Last Message of 2025

A day like today [music] makes me realize how um inept I am to even be standing up here, Lord. Um >> [music] >> I just pray that your hand be with me. That you give me strength, that you make the words clear. >> [clears throat] >> That the message you want to deliver is delivered [music] in a way that pleases you.

And I just pray that your hand be on every heart and mind that's here. Let them hear what you have to tell them today [music] in Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, have a seat.

I am Excuse me. Wow, that was loud. I uh This is an interesting uh message we're going to have today. So, last week as I was praying last week's message, God in the middle of the night downloaded me this week's message, okay?

But then yesterday, I had two kids that were sick during Christmas time and somehow I started getting it yesterday. So, then I went into crisis fix Brian mode all day and Norton's still playing tennis and the things that I would normally do with the kids, I was just like in crisis mode to get healed and asked everyone to pray. And here I am, but I'm not as strong as I normally am. Um I was getting the stuff prepared and I had to sit down cuz I got a little dizzy.

So, I'm going to ask that you have grace on whatever. But even last night when I went to bed early and got a few hours of sleep and then I woke up and God just wouldn't get back to sleep. God downloaded me some more stuff for this message today. So, I'm completely unprepared, completely whatever.

So, we're just winging this thing, okay? So, and watch, it'll probably be the best one yet, right? Um So, last week, amen, let the spirit work. So, last week we talked about two judgments.

Um the judgment day, which is all about our relationship with Jesus Christ, okay? If we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we're in. If we don't, we're out. There's a lot of people that think because their parents were Christian that they're Christians.

No, it has to be a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, okay? You have to have your own walk. Um but the other one we talked about was the Bema Seat Judgment or the Judgment Seat of Christ, where it's where it's just for Christians, okay? And it's where our works are judged and they're either built on the the solid rock of Jesus and they're gold, silver, etc.

or they're burned up because of wood, hay, stubble, okay? You still end up going to heaven, okay? This isn't about heaven or hell. This is about rewards or punishment.

And the thing is those rewards are eternal rewards. We get them forever, okay? And so um I think that's a key that I didn't hit on hard enough last week and it's going to lead into today's message. So, I want to go back to 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10.

And Mom, I'm going to drink a lot of water today. Sorry. Um verse 10 through 15. According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it.

But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation, Jesus Christ, with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet as through fire. So, the key that I didn't hit on enough last night is or last week was it's the stuff that's built on Jesus Christ is all that matters, okay? There's a movie really cool guy movie called Gladiator, okay? And at the beginning of the movie, he says, um, I think he says specifically, um, our our deeds or our actions will echo through eternity, okay?

And it's like the one of those, "Oh, you know?" And you're about to go out to war and it's it's one of those things. It's a stoic philosophy, but it's also an American philosophy. You can become whatever you you want to become if you just work hard and and whatever.

The [clears throat] problem is it's a flawed philosophy, okay? Now, I dig the stoics. I would much rather someone be a stoic, which is accountability. Stoics believe that man can become can always achieve and can become and can become whatever they they want and and, uh, and I've read Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius and all these guys.

The, um, but at the end of the day, it's it's what you're building up. It's not It's not It's not got Jesus involved, okay? So, it can't be something that echoes through eternity. Even though it sounds good in the movie, it can't be if it wasn't built on Jesus Christ.

Right? So, so that's the key. And that doesn't mean, you know, let's give an example, you know, the the stoics are all about the the human body looking perfect, right? You know, this perfect whatever.

What happens if you take up exercise so that you can have this perfect looking body, all right? It's good. You'll feel good about yourself, right? Which could lead to pride.

You could have people, um, compliment you, again, which could lead to pride, right? And [clears throat] it's good to take care of yourself, but but if you're building that we all get perfect bodies in heaven, right? Your perfect Adonis body is no different than mine come come come that day, right? So, so what was it all for?

It was If it wasn't built on Christ, it's not worth anything. So, when we go into this lesson today is going to be on game planning 2026. It's on how to have a significant 2026, okay? And it's the balance is not to get legalistic.

So, yes, you should take care of your body, okay? You should. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit, right? However, keep in mind when God's talking about the temple of the Holy Spirit, he's talking about removing sin from the temple.

So, if you're overweight because of gluttony, okay? Then that's a sin that as you remove, you will lose weight, right? If you're over If you're um And and different people have to have different levels of things they can watch for. If someone has celiac disease, they can't eat gluten, okay?

