The new year starts and the question is: what are we going to do?

I (Dr. Paschal) chose the title for this sermon because it can be understood two different ways: First—what does it take to get “out of the box”? What does it take to get started?

The new year is a good time to think about our basic purpose and vision for life—and then to look at what we need to do to do those things.

For some of us, the key to getting things done is getting started. And if we can decide what really matters, it’s easier to get off the starting block.

In addition, it is a good time to think about doing things “out of the box.” Routine can easily dominate our lives. We have so much that we seem to have to do, that we don’t have time or energy for anything else.

And yet, often what we need is something new—something that will move our lives in a different direction.God says to Isaiah, “I am about to do a new thing”—if God were to say that to us, what new thing might God want us to do?