Drawing Nearer To God

New Year Message

January 2, 2022

This is really a great Sunday! When we think about the new year, there’s always the hope that the new year will be better than the prior year. If 2021 wasn’t the best year, then there’s the hope, maybe an expectation that 2022 will be better. And if 2021 was the perfect year, you’re hoping for more of the same. Often times, we move into the new year with expectation and anticipation that it will be a good year!

So, with that in mind, what are you going to do to ensure that this will be a great year? How will you seek God? How will you honor God? How will you give back to God so that you can make a difference in the world? How will you show who Jesus is in you? How will you serve God? How will you give of your material or financial blessings? How will you use your gifts in 2022?

I can go on and ask lots of questions about who we are and who we will become this year. As I was thinking and envisioning God’s plans for us this year, my mind was racing in 100 different directions.

It's interesting that when we make New Year's resolutions, most of them are more self centered in nature. That’s not necessarily bad, it’s just an observation. We might say, we want to lose weight, to get in better shape, to get a new job, to be a better spouse . . . and all those are good things.

Many of us don’t have spiritual goals or expectations when it comes to what we want to do in the new year. They’re me centered as opposed to God centered. I hope that makes sense.

When it comes to God, we try to get God to do what we want, as opposed to doing the hard work of intentionally drawing closer to God. We want God to get us that new job, to help us wake up in the morning with more hair on our head. We want God to take away those bad desires. You know what I mean?

We demand -- God bless me, God help me be richer, God help me be happier, God give me what I want. And whenever life doesn't go as we want, we blame God.

We might say, I tried. I gave it a week. I prayed for a day and crickets from God. You know, when people say crickets, that means silence, but crickets are noisy. So, I wonder if we say crickets from God, that means I didn’t hear God over all of the other noise I’ve created in my life.

We didn’t get the better job, we didn’t get the guy or gal we hoped for, we didn’t get that great Christmas present. And it’s all God’s fault. I tried God and it didn't work. God didn't do what I wanted Him to do.

If we were to be really honest, many of us believe God exists for us, when in reality, we exist to serve and honor Him. In fact, when Jesus invited people to follow Him, it was costly. Jesus said,

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must" do what? "must deny themselves and take up their cross "and follow me."

If we wan to be a disciple of Jesus, it's less about us and it's more about Him. And that's why as we move into a new year, in the culture that we live in, a very self centered, selfish culture, I want us to move closer to God, to become more selfless as we follow Jesus.

Because if we want to follow Him, it's got to be less about us and more about Him.

As I considered what God was calling me to start the year with, He impressed upon me we needed something different. As I was considering what we needed to start the year with, it hit me . . . well, God hit me with what we needed.

I can sum it up in one word - - - - PRAYER

I know, you’re thinking, we’ve talked about prayer before, this is getting old Pastor Michael. Isn’t there anything else you can talk about? You might even prefer I spoke about money over prayer . . . so don’t worry, that’s coming too.

But before we get there, I want to look at our basic mindset or attitude.

One of my favorite authors is Andrew Murray. In his book called, Absolute Surrender, written in 1897, he wrote - - -

We trust Jesus and His work on Calvary; we trust Him as our only Savior.

That is well and may be sufficient to bring salvation, but many do not realize that true Christianity consists in an intense,