00;00;00;24 - 00;00;23;09
Speaker 1
Hey, welcome to the Project Church podcast. My name is Caleb Cole. I'm the lead pastor here at Project Church in downtown Sacramento, and we're so glad that you came to hear this word. We believe this is going to encourage you, build you up, and give you life. So get ready to receive a message from God.
00;00;23;12 - 00;00;41;04
Speaker 5
My name is Kayla. If you're new one of the pastors here and be kicking off our new series called Rhythms right now, how many are ready to get in a great rhythm to start 2026? Well, a great way to start 2026. The rhythm of prayer. And so you saw it on the announcement, but I want you to see the QR code.
00;00;41;04 - 00;01;03;09
Speaker 5
If you guys could throw that up for them. You could scan this right now and you can get these daily emails with prayer focuses for the day. And so this is just our way of encouraging our church to pray and to focus on specific topics here. To kick off 2026, you'll get a daily email. We won't spam you, but you get a daily email just letting you know what we're praying for here at the church.
00;01;03;09 - 00;01;23;08
Speaker 5
So jump in. 21 days of prayer going to be amazing, but I am kicking off our new series rhythms where we are encouraging our church to start the year with some healthy spiritual rhythms. I want 2026 to be your best year spiritually you've ever had. That's the that's what I want for myself too. And so I want to start today.
00;01;23;08 - 00;01;45;21
Speaker 5
We're going to look at acts chapter two. I think we can learn a lot from the early church when it comes to what healthy spiritual rhythms we need to implement. But how do you know rhythms are hard, especially in starting the new year? I'm guilty of starting things and not finishing them. In fact, a couple of years ago, my wife bought new doorbell ring cameras.
00;01;45;24 - 00;02;06;12
Speaker 5
On Thanksgiving, it was a Black Friday sale. She bought them for our house, and she said, Caleb, will you install these? And I said, absolutely. So I open up the boxes and I was immediately overwhelmed. And then they sat there for 12 months and 12 months to the day on the following Black Friday. I said, all right, Chrissy, I'm going to do it.
00;02;06;12 - 00;02;28;23
Speaker 5
And I finally installed them. So props to me for finishing a home project 12 months later. But how many are guilty of this? Right? You start something, you don't finish it. Think about all the books you have sitting on your nightstand that there are bookmarks at chapter three, and, they've been there maybe for months. And you're like, I'm going to finish this book eventually.
00;02;28;26 - 00;02;58;00
Speaker 5
I think about, my Amazon cart, how many things are full of my Amazon cart filled in my Amazon cart, but I just can't get myself to click purchase. You're guilty of this. Unfortunately, my wife isn't. She quickly clicks purchase on the daily. So pray for me. I think about, you know, with the beginning of the year and people's fitness journeys, you know, they they buy a membership, they buy a new fit.
00;02;58;02 - 00;03;17;21
Speaker 5
So they're looking good. They might even post it on their social media. But then how quickly we fall off the wagon of even working out rhythms of heart. It's hard to stay in a rhythm and consistency in our lives. And I find this in my life, and I see this in the church, in our church, in spiritual rhythms as well.
00;03;17;23 - 00;03;35;18
Speaker 5
So what we're going to do is we're going to look at acts chapter two. We're going to break down this one verse of verse 42. As we look at each week, one of the things that the early church did that helped them to walk out their faith in a powerful way. And so I want to set this up contextually.
00;03;35;20 - 00;03;55;17
Speaker 5
Acts chapter two. What happens here is the day of Pentecost. Now, Pentecost was a Jewish celebration. So here Jesus has just ascended to heaven and he tells the disciples, hey, wait on one who's going to come and dwell within you. He says, wait on the Holy Spirit. He's going to fill you with power. He's going to be your guide.
00;03;55;17 - 00;04;18;29
Speaker 5
He's going to be your counselor, but you need to wait on him for him to come. And so the early Christians, the disciples, they're waiting, 120 of them are waiting in the upper room, praying, seeking God for days. And then the Holy Spirit descends upon and to speak in other tongues. They go out into the marketplace, and there are thousands of Jews who have gathered for this Jewish celebration of Pentecost.
00;04;19;01 - 00;04;43;12
Speaker 5
And on this day Peter walks out, there's thousands of people in the center of the city square, and he preaches a message about Jesus. It's the first message, the first sermon in the birth of the church. Now that Jesus is gone, he preaches this message and 3000 people hear it in the open square and give their lives to Jesus.
