New Year's Sermon
Coming Into Focus
By Louie Marsh, 1-4-2026
Intro. 5 Cartoons, last one about being perfect just as I am.
36 He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.'" Luke 5:36-39 (ESV)
1) Change is INEVITABLE
2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. Mark 12:2 (ESV)
· That doesn't mean it's always GOOD
18 Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. Ecclesiastes 10:18 (ESV)
2) Becoming more like Christ doesn't "JUST HAPPEN."
3 and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3 (ESV)
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matthew 5:39 (ESV)
· It takes FOCUS,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)
· COMMITMENT (DISCIPLINE)
24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Hebrews 11:24-26 (ESV)
· PERSEVERANCE
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)
3) Jesus wants you to make your choice CAREFULLY.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Luke 14:27-31 (ESV)
