Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Me

A. Goals are hard to make stick

Consider the common statistics

Some 80% of people who set goals never realize those goals

The fitness industry literally banks on these statistics

They sell too many memberships to their gyms (some as high as 300% capacity)

They know they will never be able to support that many people

But they also know…they won’t have to

With all the good intentions…so many people allow their New Year’s Resolutions to fail and falter

Why are goals so hard to make stick?

We do not have enough time to explore every possibility…but...

Don’t know how to make good goals

Too lofty

Too imprecise (what’s success?)

We expect instant success with no hard work (come on…admit it…you do this too, don’t you?)

Don’t know how to make them a habit

Motivation gets us started...

Habits keep us going

Sometimes, we don’t stick with something long enough for it to really become a habit, or to see the results that define “success” in that goal

More often, we don’t know how to implement a process to help make them stick…to make them a habit

What if we have something important we really want to make stick?

I think spiritual goals are worth putting in the effort to make them stick

B. Spiritual goals are worth putting in the effort

Consider some spiritual goals

C.

Getting closer to God

Getting closer to my spiritual family

Becoming a more effective tool in the Lord’s kingdom

If your spiritual walk is important to you…you take it seriously, then you are going to want to develop yourself, spiritually

They may not be easy, be

We

B. We all have spiritual goals (or we should)

Goals set a path for growth

It is not good to be satisfied with the status quo

You should be more spiritually mature than you were this time last year…and you should want to be more mature again this time next year

As Christians, we are constantly growing…into the image of Jesus

Consider some examples

Develop new habits

Reading the Bible more regularly…maybe 5-6 times a week (at least)

Praying more, each and every day (or even developing the subjects about which we pray)

More kindness, patience, gentleness in my interactions with others (family??)

More involvement in spiritual activities with the congregation or with others pursuing spiritual benefit

Try for some accomplishments

Read the Bible in a year (or half if that’s a bit too much to chew off the first time)

Offer Bible studies

Give more time or resources

Give so much more of your time and resources this year than you gave last year

Become trained (how to study/evangelism/conversations)

Become trained in a skill that will help you in your spiritual life (how to study the Bible, how to do evangelism, how to start spiritual conversations, etc.)

Consider your own spiritual goals

Did you develop any this past week?

What might be some good goals

What do you want to have accomplished this time next year?

New habits?

New relationships?

But here is the question for us this morning: How can you make these important spiritual goals stick?

How can you ensure they will still be going on, or have been accomplished by next year?

God

C. God’s word gives us some helpful insights into making goals stick

There is no scripture (in my mind) that deals with “10 Ways to Make Goals Stick”

But we’re not the first to want to improve our lives in a spiritual manner

Joshua gives us a great example of setting spiritual goals

D. First step: begin with a goal in mind

However, we are not the first people who wanted to make improvements in our spiritual lives…and we are going to look at an example from the end of Joshua’s life, to help us see how we might implement and keep spiritual goals in our lives

The first step in getting any goal to stick is very, very simple: you need a goal to begin with

Read:

Read:

Joshua has a goal in mind for himself and he offers it to the people, too

Notice what Joshua does

Notice what Joshua does

He establishes the goal: “…fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth...”

He establishes the distractions: “...the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt...”

The solution to overcome the distraction: “...put away the gods...”

Joshua wants this goal to stick…so he instructs the people

We can develop our own ways to get our goals to stick from Joshua’s instructions

We can consider their goals and methods

Joshua’s goal is very admirable, spiritually

To serve God

He wants the people to follow him in this goal

But he also knows goals can be dismissed or challenging

We are not dealing with establishing our goals, this week…we want to figure out how to make them stick

Fortunately, now that Joshua has established the goal, he is going to give us some insight into how he and the Israelites will make this goal stick

Consider: Anything worth doing is going to be challenging.

With a goal in mind…how does Joshua plan to make this goal stick?

TRANSITION: I imagine you have some spiritual goals you think are pretty important…so let’s look at the example of Joshua to see how we might learn how to better stick with our spiritual goals

Body

I. Goals Stick with Accountability ()

Read:

A. Joshua has “accountability partners”…the Israelites

Joshua puts his commitment and goal in front of everyone he is addressing (the whole nation)

He has offered the option and opportunity for all the people

You can serve the gods of Egypt, the gods from before Abraham came into Canaan, or even the gods of the Amorites

He presents the motivation for the BEST choice

“…the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living...”

If they were defeated by our God, why would you choose them?

Then Joshua puts it all out there…he makes it public what he is committing to do

His goal: serve the Lord

He is not alone, his family (house) will join him

This commitment will not only motivate the other Israelites (if Joshua is doing it, then we should, too)…but it will bring accountability in Joshua’s commitment, as well