Sermon Central
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How Make 2003 The Most Meaningful Year Of Your Life
Contributed by Alan Balatbat on May 25, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: Why do we need do have a good start in the year?
How to Make 2004 the Most Meaningful Year of your Life
Introduction:
Are you a Christian whose spiritual growth has stagnated? Are you a Christian who wants to make 2004 the most meaningful year of your life. Tonight we look at a life of a king who started so strong yet ended so tragic. If you die and someone is assigned to write you biography what would it say about your life.
James tells us that our time here on earth is not only fragile but short: Here it tells us that our life are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
James 4:13-17 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." [14] Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. [15] Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." [16] As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
Paul instructs us in Ephesians to be very careful and to make the most of every opportunity (to seek to do God¡¦s Will).
Ephes. 5:15-17 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, [16] making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. [17] Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
1. Asa¡¦s Commitment to the Lord
2 Chron 14:2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.4 He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands.
„Ð Asa did what was good. The Prophet Micah tells us What is Good and Right in the eyes of the Lord His God
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
(O man means any person in Israel) exactly what God did desire from them. God did not want them to be related to Him in only a creation way only, but God wanted them to be related inwardly¡Xto obey Him because they desired to, not because they have to. That relationship, which is good (beneficial), involves three things: that individuals
(a) Act Justly (be fair in their dealings with others)
(b) Love Mercy (¡§loyal love¡¨; carry through on their commitments to meet others needs)
(c) Walk Humbly with¡K God (fellowship with Him in modesty, without arrogance). ¡§Humbly¡¨ translates to be modest.
„Ð Verse 4 tells us that He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers. In Daniel 3:1-7 King Nebo (verses 4-5) force the people to worship an image made of gold. Now Asa gave the people of Judah a law to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers.
Is 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
Deut 4:29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
15:2 He went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 15:4 "But in their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him. 15:12 And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul;
„Ð And to obey his laws and commands.
Luke 11:28 But He said, ¡§More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!¡¨
James 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
„Ð Verse 11 tells us a lot about Asa¡¦s Prayer Life.
Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, "Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."
I love how Asa prayed Lord, there is no one like you. Here he acknowledge God as the almighty one. He gave the Lord His rightful place. No one can be compared to you. Then he prayed for help, acknowledging that God alone can give them victory. He continued his prayer by saying we rely on you. Finally, Asa tells us you are our God no one is more powerful than you are.
