Mark Batterson - Change Me
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We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Uh, joy to be with you for just a few minutes. This won’t be a long message, just a little reminder at the end of 2024, as we go into 2025. So excited about where God is taking us as a church, and His plans for your life are good. The best is yet to come; I’m believing it for us corporately and for you personally, and so ready or not, here we go.
In 1983, Lauren Whitehead wrote an article called «Domino Chain Reaction.» Now, the domino effect is nothing new. What was discovered is that a domino, kind of like this 2-inch domino, is capable of knocking over another domino that is one and a half times its size. So, a 2-inch domino can knock over a 3-inch domino, a 3-inch domino can knock over a 4.5-inch domino. By the time you get to the 18th domino, you can knock over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Uh, I think the 21st domino would be the giant pencil, uh, the Washington Monument; I think the 23rd could topple the Eiffel Tower, and by the time you get to the 27th domino, you could take down the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
Now, in mathematics, there are two kinds of progression: there’s linear progression and there’s exponential progression. Linear progression is 1 + 1 = 2, 2 + 2 = 4. Uh, exponential progression is compound doubling: 2 * 2 = 4, 4 * 4 = 16, 16 * 16 anyone? Anyone? Uh, 256. Uh, here’s what I think: faith is not linear; faith is exponential. It’s like this 2-inch domino; faith has a multiplying effect. Uh, obedience, long obedience in the same direction, has a compound impact. It has an exponential effect. And so as we go into the New Year, you don’t have to do big things. What we need to do is little things like they’re big things so that God can do big things like they’re little things.
I want to just draw a couple of thoughts from Hebrews 5, verse 14, but let me start in verse 13. It says, «For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness.» I think what the writer of Hebrews is saying, a little bit of tough love: grow up! It’s time to grow up. We got to grow into the things of God; we got to grow beyond our elementary understanding of Scripture. I know people who have followed Jesus for 25 years, but they don’t have 25 years of experience; they have one year of experience repeated 25 times. Now, the problem with that is this: God is not going to graduate us to the next level until we learn the lesson; He wouldn’t do that to us. And so it’s so important that we take a learning posture and a growth mindset going into 2025.
Here’s the reality: your life is perfectly designed for the results you’re getting. So for better or for worse, what we have to do is step back, just take a look at our lives, especially going into a new year. Here are there some 2-inch habits that we need to make or break? Uh, I think our default prayer, more often than not, is, «Lord, change my circumstances.» Uh, it’s a lot easier than changing me, right? And so, uh, can God change our circumstances? Absolutely! Listen, if God can deliver Israel out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery, don’t tell me He can’t deliver you. Don’t tell me a miracle cannot happen, that reconciliation can’t happen in that relationship, that that prodigal can’t come home. Uh, God can do it, and this might be the year.
But I think that the challenge is that sometimes the circumstances we’re asking God to change are the circumstances that God is using to change us. And so if «Lord, change my circumstances» doesn’t work, usually we pray, «Lord, change others.» Again, way easier than changing me. But what I’ve come to realize is that God wants to change the person that looks back at me in the mirror. It’s less about changing circumstances, less about changing others. Who am I becoming? Uh, and so that’s the challenge to grow beyond kind of this elementary relationship with God—grow into maturity.
Now verse 14: «But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use…» There it is! If you have a Bible, would you just underline it? In fact, I’ve got it underlined twice in my Bible: «who by constant use,» by constant use—practice, practice, practice, over and over again—"who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good and evil.» It’s kind of like when you go to the gym and work out, which—uh, I bet a few of you are going to hit that gym January 1, aren’t you? I hope it lasts more than a week or a month. Um, but just like you would hit the gym and work out, it’s about getting into the Word and working out our spirit, working out our soul. At the end of the day, it’s our habits that will make us or break us, and that includes spiritual habits and the little 2-inch habits, right?
So, um, I have a theory that almost anyone can accomplish almost anything if you work at it long enough, hard enough, and smart enough. Now, not ignoring objective reality: if you’re 5'6» and you want to play in the NBA, you’re probably going to have to develop some skills beyond what maybe someone who is 6'6» or 7'6» might have to. But don’t tell me it can’t be done, because Spud Webb played 12 seasons in the NBA and won the 1986 dunk contest. That’s what I’m talking about. So it’s about working longer, harder, smarter. Uh, Jesus said, «Ask, seek, knock.» Those are present imperative verbs; in other words, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. The only ceiling on your impact on the world and intimacy with God is daily spiritual discipline.
So, are there any basics that you need to get back to as you go into the new year? Uh, it might be a Bible reading plan. So this is kind of fun: the key to spiritual growth is routine, but once the routine becomes routine, you have to change the routine. And so what I try to do every year is switch up my translation of Scripture; so it might be the NIV one year, KJV another year. Um, this one is brand new! I have never read the Berean Standard Bible, but I’m going to give it a go. And, uh, I think what it will do is make my synapses fire slightly differently because it reads a little differently. So can I encourage you to get into God’s Word and let God’s Word get into you? Maybe check out the YouVersion app, and you can download one of those reading plans. That would be a great habit to cultivate by constant use in 2025. It might be a gratitude journal; it might be plugging into the House of Prayer. Maybe it’s just a little different routine and prioritizing corporate prayer through the House of Prayer. Whatever it is, just a challenge. God wants to continue to benchmark each and every one of us.
And here’s the beautiful thing: there is a compound interest to long obedience in the same direction. On a corporate level, can I just say thank you for your generosity in giving? Uh, what a year! We have had a profound impact. Do you know that since its inception in 2017, National Community Church has given more than $7 million to the DC Dream Center? We operate more than 60 programs out of the Dream Center. Uh, we are impacting the next generation, and so it’s your giving that makes that possible. Uh, you might not know that we turn Ebenezer’s coffee house into a living room; more than 50 friends experiencing homelessness every Wednesday get a meal—a place to just experience the love and warmth of fellowship. And, uh, our common fund has impacted hundreds of people this year. Next year, uh, we are aiming at giving more than $3 million to Kingdom causes that don’t have our name on it—going on 17 mission trips! So listen, buckle up, uh, giddy up, we’re going to go big or go home, and uh, we’re going to see His kingdom come, and your giving is part of that.
And so if you want to make a year-end gift, uh, you can do that at nccc.edu. 5th, uh, House of Prayer January 9, and then that next week, January 16 through 19, we have got a revival. We’re going to have Pastor John Jenkins from First Baptist Glenarden in the house; he’s going to bring the word. And then we’ve got Pastor Donna Pani, one of our favorites, a friend of this church and this house, and uh, she’s going to bring the word on Friday night. I’ll wrap it up on Sunday, but we’re believing for sustained revival. Uh, so excited about where God is taking us as a church.
Just one little closing thought. In fact, take a deep breath; just let it out. I think sometimes we want to manufacture the miracle; we want to manipulate the situation and kind of make it happen. Or, you know, from a good heart, we want to do amazing things for God. News flash: God is the one who does amazing things for us. Our job is consecration; that’s what Joshua 3:5 says. And I think that happens by constant use. We just keep going to the altar; we keep seeking God first; we keep doing the right things day in and day out. We keep that gratitude journal; we keep in God’s word; we keep pressing in and praying through, and we’re going to see God move in miraculous ways this coming year.
Uh, so excited about what God has in store. And so if you do little things like they’re big things, the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to His power that’s at work within us-listen, He’s going to do big things like they’re little things, and I’m believing that for your life in this new year. And so may the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His countenance toward you and give you peace. In Jesus' name, amen.