INTRO.- ILL.- The founder of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc, was asked by a reporter about his order of priorities. "I believe in God, my family and McDonald’s," he said. Then he added, "When I get to the office, I reverse the order."
When many people enter the public arena their priorities change and they put God on the shelf. He may be something of a priority on Sunday morning and truly a priority when they’re experiencing some serious problems, but otherwise, He is out of sight and out of mind.
What are your priorities in life? More than likely they won’t change much in the new year. We tend to get in a rut, good or bad, and stay there.
Your priorities depend on who you are and where you. Everyone has priorities in life, but not all priorities are good in the eyes of God.
ILL.- Mygoals.com recently released it’s annual predictions of the types of resolutions people were expected to make for 2005. They break down as follows:
* 22% of resolutions involve health and fitness
* 18% career
* 15% personal growth and interests
* 11% personal finance
* 11% time management and organization
* 8% family and relationships
* 6% education and training
* 5% home improvement and real estate
* 3% recreation and leisure
Did you notice of that none of these resolutions had anything to do with God? Most people were concerned with their health and fitness, which tells me they want to live longer and better. Most people’s priorities are tied to this life and this life only. They don’t often think in terms of the next life and how it can be better than this life.
The spiritual and/or eternal part of life needs to become more of a priority with all of us. Each day we should think about eternity and how much better life will be with the Lord and His people. I know this is hard to envision or think about, but we are encouraged in scripture to do this.
ILL.- I recently took a survey to determine how long I might possibly live. It’s on an internet site called livingto100.com. How old do you think it said I would live to be? Or how old do you think I will live to be? How old do you want me to live to be? 94.7 years is what it read, but I doubt it!
Life is getting longer, but it’s still short at best. Eternity is forever. If we are going to spend forever somewhere else then it only makes sense to prepare for and look forward to that place.
God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. I Tim. 6:17 And there is nothing wrong with enjoying these things! But God wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives. We need to focus more on the Giver than the gifts!
Every time we enjoy something in life, whatever it is, we should praise the Lord for it, saying, “Thank you, Lord!” Thank you for being so good to me and giving to me. This is a priority that we all need in the new year. More thanks. More praise. More expressions of appreciation to the Lord.
In the new year, let’s work at including the Lord in everything we do, every aspect of our lives.
I Cor. 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Some day (in heaven) our lives will be surrounded by God. We need to get a good start on this relationship right now. We need to allow the Lord to be a part of everything in life: marriage, family, children, work, fun times, etc.
ILL.- For example, you should really never set down to a meal without saying, “Thank you, Lord.” You should not rise in the morning without whispering a prayer, without talking to the Lord. In fact, we should be in constant communication with the Lord as though He is our best friend AND HE IS! There is no one who knows us as well as He does and still loves us passionately and compassionately.
We should never go to work without asking for the Lord’s wisdom and strength. We should not deal with people without the Lord’s loving heart working in us. We should desire to deal with people as the Lord would and pray that way.
ILL.- I read that one old recipe for rabbit stew starts out like this: "First catch the rabbit." That’s putting first things first. We need to do this in the new year. Spiritual priorities should be first on our list. Jesus said to “seek first” the kingdom of God.
PROP.- Here’s a list of priorities for this new year. Analyze, evangelize and scrutinize.
1- Analyze everything
2- Evangelize everyone
3- Scrutinize yourself
I. ANALYZE EVERYTHING
ILL.- A motorist had a flat tire in front of a mental health institution. He stopped the car, jacked it up, and proceeded to take off the wheel. He laid the lug nuts in the gutter, but they fell into the sewer drain. There was no way he could get them back.
One the hospital’s patients happened to be watching and suggested that the man take one lug nut from the other three wheels in order to hold the fourth in place until he could get some place and buy more of them. The motorist thanked the patient and said, "I don’t know why you are in that mental hospital." The patient replied, "Hey! I’m in here for being crazy, not for being stupid."
Brothers and sisters, we may be crazy, but we are not to be stupid. We are not to be stupid when it comes to life, to what is happening in this life and world.
I Thess. 5:21-22 "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."
We need to examine and test everything in life. We need to analyze, scan, sift, test things in life. We must analyze everything that is going on around us: at work, in the world, while socializing. We must hold to the good and reject the evil.
