Opening Video Illustration: Celebration of Life Video!
Things to celebrate in 2022:
Our school ministering to 190 kids investing in their academics and spiritual growth.
• School Christmas Musical reaching over 600 people in two nights.
Our Kids ministry ministering to over 100 children throughout the year through the following kid’s ministry:
• Kids church
• Preschool church
• Kids club
• Wacky Wednesday
• Trunk or Treat which reached over a 1,200 people in our community.
Our Youth camp last summer reaching around a140 kids and youth.
KOZ kicking off and ministering to boys 8 and up – on a monthly basis they are reaching15-20 boys a month.
Our Youth group ministering to around 40 different kids throughout the year on Wednesday night.
The good Samaritan Operation Christmas Child Christmas boxes which totaled over 150 shoe boxes made and given for kids overseas.
All of our outreaches to the community:
• Thanksgiving back – 35 meals for people in need
• Christmas blessings – presents for 15 families
• Phil’s friends (Ministry to Cancer patients bringing hope and encouragement).
Pursue Kingdom Ministry kicking back off in Sept.
Christian Life College Courses will be offered on site from CHC in fall.
The many answered prayers!
The blessing of many healings in our congregation
The blessing of financial blessings within the congregation for families and businesses.
The salvation of many lives and people finding freedom in Christ.
Missionary fruit:
Tony Simon – church plant going amazing – two ne plants in outskirt villages, after school program
Great commission Media Ministry in Ukraine – Dave Ogren
Jon Erickson – new clinics
These are just a few things we are celebrating!
We also wanted to celebrate the life of these new born blessings to the Christian Hills Family in 2022 and remind ourselves why we should be driven by eternity. It’s to implant into these new lives the love, grace and the teachings of Jesus. It’s the commitment to disciple and mentor the next generation. We are to commit and invest into these young lives so as to make a difference for eternity.
Scripture: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6
Parents are children’s first teachers and I believe the church should assist in helping parents raise their children in the way of Jesus. If you look around, we find a world full of temptations. The truth is - If we don’t guide our children to choose the right path in life, they will easily walk the wrong path and miss out on the Abundant life promised by Jesus.
For those of you with a young child now is the time to guide them and invest into them the truth of Scripture and Jesus.
Your child will grow up and leave you one day. So how can we make sure they won’t be influenced by the unhealthy culture and practices in our society?
In John 8:12, Jesus again said, “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
God’s word is the truth, the way, and the life. We won’t fall into darkness once we practice Jesus’ words. So, if we bring our children before God and train them up according to His requirements, our children will understand what they should do and not do. Many times, people walk down the wrong path because they don’t know how to tell the difference between the truth and lies. If we teach our children to fear God and shun evil, they will gradually possess the capacity to discriminate as they are growing up. Thus, we don’t worry whether or not our children will be deceived or walk the wrong path even though we are not at their side.
So, let’s re-commit this year to create a church and school which is discipling and mentoring these young lives for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Highlight the handout of the top 10 questions to review the spiritual year 2022 and plan for 2023 in setting spiritual goals. See handout!
New Year Theme: Abundant 2023
Tag line: Living Abundantly, Growing in Christ, and Walking in Freedom
Thesis: If we really want to invest in these young lives at CHC and raise up a generation of goldy children then we ourselves need to be modeling the “Abundant Life” to our children, we need to be growing in our relationship with Jesus everyday, and we need to be walking in the freedom of the Holy Spirit.
Key verse: John 10:10
John 10:7- 11: NASB
7So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Summary of 2023 Theme:
Thesis for theme: The Scriptures teach and preach that the “Abundant Life” is a continual process of learning, growing, connecting, maturing, and practicing, as well as failing, recovering, enduring, adjusting, and overcoming, because, in our present state, “We see but a poor reflection as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
I really feel many people today are missing a life driven by eternity! They focus on the temporary stuff of life but not on the eternal parts of life.
John Bevere states in, “Driven by Eternity” on page 1, “The desire of most people is to live a life that counts. This is a right and godly aspiration. It was Moses’s request (to God).”
Let’s learn from the following prayer of Moses:
Scripture: Psalm 90:12,17: “Teach us to make the most of our time…and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful” (NLT)
God is on our side and wants us to use our time wisely and for eternity – Yes, our precious time this year should be invested in – used successfully for the Kingdom – no wasting of it – we need to commit to investing our time into eternity! Jesus promised us an “Abundant Life” “A life full of eternal value and meaning.” If we commit to Him and His ways. To enter in the Kingdom through Him – the door to eternity and the door to blessings in this life and beyond.
