WEEK 3: GOAL SETTING Setting Goals in Faith WHY I NEED TO SET PERSONAL GOALS 1. God plans to bring all of history to its goal in Christ. Then Christ will be the head of everything in heaven and on earth! Eph.1:10 (GW) 2. I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something not just the air. 1 Cor. 9:26 (NCV) Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Eph. 5:16 (NLT) 3. According to your faith will it be done to you. Matt. 9:29 (NIV) Everything that does not come from faith is sin. Rom.14:23 (NIV) 4. Paul: I do not claim that I ve already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving toward the goal for which Christ Jesus has won me to himself. Phil. 3:12 (TEV) Then we will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him. Eph. 4:13 (CEV) 5. Job: I do not have the strength to endure. I do not have a goal that encourages me to carry on. Job 6:11 (NLT) The plans I have for you are plans to prosper you, not to harm you. They are plans to give you hope and a future. Jer. 29:11 (NIV)
WHAT KIND OF GOAL DOES GOD BLESS? 1. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10:31 (NIV) We make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 2 Cor. 5:9 (NIV) 2. Everything you do must be done with love. 1 Cor. 16:14 (NLT) Let love be your highest goal. Cor. 14:1 (NLT) 3. Do not use any part of yourselves to sin or to be used for wicked purposes. Instead, give yourselves to God and surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes. Rom. 6:13 Paul: I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. Cor. 9:26 (NLT) 4. Without faith it is impossible to please God... Heb. 11:6 (NIV) 5. We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it. Prov. 16:9 (MSG) You will NOT succeed by your own strength or power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. Zech. 4:6 (NCV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths. Prov. 3:5-6 (NLT) 3 - ii
Goal Setting: Setting Goals In Faith Various Scripture Text March 30, 2014 Rev. D2 How many times in your life have you said: This is the year it s going to be different. You have good intentions for about two weeks and then nothing really ever changes. What does it take to make changes in your life? In your health, In your finances, In your relationships, In your marriage, In your career? You have to not only see the possibility; But you also need to believe it s possible to change and set some faith goals. The most helpful thing you can do in your personal or relational lives is set personal goals. The Bible tells us five very important things. 1. Goal setting is a spiritual discipline. It s more than just a good idea. It is a spiritual discipline. It s like all the spiritual habits and disciplines that help you grow like: Prayer, Fasting, Giving, and like spending time alone with God. Goal setting is a spiritual discipline and it can be an act of stewardship where you say: God, I want to make the most of what I ve been given. It can be an act of worship saying: God, I give you back the life you ve given to me and I want to use it and I want to go your direction. It can be an act of discipleship. When you do it with other people it s an act of fellowship. It actually can fulfill all of the purposes of God in your life. That s why it s a spiritual discipline. You need to set goals in every area of your life, because God is a planner and goal setting God. For example, in Ephesians 1:10 it says: God plans to bring all of history Circle the phrase God plans and notice that the Bible says God plans and you should too. Otherwise you re just drifting. God plans to bring all of history to its goal in Christ There s that word goal. Then Christ will be the head of everything in heaven and on earth! History is moving to a climax where one day there s going to be a new heaven and a new earth where every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
There are seasons in life, no doubt about that winter, spring, summer and fall. We have a lot of seasons in life, but you re moving toward a goal. And goal setting is a spiritual discipline. 2. Goals focus my energy. Energy that s not focused is diffused and it doesn t have much power. Energy that s focused has enormous power. Paul models this in 1 Corinthians 9 and says: I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something - not just the air. In essence, he s saying: I m not just out there running around in circles. But, I m running toward a goal. I run to win. I have a purpose. I have a goal in everything that I do. You see, that helps you focus. This is important because you don t have time for everything. The good news is God doesn t expect you to do everything because not everything is worth doing in the first place. People sometimes don t know the difference between what s urgent and what s important. The urgent is almost never the most important thing. What s most important in your life is the stuff that s easiest to set aside. I want to spend time with God, but I set it aside for what s urgent. I want to spend time with my family, but I set it aside for what s urgent. The Bible says: Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. We are to make the most which means we don t waste our time on nonessentials. It means you need to know the difference between pressures and priorities. You need to know the difference between activity and achievement. Between what s urgent and what s important. You need to know what matters most. The secret to an effective life, if you want your life to count, is focus. Goals are a spiritual discipline. They focus my energy, and 3. Goals stretch my faith. Actually, goals are statements of faith. 3-2