ILL.- I am reminded of the story about the little boy who told his mother that he was 8 feet tall. She questioned his accuracy and he replied, "I AM 8 FEET TALL BECAUSE I JUST MEASURED MYSELF WITH THIS LITTLE RULER I MADE." I just measured myself with my own little ruler. We often do this in life. We analyze things or measure things with our own little rulers.
ILL.- Chuck Colson said, "According to sociologist Robert Bellah, 81 percent of the American people say they agree that ‘an individual should arrive at his or her own religious belief independent of any church or synagogue.’ Thus the key to the paradox is the fact that those who claim to be Christians are arriving at faith on their own terms -- terms that make no demands on behavior.
"A woman named Sheila, interviewed for Bellah’s Habits of the Heart, embodies this attitude. ‘I believe in God,’ she said. ‘I can’t remember the last time I went to church. But my faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheila-ism. Just my own little voice.’"
That’s the thinking that so many people have today. If we think something is all right, then it’s all right. But what we need to realize is this: OUR THINKING IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT!
But I know of some thinking that is always right!
II Tim. 2:15 "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
The Word of God is the word of truth. It is always right. It always contains the truth about life.
We should measure everything or analyze everything with the Word of truth! That’s the way to know whether or not something is good or evil! That’s the only way to know for sure!
Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."
The Bereans examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. That’s exactly what we need to do with all preaching and teaching and everything that the world is throwing at us!
The world is preaching to us every day, whether we realize this or not. The world is preaching to us through the TV (TV news, programs, soaps, movies, advertisements, etc.) The world is preaching to us through the internet, the newspapers, the movies, billboards, and the people around us (friends, neighbors, family members, work associates). And we need to be analyzing everything that is coming our way!
ILL.- A lady was waiting for a Manhattan sub-way when her attention was diverted by two men in their 20’s engrossed in conversation just a few feet away.
One was dressed in a torn heavy-metal T--shirt and had stringy black hair, two skull tattoos on his left calf and a ring through his bottom lip.
The other had greasy blond hair tied in a ponytail, six earrings, and a four-inch snake tattoo on his left forearm. "Hey, I finally went out with Kathy last night," the first man said.
"Well, how did it go, dude?" asked his friend, his hand clutching an open beer in a paper bag.
"Awesome!" came the reply. "She is one hot babe who really knows how to party!"
"So are you going to see her again?" "Nah, man," the first guy answered, his enthusiasm suddenly subdued. "She smokes."
Brothers and sisters, our standard or measuring stick is not based on our feelings or what we think. It should rightfully be based on the Word of God. If something doesn’t stack up with the Word of truth, then it doesn’t stack up at all! And we should refuse it! Analyze everything with the Word of God!
II. EVANGELIZE
ILL.- Many years ago preacher Dwight L. Moody was criticized for his evangelistic methods. Moody replied, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”
The truth is most of us don’t do it. We do very little when it comes to reaching out to people for Christ. We have little passion for people and compassion for people who are lost, confused, mixed up and messed up.
I am concerned about church growth. I am concerned that we get concerned about making our church grow! How are we going to do it? Notice, I said, “We.” It will take everyone working together to see the church grow.
ILL.- Dr. James Dobson’s experience at the public school system was from 1960-1963. At the final year, he had to say goodbye to 25 to 30 teary-eyed kids. One young lady whom he said goodbye to in 1963 called him in 1975. Julie had grown up. James remembered her as a seventh grader with a crisis of confidence in herself. Her Latin heritage embarrassed her and she was overweight. She had only one friend who had moved away the following year. She and Dr. Dobson talked on the phone about the good ole days.
“Where do you go to church?” she asked. He told her, and she asked if she could visit. He told her she could, and the next week she came. In the coming months, she became a Christian.
A few months after her initial visit, Dobson asked her, “Julie, I want to ask you a question. Will you tell me why you went to so much trouble to obtain my unlisted number and call me last fall…?”
“Because when I was a seventh-grade student in junior high school, you were the only person in my life who acted like you respected and believed in me…and I wanted to know your God.”
This should tell us a whole lot about evangelizing others! Exhibiting genuine care and love will go a long way in leading others to Christ and to the church. As its been said, “People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.”
It is the idea that we win people’s attention and ear by treating them kindly, graciously, and lovingly. We all need to think about this in relationship to the people we work with, friends, neighbors, family members, etc.
Could it be that we are not able to get some people to come to church because of unlovely attitudes and actions?
