Looking Back on 2020
December 27, 2020 Morning Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: We can end 2020 well if we keep focused on God and not our circumstances.
Focus Passage: John 21:20-22
Introduction: We are certainly tempted to throw 2020 in the garbage and never look back on it. But it is now part of our history. Our collective world history and also our personal life history. If we only dwell on the bad, God will get no glory for that. Instead, let us give thanks to God for what He HAS done in 2020. We should also not excuse our own personal shortcomings and blame them on a “bad year.” Be honest with God, each other, and with yourself. What are some of the good things God has done in your life? Did you get Covid? Did you recover? We may not have had the annual church programs, but we have still seen people saved and baptized! We can always find things to be thankful for!
I. Thankfulness
Gratitude puts God in His rightful place.
a. in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NASB)
b. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15
c. Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name. Psalm 30:4
d. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. Psalm 100:4
e. With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the LORD; And in the midst of many I will praise Him. Psalm 109:30
f. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Psalm 118:1
g. I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, And You have become my salvation. Psalm 118:21
h. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14
i. All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD, And Your godly ones shall bless You. Psalm 145:10
j. saying, "We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. Revelation 11:17
II. Forgiveness
a. Asking –
(The other person MAY NOT forgive you. At least you have done your part.)
i. "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. (Matthew 5:23-24 NASB)
b. Giving –
(The other person may never ask for your forgiveness or perhaps even admit any wrongdoing. Forgiveness is for YOU not them!)
i. Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus *said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:21-22 NASB)
ii. "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. (Matthew 6:14-15 NASB)
iii. 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12 NASB)
iv. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32 NASB)
III. Repentance
STOP and ABANDON any sin in your life!
a. She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."] (John 8:11 NASB)
b. So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:17-31 NASB)
c. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:12-14 NASB)
d. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (Galatians 5:16-17 NASB)
Application/Invitation: Can you find things to be thankful for? Do you need to ask forgiveness or give forgiveness? Do you have some things that you need to get out of your life and walk according to the Spirit? Do you need to be saved? The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:9-10 NASB)
