Something happened a few hours ago. Something I believe each of us must come to terms with. What was it? The clock struck midnight, and in so doing, we had to say good-bye to one year, but we got to say hello to a brand new year. We go through this each year, but I am not sure just how much thought we give to the position this puts us in.
Sure, we have all the memories we keep revisiting of the past year, and we all make New Year’s resolutions for the New Year, but sometimes we stop at that and don’t analyze things further. Take for instance, the calendar we use.
The calendar that the ancient Romans used was the predecessor of the calendar we use today. On their calendar, each month had a specific meaning. For instance, March was named after the god of war, Mars, and July was named after Julies Caesar.
January had a very special meaning. They called it Janua. That means a door from which a person may stand in and look both ways; in and out. Janus was a common god who was often shown with a face on each side of his head, depicting a god who was looking both ways.
I think that is appropriate today, because we are standing in a doorway this morning, looking both ways; back through the year 2005, and ahead to the glory that awaits us in the year 2006. Let’s talk about this unique perspective we are given on this day.
1. LOOKING BACK
My dad used to say that a book has many chapters and each one is meant to be read, but not ‘unduly’ re-read. He meant that when we finish a chapter, even though it may have been a very good one, do not keep going back to re-read it, but to flip the page and eagerly anticipate the adventure that awaits you in the next chapter.
If we really look at all that has happened to us in 2005, we will readily see many instances of God’s love in our lives. We don’t have to look very far in the past to see God’s love either, do we? In fact just need to look back one week. Last Sunday was Christmas. Just last Sunday we saw that God loved us so much that He gave us His Son as a human sacrifice to pay for our sins. And even though that is more than we deserve, God continues to do many things for us; because He loves us.
There is a story of a thunderstorm that started to develop just as a little girl was getting out of school. Her mother was concerned about the 7-year old girl walking home in the rain. Just about the time she started to go out and find her daughter, the little girl came in to the house. Her mother told her she was very worried about her, but the little girl said God protected her. She said He loved her so much that He kept taking pictures of her all the way home!
That little girl did something all of us are supposed to do, too, and that is to see God’s hand in every single thing that happens to us or around us. And as we look back through this past year, I pray that we see many instances of God doing things in our lives because of His great and undeserved love He has for us.
And as we stand in this doorway and look backwards, we must quickly come to terms and look forward, too.
2. LOOKING AHEAD
My dad taught me to look ahead with eager wonder to the unknown adventures that lie ahead. Diana can tell you that I only spend about half my time in the here and now, because I spend the rest of my time trying to envision the future or trying to see what might be waiting for us “just around the next corner”. She said if I couldn’t think about the future, I wouldn’t be able to deal with the present. I think she’s right.
We must cast our focus on the future; on the New Year; on what God has planned for us. Out of His love for us, God gave us something that we should all use for His glory, and that is something called the ‘future’. That is what we should gaze upon as we stand in this doorway and begin to step through.
This future is full of adventures, and every single one of them can bring us closer to the Lord if we will only let it. One of the most important blessings in this New Year will be when we are once again reminded that Christ arose from the dead and that gives us the hope of something else in the future; the 2nd Coming of Christ to gather His followers up to go with Him. That would be you and me!
We all have areas that leave something to be desired, so we have developed this tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. You know what these are, don’t you? A New Year’s resolution is when we make a promise to change, and then you quickly break the promise before every trying to fulfill it. Then, we sit back and laugh about it. That is one of our national pastimes.
Speaking about looking ahead, we must live with a Godly focus. We are reminded of this in EPHESIANS 5:15-17 –
‘Be careful, then, how you live – not as unwise people, but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.’
We should all make the most of our time in God, shouldn’t we? We should also be focused on doing what God wants us to do, and not just concentrate on what we would like to do. Too many people make plans for their future without even thinking about what part God plays in them. It is okay to make plans, but we need to make those plans while trying to keep the Lord at the center of them.
JAMES 4:13-15 warns us;
‘Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money. Yet, we do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’
I don’t know if you have ever heard the speech or not, but the late Dr. Martin Luther King once preached a message entitled, “I Have A Dream.” That message was so meaningful that I have no doubt in my mind the Holy Spirit helped him write it. Today, I would like to give you my dream for this church and each one of you for this New Year.
We know that our time on this earth is short. As James said, we are nothing but a temporary mist that is here one second and gone the next. Even though this life is so short, we are held to full accountability to how we live it, so it becomes all the more important to live your life as carefully as we can.
