in my own life. I don't really have a focus Now. I would share with those of us who are struggling like that to remember what the book of Proverbs tells us. It says, where there is no vision, the people perish. And so you're just running like a ship without a rudder.

And so I want to challenge you to really be present for these four sermons over the month of January and get, get God's vision for your life. Now, some of you might have a vision, but it might not be God's vision. It might be inspired by your own, your own desires, your own ambitions, or it might be inspired by fear of avoiding things I'm afraid of. So my goal this year is to avoid things I'm afraid of. I want to stay in my comfort zone.

I don't want to get out of my comfort zone. But may I say to you, and I should put a warning label on this series. God always calls us outside our comfort zone. He always calls us to a place that you can't do it alone, that you'll need His Holy Spirit and His power to do what he's called you to do. And so rather than having a vision that's based on avoidance of things that scare us, staying in our comfort zone, or even ambitions that we have, let's get a vision for what God desires for us.

That's how the Apostle Paul is praying for the Philippian Church in chapter one here from a Roman prison, he writes this letter and talks about his affection and his thankfulness for the church at Philippi. And I believe as we look here, we can choose to follow the vision that God sized vision that he has for our life. And as we look at the text, I think we'll see three heart priorities, heart shaped priorities for having a vision that God has for our lives. So let's look Philippians chapter one, starting at verse three. And I'm sorry, but I'm going to do my best to read this as it's written.

But I keep feeling the southern accent come through and you'll see why in just a minute. It's like Paul went southern on this letter and there's a lot of you alls in here and it's hard for me to say you all. I keep on wanting to say y' all every time I hit it. So forgive me if I leak one of those in especially for you guys that don't say y', all. But I'm gonna do my best.

Here we go. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I'm sure of this, that he who began a work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. For God is my witness.

How I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. This is God's word. Amen. We're looking for three heart priorities for following God's vision for your life.

The first one is this. A heart that is shaped by God's gospel. A heart that is shaped by God's Gospel. You probably took note of the word gospel. It was in here twice.

Verse 5, verse 7. The word gospel. The word gospel means good news. And when the Bible talks about the gospel, when it talks about good news, it's talking about the facts of the gospel. That Jesus died for our sins.

He was buried on the third day. He was raised and ascended to the right hand of the father. And after 40 days, and so we know, we know the gospel facts, that this really happened. He died for our sins. He was buried.

He was raised. It's not enough just to know those things, but we believe them by faith. And so the gospel is the good news that what we couldn't do, that we couldn't save ourselves from our sins, we couldn't save ourselves from bondage to sin. We couldn't save ourselves from the death that approaches our all of us, it's all. We all have a date assigned unto us.

We couldn't rescue ourselves. But the gospel comes saying good news. He took our death and gave us and offers us eternal life. He took our sins upon the cross and he offers his righteousness. He took our separation from the Father and he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He took our separation and he offers his sonship so that we can be right with the Father. This is the good news. Do we know it? That's the good news. As we start the first day of the year, do we know the good news?

And do we have a heart that's shaped by the good news? Look how Paul prays. And by the way, you'll often see, if you get a card from me of encouragement, you'll often see me sign it. Blessings, Pastor Gary. Philippians 1:3,6.

It's my favorite passage to. To pray over people. And so, by the way, a lot of us are praying emojis these days, and I'm Guilty of it, too. Like, you put a prayer request on Facebook or something like that, and you'll be like, I'm just clicking through right now. And now I see a prayer request, and I just give him one of those.

And if I really. I'm praying hard. Clink, clink. You know, like that. I really love you.

Clink, clink. Like that. And so Paul doesn't send emojis. Doesn't send emojis. He says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

Every time I think of you, I'm thankful. Where's he at? He's in a Roman prison. And he's thinking of the church at Philippi. He's thinking of those souls that came to Christ when they heard the Gospel.

He's thankful every time he thinks of them. And always in every prayer of mine. For you, for you all. Man, I had such a hard time with y' all right there, making my prayer with joy. It brings me joy to think of you because of your.

Now here it is, partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. That word, partnership. We know this Greek word. I've taught this one over and over again. You know it?

