What to leave behind in 2019
Introduction
This morning (29th) you are a few days from the New Year (2020), and physically if you are like most of us you are one step from exhaustion and you are praying that you are not going to get on that merry go round and play it again as 2019.
I bet if I were to ask if there was something you would want to change for 2020, I would get an answer from everyone.
It is only natural to come to an end of one year and reflect on what you would like to see happen for the next.
It is natural to go into a New Year with anticipation and hope that the New Year will be better than the old year.
Some of you made resolutions that fit the good and bad things of the last 12 months.
Most resolutions are broken by February.
So what will make this next New Year better than the last old year?
Short of being able to read into the future, we do not have a crystal ball, a mirror that shows us the future, but as a believer…we have something better.
We have the Word of Almighty God
We are offered God’s presence
We have God’s promises.
We have each other as a family of God. We are important to each other.
Each would be great to take into the New Year.
Prayer-
Father, this last Sunday before the New Year, we again come before you desiring that you would go before us and with us into this New Year. We ask that you would correct the short comings and bless even more the good things that have happened. We pray that the things that we struggled with would not be the same things that we struggle with this New Year. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Purpose of Message - I will tell right up front… it is so that we look to God’s Word to make sure we are approaching the New Year as God would have.
2020 does not have to be scary when you are moving into it with the Lord and you are confidently doing what the Lord has already told you to do.
If He has said a few things and you have not listened and you are expecting in the New Year for God to change his mind on the things He has already told you, you will probably be in for a bumpy ride.
I have a suggested list of things you might want to take into the New Year and a list of things that you most definitely should not take with you into the New Year.
You will have to tweak the list according to what the Lord says to you but you will definitely be in better shape than most if you do.
Things to leave behind from 2019
Bitterness, Negative judgment, harmful habits, excuses, failures, painful past, unhealthy relationships, regret, condemnation.
I don’t mean put them in the recycle bin and drag them out again. (Give them a visual)
I mean get rid of them- even out of all your hiding places.
Things that I would bring into 2020
New or renewed relationship with the Lord #1 because everything else will fall into perspective if your relationship is right.
Peace of God
Hope
Praise
Joy
I would be at that table getting as much as I can get
“If you want something you never had, you have to do something you have never done.” Repeat 3 times
Let that sink in for a minute!
Let me give you a few verses to spring board into action.
Philippians 3:13-14
“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize, for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”
The one thing Apostle Paul tells us to do is forget the past and not live on past failures, but be looking ahead!
Paul had a long pedigree list and performance metals. (That takes you only so far)
These were the things that he once trusted in, but now he is looking to Christ.
He did not delete his past from his memory, he just won’t let his past keep him from his future now that he is a new creation in Christ.
His past is reevaluated up against what Christ has done for him and it is as filthy rags in comparison.
If his past had lessons learned, he wants them brought forward, if they are under the blood of Christ, he was going to bury them in the redemption of Christ.
God wants us to know that the past has no power over us and that we can let go of it because we have been renewed by his love, and redeeming grace.
Let’s talk about that-
We see very quickly that there are things you should bring into every New Year and there are things that you never bring with you into the New Year.
The Lord is the one that helps us decide what those things are based upon his word and what struggles we have in our lives.
We do not make those decisions by ourselves.
Our bad decisions are what got us to where we are.
Apostle Paul talks about being a runner. A runner would not be very good if he is constantly kept looking backwards instead of ahead to the finish line.
He is not looking back and what he is doing is straining toward what is ahead.
Illustration-
Every muscle strained and worked, extended to get full capacity.
Eyes fixated on the finish line
With intensity of purpose, he’s not only going to finish, but he is going to finish well.
Illustration/ weight lifter
Feet planted
Focused and fixed on the end result
Body tuned to do what it has been trained to do.
Balanced and confident
Straining every muscle working together toward the goal
Nothing short of accomplishment satisfies.
So what is the prize he is straining so hard to win?
Spiritually, Paul’s desire is that all of us to achieve in our lives what the Lord desires for us and not let our past failures keep us from that.
We must own up to our mistakes and be the people the Lord wants us to be, but we cannot let failures keep us down and from achieving them.
Here the call is not restricted to ministry- it is a comprehensive call to salvation, it is a call to fellowship with God and God’s people, it is to run the race that God set out for you!
Living his live in Christ and being found in Christ at the end of his life was his desire.
Where he wanted to hear from Jesus- “well done good and faithful servant.”
That call is in Christ! You cannot do that without Him- Christ in you from beginning to end-
His presence directing our lives every step of the way.
What does he want us to leave in the past?
Shame of past failures that are under the blood of Christ.
Things that are out of our control
Baggage that is like an overnight bag. It goes everywhere with us and He is saying as a believer, that shame bag can get thrown out!
There are things you are throwing in the dumpster that were not good- they call them dumpsters for a reason. We are not to be going dumpster diving after we throw them in either- That is not an Olympic sport but people spend a lot of time practicing like they were.
Colossians 3:2
“Set your mind on things that are above, not on things of the earth.”
Set your mind on things above is a command from the Lord to make sure we stay focused on things that matter to God more than things that matter to us- it is again the connection between the believer and his savior Christ.
He acknowledges that there are two worlds competing for our affection.
Set your mind on earthly things is to put temporal things before eternal things- false teachings, false feelings, pleasures that are not where God wants us are to be eliminated so we have right prospective.
We don’t reject the world, we just do not want to let the world control what we do or what we say, or how we act. That is determined by our God.
Ephesians 4:22-24
“you were taught, with regard to the former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God is righteousness and holiness.”
When is the last time, you have taken the time to sit down and decide what goes where? Who goes where? (Repeat)
The key word in this verse is “you were taught” you have learned Christ-
He tells us to put things off-
He tells us to Put things on-
Allow God to make you new-
The Ephesian church was reminded that as believers, they were not taught to be like themselves or others, they were taught to be like Christ.
You did not learn about Christ that way…you heard and you were taught about him, as truth.
That was your former life- in your former life, it was all about you and you carried that shame bag, you carried all you desires that were against the things of God, you put on what you wanted and took off “to be made new” what you wanted. Now that you are no longer that person, or you are allowing God to change you from that person, you put off anything that would take you away from Christ and put on anything that would draw you closer to Christ.
I want you to know that to be made new was not just letting God clean you up, refurbish, shine you up, it was allowing God to do a makeover in your life.
You want to bring life lessons learned from 2019 into 2020 so that you will continue to make progress in your journey with the Lord. You do not want to do do-overs- they are painful and time consumer and unnecessary if we learn the lesson the first time from the Lord.
Close
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I 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. Isaiah 43:18-19
As we close, I am asking you to allow God to work in you and through you so that we might see the new things that God desires to do in our lives. Allow Him to lead us out of things that are not meant for us.
Our instinct is to run back to what is familiar- but then it would not be a new thing!
Maybe you are stuck between where you are now and where you want to be going- unwanted season of change is tough, but we can get through it with the Lord directing us.
In a world so messed up, only God can keep your heart and mind right so you can make good life decisions.
Letting go of things we love but know are bad for us is hard. It is so easy to hold unto things, but we must trust God for something better.