00;04;43;12 - 00;05;07;17
Speaker 5
They confess Jesus, they believe, and they begin to spread this message of the good news of Jesus. The gospel spreads all around the region very quickly. And so this is what is just happened in acts chapter two. And then it says, and here's what the church did after this message is preached by Peter, they begin to meet regularly and it says they add to their numbers daily those who are being saved.
00;05;07;19 - 00;05;28;17
Speaker 5
But here's what the church did. So we're going to learn from the early church here to start this year. I think it's going to challenge us in a great way. So here we go. Acts chapter two, verse 42 says, and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So we're going to go through this over the next five weeks, breaking down each of these.
00;05;28;17 - 00;05;52;17
Speaker 5
Today I want to focus on the first one, which is they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. So what I want to talk to you about today is the Word of God and the focus here to start 2026. I can't think of any better way to start 2026 than to say we are going to commit ourselves as God's people to His Word more than ever before.
00;05;52;19 - 00;06;13;21
Speaker 5
So who are the apostles? The apostles were the disciples or anyone who saw Jesus in the flesh. So the 11 disciples that are left, because Judas is that they are the apostles who are teaching the early church. Paul is added to this list here in a little bit, because Jesus reveals himself later in the book of acts two.
00;06;13;21 - 00;06;39;04
Speaker 5
Paul, who was Saul, changes his name. He surrenders his heart to Jesus. He was killing Christians, persecuting them. Then he begins, begins proclaiming the message of Jesus and preaching for Jesus. So he's added to these apostles. But these early disciples, the apostles, they're the ones who are teaching from the Old Testament and connecting it to Jesus teaching. And the early church is devoted to this.
00;06;39;04 - 00;06;59;15
Speaker 5
They're devoted to the teaching of the word. So here's what I want to say to you the word. This is the fuel that everything else in the church flows from. It is why we open this every Sunday. It is why I teach from it every single week. It is why we discuss it in our community groups, in our small groups.
00;06;59;17 - 00;07;20;10
Speaker 5
It's why we have courses that are digging into different letters and and books from this Bible. It is the fuel of everything else in the church. So listen, I love all the other things. They're all great. But if it is not rooted in this, if it is not, planted firmly in this, then we can easily be led astray.
00;07;20;11 - 00;07;46;29
Speaker 5
Let me show you. Scripture shows that actually teaching the scriptures and digging into the Word of God, it doesn't compete, but it fuels everything else in the church. Here's what Scripture shows us. Worship flows from truth. I know you all love to worship. We're just worshiping here. But it is only, it is only powerful when it's rooted in the truth of the word.
00;07;47;00 - 00;08;10;05
Speaker 5
It's why a lot of our of our songs that we pick here at Project Church are all from Scripture. I know if you catch it, but a lot of the songs we pick, the majority of them are actually scriptures themselves. Turned into song that we are singing. Why? Because we want our our songs, our worship, to be foundationally connected to the scriptures.
00;08;10;07 - 00;08;35;27
Speaker 5
We want it to be doctrinally strong. Worship flows from truth. Faith comes by hearing the word Romans ten tells us so our faith grows when it's rooted in the word. Unity is preserved through shared doctrine. Listen, we want unity in the church going unity. The church is found not by saying, oh, whatever you think, whatever truth you have, all truth is truth.
00;08;35;27 - 00;08;59;01
Speaker 5
If it's truth to you know, we say there is a truth that is rooted in God's word. We are in unity because we share the same belief system, and the belief system is rooted here in God's Word. Unity is preserved through shared doctrine. Holiness is shaped by truth. We're called to be set apart, wholly different people, but it is shaped by the truth of God's Word.
00;08;59;01 - 00;09;20;24
Speaker 5
That's how we know what holiness is. We're in a day in an age where people do whatever makes them feel happy. We're in a day in an age where culture is directing and dictating what is okay and what is acceptable. No, we define holiness by what God's Word says is holy, by what Scripture and Jesus tells us is holy, and then love is directed by truth.
00;09;20;26 - 00;09;47;17
Speaker 5
So hear me. We are a people of love. God's message is one of love, but it has to be rooted in truth. Love without truth will lead people astray. Truth without love will crush people. We need both. And so what we're going to do today is I want to dig in, because what happens is so often even in the church, we can remove the word.
00;09;47;19 - 00;10;14;14
Speaker 5
And then what happens is a collapse into sentiment or activity without substance. It's why we have pulled songs out of our worship rotation, because we felt they weren't rooted in actual scripture. And some of it was like, you know what? This is off doctrine. This is off in terms of teaching. We're going to pull that song out of the rotation because it is not rooted practically in what we believe.