So, you have to understand what you have. If you have diabetes, you have to eat differently, okay? But at the end of the day, and yeah, man, I love you taking notes because I'm going to have some notes for you guys to take. It's not a legalistic thing, but it's it's removing the sin from our lives, okay?

It's trusting God. What Where do you find the balance? Because you can listen to a million different people, a million different podcasts. You're going to have all these different things.

It's trusting God on what you should do, what you should eat, you know? >> [laughter] >> My boy, I sent him to the store cuz I was in crisis mode yesterday. And one of the things I do in crisis mode when I start getting sick is I eat Snyder's of Hanover pretzels, right? And I drink like a gallon of grapefruit juice.

And um And I did some other things, too. But I sent him to the store to get Snyder's and and grapefruit juice. Well, he went and got this as well cuz he likes the goldfish. And I don't know why, but something prompted me to to go down and read the ingredients, you know?

And it's interesting, you know? At first I read it, it's made with smiles. This is in the ingredients, made with smiles. Enriched wheat flour, ends, you know, all this stuff.

And it's mostly good. Even like the colors are beet and watermelon juice concentrates and I'm thinking all right, contains wheat and milk it says. I think it's pretty good. Then at the bottom I see this.

Contains bioengineered food ingredients. The ingredients from soy, sugar and canola in this product come from genetic genetically modified crops. Have fun eating these, Phoenix. Um Jim >> [snorts] >> That's got to be a Robert Kennedy thing.

He's requiring them to start putting it on there. So of course I looked at my Snyder's of Hanover pretzels and it's just salt, wheat, water and I'm like, all right. 1909 recipe so they just kept it the same, right? Anyway, no more goldfish in the house.

Uh guys so um you know, but God will convict you on what you need to do if you put God first. What I'm going to be teaching today is something that's counter to what most people will teach about setting goals and dreams and all this other stuff. We've been fed something that I believed in wholeheartedly for years and years and years. And at the end of this I'm going to share with you guys what my game plan was going into 2025 which ended up being the most productive year of my life.

And just and and it's it's the exact opposite of what we're typically taught, okay? A couple weeks ago God got on to me about through scripture as I'm reading scripture he told me something and a word stuck out that I've got to start exercising more. So I'm going to begin to do that. Not because I want to look like anything, just because God told me to.

You know, that's I'm obeying him. That's it. We have an unbelievable triumphant for you to reach your best you. Think about this.

The creator God knows you better than you. He knows you better than you. He knows what really makes you tick. He knows what really is best for you.

He knows what job is really best for you. What mate is really best for you. He knows better than you. You don't know yourself.

You're like an iceberg. We talked about it last week. You know, an iceberg, some of the mass is above and then most of it is below. You just know that part above that you can see.

God knows how you were created. So, he knows things about you you don't know about yourself, right? So, why not have him lead instead of us trying to figure it out? Then you get Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Right? Then that's not enough. The Holy Spirit, when you ask Jesus in your heart, the Holy Spirit, God himself, perfection itself comes into your into you and begins, if you'll feed it, will begin to help convict you to slowly become more like Jesus. And then Jesus is helping you do it.

I mean, wow. Wow. You've got all of that at your disposal and instead we're being taught we got to set goals and matrix and tactics and techniques and we've got to worry about this and worry about that. And if you listen to Dr.

Oz, that's different than Dr. Phil. And if you listen to this person, it's different than that person. Man, just go to God.

So, what I'm going to teach today is the the way to have a 2026 that matters cuz the only thing that matters, guys, is what's done what we're going to be judged on the beam of seat. What's done, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. That's all that matters. Everything else you do in your life is just window dressing.

And it doesn't matter for boo. So, here's how to have a 2026 that matters, okay? >> [sighs] >> All right, hold on. Give me a minute.

All right. Forgive me. Build a relationship with Jesus. It's all about that relationship.

It takes care of the first judgment, okay? If you if you got my book and read it, Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus' last words to us, He talks over and over. There's five of the seven churches he tells them they're off base and they've got to get back to the relationship with Jesus. A lot of Christians out there are off base and they're going to sadly possibly hear what Jesus says in Matthew 7:22 and 23 and I'm reading now.

"Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" Now, the Baptist will say, "Oh, those people didn't know Jesus."

I think that's an incorrect reading. They're just trying to support the once saved always saved doctrine. I don't believe that's an accurate depiction. These people were casting out demons in Jesus's name.

