1. Build it Forward
® Pay it Forward
® If you build it they will come.  (Field of Dreams)
® Isa 66:1 NIV
(1)  This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?

Psa 1:1-6 NLT
(1)  Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.
(2)  But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.
(3)  They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
(4)  But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
(5)  They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly.
(6)  For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

2. Joy should be one of the predominate characteristics of the Christian.
a. Neh 8:10 NIV
(10)  Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
  i. rejoicing: - gladness, joy.
  ii. N.T. -  cheerfulness, that is, calm delight: - gladness, X greatly, (X be exceeding)
b. We need to take personal responsibility for our joy.  If we don't have it, we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord. 
  i. 1Sa 30:6 KJV
  (6)  And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
c. When we rejoice in the Lord, when we worship, we restore the joy to our souls.

3. It does not say we are not to hang around with the unsaved, rather that we don’t hang around with sinners.  Who you hang around with is very important, even in the Christian world.  Bitter Christians can defile you!
a. Heb 12:15 NIV
(15)  See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
b. 1Co 5:6 NIV
(6)  Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
c. If you hang around with negative people you will find their negativity wearing off on you, if you hang around with positive people, you will find their positive attitude wearing off on you!

4. Three of the ungodly voices that will keep you from moving forward in the new year, and that you need to learn to detect and not react to are:
1) The haunting of your past.
  i. Adjective: haunting
  1. Continually recurring to the mind
  2. Having a deeply disquieting or disturbing effect
  ii. Verb: haunt
  1. Follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to
  2. Haunt like a ghost; pursue
  3. Be a regular or frequent visitor to a certain place
  iii. Php 3:13 NIV
  (13)  Brothers, 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,
2) The naysayers or the mockers around you.
  i. Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem
   (a) Sanballat-a Persian govenor of Samaria (foreigner)
   (b) Tobiah-an Ammonite, an inbred, offspring of Lot's laying with his daughters
   (c) Ashdod-a ravager
3) The fear of your future.
  i. Does God really want to bless me, to have joy and peace in my life.
  ii. Remember, don't expect and act in the same old same old, rather believe God for the newness of the Kingdom in your life

5. Often we as Christians sin because we are not believing in what the Lord is saying to us.  To not be moving in faith is sin!
a. Rom 14:23 NIV
(23)  But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
b. Heb 11:6 NIV
(6)  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

6. The seasons or times that the world goes through should not be the plumb line that we use to measure our success or failure.  Rather if we are planted by the river of God, we will keep fresh, bearing fruit in every season of our lives.
a. Psa 1:3 NLT
(3)  They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
b. We should not be pulling back in our vision because of the conditions around us, rather we should be advancing and enjoying growth, because he has "endowed us with splendor."

7. The righteous, those who meditate on God's word and make it a part of who they are will  "delight in doing everything God wants them to!"
a. Delight-A feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction
b. Delight-are you delighting in what you do.  Are you serving with a heart that is full of thanksgiving, or are you serving out of duty and frustration.
 
8. Faith says that we will move forward into where God is taking us no matter what comes along.  When we listen to the negative voices around us, they will erode our faith, cause us to live in fear and keep us from going forward.
a. 2Co 5:7 NIV
(7)  We live by faith, not by sight.
b. 1Co 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; i  then we shall see face to face. j  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 
c. 2Co 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. r  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
d. 2Ti 1:6-7 NKJV
(6)  Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
(7)  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
e. Fear will keep you from the promises that God has made you, whether they be in the victories of your own personal life, or in the corporate victories that he has promised the church.

9. It all comes back to learning to trust God.  To understand that he is watching over us, that he is looking after us no matter what comes along.
a. Psa 1:6 NLT
(6)  For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
b. Psa 37:1-11 NIV
(1)  Of David. Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
(2)  for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
(3)  Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
(4)  Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
(5)  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:
(6)  He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
(7)  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
(8)  Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil.
(9)  For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
(10)  A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
(11)  But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.