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document.createElement('audio');http://transformedlifepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/New-Years-2020-1.mp3Show Number 7Show Date: 1/7/2020Show Title: Windshield View or Rearview Mirror in 2020?The Podcast show that believes that you can live a Transformed life every day.Show Notes: available at transformedlifepodcast.comIntroduction: Are you living a transformed life, or do you feel defeated? Brothers and Sisters don’t live defeated when you belong to Jesus Christ.II Corinthians 5:17 reminds us, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Welcome to today’s show – We are going to provide you with some tools for living the Transformed Life every day.Today’s show is called: Windshield View or Rearview Mirror in 2020.In this show I’ll be turning our attention towards the next 12 months. We are already 4 days into New Years is. In this podcast I want to provide you with some tools so that you can actually help you navigate through this New Year. Who doesn’t want some tools that will help them navigate through the days, weeks, and months ahead of us? I do! The best part of a New Year is that it is a FRESH Start, a new beginning.We need your feedback and your questions. You can email us at: [email protected]Our Feature SegmentsA Key Bible verse for Transformed Living: Luke Today’s verses deal with discipleship. Are you aware that Christians are followers or disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ? What is a disciple? The word itself means: Learner. We are students of the Lord. Will you make 2020 a year for learning? What will you learn about your Savior this year? What will you learn about your faith this year? I would challenge you to become a student of the WORD in 2020.The verses before us are about the COST of discipleship. Let’s take a look at these verses one-by-one and discover what following Jesus actually will cost us in 2020.57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”Here we have a man that announced his intention to follow Jesus. Would we follow Jesus wherever He goes? Wherever He calls us to go in 2020? Listen to the man’s statement – it sounds definitive, doesn’t it?Will we leave all our creature comforts to follow Jesus? Listen to what Jesus said to this man,58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”Leon Morris says that what we have here is the cost of the incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus left heaven to travel earthy with no house of His own.59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”Jesus calls another man to follow Him, but this man asked to be excused so that he could go and bury his father. What? Why was this man out on this road where he could hear Jesus’ call him to follow Him? This man should have already been home caring for the burial of his father. Or did he want to go home and wait until his father died, and then bury him?Jesus has a word to this man as well. He says to him,60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”What dis Jesus mean? Some believe that Jesus was talking about the spiritual dead. Let the spiritual dead bury their physical dead. Whatever the meaning is, it is clear that preaching the kingdom take top priority.To follow Jesus may mean that we sat aside earthly tasks to accomplished heavenly tasks.A third man didn’t wait for Jesus’ call to follow Him, but he says that he will follow, but he wanted to be excused to go and bid farewell all those who are at his house. We read,61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”I think the third truth that Jesus was stating is really quite simple. Don’t put off the present. Many people miss out because of delay. Sometimes it is self-inflicted delay, and other times it is enemy delay. Don’t out off following Jesus when He calls you to follow.Let’s take a look at the final verse in our text. We read,62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”Please don’t read into these verses what is not here. Jesus says that no man having pout his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. It doesn’t say that he won’t be in the kingdom of God, it just says that he is not fit for the kingdom of God.Think about 2020 before us. Now is the time to look forward and not backwards. Now is the time to walk with Jesus Christ. Don’t look back – look forward. Some once asked, why do you suppose a windshield is larger than a rearview mirror? The answer was that we are to look forward to where we are heading, and not behind us from where we came from.We will be right back with a Key Biblical Principles for Transformed Living – stay with us!A Key Biblical Principle for Transformed Living: Take Each Day by ItselfPray before you goPray before you even get out of bedPray sometime around noon every day for directionPray always when you put your head on your pillow.The Prophet Daniel prayed 3 times a day (Daniel Read before you make decisionCan you take 15 minutes a day to read through some passage of Scripture? I have taken a challenge this New Year 2020 to read the Bible in 180 days. It is going to require that I spend at least 30-40 minutes in my Bible every day.Don’t miss what this verse teaches us,Joshua 1:8 – This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. It’s those last words that are significant – “For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Don’t move ahead without taking time to be in God’s Word.Be involved with other believersHere I am speaking about our need for community. Christians were never meant to walk alone. Even Jesus had his 12. We need to be surrounded by others who are like minded, and who love Jesus the way we love Jesus.Someone wrote, “Choose your friends carefully for they will determine the direction and the quality of your life.”Paul said it like this in I Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” The KJV uses the words, “good morals.” Learn something NEW every day Make 2020 a year of learning. Since I am predominately speaking to a Christian audience, I want to challenge you to learn deeper Christian truths. How can you do this?Pick up a book and read itListen to an audible book on your way to workFind a daily podcastChoose a topic and go study itEnroll in a class at a community collegeJoin a small group Bible studyStop and enjoy lifeIn 2012 I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I wasn’t sure what God had planned for my life. I do know that one thing I began to do was to savor the moments. I would pick off some moss from a tree and look at it and feel its texture between my fingers. I relished the crystals I could see in ice and snow. Trees and mountains, and lakes and rivers all became so beautiful to me. I took time to see what was important around me – it was people. So, as you and I walk through 2020 let is take the needed time for some margin in our lives. STOP and enjoy your life.A Book for Transformed Living: Navigators Website https://www.navigators.org/Instead of talking about a book on this episode I decided to talk about a website that I absolutely love. It is the Navigators. An international and interdenominational Christian ministry established in 1933. There motto is: “To know Christ, make Him known, and help other do the same.” Isn’t that GREAT? How do they do this?Building Life-to-Life Mentoring (discipling)Equipping the saints to impact the worldAt the Navigators website you can read blog posts, sign up for a daily devotional (I have done this), and take a look at page after page of FREE resources. Did I mention that they are all FREE?You will find at there website broken into four sections:Bible study resources – The Word Hand, and Bible Reading PlansDiscipleship resources – The Wheel illustration and Topical memory systemEvangelism resources – The Bridge to Life and One-Verse EvangelismPrayer Resources – The Pray Hand and Praying the Names and Attributes of GodConsider this an after Christmas gift from me to you, or a New Year’s Gift just because.I have included a link at the transformedlifepodcast.com website. Go check it out when you get a moment.Show Wrap Up:Thank the audience – Without you we would have no programWhere to find todays show notes – comCall to Action – Write us an email with your feedback of today’s show. You can email me at [email protected]Outro Music