We are very busy. In fact, our way of life makes us very busy – even when we aren’t doing anything. The country band ‘Alabama’ had a lyric in one of their songs that went, “I’m in a hurry and I don’t know why.” I think all of us can identify with that. Everything we do revolves around hurrying while we take care of business.
I think we all need to slow down. Some people rush out of here right after the sermon because they need to hurry and get home to do something that needs to be done. I have news for you. Whatever is waiting for you at home, another 5 or 10 minutes isn’t going to make it worse. I find myself driving down the road, doing 5-10 mph over the speed limit, when to be truthful, I am not in a hurry. Why do we do things like this? We do things like that because we have acquired the habit of hurrying.
The trouble with this is, it keeps us from taking the time to stay after the sermon and fellowship with our Christian family, and when I speed, I don’t have the opportunity to focus on the beautiful trees and scenery God put around me; and the devil likes it when we do this, because when we hurry, we have no time to seriously ponder God’s Word.
Jesus visited the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. While there, He sat down and started teaching them. Martha was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner while her sister Mary was sitting there in the living room listening to every word Jesus spoke. Martha was getting a little upset at Mary for not helping her get things ready and she finally goes to Jesus and starts to complain.
‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’
I think we can all understand her frustration, can’t we? I mean, when we are focused on getting something done, we see the need for people to help out when they can. But Jesus said,
‘Martha. Martha. You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen that which is better – and will not be taken from her.’
Martha had the same problem most of us have. We are so busy focused on taking care of business; we actually forget that we are in the very presence of our Lord.
Let’s be cautious. Remember, in EPHESIANS 5, it reminds us to be wise in how we live; to make the most of every situation we find ourselves in; and to understand what God’s will is regarding us. To make the most of our daily lives, we need to remember that Jesus was named ‘Immanuel’; and that literally means “God with us”.
And, if we are always in the presence of God because He is with us, then we must be wise enough to make the most of that and to do those things that is within His will, not do those things we would normally do. When the focus is on ourselves, it is in the world.
3. MY DREAM FOR THIS CHURCH
This morning, I want you to make a different type of New Year’s resolution. This one is not about you. It is about a partnership; a partnership between you and God. I want you to resolve to focus more on God this year than ever before. Can you do that for me? Can you do that for yourself? Will you do that for God?
I want you to forget about what is happening at home. Forget about how I phrase things sometimes. Forget about what you might, or might not, want other people to do. Instead, I want you to focus for a moment on nothing else but on what God has for you today.
Each of us has an ever-increasing load of commitments to different things. We find ourselves coming and going so fast anymore that if we aren’t careful; we are going to end up meeting ourselves someday coming back from the other way!
We also own too many things. How many of you have to use all your strength to slide things in your closet aside so that you can make just enough room to hang something else there? How many of us have things piled in neat little stacks in our garages because there is no more room in the house for them? And the real kicker is; how many of us still owe money on all that stuff?
We are overloaded at work, too. Before I retired, it seemed that no matter what you did last year, they expected at least 10% more from you the next year. Even if it takes all of your time to do your job now, once you do it they give you more jobs to do, don’t they? Why do we do it? When we are younger, it is to pay for all those things in our closets and garages. When we are older, we do it so we can keep some kind of meager retirement check coming in after we get too old to work.
You get the picture. We are pulled in so many directions that sometimes we don’t have the time to pay attention to the more important thing sin our lives, like loving one another or helping somebody else.
We can only make the most of every opportunity when we keep God in the center of that opportunity. My dream for you is to not get so busy you don’t have time to spend with Jesus on a daily basis. In so doing, you will become more acquainted with what the Lord’s will is for your life.
God doesn’t want us to be so over-burdened with worldly issues that we have anxiety attacks; worries; nervous breakdowns, etc. God wants us to be healthy in our hearts, minds, and bodies. In JOHN 14:27, we are told –
‘Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.’
My prayer for you this coming year is to establish some very real priorities in your life. Stop paying quite as much attention to your social obligations or your worldly desires, so that you can squeeze in a little bit more time in for God. We all have social obligations, and we all have things we like to do in this world, but none of them are nearly as important in the final analysis as growing our personal relationship with the Lord.
JAMES 4:8 gives us a promise.
‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’
My dream for you is that you develop a habit of thinking, and even saying out loud,
“I put God, through Jesus Christ, as the most important thing in my life. He will affect every decision I make, and I willingly let Him control my life.”
