New Year’s Resolutions
We are again approaching another New Year. Many of us will make New Year resolutions and most of us will never keep them. How many of you have already made your New Year’s resolution?
Typical New Year’s Resolutions:
Lose weight
Eat less
Exercise more
Spend less
Save more
Stop smoking
Stop drinking
Stop sinning
What type of resolutions should we make and keep?
First let’s make a resolution to love one and another.
Matt 5:43-48
43 "You have heard that it was said, ’Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
(NIV)
Christ asks us to do something that is very difficult. Not only are we to love our enemies, but also we are to pray for them. Have you ever truly prayed for someone who has hurt you physically or emotionally? It is hard enough to love them, but to ask God to bless them seems too much. God created all people in His image, both the good and the bad. Before you were saved, someone (maybe someone that you hurt) may have prayed for you. They may have prayed for your salvation and for blessings for you. It may be because of that prayer and love that you are a Christian today. Because of the love of our Father in Heaven and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are sons and daughters of God. We are to act differently than the world acts. We are to set the example and show the light and love of Jesus Christ in us. Before we were saved God loved us. Now that we are saved God not only loves us, but He calls us His sons and daughters. So this New Year let us make a resolution that we will love everyone and pray for his or her salvation. When Jesus said everyone, He means just that; male and female, young and old, all skin colors, all cultures, all religions or cults; the righteous and the unrighteous. There are none that we are not to love and pray for. We are not to love the sin in a person’s life but we are to love that person, because God created Him, just as God created us. So this New Year make a resolution to love everyone that you meet and pray for them.
Next Love your spouse
Eph 5:25-27
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
(NIV)
Husbands, the Bible tells us a lot about marriage and divorce, but I am not going to get into that today. How much does Christ love the Church? He loved the Church enough that He took on all of our sins and carried them to the cross, where He willfully died for us. I can’t think of any higher love than this. Christ suffered greatly hanging on that old rugged cross until He gave up His last breath. It was my sins and your sins that nailed Jesus to that cross just over a couple of thousand years ago. This was true love. In the same way we are to love our wives. Next to God, our wives must be the most important things in our lives. You may say, “You don’t know my wife, she is impossible.” Men we were the same way, before we came to know Jesus Christ as our Savior and some of us may still be impossible because of our disobedience to our Lord. God loves us unconditionally and that love never fails nor does He ever divorce us. We are to love our wives the same way: unconditionally and forever. This New Year, men, make a resolution to love your wife as Christ loves the Church.
Eph 5:33
33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
(NIV)
Wives, your husband needs encouragement, support and love. This is respect. If you want your husband to love you with the same kind of love that Christ loves His Church, then respect your husband and love him. The old saying “you can catch more flies with honey, than vinegar” is true. If you want your husband to change for the better, then first lift him up in prayer, encourage him, support his efforts and love him even when he slips. This is respect. Wives make a resolution to love and respect your husband.
Next let’s make a resolution to forgive.
Matt 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
(NIV)
Is there anyone in your life, which you hold a grudge against? Has someone done something to you that you just cannot forgive? Do you keep bringing up things that hurt you from the past? Jesus tells us that we must forgive others for all wrong that they have done to us. If God can forgive us no matter what we may have done then we are to do the same to others. Not just forgive, but to forgive and forget, never to be mentioned again. The Bible tells us that when we ask for forgiveness from God, He forgives and no longer remembers those sins as far as the East is from the West. The East and the West never meets, thus God never remembers our sins again. We only have to ask forgiveness once for a particular sin and God will never remember it again. We are to do the same when we forgive someone. A friend borrowed your car and wrecked it ten years ago and you forgave him. If he come to you today and ask to borrow your car and you confront him about wrecking your car ten years ago, then you have not truly forgiven him. To forgive is to forget. Just has God forgives our sins and forgets them; we are to do the same to others. This New Year let’s make a resolution to truly forgive those to whom we hold grudges and remember the sin no more.
Next let’s make a resolution to give to God what is His.
2 Cor 9:6-8
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
(NIV)
There as been much discussion on how much money you should tithe to the Church and how to calculate it. I believe that we are to give 10% of our first fruits or gross pay, but I am not here today to preach tithing. The Bible tells us that the more that we give, the more we will receive. We all need to pray about what we are to give to the Church and give it out of our heart because we want to glorify God with our gifts. If we give out of obligation and not out of love then our gift does not glorify God and God cannot bless this gift or the giver. I want to relate to you my own experience on tithing.
I always threw some money in the collection plate when it was passed. It depended on how much money I had in my wallet at the time. It varied weekly. As I became closer to God and received many answers to my prayers, I wanted to give back to God. I always heard that tithing was giving 10% so I started giving 10% of what I had left after taxes and paying my bills. After a while I didn’t fill right about the way I was calculating the 10%. I then started giving 10% of my take home pay before paying my bills. This worked for a while, but I still didn’t feel like I was doing it right. I then made a decision to give the Church 10% of my gross salary before taxes and deductions. I didn’t know how I was going to live on what I had left, but my heart was burden so much that I knew the next Sunday morning I had to write that check for 10% of the gross pay for that week. As I dropped that check into the collection plate, it felt so good, but at the same time I didn’t know how I was going to pay my bills. I don’t think I slept any that Sunday night, worrying about my bills. Monday morning I received a call from my boss telling me that I had been promoted and would receive an 11% pay raise effective immediately. God is so wonderful. He not only gave me the 10% to tithe, but also gave me the other 1% which would be 10% of the 10% pay raise. So when God’s words tell us “whoever sows generously will also reap generously” you can believe it and trust God to bless you. What you give from the heart God will return much more. Make a New Year resolution that you will pray and search your heart on what you need to be giving back to God.
Lastly let’s make a resolution to fulfill the great commission.
Matt 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.""
(NIV)
Have you been fulfilling your part of the Great Commission? This wasn’t just for the disciples, but it is a command for all believers. We are to go out and tell others about the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ. How many non-believers have you told about Jesus this past year? You are saved today because someone told you the Good News concerning Jesus Christ. It may have been a Pastor, Sunday school teacher, a family member or a complete stranger, but someone told you about Christ. We all are to tell others about Christ. The harvest is great, especially in this neighborhood, but the harvesters are few. Make a New Year resolution this year that you will tell a different person about Christ every week. It will only take a few minutes out of your busy schedule, but the reward could be greater than anything that you have every experienced.
Invitation:
If you are hear today and don’t know this Jesus that we have been talking about today you need to know this.
John 3:16-18
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(NIV)
God loves you. There isn’t anything that you have done that God will not forgive. He created you and wants to have fellowship with you, but you must accept His one and only son as your Savior. You don’t have to change your life first; God will help you with that. This is what you have to do.
Rom 10:9-10
9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
(NIV)
When the music starts playing, get up and walk the aisle toward me and I will lead you through a prayer where you too can become a son or daughter of God. God is calling you, but it is up to you to answer His call.
While the music is playing, please bow your heads and close your eyes and prayfully tell God what New Year commitments you will make to Him. Be honest. If you don’t intend to keep them, don’t make them. Search your heart and tell God of your commitments to Him.
If you need prayer come and I will pray with you. If you would like to move your church membership to our church come now. If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, God is calling you to make that commitment today. Come now. We don’t know when our lives will end. You may not have another chance to accept eternal life in Heaven with God. Come now and accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
