14 January 2018 - ENCS

His series on the New Year, Pastor Joey did today continue

Into New Year’s resolutions, he shared his point of view

We should focus on that what is timeless, per Matthew six

In other words, on God’s kingdom our hearts should affix

Following up on last week’s message, values often shift

After nine eleven, church attendance did massively uplift

But instead of reacting to a crisis, we should be proactive

Ensuring that we have the right priorities each day we live

Pastor said that In order to make God our topmost priority

We must overcome habits occupying of our time a majority

Two-thirds of who we are habits actually end up defining

How habits are developed Joey then spent time outlining

Discover something, desire it, make a decision, and delight

Per Genesis three, these decisions can be wrong or right

Where hearts are focused and habits exist, actions do show

And if actions are oft repeated, addictions develop and grow

To prevent bad addictions becoming an individual’s destiny

Implementing a real strategy for change habits is the key

At the core of any change must be a plan as well as prayer 

Prayer reminds us that God does exist and He does care

We should pray and listen through the day if we believe

An additional benefit is that stress levels He will receive

To build new and healthy habits, old ones we must break

Therefore a desire and decision to change we must make

But changing bad habits to good can often result in a dip

Thus gyms are only full for three months, Pastor did quip

The way around this conundrum is to a new delight find

This is effectively dying to our old self, Pastor did remind

Discipleship also involves dying to one’s self every day

We must adopt a servant mentality, Mark ten does say

For Christ came not to be served by others, but to serve

We must die to bad habits, even if that hits a raw nerve

Dying to self is not easy and requires even more prayer

But it helps relationships and health, Pastor did declare

Christianity is also to die to self, per Matthew sixteen

We are to emulate how Jesus lived, it is clearly seen

By following Christ and carrying our individual cross

We can gain abundant life serving the eternal boss

In summary, we should each make a new resolution

To align our values and die daily is the biblical solution

----------

Last year, I changed health habits and lost some weight

Now I must take similar steps to other good habits create