Last week we started this series, “Keep the Change” by looking at ourselves and asking “If I want to be the best and healthiest version of me, WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE?” So, when you think of that question, what is it that you want to change? Maybe you want to STOP something…
· Stop smoking
· Stop overeating
· Stop looking at sites you know you shouldn’t
· Stop grumbling and complaining

And you do for a little while and then you stumble and fall back into old patterns. Or maybe you want to START something?
· START eating healthy
· START praying daily
· START reading God’s Word daily
· START exercising regularly

And you do for a little while, and then you skip a day, then a week, then a month, then… What has this looked like for you? That thing that you have tried and tried and tried and tried again to STOP or to START and you KEEP FAILING to KEEP THE CHANGE!

Recently, I heard a sermon by Craig Groeschel on “Why Can’t I Change?” It was so powerful and relevant to what I was wanting to talk to you about that I am using some of it and I wanted to give him credit!

I don't know what it might be for you this year. You're trying and you're trying, and you're trying, and you're trying. You're trying to manage your diet. You're trying to be wise with your food intake. You're trying to lose weight, and trying to be more fit, and eventually, you get tired of trying, so you just eat a big bowl of ice cream! Have you been there? I want to talk to you today about WHY you haven’t been able to KEEP THE CHANGE. Perhaps here’s the reason WHY you have been unable to…KEEP THE CHANGE…in your life.

You’ve been TRYING too hard!

It’s like quicksand. The more you struggle and TRY harder to get out, the deeper and faster you will sink.

Have you ever seen a fly near a window and it bangs into the window trying to get out? What does it do? It gives up and flies away! No way! It backs up and hits it again and again and again. It is TRYING really hard! But that will NEVER work! That is as useless as the Chiefs Offensive line in the Super Bowl!

That is what you and I TRYING HARDER must look like to God. Perhaps an angel shouts out, “He’s doing it again!” when he sees someone pull themselves up and puts on their TRY HARDER hat.

And our definition of “TRYING” tends to be pretty lame. In talking to people about TRYING to establish a regular quiet time with God, I have heard people talk about how hard it is to wake up early. The Lord actually woke me up Wednesday morning at 12:39 with that thought. So I texted myself at 12:40 this:

· “I’m TRYING my best to get up early”! Really? Your best? If I offered you $100,000 if you got up EVERY day 30 minutes early in 2021, do you think you could do it?
· If your flight for your dream vacation left at 7 am and you had to be there at 5, would you make it?
· If you struggle with waking up early, and it’s something you want to do, you set an alarm. If it’s something you don’t want to take a chance at missing, you set multiple alarms and one of them is across the room.
· “I’m sorry I’m busy this weekend. I have plans.” Then a friend calls and says, “I got VIP tickets to the Super Bowl complete with free airline tix and hotel. Want to go with me?” You change your plans.
· If your WHY is big enough, important enough, a high enough priority to you, then your WHAT will match that.
· So, DO what I mentioned last week and TELL YOURSELF THE TRUTH! Do you REALLY WANT to CHANGE? Or is it a wish?

See, true, lasting change isn’t EASY! If it was, everybody would be what they want to be. It takes WORK. It takes INTENTION. It takes CONSISTENTCY. It takes DISCIPLINE! If we truly want to change, it’s time we…

STOP TRYING and START TRAINING!

But WAIT, I’ve TRIED TRAINING before! It’s TOO hard. It takes TOO much time! We may THINK training is too hard because we THINK we’ve trained but failed. But hang on, I have some practical steps that will help you. It’s not too hard. Your past failures do not give you an accurate picture of what it looks like to TRAIN. I will show you what it looks like to train to win. I promise it looks different than the last time you TRIED to train.

Let’s take a look at a couple of Scriptures that I think will be helpful to us today.

Discipline among other definitions, means:
· “TRAINING to act in accordance with a pattern of behavior.”
· “To TRAIN or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control.”
· “The quality of being able to behave and work in a controlled way which involves obeying particular rules or standards.”
· “Training that develops self-control, character, or orderliness and efficiency.”

Now, let’s look at one more passage, which will serve as our text today.

Paul didn’t say anything about TRYING here, but rather TRAINING! In other words:

STOP TRYING and START TRAINING!

Now, when Paul was talking about this competitive metaphor his audience would have clearly understood his perspective. He was writing to the Corinthians, and Corinth was a city in Greece. The people of Greece understood because every four years, starting in the 8th century BC, Greece hosted the Olympic Games and people from all over would come to compete. These were held until the 4th century AD. The modern version did not return until 1896.

