Preparing For a New (Big) Year on Mission

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All in all.

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I know that God wants you to experience new grace this year, his unmerited favor.

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I know that it's not that he wants you to go out and work hard so you can earn it.

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He wants you to experience his grace is unmerited favor in getting to live this life that Jesus died to give us.

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God wants you to have new mercies.

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So you believe that God is not punishing or limiting you for something that's out of your control or something that you failed to do, or you thought you were supposed to do this past year.

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God wants you to have new mercies for that.

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He wants to give you new opportunities and new blessings.

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And then his favor to go along with all that.

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And please hear this.

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Our good father wants to give you new.

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Increased faith for all of this faith and trust in him and what he's calling you to, and that he is giving you the desires of your heart.

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And then he will fulfill that if you'll trust him and walk with him.

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Do you believe that

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welcome to the Everyday Disciple podcast, where you learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.

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In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle, this is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors.

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Probably forgot to tell you.

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And now here's your host Caesar Kalinowski.

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Ho, ho, ho away we go...

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and depending on when you're listening to this, we're just a few days away from Christmas.

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So Merry Christmas.

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And I know at least where we're at.

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and when I'm recording this, we're still wrapping gifts sorta last minute and last minute details for our first ever three in-laws Christmas experience.

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So our youngest daughter Justine got married this year.

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And so that adds one more family into the mix.

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And so one by one is our kids of each, the three of them gotten married, Tina and I have had to, you know, learn to juggle the Christmas times and when we hang and when we do all that, I think it's actually gonna work out this year for us to do Christmas, at least twice, uh, here at the house with different people, but it's different.

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And we're learning and growing, but we sure love the expansion here of team K.

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I want to thank everyone who left me responses on Facebook here.

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Recently, I asked for ideas for new episodes in the Everyday Disciple Podcast group.

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And a bunch of you did give me ideas for that.

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It's not too late.

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It's really helpful.

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I'm here for you.

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I want to speak to and help enlighten and encourage you in the areas that you would like.

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And so I really appreciate when I get that type of feedback.

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And so if you're not yet part of our Facebook group, would you please do that?

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In fact, you might say, well, I've got an idea right now.

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Just go over to Facebook or maybe you have it eternally open on your phone and look up the Everyday Disciple Podcast.

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And you'll find this real easily and just join that group and then scroll down a little bit.

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I don't know, a few posts.

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You'll see where I said, Hey, what ideas do you have?

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Leave me that even even need that special post, you could always leave me an idea or, Hey, would you be willing to speak to this?

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And I'd love to do that.

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And while you're at it, please share the podcast with others that you lead in your church or in your missional communities or small groups or people you're partnered with in making the.

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I would, oh, I so appreciate that.

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That's how we expand this out.

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Share that love, let the rings of goodness move further and further out.

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And if you've not done it yet, would you leave us a review in whatever podcast listening forum that you're in, be it iTunes or wherever you get to.

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I love reading those reviews on the show and I would love to read yours.

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All right.

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Thanks.

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Well, 2021 has definitely been what I'm sort of calling the year of limbo.

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Sort of a pandemic limbo.

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I'm not talking about limbo in the Catholic babies being baptized.sense I'm talking about sort of feeling just stuck between, we're not sure what and where we're going.

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This has been a weird year because last year in 2020, it was, oh, this new pandemic thing and we don't know what we're doing.

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And then I'm around the end of the year.

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Thinking we were coming out of it and getting vaccinations.

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That's going to fix it all.

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And we're going to be stoked and all in agreement on how this all works going forward.

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And then 2021, we were kind of stuck, stuck here in pandemic limbo, wondering, okay.

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We're back and forth a little bit.

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And most areas are fully back open as far as their Sunday gatherings as churches and in community.

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I know where we're at, everything's open, but they still do require us to wear a mask indoor that may never change.

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I don't know.

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It might be different where you're at, but that's where we're still at.

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Tina and I are going to see.

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Uh, Jim Gaffigan do a big concert tonight, actually.

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And I was just thinking about how excited I was for that for some live comedy in a big atmosphere like that.

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And he's one of my favorite comedians, but I was like, oh yeah, but we're still wearing a mask.

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We're still in limbo.

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a bit And it's the same within our leadership and our churches and even our families that are like, we want to start doing more things.

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We want to move outward towards others in mission, but we're still not sure.

