~ Open in Prayer ~

Icebreaker
• What’s something fun you’ve done lately?
• What’s your favorite animal?
• Would you rather have tea or coffee?

Message Review
There are times when we need God to turn it around…we need a complete 180. This series is about giving you the steps to a turnaround. In The Blessing II series we learned that your offering, the words you speak, and the decisions you make are seeds; you plant them today to determine your tomorrow. In life, it’ll be mostly your actions that determine the season you’re in; for what you sow you will reap. Therefore, it’s your responsibility to turn your situation around, regardless of if the outcome was self-imposed or by someone else. You can’t play the victim. You can’t put your emotional health in someone else’s hands. You must not grow weary in trying to do the right thing to correct your situation, for if you continue to sow good seeds you will reap a good harvest.

Let’s dig in more…

Read Galatians 6:7-9

Whatever decisions you make expect them to come back multiplied. Some seeds create cycles and some seeds create one time harvests that won’t be seen again. God would be mocked if you reaped something that you did not sow for. Everything you do today will have a result that you live in tomorrow. If you want a different tomorrow you have to start sowing a different seed today even if your current harvest is sour. You’ve got to sow blessing seeds while you’re broke; you’ve got to give when you don’t have; you have to go out and meet people when you’re lonely. What do you not like about your current season? What are you sowing to change that for the future?

If you make decisions that align with the laws of God those decisions will be life giving. However the flesh is doing it your way and when you sow to your way it reaps corruption or deterioration. Few decisions have instant results; most set in a process of decay and you begin to spiral until you initiate change. You end up wondering, “How did I get here?” It only takes a little shift that is left uncorrected to create chaos. You can’t just keep walking; you have to correct the little things that are out of alignment with God. Where was that one little place where you pivoted where you said God “I got this” that ultimately resulted in chaos in your life?

Read 1 Kings 17:7-16

Though the widow only had just enough, she obeyed Elijah and God gave her more than enough. She sowed even when she knew she didn’t have enough. Elijah didn’t need her food, she needed his process. We often keep sowing the seed of our current harvest perpetuating our current season. What you were only supposed to be in a few months you’re in for a few years. But the law of sowing and reaping puts the power of change back in your hands. You have the seed to change your tomorrow; but while you have a distasteful harvest can you plant a different seed? A sowful time always precedes a fruitful time. You can’t get without giving, so if there is going to be a time that is fruitful there is going to have to be a time that is seedful. Are there areas in your life where you feel you don’t have enough to give? Are you willing to give what you think you don’t have in your current season with the hope and faith that it’ll payoff in the future?

Read 2 Samuel 9:1-9

The power is in your hands to turn things around. Life is choice driven. God doesn’t curse people; the blessing or the curse is built into the law. The blessing is built in doing right and the curse is built in doing wrong. If you obey you’ll be pain free but if you disobey it’ll be painful. But even in the pain that often is self-inflicted due to our own choices and lack of obedience or someone else’s, God is still merciful. He’ll send someone to help bring you out of your mess. In the text Mephibosheth is in a new place with an old problem; he’s delivered but damaged. He got crippled because someone he trusted dropped him. But God was merciful. Some things you’ll have to pull yourself out of but sometimes God will send someone to restore you. Do you have a testimony of restoration? Has there been a time where God sent someone to pull you out?

Scripture References
Galatians 6:7-9
2 Samuel 9:1-9
Philippians 3:13
Isaiah 26:3 NIV
Mark 5:25-34
Philippians 4:8
Matthew 12:13
Isaiah 43:18-19
**Book mentioned in sermon: “31 Keys to a New Beginning” by Mike Murdock

Prayer Focus and Requests
Ask your members if they have any prayer requests or praise reports. Pray that each member take responsibility for their current harvest and that they have the discipline and faith to plant good seeds today for their future tomorrow.