That should not surprise us!!!
People are going to them to see what this coming year holds for them.
Of course this is a waste of time and money because no man knows what the future holds.
Palm reading is a practice that involves interpreting the lines and shapes of one’s hand to predict their future.
While some people believe in the accuracy of palm reading, it is not supported by scientific evidence and is considered a pseudoscience.
IT CERTAINLY IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE SCRIPTURES!!!
As a Christian, it is important to be aware that palm reading is a form of divination, which is forbidden in the Bible.
Christians are called to trust and seek God alone, and not to rely on any other means of divination.
Therefore, it is not recommended for Christians to engage in palm reading or to seek guidance from palm readers.
Instead, Christians can seek guidance from God through prayer, reading the Bible, and seeking counsel from fellow believers.
The Bible provides guidance on how to live a fulfilling life and how to make wise decisions.
Only God knows the future…no man knows the future….NO MAN or WOMAN!!!
Illus: If mankind could know what the future holds for them everybody that invest in the stock market would be going to these palm readers and fortune tellers to know the future and they would be getting inside information which is illegal
We enter this NEW YEAR as we did last year not knowing what the future holds for any of us.
However after a couple of years dealing with COVID19 most of us are glad to see a NEW YEAR!
Often we hear people say that they want more of God in their life, and I guess they do!
HOW CAN WE HAVE A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD?
Illus: There is an ancient tale from India about a young man who was seeking God. He went to a wise old sage for help and asked, “How can I find God?”
The old man took him to a nearby river. They waded into the deep water. Soon the water was up just under their chins.
Suddenly the old man seized the young man by the neck and pushed him under the water. He held the young man down until he was flailing the water in desperation. Another minute and he may well have drowned. Up out of the water the two of them came.
The young man was coughing water from his lungs and still gasping for air.
• Reaching the bank he asked the old sage, indignantly, “What did that have to do with wanting more of God in my life?
• The old man asked him, “While you were under the water, what did you want more than anything else?”
• The young man said, “I wanted air. I wanted air more than anything else!”
• The old man replied, “When you want God as much as you wanted air, you will find more of God in your life.”
This was basically what David said in Psalm 63:1. We read, “...O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land...”
We can never have a close walk with the Lord until we THIRST FOR THE THINGS OF GOD.
As I preach this sermon I am going to assume everyone here want more of God in your life than last year.
Did you know the Bible tells us how that can be accomplished?
First we must…
I. DRAW NIGH TO GOD
Take a close look at our text, James 4:8. We read, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you...”
Notice, God places the first step of responsibility on us to DRAW NIGH TO GOD.
He tells us to draw nigh to Him, and then He will draw nigh to us.
Illus: I take from that verse:
• If I take a step toward God, God will take a step toward me
• If I take two steps toward God, God will take two steps toward me.
HOW DO WE TAKE A STEP TOWARD GOD?
(1) Start attending church on a regular basis.
(2) Start making time for prayer daily.
(3) Start making time for Bible reading daily.
(4) Start making room for God in your life daily.
(5) Start making time to talk to others about the Lord to other.
As you take these steps and other steps toward God you will began to get closer to God.
In every step I take He will take one toward me.
Why do we have to make the first step?
Well, actually we are not making the first step.
When the Lord Jesus stepped out of heaven onto this earth, HE TOOK THE FIRST STEP.
He lived, died for our sins, and was resurrected! He can do no more than He has done to draw us to Himself.
If you are going to have a closer walk with God the ball is in your court. It is entirely up to you!
If you do not take these steps this time next year you will be in the same place you are now spiritually.
He has promised us IF WE DRAW NIGH UNTO HIM HE WOULD DRAW NIGH UNTO US.
We can get just as close to God as we choose because every step we take toward Him He takes one toward us.
Illus: I think about this man in the old testament who was called Enoch. The Bible tells us He got so close to God that He walked with God.
In fact one day when He was walking with God, God must have said to Him, "Enoch we are closer to my house than your yours, why don't we go to my house." The Bible tells us Enoch walked with God and was not for God Took HIm.
There are many reasons we should want to draw “nigh,” or close to God…
Let’s talk about those reasons…
First…
II.BECAUSE OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE.
One of the first things many of us do at the beginning of a New Year is to make sure we have a calendar for the coming year.
We use this calendar to plan our life for the coming year:
• Meetings
• Plan our vacations
• To remind us of birthdays
• Plan events
.Doctor appointments
And a host of other things on our Calendars.
Today in America we use the Gregorian calendar.
• The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It is the calendar used in the international standard for Representation of dates and times.
• 11 of the months have either 30 or 31 days, while the second month, February, has only 28 days during the common year.
The Bible tells us in Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Why is that Important?