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One of the things that Tina and I find ourselves saying to the folks we coach and lead right now is, Hey, don't pre vote for.

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And what I mean by that is, Hey, we're thinking about doing a fire pit and having some folks over, or maybe doing a marshmallow roast or an open table, or a little bit of a Christmas happy hour or something like that.

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But I don't know if anybody in our neighborhood will do that.

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We're still a little COVID freaky here.

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And I say to that, don't pre vote for.

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Let them decide, be careful, be loving, be wise, but go ahead and love.

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Well, and do all that stuff that the spirit of God puts on your heart to do.

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Don't pre vote for people, let people choose for themselves, but I still feel it myself.

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It feels a little in and a little out a little bit.

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Like we're still in limbo and I know that.

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The folks who are leading churches and Sunday gathering still, uh, that is also feeling that same way because not everybody's made it back and are they coming back, but even when they were here, they weren't that super engaged on mission.

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And so I want to talk about this because when you're living in the midst of so much uncertainty, the future can feel a little scary when your plans have evaporated, when it feels so tiring to look ahead, Maybe you feel that way, but we all long for something new, don't we something that brings freshness to our lives and faith.

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It's not so much.

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I think we're all hoping to go back to something necessarily, but we are feeling that pull forward to something new, something fresh with the new year ahead.

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I've been thinking in wondering, do we have a God-given love of, and desire for new.

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For a newness in our lives.

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Is that built in, is that part of our longing, as we look towards the completion of all things, think about revelation 21 as looking at these verses three to five.

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Let me just read them to you.

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I think it underscores that.

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Yeah, we, we are built for newness for fresh, for the restore, for the recreated.

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Here's verse three, five says I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among the people.

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He will live with them and they will be his people.

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God himself will be with them.

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He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes.

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There'll be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

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All these things are gone forever.

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And then the one sitting on the throne, that's that's our father said, look, I'm making everything new.

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Yeah, I really do think that that longing for what God has promised pulls us forward a little bit each year in our own lives, personally, with our families, with our churches, like where are we going?

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And are we making disciples of Jesus?

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Are we experiencing life in the kingdom that Jesus promised now today?

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And I think it's good and right to desire this newness.

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Because we're constantly working out our faith in practice and that desire for newness when acted upon is actually an act of faith in what God is doing and what he's promised you see how that works, that, that longing towards the new, to the, more, to what he's called us to and promised he's restoring everything.

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It's all going to be new and made new and.

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Yeah.

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All of that.

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When we act upon that, like, God, what is next for us?

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And we do that.

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That's an act of faith, you know?

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Cause we're trusting him in your life, through Christ, in, in your family's life and rhythms and in the church that you're a part of and helping lead.

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There's all kinds of ways that we can look at this.

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What does God want to make new in your life, in your family and your church and community right now in the, in the new year.

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How might God want to grow your spiritual freedom from performance-based Christianity or a do to be treadmill in your ministry life in activities in the year ahead.

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Let me say that again.

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How does God want to grow your spiritual freedom and moving you from performance-based Christianity or ado to be treadmill in your.

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And with all that we've been through that you've been through this past year, plus, have you stopped dreaming forward?

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Have you stopped dreaming to embrace all that God has for you?

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Have you allowed yourself to believe that a better new future is coming?

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That it's possible to truly live out a beautiful gospel centered life with others?

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Everyday.

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I hope not.

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I hope you've not stopped dreaming for that.

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I recently ran into a prompt.

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You'll see what I mean here in a second from author Holly Jacobs, it's fun.

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And it may help you get unstuck and look forward to something bigger, something better.

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Here's what she says.

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This is the prompt.

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Imagine yourself at some point in the future, maybe a few months or a year from now living the life of your dreams.

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This is a normal day, not a holiday or special day, rather.

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It's a typical and perfect every day.

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You can see why it caught my attention.

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What do you see?

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What do you feel?

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What do you hear?

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Who are you with and what are you doing?

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Describe the day in present tense from the moment you wake up to the moment that you go to sleep and then she ends it here.

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She says, creation begins with imagination.

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Wow.

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I love it.

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And I read this with a future together on mission perspective, and I was encouraged by that this Everyday nature of it.

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And this idea that creation begins with imagination instead of focusing on the past our] fading traditions or bursted, bubbles, and plans.

