Time to Choose

INTRODUCTION

We end 2023 right where we started…Worshipping and looking to the Lord together!

Questions to consider from 2023:

What major life events have happened to you this past year?

What did you learn?

What life lessons do you need to take with you into 2024?

What habits or mentalities do you need to leave behind in 2023?

What did your relationship with Jesus look like?

How will you grow in wisdom and truth in 2024?

New horizons bring new opportunities and new dangers. The best way to handle a new year is a commitment to drawing near to God and walking in fellowship with Him through obedience and spiritual growth and maturity.

Deuteronomy 30:11–20 ESV

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

1) Fellowship With God is Not a Mystery (v. 11-14)

God has given us His Word for us to know how to draw near to Him.

God has given us His Son so that we may know Him.

God has given us His Spirit so that we may grow in our faithfulness to Him.

2) The Focus of our Lives is Consequential (v.15-18)

We can no longer go through life naive to the spiritual realities realities of good and evil.

We can no longer claim the name of Jesus and yet reject His Lordship over us by how we live each day.

We can no longer see the world as good and better, we must see right and wrong.

3) Faithfulness to God brings Life (v. 19-20)

We are accountable to God and one another for our choices.

We can only truly experience life by…

…loving God

…obeying His voice

…holding fast to Him

It’s time to prioritize living in fullness with and through Jesus!

CLOSING AND RESPONSE

A CHOICE IS BEFORE YOU TODAY: WALK IN FAITHFULNESS TO JESUS AND LEARN TO TRULY LIVE OR WALK IN THE WAYS OF THE WORLD AND WASTE AWAY IN ITS IDEAS. THE CHOICE IS YOURS, BUT YOU CAN’T DO BOTH!

“CHOOSE LIFE, THAT YOU AND YOUR OFFSPRING MAY LIVE, LOVING THE LORD YOUR GOD, OBEYING HIS VOICE, AND HOLDING FAST TO HIM, FOR HE IS YOUR LIFE…”

WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE?

WHAT CHANGES IN YOUR LIFE WILL YOU MAKE?