Matthew 28:19-20 “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.”
The great commission is still great. It’s still in effect and it still works. When we go, teach, preach, witness, invite, love etc. people will become disciples of Jesus and want to be baptized. They WILL come to the church and find great fellowship and joy in life.
Acts 8:4 “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”
Those early Christians were scattered because of persecution. Some fled for their lives, but as they fled they also preached! They didn’t stop telling others about the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because they truly believed in Him. They were excited. They found in Jesus something that they never had before.
Excitement invades us, fills us and causes us to talk.
ILL.- Recently, my daughter Holly sent us some new pictures of their family and of course, the grandchildren, Hope and Caleb Santasiere. Hope will be 5 years old the last of July. Caleb will be two years old the last of April. I was very excited last Sunday to show several people the pictures of Hope and Caleb. I even showed the pictures to our shut-in people.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ALL SAID? “Ooh, aah! They are such cute children!”
My son-in-law said that Hope said last week, “When is Papa going to come and see me?” And little Caleb talked to me on the phone. He is 20 months old. He said, “Hi Papa, I wuv you. Bye, bye.”
You really should see my pictures and get to know my grandchildren!
DO YOU GET MY POINT? Whatever we get excited about in life we talk about! A new baby, a new car, a new house, a new job, a great vacation, good test results from the doctor, etc.
The only way to get excited about the church and sold on the church is to get more involved! The more you pitch in, the more pitch to others you will have! We need to evangelize others in this new year more than we did in 2004! We need to do whatever we can to help make the church grow!
III. SCRUTINIZE
II Cor. 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test?”
ILL.- The husband said to his wife, “But, dear, I’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve been talking for an hour and a half and I haven’t said a word.” His wife, “I know, but you listen like a wise-guy.”
He said, she said. People are often quick to point their finger at one another. “But she…” “But he….”
ILL.- Dr. Robert Travis, co-director of Marital and Health Studies at the Univ. of Alabama, lists the most common complaints of husbands and wives. WIVES: He doesn’t listen to me, He takes me for granted, He’s not romantic, He doesn’t help much with the children. HUSBANDS: She doesn’t understand that I need time by myself; she nags about little things; she expects too much emotionally; she complains that I spend too much time at work.
The same principle is true in all of life. We can clearly point out the faults of others but are completely blind to our own faults.
We ALL tend to be critical toward others rather than toward ourselves. However, it seems to me that in 2005 if we want make some spiritual gains then we need to reverse this and be more critical with ourselves.
II Cor. 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves…”
ILL.- English evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770) learned that it was more important to please God than to please men. At one point in his ministry, Whitefield received a vicious letter accusing him of wrongdoing. His reply was brief and courteous: "I thank you heartily for your letter. As for what you and my other enemies are saying against me, I know worse things about myself than you will ever say about me. With love in Christ, George Whitefield."
Instead of trying to defend himself, he took aim at himself. He was quick to scrutinize himself. HE WAS SO DIFFERENT THAN MOST OF US! We are quick to defend ourselves, stand up and fight, etc. rather than humble ourselves and take stock of ourselves.
ILL.- Former Arkansas Congressman Brooks Hays (1950’s) told of a preacher who advised a politician to go out into the rain and lift his head heavenward. He said, “It will bring a revelation to you.” The next day the politician reported, “I followed your advice and no revelation came. The water poured down my neck and I just felt like a fool.” “Well,” said the preacher, “isn’t that quite a revelation for the first try?”
Brothers and sisters, we all would do well to lift our hearts toward heaven every day and get a revelation. We all need to examine ourselves with the Word of God every day. And if we don’t come back humbled, and perhaps even feeling a bit foolish then we haven’t examined ourselves long enough or strongly enough.
We need more examination, more self-scrutiny in 2005 if we intend to make any upward spiritual progress.
CONCLUSION------------------------------------
Analyze, evangelize, scrutinize. These are not a matter of choice; they are a matter of Christ. They are commanded by Christ. He charges and challenges us to be discerning about everything in life, to be fervent about reaching people for Him, and to be humble in recognizing our own faults.
ILL.- Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas cowboys said, "The thrill of knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that ever happened to me ... I think God has put me in a very special place, and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do ... whether coaching football or talking to the press, I’m always a Christian ... Christ is first, family second and football third." What will your priorities be in 2005?
