Happy New Year Awesome church!!!

As we launch into 2021 together let’s do it with faith and optimism... not just wishful thinking, but true faith and conviction that God is for us, and who can be against us.

Let's leave 2020 with thankfulness in our hearts. Resist the urge to say good riddance... Remember, every day, week, month and year is a gift from God.

Other people have been expressing a certain four-letter word concerning 2020.

Here are some f-words you can say instead.

Forgive. 

Don’t go into another year with un-forgiveness in your heart. Make a choice. Forgive!

I get so tired of the stress and resentment that un-forgiveness produces in me. Why go another year letting someone have so much control over your feelings. Forgive them, evict them from your thoughts and emotions.

Forget. 

Leave some things behind. Don’t carry extra baggage into the new year. Forget what lies behind. Life is a journey, it already has twists and turns, and ups and downs. Why would you want to carry extra burdens along the way. Let some things go. Put some things down. Walk lighter into 2021.

Find. 

Find something to be thankful for, surely you don’t have to look too far to find something you are grateful for. Esau squandered his birthright because he didn’t value it, he didn’t appreciate the great gift God had given him. Look around at what God has given you - your birthright. Do you appreciate what God has given you, or would you foolishly trade it for a bowl of stew?

Focus. 

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Look up. Look ahead. Don’t look at the problem, look at the promise!

Follow. 

If I have one regret in 2020 it’s that I didn’t follow closely enough to Jesus.

Jesus walked through life resolutely, the Bible says “He set His face towards Jerusalem”. A fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 50:7 where (Jesus) declares his complete confidence in God, declaring that he will not shrink back from His mission, despite severe suffering, opposition and humiliation “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know I will not be put to shame”.

Jesus walked confidently through storms and trials, whether on land or on the sea. He was undeterred by people or circumstances. 2020 has showed me how easily I can get discouraged, dismayed or distracted. Too many times this year I lost sight of what God was doing, I took my eyes of Jesus.

God told Joshua to follow the ark of the covenant.

Joshua 3 “and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”

My goal for 2021 is to do a better job of keeping up with Jesus. I don’t know the way, but He does. I don’t know what 2021 has in store, but He does.

I pray that you also will have the vision, the faith, and the strength to follow Jesus boldly into the New Year!