Looking forward ... was the title of Sunday's sermon; delivered by Reggie Norman. Scriptures were Exodus 32:1-8; Romans 8:28; and Romans 5.
Thoughts I had...
Choices - Something
new or something
proven. One might automatically chose
proven; but proven
what? reliable, good, fruitful? or faulty, to have pitfalls, uncertain? These are additional questions that must be answered.
If the latter,
new might be better than
proven and the choice to make. but otherwise,
new might have nothing to offer, so why chose it over what has held true time after time.
God is faithful through all generations, and His mercies are new every morning. Choose God.
Points to consider in
looking forward:
- where have you been
- where are you right now (where do you fit in all of this?)
- do a 360 (the above, while looking forward), similar to driving a car - you can't just look ahead. One must keep what is behind and on the sides as well as what lies ahead in focus as one moves forward.
There was a reference to 'stopping living' in covering the point of keeping hope alive. It occurred to me that to
stop living is synonymous with '
starting to die'. That can be applied in a
secular and
spiritual sense. When you
stop living you
start dying. If you don't move forward, you automatically slip back because time does not stand still.
Marking time is an exercise of letting time slip away. Don't mistake standing still with preparation. Preparation is progress. I imagine the Hebrews waiting for the cloud to move, doing all that is necessary to be ready to 'head out' when that cloud moved. Spending time with God to hear him speak is also preparation, commensurate with getting that panoramic view necessary in forward travel.
Blinders, I believe, were provided to horses, so as not to be
blind-sided by what frightened them. The Word was provided to us so we could move without fear and be ready for what we will encounter. Reading the manual allows us to operate life optimally and not do something incorrectly in the process.
Therein lies our hope. We don't have to operate in darkness. God is
with us. Bring hope to someone else, we were told in the sermon. It was a good word for the New Year and a good follow up to his last sermon.