They weren't someone who's thinking they're going to get to heaven cuz their mom and dad were Christians. These are people that are out there actively in the field working. Doing the stuff. They think they're doing it for Jesus, but apparently they forgot about the relationship with Jesus.

Because he says, "I never knew you." And I don't want anyone that's under the sound of my voice to ever hear those words from Jesus Christ. So, if you work on that relationship with Jesus, that builds into that secures your judgment day, but it also gets them into your everyday and that is what makes your works built on his foundation. It all works together, okay?

So, three things you can do in 2026 to build your relationship with Jesus. The most important thing you can do in 2026 is build your relationship with Jesus. Period. End of discussion.

First thing, you got to spend time in the Bible. If you're not reading the Bible at all, begin to read the Bible. 15 minutes a day, that's it. You Start small.

Just But, be consistent. Don't do it January 2nd, 3rd and then quit for the rest of the month like I used to do with my workout routine, okay? Don't do that. Read it every day because it is life.

God speaks to you through this. The way you know Jesus Christ is to read the book that talks about Jesus Christ. And from Genesis, the first page of Genesis to last page of Revelation, this book is about Jesus Christ. Not only that, but as you're reading it, that's where he'll give you feedback on things you need to do.

The reason I'm going to be working out next year is because God told me a passage in scripture and he jumped out the page and said, "Oh, Brian, you got to get on this." It was specifically, "I will discipline my body lest, you know, it's got nothing to do with actually working out." It's about being not sinning, trying to not let sin into your life, right? But I took it as working out and that's how God got my attention on it, okay?

God will tell you what he wants every day. If you're already reading the Bible every day, I want to challenge you to read 10 more minutes. Just 10 more minutes. Read a area you don't like to read.

Maybe you read it a lot, you're reading things you like to read, the ones that are fun. Man, go to Numbers or go to uh you know, what's it? Leviticus? Go to Get you some Get 10 minutes of Leviticus.

You'll start feeling good about yourself, actually. Um cuz there's a bad stuff in there. Um So, time in the Bible. Second, prayer.

Luke 11. Let's go to my boy Luke. Luke 11. Verses 2 through 4.

It was also Matthew 2, but I chose this this version. The Lord's Prayer. Um Now, the Lord's Prayer is not something that you read by rote every day and that's it for your prayers, okay? Your prayers are supposed to be personal.

If you're just reciting a line and you don't even know why you're There's nothing wrong with praying this sometimes. I I sometimes do. I just feel like, "You know what? I'm going to lift up a good Lord's Prayer today."

You know what I mean? But but the basic tenets, there's four things we see in this prayer that should be a part of every one of your prayers. And so, one of the challenges is time in the Bible. One of the challenges is to try to incorporate these four parts into your prayer and just get a little bit more serious about your prayer time because ultimately your Lord's prayer praying to the Lord is about talking and listening to God.

Okay? It's just about dialoguing with your friend. Okay? That's really what it is.

So, the first part we see right at the beginning, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It's praise. We should always be praising God in our prayers. There's a lot we have to be thankful for.

I don't care if you've got sicknesses and and whatever, there's still a lot to be thankful for. I was sick as a dog yesterday, but I got good kids and I've got all sorts of good stuff that I can I can cling on, you know? And the And the sickness I had was just a flu or something. It wasn't cancer, right?

So, there's so much I could praise. So, even on a bad day you can praise. Okay? There's always someone worse off than you.

But more importantly in that, putting God in his right place. See, the disciples Jesus said this because if you go up the line, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples, they'd [clears throat] been praying their whole lives, but there was something about the way Jesus prayed that was more powerful. Okay? And they wanted that.

And so, Jesus shared them this prayer and that's right there the secret. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It's all about putting God on his throne. Me on my knees, God on his throne high and lifted up.

Okay? That's where it starts. Then, you see him grieving and praying for others. When he says, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, he's looking around at a at earth that is not functioning right.

Okay? He's looking at an earth with sicknesses and disease and all this stuff that's not in heaven that we have here because of sin. Okay? And he's praying that we will that his will will be done, that we will pray his will into our lives and the lives of others, that we will be praying for other people.

So, we need to pray for other people. So, then we need to be praying for forgiveness of sins. It says, "And forgive us our sins as Well, this one says, "For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." Other translations say, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."

That's the That's the heart of this thing is you got to ask for repentance. It needs to be a part of every prayer, man. There's almost has probably not one day that goes by that there's not something I do wrong that I can't repent of, okay? Whether it's a stray thought, whether it's a smidgen of pride, whether it's someone cuts me off in traffic and a word comes to my mind, um you know, that's not godly.

