New Directions Series

1. The Bible has a great deal to say about “New”

• New Covenant

• New Heart

• New Life

• New Way

• New Creation, to name a few

2. We tend to view the New Year as our big opportunity to restart. It can be true but actually each day is a new beginning. It really is the “first day of the rest of your life!” Today you have the opportunity to make the rest of your life whatever you want it to be and hopefully you want what God wants it to be.

3. We have some directions for our new walk in the New Year from Ephesians 5:15-21

I. Walk in Wisdom (15-17)

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

A. Focus on Your Walk (15)

Carefully = circumspectly, diligently, perfect(-ly).

Unwise = foolishly

Wise = a skilled or artistic worker or craftsman; wise, skilled in letters, cultivated, learned

Skillful Manner of Life

B. Focus on Your Time (16)

“Hurry, worry, multitasking, stress — you might call them the four horsemen of the accident prone. Stress is such a huge factor when it comes to accidents; in fact, it has been linked to an increase in post-9/11 traffic fatalities by researchers at the University of Minnesota.”

C. Focus on the Will of the LORD (17)

1. Wisdom involves Focus on the Important (removal of distractions) – Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

2. God’s Ways are Higher than Our Ways/His Wisdom-Our Wisdom – Isaiah 55:8-9

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

II. Sing in the Spirit (5:18-19)

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

A. Filled with the Spirit = under His Control; literally abound; fill to the top; fulfilled with the HS

1. “We don’t sing to be filled with the Spirit. We are filled with the Spirit in order to sing.” (Daniel Henderson)

This is the reason many attend services but don’t worship – they are filled with things other than the Spirit.

2. The Inflow of the Spirit Produces an Overflow of Psalms (pious song), hymns (praise of gods in Greek lit.; God in ours), spiritual (belonging to the divine Spirit) songs to God

3. The Inflow of the Spirit Produces an Outflow to Others - Speaking to One another

• Reason for Hebrews 10:25 – not so much for what you can receive but for what you can give

• Submission to One another (v.21)

III. Thrive with Thanksgiving (20-21)

20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

A. Giving thanks ALWAYS

B. Giving thanks IN all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

C. Giving thanks FOR all things [lice in concentration camps

1. This year will soon be over and before you know it, next year will be history as well. Be proactive and make the New Year your best year – so far.

2. Clean Your Slate (From David Jeremiah's "Turning Point" 12.23.19)

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

In ancient Rome, writing was done on a slate (a tabula) covered with wax. The tabula was erased by warming the wax and smoothing it out, resulting in a tabula rasa—a “clean slate..” In philosophy, tabula rasa refers to the idea that humans are born with a “clean slate” which is then filled with life’s knowledge and experiences.

Regardless of what is on our “slate” when we are born, by the time we are old enough to believe in Christ and follow Him, we have a “full slate” of the world’s ideas. How do we get a “clean slate”?

It is by God’s presence in our lives – His word and His Spirit. Are you studying God’s Word? Are you yielded to the Holy Spirit? Those are the two means for the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

3. As a result: