Habits

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. So today we are finishing the series, Small Things, Big Difference. And we've talked over the last three weeks before this, the fourth week, about different things that can move you forward in your life. Now, you might say, OK, John, you know, I've heard about this. But really, you look around and you see people who seem to make a huge impact in this world, that have huge things going on and huge ideas. And you go like, well, that just can't be me. But here's the truth that I think we've talked about for the last four weeks that we want to share today. It's not the big stuff. It's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things everyone wants. You just didn't see all those small things in their lives. You didn't see behind the scenes. We don't post this stuff on Facebook. Maybe we should, because the stuff we're posting isn't worth it half the time, right? It's the small things. So that's how we began this series and how we're going to end this series, because we're talking about small things again today. They kind of build on each other. Now, the first week we talked about how we actually change. And a lot of people think that people change, and we try to get other people to change by forcing them to it, or by letting them know all the facts, just laying it all out, or even by putting the fear of God into them, you know? It doesn't work. Study after study after study. It's not those big things. Power doesn't change people. What changes people? We are changed by the gospel, the gospel of God's love. We are changed through the gospel itself, the good news of Jesus Christ. As Jesus comes and relates to us on a very human, personal level, do you realize Jesus is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh? That means he understands you inside and out better than you even understand yourself. And then he repeatedly comes again and again, every day, to pour out his mercies new to you every morning. And he reframes your whole life through his cross and resurrection. So you have purpose, meaning, identity, destiny, everything going for you because you've got God on your side, who could be against you, right? That's how we actually change. It's through the gospel. Now, in the second week, we talked about the power of our thoughts and how so often our thoughts become critical and negative and worrisome and anxious and all that stuff. And we kind of intimated this. I don't think I said it directly. Don't believe everything you think. I need to remember that many times. Don't believe everything I think. Just because it's a thought in my head doesn't mean I need to challenge my thinking at times and realize it's kind of distorted. It's full of all sorts of illogic. It's irrational. It's not even true. It's not based on the promises of God. So don't believe everything you think. And what we said is we need a focus for our thoughts. And that focus is the gospel, Jesus Christ himself. And when I focus my thoughts on him, everything starts to fall in line. Then last week, we talked about the small thing called our words. And we said words really do matter. Words really do matter. And if you really want to change the life that you have, you need to change the words that you speak. And God has spoken a word into your life. His name is Jesus Christ. The word become flesh. And that word has changed everything else. And what I need to do more often than not is to shut my mouth and let God speak his word over me. Right? I don't need to keep talking. I need to shut up and let God speak what he has to say. Today, we're going to talk about our habits. Now, how many of you would say you are a highly disciplined person? Raise your hand. One, two, three. Good for you. God bless you. You actually tried to raise your hand there, and then you shook your head at the same time. How many of you would say that not so much? Raise your hands. Now, be disciplined enough to at least raise your hand on this one, right? I get it. Now, here's something, though, that I want to reframe about, the whole idea of habits. You still have habits. You have habits. We all have habits. There's a difference between having habits and having discipline, and we're going to talk about that a little today. Sometimes my habits are hitting the snooze button three or four times before I get up. Some other habits are I go home and sit on the couch and turn on the TV immediately. I don't even think about it. It's just what you do. After a while, that's what habits do. We've all got habits, and habits become powerful things. Charles Duhigg wrote a book a couple of years ago called The Power of Habit. In it, he talks about the research that has been done on your life and my life, human life in general. He's not saying anything new in this book, but, boy, he's selling a lot, and he's got a TED Talk as well. That's...