Koinonia. That's the word translated partnership. It could have been translated fellowship. It could have been translated communion or partnership or partaker of.

I'm thankful for you because you're partners with me. You're in the koinonia, the fellowship of the Gospel. He's talking to all the members of the church that have believed in the gospel. And they're not just passive attenders, but they're participants. The good news, that it's affected their heart and it's flowing out of their heart to others.

I'm thankful with great joy when I think of you. I'm praying for you from the first day. What's the first day? The first day they heard the Gospel and came to Christ because he was there. He planted the church in Philippi.

Paul planted that church, and so he was there. In fact, the story goes that he was over in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey, and he was in the area of Troas, which was ancient Troy. And he's in that area, and he's praying. He wants to go east. He thinks, I'll go east.

And then the Lord closed that door. He had a sense that the Lord did not want him to go east. And so then he has a vision of a man from Macedonia beckoning him to come. And so he goes west. And so then we see the history of Christianity goes west rather than east.

And it took place right there before he goes to Philippi. And so he gets on a boat and he tells his guys. He's got Silas with him. He's got Timothy with him. He's got some other travelers.

He's got Luke traveling with him, who wrote the Book of Acts. And so they get on a boat and they go across the Aegean Sea, and they pull up in Philippi. And so he's thinking about sharing the gospel with those people from that first day, how they've got on board with the gospel. They didn't just get a little bit of gospel. They got the whole thing.

They swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. They formed a church right there in Philippi. He's thankful every time he thinks for him, it brings him joy from that first time he saw them receive Jesus. That's what's going on right here in those first few verses. Partnership.

I wonder, are you a partner in the gospel? Are you in the fellowship of the gospel? Are you a participant in the gospel? The gospel not only saves us from sin, it reshapes us for mission. Look what it says in second Corinthians.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.

You're a new creation. You have a new purpose, a new vision for your life. You found out the best news that there is. God loves us. He sent his Son that.

He loves us so much. He sent his Son to die for us so that those that believe in him might have eternal life. This is the good news, and it compels us and it moves us. And the gospel is not just an entry point. We often think, well, okay, I got the gospel.

Can we move on to some other stuff? No. The gospel. Listen, friends, we must preach the gospel to ourselves every day because we are a people that default. Our default is earning.

Our default is earning. We always feel like I need to earn it. And even after we come to Christ, we feel like we need to earn the right to stay in the kingdom, to stay right with God. Like, I need to check off these boxes. I need to.

And especially I said this the first service, but I'll say it to you. I was thinking about the firstborns. I don't know how many firstborns we have in the house, but if you're a firstborn and you had younger siblings, you kind of disappear there for a little bit. They start making over the little ones. But if you're a firstborn, you're always jumping back in the Front of the camera, like, hey, I'm still here.

And there's an old 8 millimeter movie. And these are silent movies, kids. The little kids don't know what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about a smartphone. I'm talking about a thing like this that had two headlights on it, right?

And so I got an old movie of my dad had just got this Sears and Roebuck movie camera. He had to wind it up and then it would run. And we're just standing there, and he goes, it's a movie camera, boys. And it was me. I'm seven or eight years old.

My brother Barry's like three or four. We're just standing there. And he goes, it's a movie camera. Do something. And so Barry's not doing anything.

So I jumped in front of him and I did a Chubby Checker, man. And Dad's like, move out of the way. I wanted to see your little brother, you know, like that, you know. Yeah, that's. But a firstborn never quits being like that.

And what you notice as you grow up. And maybe you don't have to be a firstborn. All of us can be like this. God, do you see me? Look at me.

God, do you see me? How do I earn your approval? How do I earn so that I'm right with you? And that's contrary to the gospel.

The gospel says he earned it. And if you believe in him, if you place your faith in Jesus and his payment on the cross, then you have the whole thing. There's no more earning. There's peace. Now I don't have to earn.

That's the gospel. Have you let it fully inform you? And not only is it the entry point, but it's the power source that empowers you every day to live with freedom and to live without guilt and to live with power. Look what Paul says in Romans. For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believe.

To the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is not just the entry point, it's also the PowerPoint. It's that which empowers us. So it constantly reminds us that God's not keeping a list on us. When he looks at us and he sees our imperfections and, oh, man, I have so many.

