River Church NOLA
2022 Jan 2 Let's go...
  • Victory In Jesus
  • This Is Amazing Grace
  • 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)
  • Because He Lives
  • He Is Lord
  • We are now in 2022. Good bye 2021. I know many are glad to see 2021 go bye bye.
    New years is a great time to look back and to look ahead.
    do a year end review
    How do we evaluate last year and step into what God wants us to do this next year?
    Reminder…

    January 9-29 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

    Fasting resources…
    River Church Prayer Guide
    Prayer Card
    Fasting Resources -

    New Year is a time for Looking Behind and Looking Ahead

    So today we want to look at last year and towards this next year.

    Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind. Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?

    For auld lang syne, my dear for auld lang syne. We’ll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne

    Written by Robert Burns - Scottish for days in the past.
    The song is asking, what should be remembered and what should be forgotten? We want to ask that today.
    same slide below

    What should we bring with us into 2022?

    What should we leave behind in 2021?

    I am going to share soem scriptures and some tings you can do to get ready for 2022.
    It’s been a good year and a bad year for many of us. The church has rebounded somewhat from COVID lock downs… We have survived IDA…
    So we want to look at what we need to leave behind.
    Here are three things we need to leave behind.

    We should leave behind old history

    Easier said than done. How do you do that? You do this spiritually. If you do, God will get involved.
    Isaiah 43:18–19 NLT
    18 “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
    Something new - it doesn’t matter how bad of a year you had, God is doing a new thing.
    God will make a way for us even when we don’t see it. We don’t need to see it, we just need to believe it. We want to have GrEAT Faith in 2022
    ​

    We should leave behind old hurts

    This is a process that God wants us to do. In 2022, We want to do a better job this year of helping you walk through leaving behind past hurts. Small groups… Living Free… relationships… We are clearing out some of our rooms here to set them up for small group studies for 2022. We can also configure the big rooms for studies so we can keep a distance.
    2 Corinthians 5:17–18 NIV84
    17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
    New creation is here. God makes us right with himself through Jesus.
    speaking Faith to you… Leave behind the history and the hurts and…

    We should leave behind old habits

    We all have old habits. The bible is clear that we can move beyond these. One of the best ways is by prayer and fasting.
    We dedicate our year to God. Fasting helps us to give God our first.
    Isaiah 58:6 NIV84
    6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
    Loose chains - - Take the things that are habits in your life and break it off of you.
    We all have old habits… food maybe that I don’t need to eat … things you are watching… too much news… too much politics…
    A lot of the old is still attached to us, so we have to leave them behind. You cannot go back and undo the past. If you dwell on them constantly and don’t put your faith in with them, they will follow you into the new year. Look at this…

    I can’t go back and change the beginning but I can start where I am and change the ending

    You need to hear that. We can’t change the beginning but we can start right now and change the ending. Start where you are. God will work in you from where you are to take you to where he wants you to be.
    This year can be a year of Great Faith

    Looking ahead to the New Year

    John Maxwell said…

    Experience isn’t the best teacher

    If it were, everyone with experience would be getting better.

    Evaluated experience is the best teacher

    You have to evaluate the experience to learn from it. We all get experiences but we don’t always learn from them.
    1. As you review your year, and ask God to show you what he wants you to learn from those experiences, he will speak to you. Scroll through your pics… look at your calendar.
    I have been doing that this week and it’s been fun. I had forgotten some things.
    2. There are dashboards for your life that will help you in your life.
    12 Dashboards to let you know how you are doing.
    Your car has guages on the dashboard that tell you how the car is running. There is a dash board for your life as well.

    My Life Dashboard

    Grade yourself and Write down one sentence that you plan to do to make that area of your life better.

    1. My faith life: My relationship with God

    Prayer life -
    Worship -
    Bible Reading -

    2. My marriage life: My relationship with my spouse

    Or your dating life… Time? Do you love her like Jesus loved the church? Do you submit one to another?
    Not married? Pure?

    3. My family life: My relationship with my family

    Extended family… siblings… children… grand kids…
    Do I make time?

    4. My office life: My job / school

    working too much… not enough
    On time… giving my best…

    5. My digital life: My time on devices

    tv to social media - any time on these is time away from something else

    6. My ministry life: My purpose in life

    Are you serving God through your purpose?

    7. My financial life: My earning, spending, saving, giving

    Evaluate it. It’s the new year and a great time to evaluate each of these areas. Should be giving, saving, spending...
    Tithe?

    8. My social life: My time with friends/others

    Some of you are under doing this. Not social media… You need to be around real people.
    Others, you are hanging around people you don’t need to be around. You need to hang around people that pull you towards God not push you away from him.

    9. My attitudinal life: My approach to life

    Do I have the yes we can attitude?
    Am I positive or negative? I have to choose to be positive.

    10. My creative life: My dreams and plans for the future

    What can I do better? what is it that i want to accomplish this year?

    11. My mental/emotional life: My mind and my thoughts

    How are my thoughts? stinking or good
    What am I allowing into my mind that controls my thoughts?

    12. My physical Life: My body

    Am I eating healthy?
    Am I working out? I actually let several exercise beasts in our church trac my activity circles this year coming.
    We also need to ask the following 5 questions…

    5 questions to answer

    These are good. I have to be intentional about this because I am not naturally an evaluator.