They affirm your trust in God. When you say, I believe God wants me to accomplish this by this date that s a statement in faith. Dreams are good, but dreams don t do anything unless you wake up and turn them into goals with a deadline. A goal says, by the end of 2014: I m going to have this job, I m going to weigh this amount; I m going to have read this number of books. It s specific. It s measurable. The Bible tells us that God wants us to set goals because it stretches our faith. Jesus says in Matthew 9:29: According to your faith it will be done unto you. You haven t trusted God until you ve attempted something that can t be done in the power of the flesh. If you can do it on your own power, then you don t need God. So faith goals are those that are so big they force you to depend on God. You let the size of your God determine the size of your goal. And we have a big God so we can set big goals and we watch God work in a big way. What you need to do is set bigger goals for your personal life. If you re still working, then you need to set bigger goals for your career. If you re retired, then you need to set bigger goals for how you will continue to live a life of significance. And then spend the rest of your life going after them. If it s not worth the rest of your life, it s probably not worth five minutes. So, set big goals. I guess what I m doing is I m challenging you to dream great dreams for God and then put a deadline on it. Romans 14:23 says: Everything that does not come from faith is sin. How do you know when you need faith? It s when you re taking a risk. If there are no risks in your life, If you re playing it safe in every area of your life, Then you re not pleasing God. Because you re not trusting God. Or depending on God. Goals are a spiritual discipline. They focus my energy. They stretch my faith. 3-3
And 4. Goals build my character. They further develop and cultivate my character. The greatest benefit of setting goals in faith is not that you reach your goal and accomplish whatever that is. It s what happens in you on the journey. It s what you become on the journey. It s what changes in you on the journey. God wants you to change in order to develop character. One of the ways you develop character is by setting a goal and going after it and not giving in when you have all kinds of difficulties. It s in the journey, the struggle, that you develop the kind of character that God wants you to have. Paul is honest about growing in character and becoming more and more like Christ even though it s a struggle. Because he says: I do not claim that I ve already succeeded In reaching my goal, in other words Or have already become perfect Which means that my character is fully developed. I keep striving toward the goal for which Christ Jesus has won me to himself. So, what is that goal that God has for your life? It s not to make you happy although that s a side benefit. It s not to make you comfortable, because it s not always comfortable. It s not to make you secure, because life isn t always secure. God s number one goal in your life is to make you like Jesus. God wants you to grow in character and learn to respond to everything the way Jesus did To trials, to troubles, to tribulations, to difficulties, to problems. God wants you to know: How to handle criticism; How to handle your enemies; How to be kind to people who can t pay you back; How to love people who are unlovely; How to forgive the people who have hurt you; And how to learn the fruits of the Spirit which are Love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. That s character. That s what it means to become like Jesus. Then we will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him. 3-4
5. Goals give me hope. The reason why you need to set goals is goals give you hope. And you have to have hope in life. You have to have hope in order to cope. You can go without water for a day or so. You can go without food for many days. You can go without air for only a few seconds. But you need to have hope in your life. It s essential to life. There was a study done a while back on the people who survived the Holocaust. There was only one common denominator of everybody who made it through the death camps. It was this: They had something to look forward to. That s what kept them going. People who had nothing to look forward to tended to give up and just die and they became very passive. But, the people who had something to look forward to, they had a goal and that kept them going. It gave them the hope to endure. The fact is life is tough. You re going to go through difficult times. But, goals give you the hope to keep moving forward even when you feel like giving up. Remember when Job lost everything in his life? Job 6:11 says: I do not have the strength to endure. I do not have a goal that encourages me to carry on. I don t know what all of you re going through right now, but I know what some of you are going through and it s pretty tough. What do you do when life gets tough? You certainly don t want to stop. So, you keep going. And eventually you get through it. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I m not going to stay in the valley of the shadow of death. I m going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and I m going to keep going! So without a goal you don t have a reason to get out of bed. If you don t set any goals for your life for this next year, Then your goal is to stay the same. It s the goal by default. If I say to you, what s your goal for your health this year? And you say, I don t have one. Then your goal is to stay the same or get worse. If I say, what s your goal for your finances this year? 3-5