He looks at my position in Christ, and Christ paid it all. And that sets me free to follow him, not out of duty, not out of earning, but out of love and out of freedom and joy. Is your heart shaped by the gospel. When the Philippian church first began, it didn't start with a group, a demographic of look alike people, everybody of the same race, same demographic drove up in the same carts. It wasn't like that at all.

In fact, if you look at the Book of Acts, chapter 16, let me just pick out three people that were probably the first members of the Church of Philippi. The first one was a woman named Lydia, successful businesswoman. She owned a purple cloth business, and so she was importing it probably from Phoenicia, which was the source of this very expensive dye, this purple dye. And so it's considered the royal color of purple cloth. And so Lydia is the first convert that Paul has.

He didn't find her at the synagogue because Philippi did not have a synagogue. Very unusual. He always started in the first place in the synagogue. He couldn't find any group of people meeting they could talk to. And he found out there was a group of women that were having kind of a prayer gathering down at a river in Philippi.

I've stood in this river before. There's a church built there that's built a little baptistery there. And I've got a wonderful video of that slowly meandering stream going by. It's a beautiful place. And just thinking about, Lydia was there when Paul preached the gospel to that group of women.

And Lydia came to Christ, this successful businesswoman, and she said, if you find me worthy of the request, if I'm not being too bold, would you be willing to let your disciples meet at my house and stay at my house? And so I think the church started at Lydia's house. Wealthy woman. Some days later, Paul's preaching in the streets of Philippi in the marketplace. And there's this pestering slave girl following him around, going, these people, they represent the God Most High.

You know who they are. They represent God most High. And as fast as he would preach, she would interrupt. And finally he turned to her and he said, in the name of Jesus, be out of her. Demon.

He called a demon out of her. And so she was no longer doing that. He set her free from the demonic. Now that got Paul and Silas in trouble because this little slave girl was a fortune teller. And her master made a lot of money off of her fortune telling business.

And now she's ruined. She's not demon possessed anymore. And so they caused a big riot. Paul and Silas get thrown in a Philippian jail. They get 40 lashes in the public square of the marketplace.

Thrown in jail. Paul's thinking about all this in his Roman cell as he writes this letter. I'm thankful for your partnership in the gospel. He's thinking about those different people he gets thrown in this fallippian jail. Long about midnight, there they are, 40 stripes on their back, blood coated, sticking to their clothes.

They've got bonds on their wrists and on their ankles. And long about midnight, they start singing a hymn. It says, wouldn't that be what you'd do in Hebrew. Amazing grace how sweet the sound. And an earthquake came.

Came and knocked their bonds off. And the doors to the cells, not just their cell, but all the cells in the jailhouse blew open. The jailer who was a Roman citizen, a Roman jailer, he's going to go kill himself because he thinks all the prisoners got loose. And Paul goes, hold up, hold up. We're all still in here.

We're having a prayer meeting. And he goes, oh, my goodness. Why didn't you leave? And he begins to share the gospel with him. What must I do to be saved?

And he goes. And he takes Paul and Silas to his house and he cleanses their wounds and he puts fresh clothes on them. And he leads. Paul leads him in the Gospel. And he and his whole household come to Jesus and get baptized.

Then the Philippian leaders come and go. Let them out. Now, you know, we've done what we need to do. You can let them go. And Paul told the jailer, tell them to come and let us out themselves because I'm a Roman citizen.

This all happened, and they had to come and release them in a public way. So these three people, okay, we got a slave girl. We don't know if she joined the church, but she was useless to her master. Now I'm kind of thinking she joined the church. We got.

We know that Lydia joined the church and it met at her house. And then we got this burly old Philippian jailer and his household. These are three unlikely people, but now they're one because of what they got a heart for. The gospel. They're in the partnership of the gospel.

Now, you look around this room, we're not all the same color. We didn't all drive up in the same car. Some of you drove up in a beater that it was blowing smoke out the tailpipe when you pulled in. And some of you cruised up in here with a real nice ride. Some of you have different backgrounds.

Some of you, as I referred to earlier, say y', all. And some of you say, youse guys. But in Christ, if you're in the partnership of the gospel. You're one. Your heart's been shaped, you've been reborn.