Um you know, something that I can repent of. And And what repentance does is it cleans you up. Because remember, on judgment on that beam seat judgment, we're going to be called for all the things we did good and we're going to get good good um rewards for that. But the things we did bad are going to be burnt up except the things we repent of.

Because God is not going to bring something up when he's already forgiven it. Okay? He's not going to do that. That's against his character.

He says he won't do that. So, the more stuff you repent of, the less stuff's going to be brought up when everyone's standing around watching. Okay? So, repentance should be something that you're doing every day because it cleans you out now, but it also cleans you out in eternity.

Remember, we want our our actions to echo through eternity, right? So, clean that stuff up. If you've wronged someone, I don't care if you've been mad at your brother for 20 years. Jesus said, "Don't come to the altar even unless you go and reconcile to your brother, right?"

So, you got to go and fix that relationship or at least apologize for your part of the relationship, and then you're clean. Okay? If you've repented to God, and you've gone to your the offended party, and you've apologized, it doesn't matter if they accept your apology. It's off your plate.

Okay? You've done what you're supposed to do. All right? We can't control whether they'll forgive you or not.

That's up to them. If they choose not to forgive you, they're going to have to deal with God. But you can walk free both now and in the future. And there's so many things I've repented of through the divorces and everything else that I've had gone to my kids and repented of, too.

Okay? I just You have to do it. They're all here. They can They can concur.

Okay? So, you praise God. You pray for others. I write down people's names.

And you know, when someone comes up to me and says, "Hey, will you pray for me?" I'll write their name down, you know? Jeff Hack, you know, I did that for years. For almost a year, I prayed for him for something specific.

He found me in a in a thing, and I occasionally ask him, "How's it going with that?" And and uh And he goes, "No, it's still rough." Then, like 2 months ago, he comes up to me and he's like, "Hey, man, things are going really well in that area that you asked me to pray for." And um they him and his wife just celebrated their anniversary, and and you know, so So, prayer works.

But you got to pray for others, too. And when you ask someone, "How's it going?" that you've been If they ask you to pray for them, and then you pray for them, and then every once in a while you check in on them, what does that do? That makes them feel like you care.

Right? That makes them feel like someone else out there cares. And a lot of us, we're so self-absorbed with ourselves. So, praying for others helps us get off of us and onto these needs of all these people around that we care about and love.

Me and Laura just write down every prayer request you guys put in these things, and we pray over them until until they get answered. There's people in this room that I pray for every day. Um So, so pray for others. Pray forgiveness for your sins.

Just just stay still and let the stethoscope of God, let the shining light of God go into the deep parts of your heart that you're scared to bring out and let him bring the stuff out that you need to repent of. Okay? And and it's amazingly free. Amazingly I mean, wow, you can just be free, man.

Jesus came to give us freedom, but we cling to this pet junk from the past that we don't have to. Okay? But we have to let God in. We have to let him in.

So, repenting is huge. And then pray for ourselves. It's okay to pray for things. I prayed right before we started for God to give me enough strength to finish this sermon, right?

It's okay to pray for God to help us with things we have to come. It's another way of acknowledging that you can't do it yourself. And and it's way better to have the man helping you than it is to try to be on your own doing it yourself, okay? So, the first thing, spend a little bit more time in the Bible next year.

The second thing, spend a little more more time in prayer. And try to incorporate these four things. And then the third thing is fellowship. These are the three non-negotiables for every believer.

We have to spend time around other believers. If you're not coming to church regularly, come to church. If you are coming to church, get in a Bible study, a small group. There's a Bible It doesn't have to be with this church.

There's a Bible study There's a coffee shop up the street. They have a Bible study every night, you know, uh with somebody. You know, you can just go up there and join them. Start one.

Be Be Be But you have to be around other Christians, okay? So, whatever time you're spending now join our outreach team. That's time with other believers. That outreach was a lot of fun.

Man, we went out there. We had a lot of fun. We've got some fruit from it. People have come.

Um that's time around other believers. We were singing guitar. Some guy came up that we didn't even know, started playing the guitar. Who was that guy?

He was good. He was good. Um So, anyway, I'd like to see him here one day, but >> [snorts] >> this isn't overwhelm you, okay? I'm not talking about changing everything you're going I'm sick about adding time in these three areas, okay?

And the daily repentance piece is super important. When you go into next year, I'm I just challenge you to try to get completely clean inside, okay? First John 1:9 says this, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All unrighteousness.