00;10;14;14 - 00;10;36;19
Speaker 5
The Word of God says. We have to have everything foundationally connected to the Word of God. Otherwise there's sentiment. There's activity, but there's no substance. I don't know about you, but I want to be a part of a church that has substance. I don't want flesh and no power. I don't want a flash in the pan that leaves you wanting.
00;10;36;21 - 00;11;08;20
Speaker 5
And so we must root everything we do in the church on the word of God. And so what I want us to do, though, in starting this year, is that we would be committed to read the Bible consistently as a church. That's what this message is going to be about. I'm going to give you a challenge at the end that you would be a person that says, yeah, our church is committed to a word, but I as part of the church and part of the body, I'm going to be committed to the Word of God in 2026 as well.
00;11;08;22 - 00;11;31;23
Speaker 5
Here's the thing about the Word of God. When you do it regularly, when you read it consistently, it's not flashy. There's nothing flashy about it, and it's not fast in developing your faith. You see, so often we want the quick fix. We want the the easiest process to get to the to the place that we want to be.
00;11;31;26 - 00;12;03;18
Speaker 5
And I know you want to grow in your faith. Faith grows consistently over time of you committing to the right spiritual rhythms, practices, disciplines, reading the word consistently. It's not flashy. It's not actually going to be fast, but it is faithful. What I want is a faithful church, faithful to the scriptures, faithful to the Word of God, faithful to reading, faithful to growing, faithful to learning.
00;12;03;23 - 00;12;20;25
Speaker 5
But I think that today we need to understand the power that the Word of God carries. And I want to convince you of this by looking at the scriptures, because I think that some of you have not allowed the Word of God to be part of your daily life, part of your weekly life, other than maybe being here.
00;12;20;28 - 00;12;33;17
Speaker 5
And I want to show you what the power of God's Word can do if you make it a part of consistently being in your life, the first thing we see is that it is the primary way that God speaks to us.
00;12;33;20 - 00;12;58;17
Speaker 5
The primary way God speaks is here. Listen, I love prayer and I love the prophetic. I have a wife who is very prophetic. We have a lot of prophetic people in our church. I'm not hating at all. The Lord will speak to me prophetically at times, but let me tell you, if the prophecies that God puts in our hearts don't align with the word of God, then we can throw them out.
00;12;58;20 - 00;13;21;25
Speaker 5
And there are times when people have tried to bring prophetic words, bring prophetic thoughts, bring prophetic topics that don't align with the Word of God. And I'm like, yo, that might be the pizza you ate last night. I don't know if that's really God or that might be your own feelings, because sometimes our feelings can get in the way, sometimes the wrong mindset or attitude or heart can get in the way.
00;13;21;27 - 00;13;40;10
Speaker 5
And it's why we must align the Word of God with everything that we say, everything that we do, because it is the primary way that God speaks to us. We need to seek him in prayer. We need to ask him to speak to us in other ways. But His Word is how we know him, what he believes. His word is how we know what he says.
00;13;40;17 - 00;14;08;03
Speaker 5
Here's what Hebrews 412 says, for the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. You see, what the word does is it strips away anything impure from our heart. There are people who will come into the church and come into your life with wrong intentions.
00;14;08;06 - 00;14;35;05
Speaker 5
They'll come into your life with with wrong thoughts, with the wrong heart, and with the Word of God does is it penetrates through all of that. It discerns for you when someone is off and what they're speaking over you, because there are people who will try to speak death over you in the name of God. And of course, ever experienced this, I have, and I can very quickly rebuke that, knowing that is not what God's Word says.
00;14;35;08 - 00;15;01;19
Speaker 5
He says something different because I've read it, because I know it, because I studied it, because I've learned it, because it's imprinted in my hearts. I'm hitting God's Word in my heart. This is why we open the scriptures every Sunday, because this is the primary way we hear from God. And so we come here as pastors, and we do our best to prepare for you during the week.
00;15;01;19 - 00;15;26;08
Speaker 5
I know if you know this, we have a preaching team meeting every week where we bring our notes and we bring our thoughts to the team, and then they give insight and they give feedback, and they hold us doctrinally accountable and make sure that we're preaching, something that is healthy and not heresy. And, and, and we align ourselves as leaders with God's Word with accountability, knowing that then God will speak to us.
00;15;26;10 - 00;15;44;08
Speaker 5
It was just funny. Yesterday. I was, helping my in-laws, move into their new place, and there was a couple there from our church and they asked me, they said, Caleb, how do you always know what's going on in our life? I said, what do you mean? They said, Every Sunday you preach and you talk to something that we're going through.