Do you want to live for eternity and receive the promised abundant life Jesus spoke about? Then lets learn from Scripture how to pursue the “Abundant Life” Jesus promised!
T.S. – For this to happen we have to first believe we can change – Yes, really believe that our life can change for the good!
1. Key to change in 2023 is we must believe we can change! With the help of the Holy Spirit!
a. The Lord can and will enable us and or even empower us to go from “The hurry up sickness to a meaningful eternally focused life.”
i. Yes, it can happen!
1. Soul Keeping reference – from John Ortberg’s book “Soul Keeping”
a. Story: By Henry Cloud “It was time to talk about Maddie…(They had a clinical staff meeting to come together to help as a team to seek to assist their patients in overcoming their addictions and depression and to agree on a treatment plan that would bring a win)…But - I could tell everyone’s expression changed …(prior it was all positive and they were celebrating the wins)…We all turned to Graham, her psychologist, and I asked him what was happening with Maddie. That is when he made this statement: ‘Well…it seems that Maddie still has no interest in having an interior life! I will never forget it. That statement said it all: Maddie had no interest in looking at her eternal world. Her attitudes, her hurts, her strengths, her patterns of thinking and behaving, or not trusting and not risking, her spiritual life, and maybe most of all, her avoidance of embracing her real suffering and the courage to resolve it” (Page 10, Soul Keeping).
i. Maddie is the person some of us know and can relate to – Maddie is a difficult person to be around or even like – she neglects her inner life – her soul – her soul is sick and fractured but she refuses to take any blame for that.
ii. Maddie has developed a complaining, gossip filled view of others. She blames her husband for always being wrong. She rips on others all the time – it’s their fault she is addicted or depressed. Maddie cannot be positive.
iii. Maddie has the attitude that something is wrong with everyone else and that the world around her is at fault for her miserable life and attitude.
iv. Maddie even blames the ones trying to help her.
v. Have you ever met a Maddie like this?
1. Think about the therapist words “Maddie still has no interest in having and interior life!”
2. Maddie has chosen not to do soul-care to bring healing to her broken soul – she would rather stay toxic and broken and blame everyone else for refusal to change.
2. The truth about people like Maggie is this: As long as she was not going to embrace her “interior life – her soul condition” she was not going to change and she would remain stuck.
b. Some people make New Year’s resolutions but don’t believe that there will be any change!
i. I have already heard people say to me, “Why make a News Years Resolution nothing will change – it does not work – I just have to get through this year like I did last year – I just have to survive another year!”
ii. I respond, “How depressing!” “This is not the promise Jesus made to all who are His followers and His disciples!”
1. We are not just to just survive and make it through another stress filled life or year.
iii. Truth: We can change the direction of our life with Jesus’ help and power on the Holy Spirit!
1. Change is possible – life story of living the Abundant Life and seeking change:
a. Example: Chip and Joanna Gaines
i. Their story and commitment to transform the reputation of Waco, Texas:
1. Do you recall the horror story of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians and it’s Waco’s association with that cult and cult leader?
a. David Koresh; born Vernon Wayne Howell; August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was an American cult leader who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993. As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect and offshoot of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, Koresh claimed to be its final prophet. His apocalyptic Biblical teachings, including interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the Seven Seals, attracted various followers. Coming from a dysfunctional background, Koresh was a member and later a leader of the Branch Davidians. In the early 1990s, he became subject to allegations about polygamy and child sexual abuse by former Branch Davidian associates, although investigation by authorities found no conclusive evidence.
b. Further allegations related to the Branch Davidians' stockpiling of weapons led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and later the FBI to launch a raid on the group's Mount Carmel compound in February 1993. During the 51-day siege and violence that ensued, Koresh was wounded by ATF forces and later died of a gunshot in unclear circumstances as the compound was destroyed in a fire. In the course of the advance, the Mount Carmel Center caught fire under circumstances that remain disputed. Barricaded inside the building, 79 Branch Davidians perished in the ensuing blaze; 21 of these victims were children under the age of 16.
c. Koresh, then 33, died of a gunshot wound to the head during the course of the fire. It is unknown whether he committed suicide or if he was killed.
ii. The vision the dream of Magnolia!