And you say, I don t have one. Then your goal is to stay the same or to go further in debt. What s your goal for your career this year? I don t have one. Then your goal is just to maintain the status quo. What s your goal for your marriage? I don t have one. Then it s not going to get any better. What s your goal for your relationship with the Lord? I don t have one. Then you re not going to get closer to God. You need a goal. If you aim at nothing, then you re going to hit it. Long term goals keep me from being discouraged by short term setbacks. Everybody has setbacks. I have setbacks in my life every single day and deal with tough stuff all the time in my life. But if you have a long term goal and keep your sights on it then when short term setbacks come, they won t overwhelm you. Jeremiah 29:11 says: The plans I have for you are plans to prosper you, That s what God says about you not to harm you. They are plans to give you a hope and a future. You see, you need to have some plans that coincide with God s plans for your life. The bottom line is you need to set some goals. But, not every goal is a good goal, so I need to set: 1. Godly goals, the kind that God blesses and bring glory to God. I Corinthians 10:31 says: Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. The Bible says: Anything can be done to the glory of God if you do it with the right motivation and attitude. But, what s the right attitude? It s Gratitude! And what kind of goal brings glory to God? Any goal that causes me to love and obey Jesus more, that s what kind. Any goal that causes me to be more grateful and trust God more. Any goal that causes me to want to serve God. Any goal that causes me to be more drawn to God. Any goal that causes me to want to share God s love with other people is a good and godly goal. 3-6
So, bring glory to God by loving and trusting and serving and obeying. II Corinthians 5:9 says: We make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. Whether we re here on earth or in heaven. 2. Godly goals, the kind of goals God blesses are motivated by love. God is far more interested in why you do what you do than what you actually do. God s more interested in your heart, than your actions. God blesses goals that are motivated by love. I Corinthians 16:14: Everything you do must be done with love. Remember, God is love and God put you on this earth to learn how to love. There are two kinds of love that motivate us to set goals. The first kind is my love for the Lord. The Bible says: The life I live in the body I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus Christ gave himself for you on the cross because He loves you. The other motivation is our love for other people. The Bible says: No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. If you ve set goals in your life without love, then people just become projects. The Bible says in I Corinthians 14:1: Let love be your highest goal. Godly goals that bring glory to God and are motivated by love 3. Godly goals fulfill one of God s purposes for your life. The thing about God s purposes is that they re eternal. And if life is preparation for eternity then you re going to view your goals very differently. So, when you pray, do you pray to use God for your purposes, or do you pray to align yourself with God s purposes? Do you say: God you made me. 3-7
You have a plan for my life. What do you want me to do with my life? How can I serve you so I can enjoy eternity? Let God use you for Kingdom Building! The Bible says: Do not use any part of yourselves to sin or to be used for wicked purposes. Instead, give yourselves to God surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes. Paul went on to say: I run straight toward the goal with purpose in every step. Paul was purpose driven. He said: When I m going through life, I m running toward the goal. I want to please Christ. I want to follow him. I want to do what God wants me to do. He refused to be distracted. The Bible often compares life to a race. In a race you don t get to set the finish line. It s already been preset. You don t get to move the finish line. You make progress one step at a time. So, that s the way you go towards your goals One step at a time. You set a big goal and then you go after it one step at a time making progress, with purpose in every step. You may have some mishaps. You may fall down. But the good news is, life is not a fifty-yard dash. Because if it were, most of us wouldn t make it. Life s a marathon. God doesn t care how fast you run it. God just wants you to get to the finish line. You re not in a race to run fast. You re in a race to end well. You re in a race to get to the finish line. Godly goals fulfill God s purposes. 4. Godly goals are set in faith. You ve got to set your goals big enough that they require faith. 3-8
If you set a goal that s too small and you can do it in your own power, that s not a goal. That s just a to-do list. A goal is something that s big enough that you re going to have to trust and depend on God to make it. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. It will be then that you ll have to trust God. Godly goals are not only set in faith, motivated by love, fulfill God s purposes, but 5. They are achieved with God s power. Your Godly goals need to be so big that God has to step in and help you and give you the strength and give you the energy to do it. Godly goals are achieved with God s power. You don t get the power from a self-help book, but from the power of this book. You get it from God s Word. So godly goals are achieved with God s power. In closing, the Bible says: We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it. That s why we fail at our resolutions. We don t depend on God. The Bible says: You will not succeed by your own strength or power, but by my Spirit says the Lord. Think about what will happen in your life if you set big enough goals Goals that bring glory to God; Goals that are motivated by love; Goals that help you fulfill God s purposes in your life; Goals that are faithful; Goals that cause you to truly trust in God s power with all of your heart? How will you be different? How will you become a blessing to God and to each other? How will you be changed with God s power and God s people! Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths. Let us Pray: 3-9
Gracious God, I thank you for our church family. We love you and we love each other. We greet this new day with great enthusiasm. We want to give you all of our lives. Help us to take the time to sit down and make some faith goals in areas of our lives. I pray that the message will not just be heard but it will be done. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 3-10