Week 1: Focus On What I Do First
Pastor Tom Cogle
January 5, 2020
Most people have uphill hopes and downhill habits.
- Hope for the future.
(Jeremiah 29:11) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
- Repentance from the past.
(Philippians 3:13-14) Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
- Formation of uphill habits.
(Romans 12:2 MSG) Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Habit #1 Focus On What I Do First.
- Put God first.
(Genesis 1:1) In the beginning God…
(Exodus 20:1-3) And God spoke all these words:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
- Give God the first of everything.
(Leviticus 27:30) A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.
(Deuteronomy 14:23 LB) The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God in first place in your life.
- The first of my year.
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- The first of my month.
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- The first of my week.
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- The first of my day.
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- Expect God to bless the rest.
(Proverbs 3:6-10) In all your ways acknowledge him…Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”