This One Thing

So you could go home now. We’ve kind of got it all set up for you. You know what to do. Hey thanks for being here. One of the things I struggle with at the beginning of every year is how long do you say Happy New Year. I tend to go into like February so I’m just going to try and say it one time, Happy New Year, so good to see you guys. For those of you joining us online, Happy New Year; at all of our Atlanta area campuses, Happy New Year and to all of our strategic partners all over the country, Happy New Year. Now today what I would like to do is I’d like to help us think together about this next year. Not something specific but something that is specific to you. This next year there is a lot of things you could do. This next year or during this year there are a lot of things that you will do but there is one thing that you’ve got to do. And so today for the next few minutes I want to talk to you about that one thing. Now that one thing is different for all of us. There is one thing that based on what’s going on in your life, your relationships, your marriage, your finances, whatever it might be, there is one thing that if you could figure out this one thing and if you would do this one thing it would leave you in a much better place a year from now than where you are right now. In fact, if some of you got focused on the one thing whatever that one thing is for you, you could be in a better place six months from now. And, this isn’t going to be new information, this one thing is something you’ve thought about, this one thing is something that someone has suggested to you, this one thing may be something you even tried before but for whatever reason you lost focus, you lost track, you got distracted and you didn’t focus on the one thing.

Now I don’t know what the one thing is for you. It’s different for all of us but all of us have one thing this year if we don’t get anything else done, if we don’t get anything else accomplished, there is one thing we need to focus on and get done this year. So I want to throw out some suggestions and then we’re going to open the scriptures. I’m going to tell you a very cool Old Testament story that made a huge impact in my life and in Sandra’s life about fifteen years ago as we began to focus on a very few things that made a very big difference in our life. When I’m talking about one thing it could be one of these things; it could be a habit that you need to break. There is a habit that you need to break and nobody needs to tell you what it is, you know what it is and you have tried but if you could push a magic button and transport yourself to twelve months from now and you knew twelve months from now that habit would be behind you and it wouldn’t be a part of your life anymore you would push that button because it’s a habit you need to break. It could be a goal you need to accomplish, a project you need to complete, a relationship you need to restore or perhaps a relationship you need to end. Some of you are in relationships right now and the truth is if you could push a magic button and suddenly there would be no emotional shrapnel, there would be no complications but you could magically, supernaturally be out of the relationship you would push that. For others of you again it’s a relationship that needs to be restored and relationships are so emotional, you know you need to; you know you ought to; you need to pick up the phone; you need to have that lunch; you need to reconnect but when it comes down to doing it there is always something else that you would rather do because it’s so difficult.

Or it might be a debt you need to retire. It’s been hanging around forever. Every time you hear us talk about debt, every time you hear Dave Ramsey, every time you hear one of those commercials about debt consolidation you feel guilty; you feel terrible; you have that self conversation of yeah I need to; yeah I ought to; you sit through sermons and if you’re a church person you go hmm-hmm-hmm but then you don’t do anything about it. It’s like a religious experience every time you hear about debt because you feel closer to God because you know God wants you to do something about it and then you don’t do anything about it. But your life and your future and even your relationships with the people that you love the most could be different if you were to just focus this year on getting rid of some of the stupid debt that you’ve been carrying around. So again this is my list. Your thing may not be on this list but I have a feeling if I were to sit down and talk to you or you were to spend a few minutes thinking about it there is something that is kind of hanging over you; there is something that is a part of your life; there is something that this year if you don’t get anything else accomplished, there is something you need to do. It’s that one thing.