Its A New Page - Write Well!

As we begin this New Year, this fresh page of life to write on, we need to purpose in our heart to really make it count. Oh I know that every New Year we have a list of things we want to do or do better. Some have resolutions the rest of us at least hope to accomplish a plan. Yet, we often find ourselves a few weeks or months down the road and nothing has really changed. We can come up with a list of “whys” but really there are two reasons. One we lack discipline. The American culture is big on no discipline. We have a hard time on telling our selves no. For this reason we often simply don’t change. The answer to this is simply change. Grit your teeth and tell yourselves NO and then change. Get some discipline in your life!

The second thing we tend to do is we drag too many things (excuses) into the New Year. This was the subject of my sermon at Sunday’s New Year service. I took my title from Dr. Tony Evans book, No More Excuses. I then used some of his chapter titles for the excuses we need to lose. I don’t want to preach the message all over again. Yet, since I had to go through my points so fast that I’m sure you couldn’t remember them all, I would like to list them here today. Remember you have a brand New Year and I challenge you not to drag the excuses of yesterday onto this fresh new page. Lose the excuses! Discipline yourself and say No More…

No More Hiding Behind the Past!

There are things in every yesterday that were not right and fair. There are things in every yesterday that you wished hadn’t have happened. There are sins, events and happenings that we can each say we wish they were not there. There are people that did you wrong. There are decisions that were sinful. There were people that acted unChrist-like. Listen, repent, pray through it, get over it and let it go! It’s only history it does not belong in today! Stop using it as an excuse; you’re living in a day that does not belong to you (the past). Stop hiding behind the past! It’s only an excuse!

No More Feeling Worthless!

You have more influence with God than you think you do. God doesn’t make junk!

He has a plan for you. No one else may seem to care but God thinks you are it! Lose that spirit of feeling sorry for yourself. Change what needs to be changed and allow God to do something with the vessel He made. Stop using your feelings as an excuse its costing you your dream. It will leave you bound in a dark cell the rest of your life.

No More Sifting Through the Rubble!

Stop being a gleaner, a person that just takes the leftover and what others don’t want. God has a higher calling for you. You may feel you have already blown it or you miss your chance, give that thinking up.  Simon Peter messed up so many times it seems there was no hope of him ever being what God called him to be. Yet after all his failures God would not let him just sift through the rubble. Jesus said "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." (Luke 22:31-32 NKJV) Don’t become satisfied with a little blessing when God has a big plan for your life. Change your life and the actions of your life. Start living with expectation that God has a great plan for you, because He does. So live like HE does

No More Second-Rate Marriages.

The church is only as strong as the families in it. Fall in love again and again and again. Marriages are falling apart on every side. Stop, read, pray, plan, and strengthen your marriage. Your marriage is to be an example of the Church and God’s relationship. It’s compared so in Ephesians chapter 5.

Ladies, stop complaining and nagging. Start responding to your husband like the church should respond to God. Men quit being a jerk and uncaring. Start loving your wife like God loves His church. You can’t do what you need to do for God if your home is wrong, if your marriage is not right. 1 Peter 3:7 says if your marriage is not right your prayers are hindered.  There are no more excuses do something about it!

No More Going Through The Motions!

Many people trudge to work every day and back home every evening with no sense of why they do what they do. Because thinking about and approaching your purpose can raise some uncomfortable questions, many people start hiding behind the daily routine. It becomes their escape, their excuse not to search for anything more. (I’m too busy!) We go through the same old life doing the same old things and accomplishing the same old accomplishments. We get to the place where we ask, “Is this all there is?” If you want to find your purpose you don’t go looking for it, you find the Purpose-giver. If you want to find the secret of life you need to find the Author-of-life. The greatest way to find out who you are is not looking in the mirror, but to look to God, the one who gave you your identity.  When you really find God you can then really find yourself. He made you and shaped you, He made you for a purpose that He knows. When you find Him you can see your purpose. You keep saying you are too busy to pray, too busy to find God daily, too busy to stop and crawl into His hand. But what you really mean is you don’t want to come face to face with God because of what He will show you. Life is God’s gift to you. The fastest way to put your life together is by following the Life-Maker. When you know God, you will know your purpose. No more just going through the motions it’s just an excuse.

No More Standing On The Sideline!

This is your chance to do something for God. It may be your last chance. Get off the sidelines and become part of what God is doing.  When you just stay on the sidelines you become critical on how the game is played.  When you stay on the sidelines you complain about what is not being done or how it’s being done.  Yet, when you get in the game you realize what it takes to win and make a move. When you get in the game you soon find out that there is more to this than you thought. But better than both of those reasons you get to enjoy the blessings of a win.

No More Business As Usual!

It’s time to go beyond the way it’s always been. You need to set your sites on a goal, figure out what it takes to get there and do the work between the goal and where you are now! Get a fresh vision and a clear sense of God’s will. Then develop a disciplined commitment that says that no matter how hard it gets or how much excitement drains away I am going to stay the course. Keep your vision alive and on track. Your vision and purpose may not seem as great and special as the wonders of the world, but it’s how God made you, it’s what He needs you to do and it’s just as important as anything is this world. We can no longer function as we always have.

Make up your mind and become part of what God is doing! There are no more excuses.

The success of tomorrow in mine and your life depends on the preparation we make today.

A lasting work requires extensive preparation!

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:14-17 KJV

I have to be in on the dream of what God is doing in this year. There are no more excuses.