Because we can let days. Weeks months and years go by and live a wasted life.
Life is short!!!
Job 7:6 Job compares the brevity of life to a weaver’s shuttle, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,”
Illus: Here Job compares the brevity of life to being as fast as a needle on a sewing machine that the needle bobs up and down so fast that it would be impossible to count the strokes that it makes.
Job says that life goes by just that fast.
Illus: The value of time
• To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
• To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a pre-mature baby.
• To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
• To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet their lover.
• To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
• To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
• To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
We are to treasure every moment that God gives us!
Illus: Someone said:
• When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
• When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.
• When I became a full grown man, time ran.
• And later as I older grew, time flew.
• Soon I shall find while traveling on, time gone.
Did you notice, when you were growing up, it seemed that it took forever to reach the age of sixteen. But, once you reached that age, it seemed as if you had a birthday every six months?
It is amazing how fast a person can get from 16 to 70.
Job must have been impressed by this. In Job 14:1, he said, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days...”
Illus: Older folks do a lot of reminiscing. It is not uncommon to hear them talk about things that took place 50, 60 or 70 years ago as if it had just happened yesterday.
Why? To them it seems as if it only happened a short time ago.
We often hear folks say, “If I could live my life over again, I would do a lot of things differently!”
And if they knew what they know today, they probably would!
For example:
• Some young girls who dated boys they should not have dated would not consider dating them if they had it to do over. Why? Because, they have been “thorns” in their “flesh” ever since they dated them.
• Some people made certain financial investments who would not have made those investments if they had just known then what they know now.
Probably we all would do a lot of things different if we could do them over again.
Life will pass us by because time on this earth is short. We are not going to live forever so we need to keep account of the days God give us and use the wisely. Because once we use these days they are GONE!!!
Illus: A minister’s wife was grieving at the funeral home because her husband, to whom she had been married for over 50 years, had died.
God had blessed their ministry and they were responsible for starting several churches, one that had an attendance of seven hundred.
She told a young man who had only been in the ministry a few years, “Whatever you and your wife plan to do, such as taking a few weeks off to go on a second honeymoon - DO IT!”
She explained to him that she and her husband had been planning for years to take some time off and go on a second honeymoon, but, she said, “NOW WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO IT!”
Listen, life is short.
• Some of you have been planning for years to dedicate your life to the Lord and do some things for Him.
• Some have planned to tell certain ones about Jesus.
• Some have planned to set aside time each day to intercede in prayer for others.
• Some have planned to give someone something, just for Jesus’ sake.
• Some children have been planning for years to go to their parents and tell them they appreciate all they have done for them and that they love them.
• I am here to tell you - YOU NEED TO DO IT. BEGIN DOING IT NOW, IN ____!
One of the reasons WE SHOULD DRAW NIGH TO GOD IS BECAUSE OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE.
Some have been here for 60, 70, and even 80 years, but have not “lived” at all.
Illus: Someone wrote:
“There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played
He never risked, he never tried
He never sang or prayed
And when he one day passed away
His insurance was denied
For since he never really lived
They claimed he never died.”
There are people like that. They have been alive, but have never lived the abundant life that Christ offers every person.
Since they have not lived the “abundant life,” they have never lived at all!
We should draw nigh to God because of the brevity of life but also…
III. BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF DEATH.
Illus: Harry Houdini was known as the ultimate escape artist. He was known for defying death again and again.
The Daily Mirror challenged him to escape a pair of handcuffs that took the craftsman 5 years to make them. He took the challenge and after one hour he escaped.
He escaped death over and over!!!
On the afternoon of October 22, 1926, two University students visited Houdini's dressing room.
Houdini was looking through his mail, when one of the students, J. Gordon Whitehead, asked Harry if he could indeed withstand any blow to the abdomen. Harry responded that he could, if given time to brace himself, at which point Whitehead hit Houdini four times in the abdomen, assuming that Houdini had indeed braced himself for the blows.
Throughout the evening, Houdini performed in great pain. He was unable to sleep and remained in constant pain for the next two days, though he did not seek medical help.
When he finally saw a doctor, Harry was found to have a fever of 102 degrees and acute appendicitis. He was advised to go to the hospital for immediate surgery. However, Harry decided to complete his show as planned that night.
By the time Harry arrived on stage, his fever had risen to 104 degrees. He was tired and in pain and his assistants often had to step in and offer help.
Audience members reported that Harry missed his cues and seemed in a hurry.
By the middle of the third act, Houdini asked his assistant to lower the curtain as he could not go on. When the curtain closed, Harry Houdini collapsed where he was standing and had to be carried back to his dressing room.
He continued to refuse medical care until the next morning when his wife, Bess insisted he go to the hospital. Harry relented and had his appendix removed, however it had already ruptured and doctors did not have much hope for his survival.