1. The Gaines godly heritage!
2. The closing down part of their 1st store and the story and hearing the voice from God as Joanna shared it.
3. Chips transformed spiritual life his association with Billy Graham’s grandchildren and son-in-law.
4. They constantly give glory to God for their success!
5. The voice of the Lord to stop doing Fixer Upper and the blessings they now are receiving for being obedient to the direction and the voice of the Lord.
c. Do you want change in 2023 – to experience the Abundant Life? Then pray and ask God to help you change in this New Year!
i. It does require that we must believe we can change with the Lord’s help! We must ask the Lord and then believe this year can be different!
ii. We must believe that the Lord can use us to make a difference in our community – church – school – world. Are you tracking with me?
iii. We must believe that we are able to live the “Abundant Life” Jesus spoke of and promised us – it’s the idea of living life to the fullest – living free – living with purpose and destiny! We must believe and take action to see the change come to fruition!
1. Change can come but we may need a push! Ask God to push you!
a. Question: Is God pushing you to change? Has this last year been nudging you to go into another direction?
2. THE PAINFUL PATH TO LIFE CHANGE is addressed by John Maxwell who said, “People change when they hurt enough that they have to, learn enough that they want to, and receive enough that they are able to.”
a. John Bevere states, “This is why a lot of us change—because things get desperate. If I sat down with you and asked you to describe a time of life change in your spiritual journey, there is a good chance that the time you would describe would have been a time of crisis. Many of us change when we hurt.”
i. My Cancer Journey this last year has changed me – The Lord was with me through the whole journey and directing my life and focus in a new direction!
b. Question: Are you at this point in your life?
i. I am – I don’t know about you?
d. Here is the truth from Scripture: The Lord desires you to change so He can bless you with the “Abundant Life”: Listen to His Words from NIV:
i. Proverbs 9:12: “If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you…”
1. Proverbs is clear wisdom comes from God – it’s directly connected with Him – Yes, from being connected to Jesus and His word! Wisdom opens up the door to living “The Abundant Life.” Nothing else will!
ii. Psalm 37:18: “The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever.”
1. Now listen to Psalm 37:18 and 19 from the CEV version:
a. 18 Those who obey the Lord are daily in his care, and what he has given them will be theirs forever. 19 They won’t be in trouble when times are bad, and they will have plenty when food is scarce.
iii. Do you want more of God’s blessing in your life? Then ask Him to help you change!
T.S. – Change can come this year – you can build a life driven by eternity – The Lord is here to help enable – empower you to change – but you must first believe! He can enable you to do this so pray and ask Him to help you change! We also need to understand the 3 dimensions of living the abundant life and seek wisdom on how to grow in these areas of our lives in 2023.
2. There are three dimensions to living the abundant life (a full life) of a disciple for Jesus in 2023:
a. Dimension One - Soul Care
i. The mind
ii. The heart
iii. The eyes
b. Dimension 2: A plan for Spiritual growth and maturity:
i. Through the Word
ii. Through Discipleship
iii. Through Relationship
iv. Through the School of The Holy Spirit
v. Through Prayer
vi. Through Worship
c. Dimension 3: A focus on Physical health and controlling the flesh
i. Comes from discipline
ii. Comes from hearing and doing the word
iii. Comes from creating and maintaining good habits and routines
iv. Comes from resistance to evil and the fleshly desires
v. Comes from the help of the Holy Spirit
T.S.- We will be exploring these 3 dimensions this year with a prayer and a goal of us learning to live an abundant life which is focused on eternity. So, we are introducing some new ways to grow – to change and to be driven by the vision of eternity this year.
Conclusion:
We need to personally make a decision to go after the “Abundant Life” promised by Jesus – A life that is filled with His wisdom and blessing and one which is investing into eternity!
“Living Abundantly, Growing in Christ, and Walking in Freedom!”
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4: 16- 18:
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Up coming events:
• Event 1: 21 Days of Prayer and fasting Jan. 2-22
• Event 2: “Jesus Night” Sunday night 6pm Jan 22nd here in the sanctuary!
• Event 3: Adult Study on Wednesday at 6pm kicks back off on Jan 11th – I will be teachings and we will be focusing on “Soul Care” on Wednesday nights for the month of January.
• Event 4: DNA groups formed and implemented
• Event 5: Dinner for eight
• Event 6: Men’s Seminar Feb 25th day event.
• Event 7: Kid’s Club and Youth Group Wednesday nights kicks back off Jan 11th
• Event 8: PKM kicks off again next Sept.
• Event 9: College level classes through CHC campus
• Event 10: Men’s Bible Study group meets Saturdays 2x a month
• Event 11: Young Adult group kicking off Sunday night Jan
• Event 12: Sunday mornings – a place to change and grow!