So Paul was talking to a group that understood the value of competition and celebrated the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. He said this in verse 24:

"Don't you realize that in a race, everyone runs but only one person gets the prize." So, if you're going to run, what are you going to run for? Say it out loud. You're going to run to…what? You're going to run to WIN!

How many of you genuinely like to WIN? I do!

That competitiveness has been a flaw at times in my life when it’s been directed in an unhealthy way. There have been times earlier in my life where my competitiveness got me in trouble or at least got me a technical foul or two. There were times when games got tense because I was fighting FOR MY answer because I WANTED TO WIN!

Now, let me be clear. I STILL want to WIN! But mostly, that is a healthy thing now. I don’t allow that to define me any more.

It is true, that we can certainly take competitiveness too far, but if you want to WIN, it requires more than just TRYING. If you want to win:

STOP TRYING and START TRAINING!

Think about the LAST words that Jesus said. In Matthew 28:19, He looked at His disciples and He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." Make disciples, baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” He didn't say, “sleep in late. Be mediocre. Put in minimal effort. Waste your life looking at social media or your phone. Show up for the participation trophy.” BTW, I’m talking to myself here too! No, in everything we do as followers of Christ, we are to do it AS UNTO THE LORD. Don't rationalize away the thrill of bringing YOUR BEST for God. The apostle, Paul, says,

"If you're going to run, ‘RUN TO WIN!’

Question:
· Why aren't we winning?
· Why aren't we making progress?
· Why aren't we achieving the goals that we want to achieve?
· Why aren't we changing the things that we want to change in our lives?

The answer I believe, is this:

You've been TRYING for far too long.

In so many critical areas of our lives, Christians have adopted a false theology of TRYING.
· I’m TRYING to serve God!
· I’m TRYING to be a good Christian!
· I’m TRYING to stop cussing!
· I’m TRYING to stop smoking!
· I’m TRYING to read my Bible!
· I’m TRYING to PRAY!
· I’m TRYING to be more loving!
· I’m TRYING to get out of debt!
· I’m TRYING not to eat the whole quart of chocolate peanut butter ice cream! Sorry that was mine.
· I’m TRYING to break off my addictions!
· Well, why aren’t you WINNING at those things?

Trying isn’t ever going to change things permanently. TRYING almost implies that you plan to fail. There is no real commitment. It’s just a TRY. It’s just a hope. It’s just a wish. There isn’t really a plan. I’m going to bring a little bit of effort to this thing, BUT not too much. It’s often an attempt to change… with minimal commitment. But…if you want to WIN…

STOP TRYING and START TRAINING!

Training is VERY DIFFERENT from trying! Training is an entirely different mindset and perspective. When you're training, you've got a game plan, you've got a strategy, you've got some fight in you, you've got the eye of the tiger, you've got some Rocky I, and Rocky II, and Rocky III, and Rocky IV in you. We’ll leave Rocky V out of this. You even have some CREED in there. Maybe even some Cobra Kai! You're coming to play. You're running to win. You're not just TRYING. You're in TRAINING. There's intentionality! There's focus! There's a purpose.

When you're TRYING, you give up when it gets too hard. I tried. When you're TRYING, you quit when you don't feel like it. But when you're TRAINING, you don't act according to your feelings. You act according to your commitment. There's a big difference!

The Greek word translated “training” is agonizomai, from which we get the word, “AGONY”. This word means to ‘contend for victory’, to ‘strain every nerve’ toward the goal. The training sequence of Rocky in Rocky IV when he was in Russia best captures this for me. EVERYTHING in his life for those months was about WINNING against Drago! That is an extreme example of agonizomai!

Those Olympic athletes that Paul was talking about in our text, went into STRICT TRAINING because they wanted a prize. They weren’t just TRYING to compete, but TRAINING to WIN! They weren’t just showing up at the starting line for the cool T-shirt. They had their eyes on WINNING a head wreath!

In another of his writings, I like what Paul tells Timothy about becoming godly. He didn’t say,
· “I want you to TRY and be godly.”
· “Wake up and TRY your best. That’s all that anyone can ask.”
· “Try to get better.”

So, what DID he tell Timothy?

1 Timothy 4:7b – NLT – “TRAIN yourself to be godly.”

Somebody here or watching online needs to hear this: IF you want to WIN…

STOP TRYING and START TRAINING!

