Sermon Outline For Further Study (note: to hear audio accept "allow" to flash player when prompted)
INTRODUCTION
a) How did you finish 2018? As planned?
b) What phrase would summarize your year? "2018 was the year I...."
BACKGROUND BEHIND TEXT
a) Moses is addressing a new generation about to enter into the long-anticipated Promised Land.
b) The new generation of Israelites needs to REMEMBER & LEARN from the past. They also need to know what is REQUIRED of them as they move faithfully forward with God.
c) Fear & disbelief brought sin and disobedience upon the previous generation. This delayed what God was ready to bless them with, that being, the Promised Land.
QUESTION FOR REFLECTION
a) Did you miss any blessings God had prepared due to fear, doubt, disbelief, disobedience?
MAIN TEXT: Deuteronomy 2:1-7
MAIN IDEA: YOU'VE BEEN HERE LONG ENOUGH! It's time to move in a new direction.
APPLICATION/REFLECTION
a) What reason(s) would God tell you this in your context? What do you need to stop doing? Start doing? Let go of?
(areas of forgiveness? shame? guilt? remorse? some habitual sin? bitterness? etc.)
GOOD-NEWS (Gospel)
a) Jesus, the Son of God, who was sent from our Heavenly Father, came to give you LIFE and life in ABUNDANCE (John 10:10)! To receive this true life is to receive, follow, and commit yourself to Jesus Christ (Matt. 10:39).
b) Max Lucado states, "The wisest are not the ones with the most years in their lives, but the most life in their years."
CONCLUSION
a) Does your future with God need to start fresh today? What do you need to REMEMBER & REFLECT upon this past year? What areas do you need to REPENT so you may turn FAITHFULLY forward in a new direction with God? What do you need to let go of or surrender over into God's Sovereign care?
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever" (Eph. 3:20-21).
May this New Year find you experiencing Christ in new and refreshing ways!
Pastor Trevor