Up Hill Habit #1

Up Hill Habits

Aristotle - We are what we repeatedly do.

We form habits and those habits form us.

Most people Have Up Hill Hopes and Down Hill Habits.

Hopes are up there, but hope is not a strategy. We want to see you go through significant life change

Give God a year of your life and see what happens.

Now - this is not easy. If it were everyone would be doing it.

repeat with me

Everything worthwhile is Up Hill.

It’s not easy, but God will help you. That’s the good news. Too many people think they are they way they are and will not change. That’s not true. God wants to change each of us.

Boudreaux joke - breathelizer - blood test - urine test - walk straight line

You will need several things to take this journey.

Hope for Your Future.

You have to have hope for the future. Many of you have no hope for the future. You are HOPE-LESS.

Word for you from God...

But God...

Maybe there IS a lot going on, But God.

Jesus at the well

He meets a lady and asked her to draw him some water. He broke several barriers… Jew & Gentile; Make & Female, Divorced and living in sin… Here is what he said to her...

John 4:10 The Message

10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”

If you only knew the GENEROSITY of our God… He would ....

ILL - Man who quit smoking Marajuana during a time of church fasting. He had no idea what God was going to do. He never went back to smoking dope. He became a respected man in his community.

If you knew all of the stories in this room, it would blow your mind because of what God has done.

If you only knew the generosity of God...

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV84

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

If you are going to take this journey with me this year, you need hope for the future...

You also need,

Repentance from the Past.

Repentance is a course correction. You are going in one direction and you do a U-Turn and go the other direction.

We need to find an area of our lives where we need to change directions.

If you have been part of Recovery…

Story My Life in 5 Chapters

1. I went for a walk and fell into a hole and it took me a long time to get out.

2. I went for a walk and fell into a hole again and it took me a long time to get out.

3. I went for a walk again and saw the hole but got too close to it and slipped in and it took me a long time to get out.

4. I went for a walk again and saw the hole and walked around it.

5. I went for a walk again but went a different direction where there were no holes.

Some of you need to do this, to go around the hole. You are a chapter 4 person, but God wants us to be chapter 5 people. Some of you need to change the direction you are heading.

Philippians 3:13 NIV84

13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

We must choose different paths.

3. Formation of Up Hill (Biblical) Habits

Talking about Biblical habits we need to develop to be successful.

Romans 12:2 The Message

2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

God wants to develop a well formed maturity in you… that’s the goal. If you will do this, some of you won’t recognize yourself.

Habit #1: FOCUS ON WHAT I DO FIRST.

Talking about the principle of FIRSTS. First things show a lot about us but they also give us power.

Three ways to live out this habit.

1. Put God First.

If you will put God first, it will be a different year.

God gave his first, Jesus and he wants us to give him our first.

Whatever you put God first in, he will bless. If you put him first in everything, this will be a better year than you ever imagined. It will be a DIFFERENT Year.

If God is in Your Life and He is Not First, He is not in Your Life

If you don’t put God at the top of your list, he is not on your list at all. He will not just be part of your life, He will be first or nothing. He can expect that of us because he already gave his first - Jesus.

We need to re-order our priorities.

Genesis 1:1 NIV84

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In the Beginning God....

Exodus 20:1–3 NIV84

1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

No other gods before me. He must be first.

gods - loves, passions, hobbies, relationships, teams, addictions, careers… He doens’ tmind you loving something, but he does mind you loving it more than you love him.

We have to put God First in Everything.

2. Give God the FIRST OF EVERYTHING.

I’m going to give God the first of everything. Pastors often teach giving God the first of everything as a giving principle, but it’s not a money principle. It’s bigger than that. Giving is part of it, but not the only part.

We are to give God the first of everything.

Look....

Leviticus 27:30 NIV84

30 “ ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.

Tithe = 1st tenth of everything… thoughts… time… money… dreams… etc.

Look here…

Deuteronomy 14:23 The Living Bible

23 Bring this tithe to eat before the Lord your God at the place he shall choose as his sanctuary; this applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.

The purpose of the tithe is to teach us to put God First.

Thank God that the tithe does build hospitals, colleges, etc. but it’s purpose is to teach us to put God first.

It’s not about giving him money, that’s part of it. It’s not about Him blessing you… that’s part of it. He wants you to tithe everything so you will know God is FIRST in your life.

Here are some areas you need to put God first in...

The first of my YEAR.

We want to put him first as we enter into the new Year. I don’t know about you, but I’m desperate for God in my life. I can’t do anything without him.

I have always thought Lent is a good time to do a prayer and fasting time, so we will be asking you to fast and pray with us during lent. Some churches do it at the first of the year, and we may move to that because of the Principle of the Firsts.

Complete Fast

Juice or water only

Selective Fast

Fast certain Foods, Daniel Fast, give up smoking,

Partial Fast

fast 1 meal per day, Jewish Fast where you fast sun up to sun down.

Soul Fast

focus on what goes into your emotions and mind.

Fasting social media, TV, No Media,

If we are going to accomplish anything at all, we will have to put God first.

The First of my MONTH.

Scheduling and Budgeting.

Make sure God is on your schedule. Don’t schedule things on your calendar that take God off your schedule. Look at your month, do you have QT and worship on your schedule. It’s a time to recommit to putting God and your family first on your schedule for this year beginning with this month.

Check out your budget for giving. Do you tithe? Have you planned your percentage of giving this year? Tithing is easy when you write that check out first… principle of the Firsts. The very first thing that comes out of our account is our tithe.

The First of my WEEK.

Worshipping and Resting.

Attend Church weekly on Sunday.

Do you know why worship for Christians moved from the Sabbath (Sat) to Sunday? 2 reasons.

The Resurrection was on Sunday.

Early Church - We want to begin the week with God rather than finish the week with God.

You will get more done in 6 days with God that you ever will in 7 without God.

70’s… JC Penny in Rome Ga. When my friend Dan’s dad was forced to open on Sundays, his sales did not go up, they just spread out.

The First of My DAY.

Give God the first part of your day… the whole day will go better.

I want to begin something new… I’m calling it the FIRST 15

Time with God

FIRST 15

Everybody has 15 minutes.

Can you imagine what your life will be like if you spend the First 15 minutes of Everyday with God.

Here’s how it works

5 Minutes in the Word 5 Minutes in Worship 5 Minutes in Prayer

If you put god first in every area of your life, you can

3. Expect God to BLESS THE REST.

When you give God the First of anything, he will bless it.

When you give God the First of Your THOUGHTS, He will Speak to You

When you give God the First of Your MONEY, He will Multiply your money.

When you give God the First of Your TIME, He will multiply your Time.

Proverbs 3:6–10 NIV84

6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. 9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Because you honor God with your FIRSTS, He will bless you with overflowing. You life will overflow with good things.