Now what does this mean to be a partner in the gospel? To have our hearts aligned with God's vision for our lives? Can I give you some practical things you might consider today? Here you are on the first Sunday of 2026. I would challenge you to make church attendance a habit in your life, a positive habit.

Tithe. Why not tithe the first portion of every week to God? God, I'm going to give you the first portion of the first day of every week by being faithful to my partnership of the gospel, of my fellowship of the gospel. You already started. Well, why not every Sunday?

There's been a pattern, a national pattern in church attendance that began in 2020. And we're not going to bring up the details of 2020. We're going to move past that. But since then, there's been a national trend of people who call themselves faithful church members only attending about 1.5 Sundays out of four, 1.5 Sundays per month, 1 1/2 Sundays per month. The old average before that year 2020 was 2.5, which is still not great, but it was better than 1.5.

So here's the thing that we're noticing. Our church is getting bigger and bigger, but it's hard to tell because of our low attendance pattern. Friends, this is not the partnership of the gospel that Paul is commending. Why not this year, look at your calendar and say, God, I'm going to make worshiping together with your people a priority in my life in 2026. And you've started off well, start planning for next.

Unless I'm sick, unless I'm on vacation, and if I'm on vacation, I'm going to attend a church out of town. But I'm going to start being serious about my partnership, my fellowship of the gospel. I'm going to start giving the first portion of the first day of the week. And then why not join the one year Bible readers? Read the Bible in a year, give the first portion of every day reading God's word and praying.

So now you're tithing the first part of every day. And then why not also consider how am I doing financially? You should always be looking at your finances, but especially the first of the year. What are your financial goals? I commend that you should plan, you should ask for God's wisdom.

Follow the book of Proverbs. Great teachings there. But how are you investing as a partner in the gospel? Are you a giver? Are you Giving the first portion of your income to God's work.

These are places I want you to really think about. We have this saying in our church and we believe it's following what Jesus has commanded us to do. Eastgate Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ who have a growing heart for God, heart for each other and heart for our world. In case you didn't notice, it's on the wall when you came in. We want to be a church that is making disciples, followers of Jesus who have a growing heart for God.

That's demonstrated by their faithful worship. Show up. And by their generous giving. Just be praying about that. Has your heart been shaped by the gospel?

Let's move to the second heart Position the heart priority. And that's the heart that is confident in God's grace. A heart that's confident in God's grace. We're at verses six through eight. Paul begins to express his deep confidence.

Notice this in verse six. And I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of of Jesus Christ. I'm sure of this. I'm confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to the day of completion in Christ Jesus. This day is referring to Christ's return.

It might also refer to the day you return to him. Because some of us get called up to heaven before he comes back to earth. That might be you. It might be me. We never know what that day is.

But whose job is it to complete you? And what does completion look like? It looks like you becoming like Jesus that you're made in his image. Genesis, let us make man in our own image. Imago dei, image of God.

This is what's God up to. What's his purpose for your life? Well, the first prototype is Jesus. He's the firstborn from among the dead. He's the first prototype.

He's the one that when we look at him, that's what God's trying to do with us. He wants to make us like Christ Jesus so that Jesus is fully formed in us. And so Paul is praying. I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to the day of completion in Christ Jesus. So he's going to do the work.

So what's my job? Is I just supposed to sit still and just, you know, sit here? No, no. Now, some of you been trying that. Okay, but so, but you're saying earning is by default.

The gospel says receiving is the gospel. Rather than earning. That's right. But you have to work out what he's working in. What does that look like?

It looks like submitting to or yielding to. So Christ wants to be fully formed in your heart and fully formed in your thinking, fully formed in your actions and in your words. So what's that look like? It looks like surrendering those portions of your life to him so that he completes. He's completely formed in you.

So that each of us become like little versions of Jesus in this world. So each of us becomes a reflection of God's glory to this world. This is what Paul is confident of. He goes, I'm praying like this, knowing that he's going to complete this work, but we could make it easier on him. Now, some of us, we've been doing Christianity like we did everything else in school.