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This gives us permission to dream big, believing that we have a big God who is still up to big things.

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And I love the imminence of this.

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It's like it's right here, it's happening.

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And it also really liked this idea of writing this out in the present tense for me that makes it much more tangible, more possible, more faith-filled I want to challenge you to do that.

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I'm going to add a copy of that prompt that little paragraph there to the big three download for today so that you'll have it.

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Now to further help you prepare for a big new year on mission.

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I've broken things down into three simple categories for you preparing your heart, preparing your family and preparing your church.

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Let's just talk about each of those for a little bit and think about all this as, Hey, we've got to a little bit of time here and I want to prepare, well, I want to steward the dream that God has called us to and promised us.

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So let's look at preparing your heart, where do you need to move from unbelief to belief?

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Another way of saying this is in the new year, what do you need to stop believing?

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And what do you need to start believing in order to live out your faith, you and God, in a richer and more fulfilling way, maybe there's some fear or false or limiting beliefs that you need to stop believing

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. Where do you need to repent as you head into the next year?

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Now, what I mean by repentance is not, what do you need to feel bad about and stop doing like that sense of ickiness, but repentance is about a new mind.

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So there again, it's that stopped believing and starting to believe the truth and then connected to our beliefs there.

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What do you need to stop doing in the new.

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Time-wasters procrastinations in your life excuses.

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And what do you need to start doing to prepare your heart and mind for growth and newness and freshness?

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Maybe it's things like rest.

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I need some rest, so I can think and dream and reconnect the father's heart.

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Maybe you need to get training and coaching so that you have the skills and the new language and the ability to lead others in that maybe it's finding or creating a DNA group with a couple other guys or a couple other gals in the new year.

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So you're preparing your heart for all that.

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God has that.

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You're not just talking about God, but you're talking with him and you feel a closeness and his guidance and his power and his restoration.

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That's where we want to start by preparing your own heart for a new year on mission.

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Next.

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Let's look at preparing your family.

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Are you leading well in your family?

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I don't know if you have a family, but if you do, are you the husband, the wife, the father, the mother.

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Are you leading well in your family?

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Are you leading your family outward?

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So when I say leading your family, well, I'm not talking about just like, oh, we're not doing family devotions anymore, or we're not doing our Bible studies.

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Like we used to talking about leading them out on mission.

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What new rhythms of faith and life with others, could you introduce in the new year with your family?

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And let me ask you, this is your family, the model for others to follow out on mission.

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If you're leading a church or leading a Missional Community, is your family a family worth?

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What types of things can you do to prepare as a family for bigger engagement in discipleship and mission as a lifestyle in the new year.

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And I would suggest looking to add one new predictable pattern, something like a really special family dinner night, or starting an open table once a week.

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Remember, we're looking for predictable patterns or maybe it's serving together as a family and with a few of your people, a peace.

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What could you do there with your family to prepare them now for those things?

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How do you talk that up?

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Maybe you start having that family dinner night and you talk about living increasingly for the sake of others as a family on mission.

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What would that look like for you now is a great time.

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Now is the time to begin to grasp those dreams, make them a reality.

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And third, how are you preparing your church for a new year on mission.

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Starting with leaders and your key influencers within your community.

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What is your roadmap going forward with the folks in your church?

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Because it can't be to just embrace a dwindling or reduced attendance on Sunday while hoping for everything to return to some past glory days.

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None of us want that, but if you're stuck, it's time to prepare.

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And if you've prepared your own Heart and life, If you're living as a family and mission modeling, a lifestyle of discipleship, you'll be able to lead others wherever you're going.

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I promise that's how it works.

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And what training and development could you start giving to your folks that will help them prepare for greater Missional engagement this next year?

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And I'm not suggesting you have to jam this all in between now and January 1st.

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I'm just saying, are you preparing to start doing this level of equipping to help them move well?

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Past discipleship that is focused on knowledge, acquisition and performance based spirituality.

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Discipleship happens in everyday life.

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Have you developed a framework and have that in place?

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What would be the very first steps in creating and implementing this again?

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When it comes to preparing your church or community for a big year on mission, I'd suggest it's a good thing to ask yourself and your leaders, this, what do we, or you need to stop doing in the new.

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Time-wasters dead traditions, lack of intentionality in outward, focus in your groups, et cetera.

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And what do we need to start doing?

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That's a good place to start.

