Five Choices To Make It A Great Year - a podcast by Lewis Marsh

Choose To Make It A Great New Year!

Louie Marsh, 1-3-2021

 

INTRO: Three slides of polls, top 5 Resolutions - 3

 

1) I choose to FORGIVE ALL who wrong me.

 

“34And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”” (Matthew 18:34–35, ESV)

 

 “While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.”  - Ben Franklin

 

2) I choose to FOCUS ON what’s really important.

 

 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. Philip. 3:13-14 (NLT)

 

3) I choose to FIND GOD in every situation.

 

“2looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV)

 

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! Hebrews 12:1-3 (Mes)

 

I can be a …

• PESSIMIST
• OPTIMIST
• REALIST
• or I can be a CHRISTIAN

 

“8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8, ESV)

 

4) I must choose to DEAL WITH my flaws.

 

“8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:8–10, ESV)

 

But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Col. 3:8-10 (Mes)

 

5) I must choose to FOLLOW JESUS no matter what!

 

“23And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, ESV)

 

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