12/30/01-Resolutions
Intro.-Time of Traditions-Thanksgiving-football
-Christmas-Wisemen, xmas story, lights, xmas CD
-New Years-2 I know of-Black eyed peas (tried once and only once), resolutions
Hook: New Years Resolutions-out of all americans who make NYR 55% will keep them for one month. 40% keep for 6 mo., 19% keep for 2 yrs.
Most of us will end up breaking any NYR we make and We end up feeling bad.
It’s not that we don’t want to keep them, we do.
I’m sure most of us have made resolutions in the past that we’ve had a hard time keeping.
-better husband or wife
-goes well for a while then something happens and we feel like we’ve failed
-commit to more time w/ kids, not be so consumed by work.
-go to more ballgames, read to them more.
-lasts a few weeks and fall back into the same rut.
-commit to know God more in the coming year,
-QT, pray.
Start strong, but soon the excitement goes away and we haven’t lived up to our New Years resolution.
Why? Maybe part of the problem is that we don’t understand what it really means to make a resolution.
Looked up some definitions to better understand it
a resolution is about determination The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination. 2. A resolving to do something.
to resolve is To make a firm decision about
Root word-res·o·lute 1. Firm or determined; unwavering, faithful, loyal
Being resolved is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. Being resolved means hanging in there for the long run.
It’s Not just making a res. For the new year, it’s being resolved for life.
So what does it mean to be resolved for life?
Not just making a res. We’ll keep For a couple of days or weeks, or maybe even months, but what does it mean to be resolved for life?
For my life I want to be a better husband. For life, I want to be a better father. For life, I want to know God. So, What does it mean to be resolved for life?
Dan. 1. If you want to know what it means to be resolved for life, this would be the book to check out. Daniel is a great example of what it means to make a resolution that sticks.
Story-Daniel’s people have been taken over by a foreign country and the king of that country has decided that Daniel’s people,the Israelites, are going to be just like his people, Babalonians.
He’s going to teach the Israelites to dress, eat, live and follow all the religious customs of the Babalonians. In order to accomplish this, he had the best and brightest of the young Jewish men selected to be trained in the Babalonian ways. Their reasoning was that if these select few could be convinced, the rest of the Israelites would follow.
Read Dan. 1:8,12-15
In Dan. 1:8, Daniel makes a resolution (read)
Daniel decided to go against the flow, go against the culture.
When you’re watching TV or reading magazines, do you ever feel consumed by the culture? Our society tells us that we should all look a certain way, dress a certain way, keep our bodies a certain way, drive a certain car, live in a certain house, etc. And honestly sometimes it can be very easy to be completely consumed by culture. But the best thing we can do, especially if we want to know God more, is to make a resolution not to be consumed by all that stuff. It is a distraction from becoming what God really wants us to be. We need to be like Daniel and resolve to go against the flow. Like Paul said In Rom. 12:2 “Don’t let the world squeeze you into it’s mold”
We need to resolve to be different, unique, in order to know God more.
Dan. 1:12, Daniel says “Please test your servants for 10 days.” Let us live this counter cultural lifestyle and see what happens. Watch the results of being resolved. Watch us do more than make a resolution.
Dan. 1:15- “At the end of the 10 days, they looked healthier and better than any of the young men who ate the king’s food.”
If you resolve to go against the flow, you’ll be different,
We’ve got to get past just making resolutions. It’s not about making resolutions, it’s about being resolved for life.
SEMP Ill. Kids come in scared, feeling inad. Go home w/ a purpose, resolved to share the good news w/ their friends and make disciples.
Hopefully we’re beginning to understand that seeing real change in our lives is not about making resolutions, it’s about being resolved for life. But where do we get the power, the strength to stay resolved for life?
In I Cor. 2:2-5 Paul points us to the power source for being resolved for life.
Read.
Do you want to know how to get past just making a resolution? Know Jesus, the crucified Jesus. Know the One that we’ve been celebrating this Xmas season.
Vs. 3-5-it’s not about us, our words, talent, abilities. It’s all about knowing Him, focusing on Him.
If you really want to be resolved, connect to the God who made one of the biggest resolutions ever when He decided to sent His only Son, Jesus X to the world. That’s a resolution, that’s being resolved.
Ill. My Time running from God, jr./sr. year of HS, running from God’s purpose for me, ending up a Moody, ym chapel, resolved to serve Him with my life, whatever that meant
I feel good now because I have purpose and excitement in my life. I’m on this adventure. I can pick up my sons and look in their eyes and give them real love because I’m connected to the power source. I can look at my wife and I can be resolved to love her as she should be loved because I’m connected to the power source. I work to lead our teens and train them to be multiplying disciples because I’m connected to the power source and I’m excited. I’m on a mission. I’m on an adventure because I’m resolved. God wants you to be resolved. What issues do you need to resolve in your life? Are there issues in your life where there is confusion, pain or destruction? Are there issues where you’re going away from God’s plan for your life? Are you doing things to yourself that are taking you so far away from the great plan that God has for you?
I said earlier that Being resolved is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. Being resolved means hanging in there for the long run. It also means that when we fall, and most of us probably will somewhere along the way we are resolute, determined, we wont’ stay down but we’ll get up and finish the race
