Mapping Out The New Year

INTRO.- Have you ever had a bad day?

• Everyone has a bad day once in a while Who hasn’t?

• But what about a really bad day? Here’s one that tops many I’ve heard.

• The following came from a Florida newspaper:

• A man was working on his motorcycle on his patio and his wife was in the house in the kitchen.

• The man was revving up the engine and somehow, the motorcycle slipped into gear.

• And when it did , The man, still holding the handlebars, was dragged through a glass patio door

• And along with the motorcycle dumped onto the floor inside the house.

• The wife, hearing the crash, ran into the dining room,

• And found her husband laying on the floor, cut and bleeding,

• With the motorcycle laying next to him and the patio door shattered.

• So The wife ran to the phone and called an ambulance.

• Because they lived on a fairly large hill, the wife went down the several flights of steps

• To the street to direct the paramedics to her husband.

After the ambulance arrived and transported the husband to the hospital,

• The wife up picks up the motorcycle and pushed it outside.

• And Seeing that gas had spilled on the floor, she gets some papers towels,

• And wipes up the spilled gas and then throws the towels in the toilet.

• Meranwhile her husband was treated at the hospital and was released to come home.

• After arriving home, he looked at the shattered patio door and the damage done to his motorcycle.

• And he became so upset that he went into the bathroom, sat on the toilet and smoked a cigarette.

• After finishing the cigarette, he flipped it between his legs into the toilet bowl while still seated.

• The wife, who was in the kitchen, heard a loud explosion and her husband screaming.

• She ran into the bathroom and found her husband lying on the floor.

• His pants had been blown away and he was suffering burns on the buttocks, the back of his legs and his groin.

• So again The wife runs to the phone and calls for an ambulance.

• As luck would have it The same ambulance crew was dispatched and the wife met them at the street.

• The paramedics again load the husband on the stretcher and began carrying him down to the street.

• And While they were going down the stairs with the wife, one of the paramedics

• Asks the wife how the husband had burned himself.

• She told them and the paramedics started laughing so hard,

• That one of them tipped the stretcher and dumped the husband out.

• And He fell down the remaining steps and broke his arm.

I Peter 3:10-12 1Pe 3:10 “If you want a happy life and good days, keep your tongue from speaking evil, and keep your lips from telling lies. 1Pe 3:11 Turn away from evil and do good. Work hard at living in peace with others. 1Pe 3:12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”

If think we all want a happy life,

• And I think we all would like to see many good days, instead of bad days?

• I mean after all Who wouldn’t?

• And I think there’s a way to see many good days in life.

Today I think one of the best modern inventions is the GPS (ELAB)(Guides Us)

Now This got me thinking

• It got me thinking that wouldn’t it be nice

• If we could have some kind of divine GPS for our life?

• A divine guidance system that would help us make all the right decisions in life?

Today, we need to plan ahead.

• Someone once said that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

• We need to plan our lives so we make the right turns and the right decisions

• So we don’t get off course.

• We need to map out a plan for the New Year

• So that we will see many good days.

And what we need to understand is that the Bible is our divine GPS

• And we need to use it to map out our lives

• And if we do we will experience good days.

• But What does this divine GPS tell us to do?

• Well today we are going to see that it tells us 3 things

1- Seek the Lord

2- Follow the Lord

3- Trust the Lord

I.SO FIRST LETS TALK ABOUT SEEKING THE LORD