So, you're clean. You don't have to carry the guilt. So much of our lives are over fears, worries, and doubts over what people will say, what people will do, how we're feeling, if we hurt some didididididi fear, shame, guilt. Man, mom guilt is a thing that's commonly acknowledged as a real thing.

But But, guess what? Guilt's not from God. Okay? So, that's the devil messing with you.

Making you feel bad about stuff you shouldn't be messing with. I know moms are going to outrage about this, but but it's true. I you know, it's guilt's not from God, okay? Conviction that's a different story, okay?

There's a difference between conviction and guilt and that's going to be a a lesson someday, okay? Conviction holds the standard of Jesus, okay? And and challenges you to move towards it. It's a positive thing.

Guilt is is telling you you're not good enough, you're not doing this good enough, not you're not you're not you're not you're not. It's a negative thing spiraling you down to see, I told you you're that way. That's That's not from God. It's just not, okay?

So, for all you moms out there who are convinced that mom guilt's a real thing, you ain't getting it from God. Um So, daily repentance, okay? If If If nothing's Man, build that relationship with Jesus. Be repenting so that your judgment day looks like something that's amazing.

Your Your Bema Seat judgment, okay? Now, that's the first thing is is getting that relationship with God. The second thing is loving on others, okay? Matthew 22:36-40.

And this works together with the first thing, okay? But um a lawyer came up to test Jesus and said, "Teacher, what's the greatest commandment of all?" And Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, he said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments hang all the laws and the prophets." >> [clears throat] >> So, get with me. Loving God comes first. You develop that relationship first.

You get to a place where you're so overwhelmed by God's majesty, by his love, by his grace. And then that love flows out of you. So, now you're doing your good works from a foundation of Jesus Christ, not from a foundation of trying to be seen by man, to be congratulated by man, to feel good about who you are, to prove that you're a good solid Bible person, okay? It's the overflow of Christ, and it becomes effortless, okay?

And it comes down to forgiving others, which is critical, we talked about that, you're that's for your freedom and theirs. And then obeying God, okay? The key to abiding in Christ is obeying. John 14 and 15, Jesus goes through a diatribe on how >> [clears throat] >> abiding, obeying, and loving are the key to the Christian life, okay?

Um abiding is getting in sync with God. Obeying is obeying what he says, and then loving him and loving on others. And as you do that, God will tell you in your prayers who to call that day. He'll He'll tell you, "Hey, write this letter."

He'll tell you to do this for your kids or he'll tell you that. He'll give you clear direction on what to do. Okay? He tells me what to preach.

He tells me what to say. Uh I'm going to share in a minute how how this year went, but he told me who to fire, who to I mean he'll tell you. But you got to spend time in the word. You got to be spend time praying.

You got to spend time loving on him. Okay? And those one of the things I'm going to try to do this year is try to turn more conversations um toward Jesus. I'm going to try to ask more people, "How's your relationship with Jesus?"

That's a good one, right? How's your relationship with Jesus? Just simple. Okay?

Um so to kind of sum it here, okay? My plan in 2026 for my work for my church for this church for my book and sales, with my kids in my new relationship I have, with my family my plan for 2026 is to abide obey and love. I'm not setting out five metrics, three tactics, five things I have to do. I'm not going crazy.

I'm going to get with God every day. Spend time with him growing that relationship, and then do what he tells me to do. I've got the triune God ready and willing to help me live my best life. Because guess what?

God knows whether the market's going to crash next year or not. I don't. God knows whether something's going to happen next year in this relationship, this person, that person. I don't.

He knows what this person's going through. And so if he tells me to do something, I got to do that. Because I don't know why, but it doesn't matter. I can't tell you how many times I've been in here, preached, and two or three different people said, "That message was exactly for me."

And I I know anything about what they're going through. God is just simply using me. It's got nothing to do with me. I didn't I didn't do that.

That was truly a God thing, okay? So, going into this year which was the most productive year of my thing. So, this goes against what people will tell you. Brian, you can't just trust God for everything.

And just let him trust God. Yeah. And the pro- reason that's so hard for people to grasp is because we don't. Okay?

We trust him in the little areas, the ones we're overwhelmed in maybe, but the things we're strong in, the things we're good in, we don't have need of him or we don't think we do. We tend to do what we want to do with our day and then call on God when things aren't going our way, okay? That's the American way because you can do it all yourself, but it's absolutely not biblical based on what we've just studied, okay? So again I go into this year and this was my mission statement to start the year.