We've been going to the school of hard knocks. The way that Christ is having to work in our lives is by working through our lack of yielding, where we are stubborn in areas. And I have to admit that I'm one of you, that I've had those areas too, where it seemed like, I thought I already learned this, Father. I thought I already learned this, Lord, why am I having to go back to remedial studies now? Why are you sending me to summer school?

Why do I have to go back and take this class over again? Did I flunk last time? Is that what's going on? And so, like, go through a season. When my wife and I first got married and we were very poor, and then I thought, okay, I learned that lesson.

Put God first, you know, make sure you give to God and then save for yourself and then live off the rest. You know, pay God first, pay yourself second, live off the rest. I didn't follow that at first, and I got in some financial trouble, but then I learned. But then when I planted this church, we got poor again. I went, well, Lord, now you taught me that when I first got married.

Why are we being poor again? And it's because there were some other things I needed to learn about that so that when I preached, I didn't preach book knowledge, but I preached real knowledge that God is a provider and he can get you through some hard times that you didn't think you would survive. And there's no other way that this church exists except God. Now, I could go on with my journey, but I've learned it's just better to go ahead and yield the whole thing to him, not piecemeal it. You know, like, okay, God, I'm going to trust you with this part because I have fouled this part up so bad I can't fix it.

So can you help me with this part? But I got this part over here I'm still doing pretty good at. I think I'll run this myself. Guess which part is going to be in the most trouble? The part you're still running yourself like that.

Yield it. The whole part of your life. Every part. What part are you holding back today? Holy Spirit?

Show us right now the part that we're holding back in our heart. God. You're invited to this room. This room? This room in my heart.

But not that room. What room have you got locked away that you're not allowing him to rule? I'm praying for that. Verse 7. It is right for me to feel this way about you.

You all because I hold. You got to see it. Do you see this? All these y'? Alls?

Because I hold you in my heart. For you all are partakers with me of grace. He loves them. There's something about being in the koinonia of the Gospel. Being members of the body of Christ.

In so many ways we have a love for each other more than we do for our own family members. Especially that brother in law or maybe that mother in law. They're more like kids. Like fellow brothers and sisters maybe. Or even more dear like grandkids.

Because we love them more than we do our kids. Don't we?

Something about being in the partnership of the gospel that we are so confident that we're partakers. Look what it says next. For you are all partakers with me of grace. You see that in verse seven. So we're partners in the gospel and partakers in the grace.

Word Partakers. Koinonia. Again it's this idea of now what is grace? Grace is unmerited favor. You didn't earn it.

He did. But he's going to give it to you freely if you'll believe. And look how he loves them. For God is my witness how I yearn for you. Verse 8.

With the affection of Christ Jesus. I love you with the love of Christ. That's a man. That's a new kind of love. That love that moves mountains.

What is God's grace? It's that which saves us. But it's also that which calls us and convicts us and builds us. Ephesians, chapter 2. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves as a gift of God.

Not as a result of work. So that no one should boast. We often forget verse 10, but verse 10 says, for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, that we should walk in them. And so that's God's grace. That's his unmerited favor.

Now, if you ever started a project that you didn't finish, you ever start a project you didn't finish? Wives, has your husband got any projects going on out in the garage? Like some of you'd be like, yeah, my husband, he's got 12 projects going out in the garage. And there's probably reasons you haven't finished it. Maybe you started it with great gusto, but then you hit a snag and you realized, I actually don't know how to do this project.

Thank the lord for those YouTube do it yourself videos, right? Trying to figure out how to fix it, how to build it. And so you've got some projects. Some of you are just notorious for it, though. You start things, you don't finish them.

But God's not like that. God's not like that. And you're not God's project, his unfinished project in his garage that he's not going to finish. God is going to complete his work in you. Yield your life to him.

He's got a vision for your life. Completely yield every aspect of your life to God, and by grace he will bring it about in your life today. That's number two. Here's the third heart priority. The first was to have a heart for the gospel and then for grace, and then finally a heart that is aimed at God's glory.

A heart that is aimed at God's glory. We're at verses nine through 11, and I want you to see what he's doing here, what Paul's talking about. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. And so he says, I want you to have a heart that bursts with love. It abounds more and more so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

There's that day of Christ again, of his return, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory. You see it there? Underline that in your notes. That we're to live for the glory of God. What's my purpose?