00;15;44;09 - 00;16;02;25
Speaker 5
How do you know? How do you know we're going to like, I don't know, but the Holy Spirit does. And when we open the word, the Holy Spirit speaks through God's Word and penetrates to people's hearts. I can't tell you how many times I walked out of the service and someone said, Caleb, when you said this man, it just impacted me.
00;16;02;25 - 00;16;23;24
Speaker 5
And I'm like, I never said that because I actually didn't say that. But the Holy Spirit said it to them through the text, spoke to their heart. They thought it was me. No, it was God speaking directly to them. This is why we teach from the word. It's why we say it is the most important part of our service.
00;16;23;27 - 00;16;46;10
Speaker 5
I'm going to say that unashamedly, unabashedly. Listen. We worship. We give God, we bring service to him. That's why we even call this a service. We we bring him our worship. We adore him. But ultimately, if we don't open his word, we don't know his thoughts. We don't know how he wants to change us. We don't know what he's planning for our future.
00;16;46;14 - 00;17;07;13
Speaker 5
And it's why this is the most important thing we do. And it's why you need to do this on Monday. You need to do this on Wednesday. You need to do this on Friday because it's the primary way that God speaks to us. I started reading through the Bible in a year about ten years ago. Every year I read through the Bible in a year.
00;17;07;15 - 00;17;30;01
Speaker 5
Here's what's crazy. You know it only takes 15 minutes a day to read through the Bible in an entire year. How many know y'all got 15 minutes in the day, but it's hard to stay consistent. 15 minutes a day, every day for 365 days. And it's why very few people actually finish the Bible in a year. But I've been doing this for about ten years, and a couple of years ago I started inviting other people into my reading plan with me.
00;17;30;01 - 00;17;44;28
Speaker 5
And so now we have a bunch of people in the church. They're on this reading plan at the end of, it's on the Bible app, YouVersion Bible app, and at the end of the of the plan, each day there's a spot where people will even write down thoughts, and so we can see what everyone else is getting out of it and thoughts that they're getting.
00;17;44;28 - 00;18;05;27
Speaker 5
Well, two years ago, I invited a guy in our church, he he's a grandfather, a father, and invited him into our reading plan. And he did it for the first time. He read through the Bible in a year, and he just finished it for the second year in a row. And on December 31st, he texted me. He said, Caleb, when are you sending the reading plan for 2026?
00;18;05;27 - 00;18;28;20
Speaker 5
I said, bro, chill, I'm gonna send it tomorrow. So I said, I'll send it to you tomorrow. I'm about to send it out. I know people are asking me. And then he texted me. Here's what he said. He said reading the Bible and consistently being in the scriptures has been one of the greatest catalysts in my spiritual growth at this time in my life.
00;18;28;23 - 00;18;52;01
Speaker 5
That was the text he sent me. He couldn't wait for me to send him the new reading plans like I gotta do it again. And some people are like, man, you read the Bible that much? Yes. And every year I get more out of it and every year God shows me something different. And every year God speaks to me in a different way because it's the primary way he speaks the power of the Word of God.
00;18;52;04 - 00;19;13;27
Speaker 5
It is foundational for how we live. It is the foundation for how you live your life. Here's what I see. I see this in the church. I see this with people in my life. How often do you come to two decisions? You go, all right, I got a decision. Decision. And most of the time there's a right decision, a wrong decision.
00;19;14;00 - 00;19;42;03
Speaker 5
What I see is people who aren't in the word, they are prone to the wrong decision. And people who are in the word are prone to the right decision. Why? Because that's what the word does. It says it's a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path. The reason you find yourself making the wrong decisions time and time again is because the Word of God is not in your heart.
00;19;42;06 - 00;20;06;24
Speaker 5
It's not on your mind. It's not on the forefront of your spirit. And the longer you read it and more committed you are to it, the more consistently you'll make the right decision when confronted with the right and the wrong one. It is foundational for how we live. The foundation of the church. Hear me. It's not experience, it's not preference.
00;20;06;26 - 00;20;14;01
Speaker 5
I know y'all got your preferences. Oh, you you didn't like that song this morning. I wish they do this song.
00;20;14;03 - 00;20;50;16
Speaker 5
It's not culture. It is apostolic teaching centered on Christ. That's why every Sunday I present Christ as an opportunity for people to surrender their heart to him. Now, I'm not an apostle, but I teach and preach the apostles scriptures. It is a apostolic teaching, teaching from the apostles, letters that they wrote to the early church and the Old Testament, connecting it together centered on Jesus.