To fully abide in Christ, abide, obeying his commands and loving on others, abide, obey, love, with my unique gifts of leading, teaching, and giving. That was what I all would do, that I may manifest the joy of the Lord to a hurting generation. Karianne will attest I the joy of the Lord is pretty prevalent in me most of my my days. Five days a week I'm probably sitting there "God my life is so good."

But at the start of this year I didn't know anything about a church. Okay, I knew I was going to try to publish my book, but I didn't know who the publisher was going to be or anything else like that. I had written it, but that was it. I didn't have any plans or goals.

I want to do abide, obey, love. That's all I wanted to do. And so, just by doing that, God slowed down one of the things one of the things I used to not give to God was my business. I was a successful businessman.

I would praise God that I was doing good because that's what all us Christians do. We praise him for the things when things go right because if you're in church, you have to praise God. You can't say you did it yourself. That sounds bragging.

But but if you're really thinking it inside, God knows. Even if you're just giving him lip service because that's what us good Christians are supposed to do. Okay? But, I truly wasn't bringing him into my business in the prevalent ways that I needed to.

And in '08, when Lehman Brothers crashed, my business went into It was around 2013, 2014 when I was at the end of my rope that I finally turned my business over to the Lord. So, since then, if my business slows down, I don't double my work effort. I sit there and say, "What are you What are you up to now, God?" And in the first quarter of this year, my business slowed down.

So, I said, "What are you up to, God?" And I got an email to go to a pastor's conference, which led to this church. That would have never happened if I was doing it all for me. Okay?

It's because I trust God with everything. If he tells me to do this, I do this. If he tells me to do that, I do that. So, this year, I published my book.

I I started a church. My business handled a very tough year of ups and downs. Government shutdowns and everything else. He told me who to fire, who to let go, what to do.

He told me all of these things in times alone with him. And it everything he told me to do worked. The The luncheon I did with you guys at Chili's, that was God. He told me to do that.

I mean, like like everything that I did this year that was good and smart, he told me to do. So, why am I going to change that formula for next It was the most productive year of my life. And I end the year I had no relationship at the start of the year. I end my year with a relationship with a great gal.

My kids, I've grown that relationship. One of the things I really was hoping at the start of the year was that I could I could get into a more um spiritual mode with my kids, right? They're here every Sunday at church. I get to I get to share the gospel with them every Sunday at church, right?

That wasn't in my plan at the start of the year. I didn't see that happening. Yeah, you So, what I'm saying is, it's simple. It's so simple.

Pray. Spend time with God. Pray. Okay?

Spend time in fellowship. Spend time in this word. Okay? That's abiding.

And then obey what he tells you to do. And love. And if you just do that, you don't have to have 15 different strategies, success principles, all this other stuff. And he's going to work it out.

Why? Because he's for you. He's not against you. Okay?

He is on your side. He is Can I get an amen on that? He is on your side. Amen.

Okay? >> [clears throat] >> If you do this, you're setting yourselves up But you're also setting yourself up for success right now. God can take care of the now, and he can take care of the later. He can take care of all of it, but you got to get develop that relationship with him.

If you do one thing next year, one thing, develop that relationship with him. And then all the other things you worry about will start taking care of themselves. Okay? Stop worrying about all that stuff.

Letting go and letting God. Okay? It's what we all say, but none of us do. I did it this year, and it worked.

So let's try it again next year. Maybe it'll work for you, too. How about that? Maybe we even write a book about it one day.

Who knows? All right? And as Gabe and them come up, I want you to think about I'm going to ask this question now. As they come up to sing a song of reflection, I want you to think about how's your relationship with God?

How's your relationship more specifically with Jesus [music] Christ? Is it where you think he wants you to be? Is it where [music] you want it to be? Okay?

And if it's not, start thinking on these things. [music] Start committing to some of these things. You can learn more about him >> [music] >> from this book, from prayer, and from fellowship, okay? You'll learn in fellowship.

You get ideas from people that that are further along [music] the path than you that can help guide you on things okay? Um so so you [music] need these things in your life, okay? So so if you want to come and make [music] it a public thing down there, man, make it a public thing. Nail it down.

But if not, just quietly think about your relationship with Jesus and talk to him. Talk to him [music] and commit to him something that you're going to do or all of the things I just asked you to do. Just commit to him some more time in 2026 [music] and I promise you it will be a blessing to you. You will have a great [music] 2026 no matter what happens in the economy or Trump or anything else, okay?

So amen.