To live for the glory of God. That's the purpose that he made man for. Let us make man in our own image. That we're to be the imago dei, the image of God in This world that we're to shine. And so what's it look like?

It looks like loving more and more that your life abounds. It overflows with love. It looks like. What else does he pray here? Knowledge and discernment, you could say knowledge and wisdom.

So that you have this new heart that thinks with the mind of Christ.

So that you have available to you the wisdom of God, that you're able to make good decisions and to approve what is excellent. And you might say the reverse of that and to disprove what is not.

And to be filled with the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. To be overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit so that you bring glory to God. He's praying like this that all of this would exist in you so that God gets the glory and not you. In John, chapter 15, Jesus teaches this.

He says, by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

I bet there are very few of you, maybe you've never thought to do it. Have made a New Year's commitment to say, I want to have more love in my life this year. I want people to see the love of Christ more fully in me this year.

More peace. I want peace on exhibit rather than anxiety, fear, more joy. Lord, help. Help me with. I fight discouragement.

I fight depression. Let 2026 be a year of joy.

Let's just kind of pray through the nine seeds that are in the fruit of the Gospel. Love, joy, peace, patience. Be careful about praying for that one. No, pray for that. You'll probably get some opportunities to practice it.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Lord, can I grow? Can I abound in these so that God gets the glory? You know, there are mirrors and there are windows. They're both made of glass.

A mirror is made of glass. A window is made of glass. When you look at a mirror, you see yourself. It focuses back on you. When you look through a window, it focuses out towards others and towards.

Well, towards the world and towards even the heavens. Depends on how you look out a window. We're to be more like windows than mirrors in a sense that we. We want people to look at us and to see Christ in us rather than to see us in us. So that we could pray like this in 2026.

Less of Gary, more of you, Jesus, less of me. More of you.

So that I'm becoming more like Jesus and less like the old man that I used to be, abounding in love, abounding in it. And only in Christ can this be possible. And it proves that I'm a follower of Jesus. He says in Matthew, chapter five, he says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Let your light shine and then help them to see him.

Now, I pray this year that you would make this commitment to be part of the partnership of the Gospel. To be faithful, to worship every Sunday with the Lord. To be faithful in your generosity, to be faithful as one who's growing in righteousness and growing in the fruit of the Spirit. Why not this year? Bring your heart's vision into alignment with God's heart.

For you and for some of you that are here today, your first step is going to be to pray with me in just a second to believe in the Gospel for the first time, to actually receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Others are here, and you've done that. You're a believer. But you need to grow in the Gospel, to grow in its application to your heart and into your commitment and faithfulness. So make a commitment this year to go on the journey together as partners in the gospel.

Be here every Sunday even more. If you've been doing that or you've been attending, well, attend one, serve one. That's why we have two services. Attend the first one, Serve the second one in guest services or tech team or worship team or children's ministry or some area. So attend one, serve one or serve one, attend one.

Okay. Come to the first service as a service servant. That's how Jesus came. He came as a servant. Why not this year, make it your goal to bring your life into alignment with being partners in the Gospel, partakers of his grace.

Let's ramp up our commitment this year as a church. Let's get a vision for our place in God's story. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for Paul's prayer for us that we hear across the ages.

It still rings true. I pray for that person that's here today that you've never given your life to. Jesus. You can do it right now. You can make a decision right now to follow him.

Pray like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. Just admit it. I'm a sinner. I've fallen short of your glory.

But I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe that you were raised from the grave and that you live today. I believe you died for my sins as payment and that you're ready to forgive me. Lord, forgive me of my sins. Set me free so I can follow you.

I want to follow you all the days of my life as Lord and Savior. If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing he will save you, he will adopt you into his family, make you a child of God, what a great way to begin the year, to begin a new life. Others are here and you're a believer, but you've been holding back areas of your life. You've been inconsistent in your commitment. You've been holding back out of fear or busyness.

Why not today? Say, lord, forgive me, help me to be a full partner in the gospel. Not just that it saves me, but that has given me a purpose and a vision for my life. We pray all this now in Jesus name. Amen.