On October 31, 1926 the man who had escaped death hundreds of time, lying near his wife and brother, Harry Houdini died.
Even the great Houdini could not escape death. He had escaped death hundreds of time but perhaps he thought he could do it once more.
That is the way sinful man lives his life thinking he can escape death one more year but at the appointed time that God has set for his death he/she is going to die and there is not a doctor in this world that can save him.
BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF DEATH every lost person need to DRAW NIGH TO GOD TODAY!!!
Death is inescapable!!!
But Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Look at the word “appointed.” This is telling us that we all have an appointment with death.
Did you know that God is the One Who makes that appointment?
Illus: When we have a dental appointment, we have to know what day and what hour we are supposed to keep that appointment.
But, did you know that not a person alive, or who has ever lived, or who will ever live, knows just when they will die. Still not a one of us will be one minute late for that appointment.
Illus: There are people who make a habit of showing up late for work. But, I can assure you that on the day when their appointment with Mr. Death comes they will not be one second late.
We have not been given a specific hour or day. All we are told is that we all have an appointment.
Illus: Perhaps someone is saying, “Preacher, I am not worried about death. I went to the doctor and he told me I was in perfect health.”
How many times we have heard mourners at a funeral talking about the deceased, saying, “Just the other day he/she went to the doctor and the doctor told him/her they were in excellent health. Who would ever have thought that in just one week he would be dead?”
Many bodies in caskets look as if they had been healthy. That is:
-They did not appear to be undernourished.
-They had not been sick or weak even a week before they died.
-They had not been on their “death-bed” a week ago.
They looked as if they were as healthy as we are today, but their appointment with death came and they kept it!
We should draw nigh to God because of:
I. The brevity of life
II. The uncertainty of life
But also…
IV. BECAUSE OF HIS IMMINENT RETURN.
The Lord’s disciples went to Him and said, Matthew 24:3 “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
There is not anything wrong with watching for the signs the Bible tells us must be fulfilled before He returns.
Our “absent” Lord has given special commendation to those who not only WAIT for His return, but also earnestly WATCH for Him.
There is a big difference between WAITING and WATCHING.
Illus: The difference between these terms is illustrated by the story of a fishing vessel returning home after many days at sea. As they neared the shore, the sailors gazed eagerly toward the dock where a group of their loved ones had gathered.
The skipper looked through his binoculars and identified some of them: “I see Bill’s Mary, and there is Tom’s Margaret and David’s Anne.”
One man became concerned because his wife was not there. Later, he left the boat with a heavy heart and hurried up the hill to his cottage. As he opened the door, she ran to meet him, saying, “I have been waiting for you!”
He replied with a gentle rebuke, “Yes, but the other men’s wives were watching for them!”
We read in I Thess. 5:6, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us WATCH and be sober.”
Also, we read in Rev 3:3, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Illus: A tourist, driving through West Texas, stopped at a gas station and observed a piece of rope dangling from a sign labeled, “Weather Conditions.”
“How can you possibly tell what the weather is with a piece of rope,” the tourist wanted to know.
“It’s simple, sonny,” was the droll answer.
• When the rope swings back and forth, it’s windy.
• When it is wet, it is raining.
• When it is frozen stiff, it’s snowing.
• And, when it’s gone...tornado!”
Jesus has told us there are certain things we can look for and when those things come about, we should look up because our “...redemption draweth nigh.”
Jesus has told us His return is imminent. Certainly all the signs point clearly to His soon return.
Illus: The great preacher, F. B. Meyer, once asked D. L. Moody, “What is the secret of your success?”
Moody replied, “For many years I have never given an address without the consciousness that the Lord may come before I have finished.”
This may well explain the intensity of his service and the zeal of his ministry for Christ.
We all should draw nigh to God because of His imminent return.
Illus: A Christian lady was dying.
She knew her time was coming. She told her daughters, “It won’t be long now and I will see my Lord.”
They assured her the doctor said she was going to be all right!
She said, “No, he is wrong. I will be going to meet my Lord very soon. I want you to wash my hair, dry it and comb it. When I meet my Lord, I want to look my very best!”
They reluctantly did what she told them to do, assuring her all the time she was going to be all right.
They fixed her up as she requested and placed her in her nice clean night gown, with her hair freshly washed, dried, and combed in the bed.
It was only a few minutes after her head hit the pillow that her eyes closed and they never opened again. SHE HAD GONE TO BE WITH HER LORD.
We do not know what ____ holds for any of us, but let me ask you something?
“If this is your year, are you ready to meet Him?”
We have looked at…
I. The brevity of life
II. The uncertainty of life
III. BECAUSE OF HIS IMMINENT RETURN.
