“Freedom from Resolutions”
Galatians 5:13
Gal 5:13
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
• Every year New Years Resolutions are made. Only 17% of people according to Time Magazine are kept. 73% of people break them within a week. Think about it..
• Resolution- is the act of resolving or determining upon an action, course of action, method, procedure, document etc., to resolve a decision or determination:
• Now you would think that since the very definition of resolution has the word “method” in it that, we Methodist would have it in the bag.
• Documents like a Living Will, or last Will of Testament, Marriage Licenses are Resolutions
• But so often people have a difficult time making a decision and standing behind their decision.
• Resolutions to stay committed to a marriage seem to have contingency plans tied into the,” Ill stay married to you till you make me mad, or you see something better come along. As long as I’ve been a pastor, I’ve done 36 weddings, and I have never seen a license with a stipulation page, or an attachment to it@!
• There are some reolutions that are needed in the matters of law but I believe that making resolutions for your life are more damaging than of a help.
• Think about it, you make a resolution to diet. And you fail. What do you do? You indulge yourself, go overboard
• Wind up deeper in the hole than what you were. You feel defeated, depression sets in.
• Life Resolutions set you up to fail. Resolutions set up unrealistic expectations. Resolutions bind you up just as the law had bound up God’s people and limited them.
• God doesn’t want to limit you; in who you are in Jesus Christ. God’s desire is to bestow his blessings on his people, but we tend to limit God’s moving.
• My challenge to you this morning is to stop making New years Resolutions instead make a News Year to Do List.
• There are a couple Biblical parameters when making a list so you can use these notes to construct your own.
Biblical Parameters for a New Years To Do List
1.) Keeping it Short and simple creates Freedom
John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
• What makes your life free’er?
• To Do’s : Are they Factual, logical, simple, and attainable- Do you have the ability to do it?
• Yearly To Do List’s are not Bucket Lists
• Short ideas create long term plans
• Be simplistic with how you go about achieving your goals and that will create good habits
• For example: Stop drinking pop. Eat what you want. Don’t drink soda. It is simple, its short. Guarantee you will lose weight 15-20 lbs in 3 months. Try it .
• Pay off ONE Credit Card. Creates Freedom
• Don’t try to read the Bible in a year. The Bible will become a Resolution Curse and a dread, instead commit to a devotional.
• Achieving a To Do List goals builds our self esteem and our confidence in standing behind our word.
Gal 5:13
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.
• Obviously the best decision you can make to start the new year is to accept Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior and give Him your life so He can save you.
• It’s factual, its logical, it’s simple and attainable- Creates freedom
Biblical Parameters for a New Years To Do List
2.) Be Intentional by going beyond Yourself
• Intentional- planned course of action, done deliberately on purpose.
• Do you know how many times that the Bible speaks of the word plan? 71 times. And in each time God was speaking to His people to achieve a specified goal.
• God gives you life and expects you to do something with it. You can’t be couch potatoes.
• Live life with and intent and on purpose. Count for something.
Galatians 5:13b
But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
• The church is full of a bunch of spoiled and selfish brats! We have the truth about Jesus Christ, the empowering of the Holy Spirit and the tools to make Christ relevant in our world, but we do NOTHING with Him@!
• We are so consumed with the color of the church carpet or the flowers in the flower bed that we have found a way to indulge our flesh in the life of the church.
• Paul says “don’t use your freedom (in Christ) to indulge yourself”. In other words; don’t allow church politics, or church tradition to be minimized as your relationship with Christ.
• Church we need to look beyond ourselves, our building, our décor, our hymnals, and reach out beyond ourselves to change the lives of people in this world.
• We are good at conflict. We are really good at taking care of ourselves and what we want out of church.We are good at focusing on our children. But…..
• We need something exterior to GFUMC to focus ourselves on making Christ relevant.
• Tony Mosely is coming on Jan 10th to share his report. And one of the main ideas that the report does is that it prompts the church as a whole with the idea of us “Moving Forward Together.” He will share more about those things later.
• But that is exactly what we are going to do. We are going to move forward, and moving forward requires us to move beyond ourself on purpose and with intention.
• One of the first things we are going to is have a class called “ Welcome to the Family” that I will teach. It is for members that want to brush up on the Doctrine of the UMC and for constituents who desire to become members.
• Then we are going to Birth the First Missions trip and Missional Connection with Journey Church Guatamala.
• The leading cause of death amongst Guat. People is pneumonia, influenza and aspixiation. Why? Because they cook indoors with unventilated cooking.
• We can buy and build ventilated Onil Stoves that heat, cook, and help store food for $120. For $3000 we can buy and build a home for a family that includes a Onil Stove, water purification system, and 3 months of food.
• Here is your chance $440 rountrip airfare, how many stoves can we buy and build, houses, water filteration for $30.
• I need 15 people to go in September for 10 days.
• We are also looking at Small group Discipleship. Training/Group ministry. This includes Student Ministry.
• Church, the only way that we can move forward is by moving out from where we are at. We have to stop being so focused on who hurt who, and who said what, and start working together to impact the world for Christ and we do that better together.
• On the reverse side of your notes this morning is your 2016 To Do List.
• Write down your To Do’s- Not Honey do lists! Your To Do’s with the this in mind….Short and Simple, but intentionally going beyond yourself.
• I want you to write down your To Do List and hang it on a magnet on your refidgerator. There are 3 month goals, 6 month, 9 month and 12 month. And when you accomplish it check it off.
• Sign and date it.
My 2016 To Do List
(Short/Simple and Intentional)
3 Month
1.) __________________________________
2.) __________________________________
3.) __________________________________
6 month
1.) __________________________________
2.) __________________________________
3.) __________________________________
9 month
1.) __________________________________
2.) __________________________________
3.) __________________________________
12 month
1.) __________________________________
2.) __________________________________
3.) __________________________________
Signed_________________________ Date______