00;20;50;18 - 00;21;17;23
Speaker 5
It has to be centered on Jesus. Everything we do and what we're going to talk about. Jesus again, yes, every single Sunday, Christ, him crucified. It is the foundation for how we live. Acts 542 says, every day in the temple from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching. Jesus as the Christ did. You catch up every day.
00;21;17;23 - 00;21;41;27
Speaker 5
They were going house to house, space to place, temple to temple, and they just preach Jesus. Jesus. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Savior. That should be how we live our lives, that we talk about it with our friends. We talk about it with us, with with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Man, I'm so thankful for Jesus that he came for me.
00;21;41;29 - 00;22;10;05
Speaker 5
It is our foundation. You see, the the scriptures continually point us to Jesus as the cornerstone. This is what we see in Ephesians chapter two, that we were built on the foundation of the apostles in the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. Devotion to the teaching of the Word of God isn't a trend. And I see this actually, I've seen this on social media.
00;22;10;05 - 00;22;32;06
Speaker 5
Don't know if you guys are on social media. There's a lot of cynics on social media, a lot of critics of the church on social media. And I've even seen Christians who are like, oh, we've idolize the word of God. I'm like, what? What do you mean? It is literally his words to us. We should love it. We should be desperate for it.
00;22;32;08 - 00;22;55;26
Speaker 5
We should be passionate about it. We should read it as much as we can. Talk about it all the time when we rise and when we go to sleep. That's what we see in the Old Testament. They did with their own children. It's foundational. We it's not a trend. It's not a phase is the foundation of the church.
00;22;55;29 - 00;23;19;17
Speaker 5
I have a friend, and, he just started his sixth time, doing a social media campaign to follow his weight loss journey. And I hate hating because, like, I'm glad for that. I'm like, yes, bro. Like, you need to get your health in order. You lose some weight. Like, for reals. Like, he struggled with his weight, struggle with his health.
00;23;19;19 - 00;23;45;20
Speaker 5
And I'm not hating on it, but but I seen him do it six times now, and it lasts a month or two. And then he just disappears from social media. Then he's back. January I'm back baby. Would you guys follow along with me? Follow along my my weight loss journey. And we're six times in and I was just like watching it this last week.
00;23;45;20 - 00;24;12;05
Speaker 5
And I'm like, bro, here's the thing. Maybe you don't need to turn this into a campaign for everyone to see. Maybe you need to get with God and say, God, give me the strength to follow through on this, because what you've been doing isn't working. And so what I would say to us is, a lot of us have lived our lives apart from the Word of God.
00;24;12;07 - 00;24;26;21
Speaker 5
We've lived our lives and it's just supplementary in our life. Like, okay, Sundays I get the word, but the rest of the week, like I'm doing me. Can I just tell you like the reason you've been struggling is because you've been doing the same thing. And so my challenge to us is in 2026 that we say, you know what?
00;24;26;27 - 00;24;48;17
Speaker 5
In 2026, I'm making the word of God foundational for my life. I've tried it the other way. I've tried it my way. I tried it with church as just a supplemental thing on Sundays, where I get the word of God, like for that 30 minutes, once a week. Maybe it's time that I made it a foundation for how I live.
00;24;48;20 - 00;25;18;09
Speaker 5
Because ultimately it set your feet on a firm foundation. It is about Jesus being the cornerstone and us preaching Christ and Him crucified and and letting the whole world know. But it's also that when the Word of God is our foundation, we don't fall to the wayside. The sinking sand beneath our feet of culture is now a firm foundation of God's Word, and I want you to be more firmly planted, to be more focused in 2026 than you've ever been.
00;25;18;12 - 00;25;38;05
Speaker 5
And I can tell you right now, this is how you do it. It's simpler than we make it. You see, this is the power of the Word of God. It teaches us about the heart of God. This is a key right now that a lot of you need to get. Okay. You need to get this right now in your spirit.
00;25;38;07 - 00;26;08;22
Speaker 5
I've watched so many Christians fall to the wayside, fall off the wagon of faith, struggle in serving God, struggle in their faithfulness to the Lord. And I think the reason is because they've made this all about head knowledge, rather than connecting to the heart of who God is. You see, at the end of the day, this is a love letter from God to you and from God to me.