    1. What’s my life’s purpose?

    Why do I exist?
    Proverbs 29:18 The Message
    18 If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
    Some of you are stumbling around because you have not discovered your purpose. Growth Trac… Shape … Dream Team will help.
    But when you do what God wants, he blesses you.
    ​
    Colossians 1:16 The Message
    16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.
    We find our purpose in our creator… God. Too many people are looking everywhere else… doesn’t work.
    Ephesians 1:11–12 The Message
    11 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, 12 part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
    You are a piece of the puzzle… where do you fit in?
    When you figure out where you fit in, then You will be living for something bigger than your problems.
    When you know what you are living for, it doesn’t keep things from happening. It makes it easer to go through.
    When you figure out what your vision is, then you have to do something to accomplish it.

    2. What am I doing to accomplish my purpose?

    Is how you are living your life working? Is it accomplishing the answer you had to question 1?
    Psalm 90:12 The Living Bible
    12 Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.
    He is not saying to count your days, he is saying to use your time wisely. Stop… think… Assess… Evaluate. Is my schedule right? Do I eat right? sleep enough? Get up at the right time each day?
    This is a system for living.
    Our vision is for people to Know God, Find Freedom, Discover their Purpose, but our system is…
    They know God through

    Weekend services

    Primarily. we will do some outreaches and we want to be daily witnesses.
    ​
    They find freedom in

    Small Groups

    ​
    They discover purpose in the

    Growth Track

    ​
    You make a difference on the

    Dream Team

    Volunteer team. How do you know how you are doing?

    3. How am I doing?

    Proverbs 27:23 NLT
    23 Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,
    Are people getting saved?
    Are people getting Baptized? Water ...Spirit?
    Are people in groups?
    Are people going to Growth trac?
    Are people volunteering?
    ​
    We want to trac these activities. Numbers count because every number is someone. If you fell out right here the medics would come and they will get some numbers… BP, heart rate, temp… those numbers count.
    Some of don’t have between 2 and 5 kids… you have a specific number. You count what’s important.
    ILL - The old couple that got caught parking… He asked her, How am I doing? If you do this, be ready for the answer.
    I am not good at this… ask Pastor Kathy but I am going to do this this year forward because I want to be the best husband I can be.
    Next, ask

    4. What are my values?

    Ask God what your values are? Write them down.
    Here are some you can take if you want to…

    I Love God

    I want people to know that I love God

    I Love People

    I want people to know that I love them… because I love God.

    I Pursue Excellence

    We all need to do the best we can.

    I Choose Joy

    ​
    We need to ask this question in each area of our life.

    5. What is important right now?

    What one thing, if it got better, would make the biggest difference?

    BTW, if you find that thing and fix it, it will be different the next time you ask it. (bucket with the hole in it… do you know where the leak is?)

    What am I not doing that I should be doing?

    Bible reading - OYB …Prayer… dating… tithing… serving… exercising… eating healthy…

    What am I doing that I should stop doing?

    watching too much TV… Too much time on devices…
    If you do these activities, 2022 can be your best year ever.
    Let me wrap this up. Maybe you can’t figure it out so let me give you some.

    What I should do in 2022

    1. I need to get closer to the Lord

    James 4:8 NLT
    8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
    Get Close to God. Repent. focus your loyalty on God....
    21 Days of Prayer and Fasting will help you set this first at the first of the year.

    If I want something I’ve never had, then I need to do something I’ve never done

    ​

    2. I need to be honest with a friend

    This will make your life better.
    James 5:16 NLT
    16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
    I know we have people that need to be healed.

    Go to God for forgiveness

    Go to God’s people for healing

    You need someone you can talk to before you do something stupid.
    ​
    If you can’t figure out what to do, find your purpose.

    3. I will discover my God given purpose

    Ephesians 2:10 The Living Bible
    10 It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.
    We were created to do good things… to help people.

    I am created on purpose for a purpose

    Get engaged with us this year… If you do, your year will be better.

    4. I will live my life for something that really matters

    If you want to live the best year ever, don’t live it for you, live it for something bigger than you… that’s eternal… that matters.
    This… River Church is something that really matters… you really matter. That keeps me going even when I feel like doing something else.
    Acts 20:24 The Message
    24 But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.
    That’s my hope for all of you.
    I hope that knows the thrill of obeying God in some way that scares you to death, but you had the faith to step up to the line and take the leap of faith.
    As you look at last year ask yourself, did that work? If it did, keep doing it. If it didn’t, step up to the lin

    If I dedicate my life to something greater than myself, God will fill my life with passion and adventure

    Babe Ruth Story - led the league in strike outs 1918, 23, 24, 27, 28 - Babe Ruth the home run king. He struck out more than anyone else, but he got back up to the plate and he kept swinging.
    Maybe 20 and 21 have been a strike out year for you… step back up to the plate. Let’s keep swinging.
    Prayer -
    Faith to come into their hearts. Fill each of us with passion and adventure.
    Salvation Prayer - It all begins with a relationship with Jesus.
    1 John 1:9 NLT
    9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
    Just ask him to forgive you and he will… repent.
    Live my life to serve you…
    Thank you that even though my best is like filthy rags, You forgive me and make me right.
    January 9-29 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

      • Isaiah 43:18–19NIV

      • 2 Corinthians 5:17–18NIV

      • Isaiah 58:6NIV

      • Proverbs 29:18NIV

      • Colossians 1:16NIV

      • Ephesians 1:11–12NIV

      • Psalm 90:12NIV

      • Proverbs 27:23NIV

      • James 4:8NIV

      • James 5:16NIV

      • Ephesians 2:10NIV

      • Acts 20:24NIV

River Church NOLA
robert@riverchurchnola.com
504-578-8317
https://riverchurchnola.com
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