Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday was another very good day. Our time of music went very well and people really seemed to engage and participate during the singing. There seemed to be a good spirit of expectation and always helps. Our attendance was decent for what is still a holiday Sunday. To put the pastor's frustration into perspective, we had at least 60 people here yesterday who were not in attendance the previous Sunday but our attendance was only 9 more.

I began a new message series, "Changeover" using Isaiah 43:14-44:5. The focus this week was on verses 43:18-19 to launch into this series. The series is about a challenge for the year that I will begin making this coming Sunday. For many the beginning of a new year is a time to declare somethings they want to change in their life. We must realize that to see real change we must change. Your circumstances are not the real issue, you are. Perry Noble tweeted "One way to have VICTORY in your future is to stop being a VICTIM to your past."

Don't let the past steal your focus or your energy. Don't dwell on your past failures, failure is not final nor is it fatal. Unless you stay there. You must learn from the failure and move on. Don't dwell on past success, there are new battle to be fought and won. You do not win the new battle just because you won the past battle, you must fight the new battle. Telling the enemy that you won the past battle means little in the new battle.

Focus is critical, we are not to dwell in the past so where do we focus and why does it matter? Where you focus is where you will go and where you will live. Your focus determines your direction and residence. Focus on what God is doing now. He is doing new things, focus on these. Focus on God's perception not your selfish perceptions. Quite often we see what God is doing and we don't like it because it is not what we wanted him to do. Instead of focusing on God's will we waste time and energy trying to get God to focus on our will. Focus on being ready to follow God's way. To do this requires that we follow God's disciplines, such as reading the Bible, praying, giving sacrificially, serving, fasting and committing to a community of believers.

What needs to change for you to live obediently? What changes are you willing to make? When will you begin making the changes?

We had a few who came to the altar in response to the challenge. I am really looking forward to laying out the whole challenge over the next four weeks.

Here's hoping you have a great new year as you focus on God and his will.