How do you do THAT? Part of that is a simple question.

What can I do TODAY that will enable me to do even more TOMORROW?

If you wanted to enter a marathon, could you do THAT today? For most of us that answer is “NO WAY”! But could you walk a mile? And then the next day, a mile and a half, and then 3 miles? Could you jog for 2 miles now? In fact, there is an app called “Couch to 5K” that gives you a workout routine that starts slow and progresses you to your goal. And little by little you do something TODAY that will enable you to do more TOMORROW. YOU…ARE…TRAINING!

1 Corinthians 9:26a – NLT – “So I run with PURPOSE in every step.”

He wasn’t just TRYING! He was TRAINING!

Paul’s race of faith wasn’t accidental but INTENTIONAL! He had a plan! It wasn’t a wish!

· He PLANNED on being GODLY!
· He PLANNED on having a transformed life!
· He PLANNED on making a difference!
· And because he had a plan, and a purpose, he wasn’t just TRYING. Giving it the old college try…NO! He was TRAINING… like an ATHLETE!

1 Corinthians 9:27a – NLT – “I DISCIPLINE my body like an athlete, TRAINING it to do what it should.”

Notice, he didn’t discipline his body like someone who WATCHED an athlete or someone who WANTED to be an athlete or WISHED to be an athlete in the future, but he TRAINED like someone who WAS A TRUE ATHLETE! THAT kind of determination and FOCUS and PLAN and STRATEGY will help you to have a much greater chance at WINNING! And notice that last part. “TRAINING it to do what it SHOULD.” Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying, “Practice makes perfect.” That’s not true. “Practice makes permanent!” SO… “PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.” We are to practice the RIGHT things. How do we know the right things? Get another set of eyes…on it.

That kind of Olympic athlete doesn’t do it by themselves. They have a coach. They have someone that they TRUST. Someone that they lean on for the right advice and the right mindset to help them get better…at CHANGING and KEEPING the CHANGE! SO…

STOP TRYING and START TRAININGand TRUSTING!

I want you to think about ONE thing that you WANT to CHANGE in your spiritual life?
· Your prayer life?
· Your devotional time with God?
· Your commitment to being IN CHURCH, if you can, regularly
· Your dedication to being in a Bridge group regularly?
· Trying to find a mentor that can help you.
· Your focus on being a consistent witness at work or in your neighborhood?
· Is it self-denial and crucifying your flesh?
· Or 360º faith? Are there areas of your life where your faith isn’t evident? Where it’s not showing?
· Think of ONE THING you want to CHANGE!

Now, WHAT is your TRAINING PLAN? If you were being paid to CHANGE THAT ONE AREA, what would you do differently? If an Olympic athlete was given that task what plan would they design to change that area of their life? Do YOU REALLY want to CHANGE? IF SO…get intentional.

Let me give you something practical as we close. When you are trying to change something, and you are setting goals, set an INPUT goal not an Outcome Goal. Let me explain the difference.

Outcome Goals:
· Get in better shape
· Lose 30 lbs
· Get closer to God
· Grow in my marriage

Those are great goals, but they are all Outcome based. Input Goals are completely up to you. You have control over them.

Here are some examples of some Input Goals:
· Do at least a 30 minute workout 5 days a week.
· Read God’s Word at least 10 minutes a day
· Talk to God every morning before I leave for work or school
· Go on 1 date night with my spouse every week or 2 times a month, etc.
· Read a book per month on leadership or read through the Bible this year.
· Find someone that really excels in the area I want to grow in and take them to lunch.
· Those are all INPUT goals.

If you focus on the right INPUT, the OUTCOME will take care of itself. Do not focus on the OUTCOME, that is TRYING. Athletes focus on what THEY can CONTROL. They…WE can CONTROL what we PUT IN!
And the longer we TRAIN, it becomes a HABIT. Habits are training in AUTOPILOT. The more you train, the easier it gets because as it becomes a HABIT it takes less and less thought and effort. SO:

STOP TRYING and START TRAININGand TRUST GOD!

Now, if you are in the room or watching online, I want to highlight one last thing about that statement. THAT is SO applicable to our relationship with God. Too many people think they have to TRY HARDER to EARN God’s forgiveness and grace…AND THAT is NOT TRUE!

If you are following along in our SOAP Bible reading plan, this last week we read:

Salvation is a matter of…

BELIEVING and RECEIVING not WORKING and EARNING

Would you like to take THAT step towards the GREATEST CHANGE you can ever make?