CROSSING THE BRIDGE TO YOUR FUTURE

Crossing the Bridge to Your Future

1. Let Criticism Develop You--Not Detour or Devour You.

Jesus’s Temptation was filled with criticism (Matthew 4)

You will be criticized so might as well be criticized for doing something worthwhile.

Matthew 5:44 Bless those who curse you....

2. Determine to See the Virtue in Patience.

James 1:4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Patience Truths

A seed takes time to produce.

You reap if you faint not

Knowing what you are to do is only half the equation. The other is knowing who you are and who Christ is in you.

There are times and seasons for everything.

3.Never Stop Learning!

Rom 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

When you stop learning you stop living. You become a reservoir instead of a river.

Knowledge (mentally and spiritually, revelation knowledge in your heart)

Spiritual Understanding

Wisdom

REMEMBER THE POWER OF INVESTMENT IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE!

Eph 1:15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe,

4. Be a Servant

Phil 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

5. Keep First Things First.

Mat 6:33  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

God's order

God

Spouse

Children

Vocation/Ministry

ALL THINGS BECOME NEW

This a New Year, a Reset.

New Things I declare unto you! New patterns, progressions, paths, pursuits, and pioneering dimensions I declare unto YOU! A new heart and a new spirit, according to Ezekiel 36:26. A new wine {Isaiah 65:5} and a new song {Psalms 96:1; 98:1}. A new man {Ephesians 2:15} and a new name {Revelation 3:12}. A new heaven and a new earth {Isaiah 65:17; 66:22}, a New Jerusalem out of you! {Revelation. 21-22} 

By a new and living way which he has consecrated for us...Hebrews 10:20 

All things ARE BECOME NEW 2 Corinthians 5:17

THE LORD EVEN SAYS: "Behold I am doing a brand new thing. It is all new this very day. Will you perceive it and know that it is true? Will you apprehend what I say? I'm making a NEW way to provide water in desert places and give drink (living water) to my people. 

We even have a new name.

In the Fall, the first couple lost many things - one of them was that they lost their ability to name and define creation.

In the Old Testament, God's NAME was so precious and holy that it was not ever spoken.

In the New Testament, we know that if we believe in His NAME, something wonderful happens. (John 1:12-13)! "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become CHILDREN OF GOD- ......BORN OF GOD." NIV

God calls us by NAME - it is the name of Christ that is called.

Our new God given name stands above all names. Incredibly, He gives to those who bear His name, the right to use it everyday. We can boldly approach the Father because we bear His Name. This is an EXCHANGE of identity. This miraculous interchange presupposes that we've given up our old autonomous life. In finality, we discover what our new name delivers every promise. Because of Jesus, we become heirs of all things along with Him. Our partner is the Person who opens the heavens and gives us everything that pertains to life and Godliness.

Even a Restoration

(Act 3:20-21)  And He shall send Jesus Christ, who before was proclaimed to you, whom Heaven truly needs to receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began.

So, in the New Year shall be a reset, a restoration.

The lost joy of salvation: Psalm 51:10–12—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” (kjv)

The lost sense of justice: Isaiah 1:26—“And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.” (kjv)

The lost motivation for living: Isaiah 57:18—“I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.” (kjv)

Lost intimacy with God: Jeremiah 30:17—“For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” (kjv)

Lost time(Joe 2:25)  And I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the locust larvae, and the stripping locust, and the cutting locust, My great army which I sent among you.

The lost power to live strongly: Isaiah 40:31—“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (kjv)

“When I am weak, then I am strong!” (2 Cor. 12:10). Also look up in your concordance how the word “renew” is translated. You will discover it has to do with change; renewing in the sense of something passing away, and the new taking its place.

The lost youthfulness in life: Psalm 103:5—“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (kjv)