00;26;08;24 - 00;26;32;11
Speaker 5
And what this does is it doesn't just teach us a list of do's and don'ts. It doesn't just teach us a list of boxes to check off. It doesn't just teach us a bunch of rituals and processes we need to follow. No, it teaches us about the heart of a God that loves us, that came for us, that cares about us, and actually wants to give us the best life.
00;26;32;11 - 00;26;59;12
Speaker 5
The Bible says, Jesus said, I came to give you life and life to the fullest. The heart of God is for you, not against you. The heart of God is on your side, not opposing your side. The heart of God is there to bless you, not to curse you when you fall short. And so what this does when we read it, we learn about his heart and the reason I think that Christians fall in their faith.
00;26;59;15 - 00;27;23;08
Speaker 5
They struggle in their connection to the Lord. They don't follow through on being consistent in what God and who God has called them to be is because they don't ever connect to his heart through this thing. It's all up here. Oh, I know a lot of scriptures. No, it says I have hidden his word in my heart that I might not sin against him.
00;27;23;11 - 00;27;51;17
Speaker 5
I don't try to avoid sin so that I can avoid God's cursing or punishment. I avoid sin because His Word is in my heart and I know how much he loves me and gave for me that I can't help but want nothing more than to please him because he's a good father, he's a loving God, and he wants to bless my life.
00;27;51;17 - 00;28;21;12
Speaker 5
And so I'm living from blessing, not for blessing. We need devotion. Devotion to his word, devotion to his teaching. Why? Because it will actually protect the church from instability and error. I seen in. And we've been a church now we've come at a 13 year anniversary, the end of this month. Can you believe it? 13 years as a church.
00;28;21;14 - 00;28;52;18
Speaker 5
And I've watched churches around us struggle fall. I planted this church. There were six people and me and Chrissy. That's how our church started 13 years ago. And I've watched other people start churches, and I've watched many of these churches fall into instability, fall into theological error. And I believe it was because they were never fully committed to God's heart.
00;28;52;20 - 00;29;28;19
Speaker 5
And who he is, and not just teaching so people know something or do something. I don't want you to just go do something. I want you to be connected to who God is. And this is what this word does. It connects us to his heart because he wants to be close to you. Imagine that the God of the universe wants to be close to you, and I feel closer to him when I read this than any other place or space.
00;29;28;21 - 00;29;53;06
Speaker 5
The keys would come back. Listen, I love the presence of God, and I believe that the presence of God will draw you unto him into his heart. That's why we worship. It's why one of our blueprints here is the presence is our priority. But the Bible is our guide. The Bible will guide you to his heart.
00;29;53;08 - 00;30;18;20
Speaker 5
The final thing that's the power of God or of His Word does is it shows us our purpose. People ask me all the time, what's my purpose? How do I find my purpose? What's the purpose God has for my life? Second Timothy 316 through seven. Can I show you your purpose? Is that all right? You see, this is a a blanket purpose for all followers of Jesus.
00;30;18;23 - 00;30;27;24
Speaker 5
I think so often we're all looking for our individual purposes, and I think you need to find that like the job and the the calling specifically.
00;30;27;27 - 00;30;54;22
Speaker 5
But too often we're fixated on that. And we miss this second Timothy 316 and 17. All Scripture is breathed out by God. And it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction. Hey, hold up a second. Just so you know, if you start reading the word, it's going to correct your life.
00;30;54;24 - 00;31;12;29
Speaker 5
And it's there's times where I get up here and I am corrective in my teaching and preaching, sometimes calling out things, calling out sin because that's what the Word of God was meant to do. I found I like to be challenged. And so in our church, we've always tried to challenge you because I don't want to stay to the same.
00;31;12;29 - 00;31;38;18
Speaker 5
Do you? Do you want to keep coasting through life, living the same faith? Mundane journey? No. I believe God is calling us higher. He's calling us to more. It's profitable. All Scripture for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. The Word of God will train you into what it means to be a right, living kind of person, a righteous living kind of follower of God.
00;31;38;21 - 00;31;48;13
Speaker 5
That the man of God where my men of God out. Come on, make some noise, men of God and the woman of God. Come on, give me some girls.
00;31;48;16 - 00;31;51;03
Unknown
Hey!
00;31;51;05 - 00;31;55;22
Unknown
You may be complete.
00;31;55;25 - 00;32;22;05
Speaker 5
Equipped for every good work. Here's your purpose. To do good works. You do good works in your school. You do good works in your job. You do good works in your neighborhood. You do good works with your family. You do good works with your children. You are called to be a people of good works. I'm not called to bring death, destruction, criticism, cynicism, negativity.
