A Time to Change

How can I find the best version of myself?  

When I do, it will bring me great joy regardless of my circumstances. 

If it were easy, I'd already done it. 

(Luke 9:57-62 MSG) 

On the road someone asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said. Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? 

We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.” Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” He said, “Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral.” 

Intentions are easy, but my execution has been bad. 

Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!” 

Then another said, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.” 

Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.”

My goal is to get you moving to where you always wanted to travel.   

Auld Lang Syne means days gone by.

1. Move on from old history.

(Isaiah 43:18-19) “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I (God) am doing a new thing! 

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

From your previous year, what should you allow into your New Year?

   

2. Move on from old habits.

(Isaiah 58:6) “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”

What are you addicted too?  

What do you need to lay aside?  

Where you are is either good or bad, but you're not supposed to be there permanently. 

If we want something that we've never had, we've got to do something that we've never done. 

   

3. Move on from old hurts.

(2 Corinthians 5:17-18) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…

It is the distractions that are keeping you in the past.   

You can't do anything about it, but to move on.  

Don't be stuck in the same place.   Take this time seriously.  You can be healed.

I can’t start the next chapter of my life if I keep re-reading the last one.

Time to Make a Change

(Matthew 4:17) From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Repent simply means to change your thinking.  You need to think about your situation like God thinks about it. 

1.It’s time to get closer to God.

(James 4:8 NLT) Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

Don't do this year your way, but God's way.  God is a lot closer than you might think, and it's easier than you think.  God is not far from you, but near. 

2. It’s time to get honest with a friend.

(James 5:16 NLT) Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

God asks you to become accountable to someone.  Ask them to hold you to this.  That's why we have church small groups.

  

If you what to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go with others.   

3. It’s time to get in tune with your purpose and passions.

(Galatians 6:3-4) If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.

We can't make anything external great.  Joy comes from knowing that what we did matters. 

4. It’s time to get on doing something 

greater than myself.

(Ephesians 2:10 MSG) (God) creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

If we dedicate ourselves to something greater than ourselves, God will fill it with adventure and passion.  

I can’t go back and change the

beginning, but I can start where I am  

and change the end.

JOIN US FOR 21 DAYS OF PRAYER – January 6-26, 2019

Prayer services: Monday-Friday 6:00 a.m., Saturday 9:00 a.m. CST, United States. 

All services streamed live at www.churchofthehighlands.com.  

Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands

Video

https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/time-to-make-a-change1

All scripture is from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.