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: Eat less, Exercise more, Spend less Save more, Stop smoking, Stop drinking, Stop sinning and of course the big one Lose weight.
Here are a few less-serious resolutions: “I have resolved not to do drugs anymore, because I get the same effect just standing up really fast.” “I have resolved to live in my own little world, because at least they know me here.” “I have resolved to stay married, because it is so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” “I have resolved to not make any resolutions, because nobody is perfect. I’m a nobody so therefore I’m perfect.”
What type of resolutions should we make and keep?
1. MAKE A RESOLUTION TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Matt 5:43-48, "You have heard that it was said, ’Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 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. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
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.
2. MAKE A RESOLUTION TO LOVE YOUR SPOUSE.
A. HUSBANDS
Eph 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
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’re the same way, Amen ladies. We need to remember that 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.
B. WIVES
Eph 5:33, “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
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.
3. MAKE A RESOLUTION TO RAISE YOUR KIDS GOD’S WAY.
Deut 4:9-10, “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Do you realize that as a parent and grandparent you are a steward of your children and grand children? The Lord’s caution to us is to be careful that we don’t forget what God has done for us and to make sure to pass down our faith to our children and grandchildren. God has given each parent a responsibility to train up their children in the Lord. This cannot be passed on to someone else; it is yours and yours alone. God gave you your children. Do you remember when that wonderful baby was first placed in your arms? How proud you were! How your heart swelled with joy! You were greatly moved and you said, “God has been good to me, I’m going to be a better person. I’m going to live the right way and set the right example for him.” But you haven’t kept that promise. You’ve neglected to train them rightly, you’ve sent them to Sunday school by themselves, you’ve sent them to church by themselves, they’ve never heard a prayer fall from your lips, they’ve never seen you read the Bible, and you’ve never told them you wanted them to be saved. You see God has some plans for our children and He expects cooperation from us, but for some of us we are failing and today is the day that we change that trend. It is important for your kids to see you pray and read your Bible. It is important that your kids see that God is the number one priority in your life. It is important that we have our kids in church and that we are there with them. A study once disclosed that if both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 72% of their children remain faithful to church attendance. If only Dad attends, 55% remain faithful. If only Mom attends, 15%. If neither attends regularly, only 6% remain faithful. This statistic speaks for itself. It shows the impact of the parents on the children and their faith.
A father once said to his son, “You’d better get ready. The bus will be
here in a minute to pick you up and take you to Sunday school.” The boy
asked, “Did you go to Sunday School when you were a boy?” The father
replied, “Yes, I did.” The boy said as he was getting dressed, “It probably won’t do me any good either.” That little boy was saying something about how much the church had made an impact on his father’s life. That’s the sermon that the kids remember. They want to find out what is important from you as a parent. We need to do what Prov 22:6 says and that is to “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will follow it.” We are to do our part to train up our children and grandchildren in the Lord. A man named Don Highlander once said that “As parents we are working in partnership with God to bring our children from a self-centered lifestyle to a God-centered and other centered basis for living.” Our goal is according to Dr.Charles Stanley “to produce responsible adults who are able to function independently of parent’s authority, yet wholly submitted to
God’s”.
4. MAKE A RESOLUTION TO FORGIVE.
Matt 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
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. Let’s say that a friend borrowed your car and wrecked it ten years ago and you said that you forgave him. So let’s say that he comes 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 as 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.
5. MAKE A RESOLUTION TO FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION.
Matt 28:18-20, “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
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.
6. MAKE A RESOLUTION TO GIVE GOD WHAT IS HIS.
THE 3 T’S:
A. TITHES
2 Cor 9:6-8, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 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.”
What is the purpose in tithing? In Malachi 3 it says they gave to support the priests. The priest represented God and God’s work (vs. 10). However, God’s work is not limited to supporting clergy. It is supporting evangelistic endeavors. It is supporting missionaries. It is teaching Bible studies and discipleship studies. It is providing a place to worship. It is providing discipleship literature. It is providing Vacation Bible School for children and Falls Creek for our students. The only way to build a consistent, purposeful work for God is for God’s people to be consistent, disciplined and regular in their giving. It cannot be a hit or miss proposition. However, the ultimate purpose of the tithe is to honor God. We can honor God in many ways. We can honor God through worship. We can honor God through our lifestyle. We can honor God with our love. We can honor God through prayer. We do not pick and choose how we will honor God. It becomes a lifestyle for us. It becomes the desire of our hearts to honor him. What type of Attitude should you have? A cheerful one, a free giving one because we have to understand that the money we have, whether it’s a lot or not, is not ours at all it’s God, He’s loaning it out to us. How much should I give? There has 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. What are the requirements for tithing? The first requirement is obedience. Problem is Obedience is not always easy. Another critical requirement for tithing is that it requires trust. God has promised that He will bless us if we tithe. So when God’s word tells 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.
B. TALENTS
Romans 12:6-8 says, “We all have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”
Church, the point is that we all have been blessed by God with gifts and talents and we are to take those gifts and talents and put them to use by giving them back to God to use in the setting that we are in. In other words, to surrender our all to Him and become a vessel for Him to use. If God has given you the talent to teach then you need to be teaching somewhere in the church. If you can sing then you need to be a part of the music ministry. If you like to serve then you need to sign up to be on the mission team or hospitality team. The list can go on and on. Whatever gift or talent God has blessed you with give back to Him by using the very thing He has blessed you with. Because if you don’t you are living in sin. Make a New Year resolution that you use your gift and talents this year for God’s Kingdom.
C. TIME
Matthew 5:13-16 says, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
God has asked us as Christians to be salt and light of the earth, but in order for that to happen that means you and I have to be willing to give God our time. And to give God our time means that we are willing to be 100% completely committed to God the Father. However, the sad thing is that a lot of us have a problem with commitment when it comes to Jesus. We need to give back to God what is His and that is our time. And the reason it is His time is because He is the one who placed up here on this earth. He is the one who created us. So if He hadn’t created us you and I would not be here today.
Are you committed to Him? Are you giving God your time? Are you giving Him time in your life by reading your Bible, praying, be obedient? Are you giving Him time in His church? In other words, are you serving Him somewhere? If not you need to get involved, I’ve always said that people have no right to complain about what’s going on in church until they’ve started serving. For those that want to say I don’t like the way you do that or they way they do that my answer to you is “I like the way I did it better, than the way you didn’t do it or I like the way they did it better than they way you didn’t do it.” If you think you can add something to one of our ministries and make it better then get involved and give God your time. Make a New Year resolution that you will give your time to God this year.
In closing, 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, "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 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, “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. 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.