Diana and I came from a church that had a full-fledged prayer ministry. We had the telephone prayer chain, which is just like the prayer chain here. But we also had people who agreed to meet once per month as a prayer team. One of the things they decided to do was to have specific prayer warriors pray before each Sunday morning service for the pastor to be able to deliver God’s Word properly that day, and they would have other prayer warriors sitting in the congregation during the service praying for somebody near them, or for the church itself, or for a variety of things. These people would literally keep in quiet prayer all during the service.
My desire for you is to see you develop a habit of prayer in this church, just like God wants us to. In ISAIAH 56:7, the Lord says,
‘….. for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’
I take that as not only having any and all people come into this church for worship and prayer, but to have a church that prays for all people, too.
For this church to continue staying alive, we need involvement from you, the members. Involvement in Godly issues such as prayers, actively seeking God, and then actually putting God first in your life. If we do these things as a congregation, this church will not only continue, but it will thrive; I promise you. But if we don’t, this church will eventually die as all non-moving churches do. See, a church that is content to only do those things next year that it did last year are non-moving, and God never told us to “stay”, but He did tell us to “go”. My desire for this church, by the way, is to grow in God, and as we truly grow in God, we shall grow in strength, in impact, and in numbers of serious Christians.
Too many times, we become content to put things off until another time. The trouble with doing that is we become complacent and then forget the need to do those things at all. Worshiping correctly is one of them. Praying is one of them. Being involved in some way in church is also one of them.
I had a lady in Arizona tell me she was just too old and too tired to get involved. She said all she could do was to come to church once a week and listen to the sermon. She wouldn’t even go to Sunday school class. I told her I understood completely. But I also told her there was a way for her to get involved, not just with the church, but with God. I told her she could join the prayer team and pray between the time she got there and the time the service started, and she could pray during the service for what the Holy Spirit laid upon her heart. I told her she could do that … or she could just sit and listen and go home. I asked her to pray about it and see which one the Lord expected her to do. She helped the prayer team from there on out, and her attitude, once surely, improved greatly. Our God is an awesome God, and he loves His children.
While I am on the subject of prayer, let me rely to you what happened last Sunday morning after church. Diana and I were the last to leave, and I went over to the other building to make sure all was locked up. I had given my keys t Lesley so she could have her own keys to get in, but I had a key that would open most of the doors.
When I opened the Fellowship Hall, the key would not come out of the lock. I tried for 20 minutes to get it out but it would not budge. I used one of the candle lighters to heat it, but it still wouldn’t budge. Finally, Diana came to see what was taking me so long, and I told her to stay there and I was going to bring back a hammer and a set of pliers. I was determined; one way or the other, that key was coming out!
I came back with the hammer and pliers, and there stood my wife’ singing ‘Our God is an Awesome God’ while holding the key she had taken out of the lock up high. I had used my muscle where she had used her prayer.
My devout hope is that Rolling Hills Christian Church becomes such a house of prayer that even other churches in this community sit up and take notice. If anyone is interested in beginning a prayer team, please feel free to contact me and I will help you.
We have been talking about my dream is to see each of you and this church become stronger in the Lord, more productive in the Lord, and more mature in His Word this coming year. But, to give you an idea of what you are putting up with, here are some statistics I ran across. I don’t know how accurate they are, but they do tell a story.
In 2006, there will be:
· over 4 million new alcoholics in America
· percentage wise, there will be more Mosques built than churches
· 85% of Christians will believe there are no absolute truths
· there will be more people who choose crime than God
Whether these are true or not, these are sad statistics and they serve to show where America is headed. It becomes even more imperative that each of us become more devoted to the Lord than ever before.
1 CORINTHIANS 10:31 tells us,
‘So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’
Let me read you a poem from another pastor.
I think that I shall never see -
A church that’s all it ought to be;
A church whose members never stray -
Beyond the strait and narrow way.
A church that has no empty pews –
or whose Pastor never has the blues;
A church where all the members seek -
and none is proud, and all are meek.
Where gossips never lie -
or try to hurt others when they criticize,
Where all are sweet and all are kind -
not seeing other’s faults because they’re blind.
Such perfect churches there may be -
but none of them are known to me,
But still, we’ll work and play and plan -
to make our own the best we can.
As we go into our time of invitation, I would like to ask you if you are willing to work to help make our church the best we can. If you are interested in doing more this year than you did last for the Lord, I’d like to ask you to come forward and publicly affirm that now.
INVITATION