00;32;22;05 - 00;32;42;15
Speaker 5
No, I'm called to bring good into the world. Life into the world. Heaven to earth. I'm a heaven bringer as followers, as a follower of God. This is what the Word of God does. It actually equips you to know what good works you're meant to do. It shows you the good in a world that focuses on the bad.
00;32;42;18 - 00;33;10;12
Speaker 5
I want us to walk in our purpose, man, that I have the purpose. Knowing that every room I walk into, I'm here to do good. I'm here to bless. I'm here to work for someone else and for God specifically. But how do I know what it is through the word corrects me, strengthens me, equips me, changes me, and it shows me my purpose.
00;33;10;14 - 00;33;30;02
Speaker 5
I share this story on Easter this last year, but I don't know if you guys were there if you remember. But, there's a story, or this interview that happened with a basketball player. His name goes this Alexander. He plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was the MVP this last year. And they won the championship. And last year he had an interview with them and they asked him after the game.
00;33;30;02 - 00;33;49;11
Speaker 5
They said, Shay Gilgeous, SGA, how have you scored so consistently this whole year? He was averaging 30 some points a game, and he responded with one of the greatest responses. I think, in the history of interviews. And he looked at the interviewer and he said, my whole life is consistent.
00;33;49;14 - 00;33;56;22
Speaker 5
And all his teammates were in the background behind him and they were like, oh.
00;33;56;24 - 00;34;03;00
Speaker 5
My whole life's consistent.
00;34;03;02 - 00;34;27;24
Speaker 5
Just last week, my wife, I was doing dishes and, my wife came into the kitchen. Yes. Your pastor does dishes. It's amazing. And, yeah, she cooks. I do the dishes. That's our deal. And so. So she comes into the kitchen, and I was doing dishes, and out of nowhere she said something to me, and she said, I'm passing.
00;34;27;24 - 00;34;46;16
Speaker 5
And I hadn't even mentioned it until this morning. She was sitting on the front row of the 830 service, and I said, you are so crazy. I don't know if you know how much that comment meant to me, but she came in behind me. I was doing the dishes and she said, you know, Kayla, I was just thinking about how consistent you are.
00;34;46;19 - 00;34;49;05
Speaker 5
She said.
00;34;49;08 - 00;34;56;16
Speaker 5
You're one of the most disciplined, consistent people I know.
00;34;56;18 - 00;34;59;19
Unknown
And bless me.
00;34;59;21 - 00;35;34;14
Speaker 5
Because that's something that with God, I've tried to live and emulate and do. But let me tell you how I've done it, because I've been consistent my whole life. 20 years of pastoring, 18 years of marriage, a big success. I'm not perfect, but I've been pretty consistent. And I can tell you right now, because when I was 12 years old, my grandfather, in a service like this said, you need to read the Bible every day.
00;35;34;16 - 00;35;48;11
Speaker 5
And I was sitting out there at 12 years old and he said, you need to read the Bible every day. Church is like some of you have never done it. You never started. So why don't you start with a proverb a day? There's 31 chapters in Proverbs. Most months have 31 days. You can read a proverb a day.
00;35;48;11 - 00;36;10;04
Speaker 5
It takes five minutes. So I was 12 years old. I started reading a proverb a day. And that morphed into when I was in college, I was serving a proverb a day, plus some, and I continued on to where now I read the Bible through in a year, every year. And I'm just here to tell you right now, the consistency of my life is not because Caleb is consistent.
00;36;10;07 - 00;36;34;17
Speaker 5
The consistency of my life is not because, oh wow, I'm some really powerful, strong individual. No, the consistency of my life is because the Word of God has been the forefront of every day that I wake up, before I go to Instagram news, social media, television. I'm in his word because his word is what guides my life.
00;36;34;20 - 00;36;51;29
Speaker 5
His word is what strengthens my life. His word is a lamp to my feet and a light into my path. His word will correct. His word will word will rebuke. His world will strengthen. His world will built. Word will build righteousness into my life.
00;36;52;02 - 00;37;25;03
Speaker 5
And so here's my challenge I want to end 20. I want to start 2026 by ending my message with this. Are you ready? Every believer, every day in God's Word. That's my challenge. You. The first Sunday of 2026. Every believer, every day in God's Word simply like Kay, I've never done it. You can take one minute and read one verse of the day.
00;37;25;05 - 00;37;46;19
Speaker 5
You can take five minutes, a read, a proverb a day. You can take 15 minutes and read the Bible reading for the day to read the Bible through an entire year, guess what? You'll fall short. You might miss a day here or there, but if you make this commitment and you accept this challenge from me today in this place, here's what I'll tell you.
