2019 is here, and most people look forward to the new year with expectation and hope, but it can't be different than any year prior if you approach it the same way you have in the past.  As a church, God is calling us out - to live and be above and beyond whatever we think we've accomplished before.  This isn't about good intentions or being able enough to make something happen that would please God, but it is about being available to Him in a way you may have never been in the past.  God is going to use someone for His glory this year; it might as well be you!

Sometimes, even the best laid plans fail.  There was something you didn't account for, overlooked, or neglected and your plan crashed and burned.  If we fail enough, we stop planning and our life easily becomes mediocre.  We may even begin to take God's plans for us for granted because plans fail.  Yet, God's plans never fail.  Don't let the experience you have with your plans keep from experiencing His!

When something doesn't make sense, we usually dismiss, ignore, or assume it isn't worth knowing.  Problem is, we do this with God's plan for our lives.  It may not make sense, at first, but rather than shut Him out, we need to ask Him to tell us more.  The plan of God for Mary's life doesn't make any sense since she's a virgin and the angel says she will give birth to a son.  Yet Mary remains open and asks to hear more.  Maybe its time you started listening to Him, so you can experience what God has in store for you.

If you're like any normal human being, you've been critical of someone at some time.  We easily rush to judgments about people or situations we really know little about even though we may have witnessed an event or think we know the person.  Mary thought she knew her life and what she wanted for it; she had a very simple plan for her simple life.  Yet, we find out God had big plans for Mary which he spoke through the prophet Isaiah 700 years earlier.  Just like Mary, if we get caught up in the monotony of life we will miss the great importance of our lives within the plans of God.

Stories can be powerful.  Through the inspiration of your imagination, they can transport you to a different time, place and even personality.  They can challenge you to become what you presently are not, or even inspire you to what you could do.  You may not look at your life as a living story, but your life is still being written.  Who is writing on the pages of your life?  If you will give Jesus the pen, He will be able to write some remarkable outcomes in your life.

Some moments in life change your course.  We refer to such events as shaping a new normal for our life.  Graduating High School, getting married, having children, or even losing a loved one can bring about these types of moments.  We seem to focus on what negatively shapes our lives and miss one incredible event which has eternally change us.  Let's call it a "from now on" moment. Jesus gives each of us this new opportunity.....from now on.  What does it mean for you and how is it played out in your life?

Some things in life are just better together with something else.  Most people would agree chocolate chip cookies are better with milk, and tortilla chips are better with salsa.  We get the point!  There's a characteristic which would cause your living to be better together and that's thankfulness.  Now, often misunderstand thankfulness as having a reason to be thankful, but it's more than that.  Thankfulness must become a characteristic of who we are, rather than a cause and effect.

We've all been taught that bad choices have consequences. What happens when you do what is right and have to face consequences?  Do you stop doing what is right?  If you want to live your life according to God's Word, you will face opposition for doing what is right.  The way to stand against opposition is not to fight, or run away, but to rejoice.  When we encounter opposition, it's easy to get focused on the power and influence of what stands against you.  It can seem overwhelming, but when you rejoice in the LORD, you gain some much needed perspective.  If you will rejoice, it will take you on a path to an incredible payoff!

We may think people either a leader or a follower, but the truth is this: all of us are both.  We are all leading someone and following someone.  We have a responsibility to lead well, and the responsibility to find the right person to follow. Who you follow will shape who you are and how you lead!  In this message, we discover who to follow and how to be a godly influence on others.

Have you ever noticed how uptight people can be about their appearance?  They have to be color coordinated and their clothes even must be season coordinated, and don't even think about touching their hair!  Appearances do matter, but they can be so superficial when we lack substance.  Time and time again, we see Paul displaying for us a person most of us would not let many others see: he tells us his dark secrets, so we can see his error and follow God's ways.  Sometimes we aren't honest even with ourselves, and it's time we acknowledge who have been, forget what is behind and strive for what is ahead instead of being caught up with what was!