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What next Lord, get together and pray and ask what what's next Lord.

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And then commit to that and bring gospel accountability.

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We're going to go, how are we doing it?

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Believe in that.

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And living out of that belief, remember small is big and slowest.

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But you do want to get started.

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You don't want to not steward this beautiful opportunity the year ahead.

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And by the way, you might want to go back and listen to episode.

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Number 2 52, it's called first steps to becoming a missional church.

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I give you a whole lot of ideas there, and maybe your thing you think you're past the first steps, but maybe these would be some new first steps for you as you prepare for mission next year.

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And please check out Missio publishing.

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They've got all the primers and other resources for helping you prepare and helping lead your groups outward on mission and deeper into their gospel fluency.

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You can check it out@missiopublishing.com.

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They have all the best Missional resources for your communities.

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All in all.

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I know that God wants you to experience new grace this year.

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His unmerited.

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I know that it's not that he wants you to go out and work hard so you can earn it.

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He wants you to experience his grace is unmerited favor in getting to live this life that Jesus died to give us.

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God wants you to have new mercies.

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So you believe that God is not punishing or limiting you for something that's out of your control or something that you failed to do, or you thought you were supposed to do this past year.

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God wants you to have new mercies for that.

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He wants to give you new opportunities and new blessings, and then his favor to go along with all that.

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And please hear this.

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Our good father wants to give you new, increased faith for all of this faith and trust in him and what he's calling you to, and that he is giving you the desires of your heart.

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And then he will fulfill that if you'll trust him and walk with him, do you believe.

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I'm excited.

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I hope you can hear that.

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Now, as we start to wrap up, I want to leave you with the big three takeaways from today.

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Talk here, and you can get these as well as always, you can download these big three, his talking points or his reminders.

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You can get a printable PDF of that just by going to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash big three.

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And like I said, I'm going to add that dreaming forward, prompt that paragraph, that beautiful paragraph.

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I'm going to add that to the big three this week.

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So you'll have that.

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Here are the big three for this week, then first, not intentionally.

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preparing Ourselves and others for the year ahead on mission is in fact the type of preparation in itself, but it may be preparing to fail or preparing, to remain frustrated with the things that you could be changing, that you could be leading in.

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Number two, with all of this may come new responsibilities, new challenges, and the need for a renewed reliance on God for everything in your life and ministry.

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Even our righteous acts done apart from faith are, but filthy rags.

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Yikes.

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But you can trust him with yourself, with your family and the community.

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You're a part of and leading.

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Remember it is God himself through Christ who is making all things.

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And your value and success is not based on what you do or get others to do.

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It's really based on what Jesus has already done.

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Boy, that's good news.

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That's awesome news.

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As we look to a new year and number three, don't be afraid to dream forward and ask God to lead you to that hoped for future reality.

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Without faith, it's impossible to please God prepare your heart first.

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Do that work.

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Really do then in faith, start preparing your family intentionally introducing new language, new rhythms and relationships, then ask what's next Lord with your church and leaders in community.

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What is the very first step that you'll take to prepare your church for bigger engagement on the mission of making disciples in everyday life next year?

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And remember, you may want to go back and listen to episode 2 52, that first steps to becoming a missional church.

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And again, I'm going to add that prompt, that dreaming forward, prompt for you to the big three.

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So be sure to download that this week, and if you're interested in learning a full framework for discipleship and mission in the new year, and if you want to grow yourself and your family and your leaders in their gospel fluency, I love to help you with that.

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Tina.

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And I have a limited amount of coaching spaces open in the new year, but I love you to be one of them.

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You can find out more about the coaching we offer and you can set up a zoom call so we can talk and get to know each other a little bit.

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And you can ask any questions you might have by going to Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash coaching Everyday Disciple dot com forward slash coaching.

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But after you're hearing this whole thing, I know you're excited for what the new year has ahead.

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Would you like a little help with that?

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We would love and feel privileged to be that help?

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Well, there you go.

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That's it for today.

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Next week on the podcast, we'll be doing a wrap up for the year.

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I'll have some special guests and we'll tell you what's ahead for us personally, and with the podcast in the new year.

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I hope you're having or have had the best, most blessed holidays.

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Happy birthday, Jesus.

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And I'll talk to you soon.

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Thanks for joining us today.

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For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit Everyday Disciple dot com.