00;37;46;21 - 00;38;09;20
Speaker 5
You might not get 365 days, but what you get 300 days. And last year you had 20 days, last year you have 50 days. So I want to challenge you. Every believer, every day in God's Word. You can listen to it, put it on the Bible app and listen while you're driving. Wake up in the morning. Let it be the first thing you read for later in the day.
00;38;09;20 - 00;38;36;09
Speaker 5
You missed it. It's all right, I get home, let me read a scripture real quick and dwell on it. Ruminate on it. Meditate on it. Let God speak to my heart. I'm telling you, if you decide to do this, God will grow your faith more in 2026 and never. And I'm telling you this as a walking, talking, living testimony of what the Word of God does, it changes you.
00;38;36;11 - 00;38;59;03
Speaker 5
And I want God's best for your life, and I believe you need to be in His Word in 2026. Here's what I want to say to close, because I think there's somebody in this room that doesn't know Jesus. You've been running from God. You've turned your back on God. You tried things in your strength, your way. Here's what C.H. Spurgeon said.
00;38;59;03 - 00;39;20;06
Speaker 5
He said, my entire theology can be condensed into four words Jesus died for me today. There's someone in this room that you need to surrender to the God of the universe that died for me. I challenge you to read the word. That was the main idea of today. But ultimately, there's someone here that needs to surrender their heart to Jesus.
00;39;20;08 - 00;39;40;24
Speaker 5
This is what the gospel is about. The good news that Jesus came to seek and to save all who are lost. He died for you in the middle of the muck and the mire and the sin and the mess and the junk of your life. So it's about a nice close. We're about to baptize three people. But before we do that, I believe there's someone that needs to surrender their life to Jesus for the first time in this room.
00;39;40;25 - 00;39;59;07
Speaker 5
If that's you, you've been running from God. You turn your back on God. You never given your life to Jesus. You need to recommit yourself a new and a fresh today in this room. Would you lift your hand? Go ahead, shoot up. So that's me, Caleb. I need to change my life in 2026. Yes. 123456789 1011. 12. Come on.
00;39;59;07 - 00;40;28;02
Speaker 5
13. Thank you. You can put them down. Pray this with me. Everyone here say Jesus. Today I confess my sin and my need for a Savior. I'm broken, messed up, I make mistakes, I fall short. But I thank you that you are perfect. And you came and took my place. You shed your blood on that cross to be the sacrifice.
00;40;28;04 - 00;40;53;24
Speaker 5
So I could be forgiven so I can be saved. I receive you, Jesus, and I pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. Let's sing every believer every day in God's Word. If you're like, I'll take that challenge, Caleb, raise your hand. I'll take that challenge. Jesus, I pray right now for strength over your followers, Lord, that as believers, we would make a commitment to your word in 2026 like never before.
00;40;53;26 - 00;40;55;27
Speaker 5
God, if it's five minutes, 15 minutes.
00;40;55;27 - 00;41;02;12
Unknown
An hour, whenever you're calling us to do Lord, may we be consistent. May we find the rhythm of.
00;41;02;12 - 00;41;06;08
Speaker 5
Being in your word. May it be a lamp to our feet, a light to our path.
00;41;06;10 - 00;41;10;28
Unknown
May we hunger for it. Devour it, be in it, learn it, read it, study it.
00;41;10;28 - 00;41;13;07
Speaker 5
Jesus, we want you.
00;41;13;09 - 00;41;19;23
Unknown
More of you. We pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. Hey, we're. Don't go anywhere. We're gonna baptize three people.
00;41;19;25 - 00;41;30;03
Speaker 5
Would you stand your feet? Oh, come on, sing this with us as we get the baptismal tank ready. Come on, let's worship.
00;41;30;06 - 00;41;33;15
Speaker 1
Thank you for being a part of our online community here at Project Church.
00;41;33;16 - 00;41;36;27
Speaker 2
We hope that this message and the whole service bless your life.
00;41;37;00 - 00;41;53;05
Speaker 3
Yeah. And if it did, we want to ask that you would do something for us. First of all, if you're not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, be sure to subscribe. Like this video. But also, we would ask that you would consider financially supporting what God is doing through Project Church. You can give in a variety of ways.
00;41;53;08 - 00;42;08;16
Speaker 3
You can text project to 97,000. Right now. You can give to our Church Center app, or you can give on our website project church.com/give. Thanks so much for being a part of our online community. And once again God bless you guys. We'll see you soon.